Lindy 1 Summary
Basic footwork leaders: left, right, left-right-left (triple step), right, left, right-left-right (triple step)
1. Lindy Hop basic
– rock-step, triple forward, step step, triple back (8-count)
– stay in closed position
2. Send Out
– rock “send” (leaders send followers out on 2)
– begin in closed, move to open position
3. Into closed
– leaders: back-together (on 1-2)
– followers: walk forward on 1-2
– begin in open, leaders catch and stop followers on 3-and-4, end in closed
4. Side pass
– leaders: back-together, bring left hand across body to lead follower to turn
– begin and end in open
5. Flip flop
– begin in closed with “circular” rock-step, move hand to shoulder blade
– leads open “door” on 1-2, then close on 3-and-4
– switch hands on follower’s back, then rock step on opposite foot
– to end, bring hand and arm back around follower’s hip (closing the space)
6. Rotating basic
– same as basic, but leads rotation towards right shoulder (clockwise)
– triple step back on 7-and-8
7. Lindy circle
– begin in open position, and same beginning as into-closed
– leaders: wait for follower, then start rotating clockwise
– triple step back on 7-and-8 (end in closed position)
8. Under-arm Tuck-turn
– “circular” rock-step, and move hand to shoulder blade
– close “door” on 3-and-4 (leader’s left and follower’s right hand squishing a
– leaders: turn followers out (clockwise) and draw “C” with hand
9. Swing out!
– begin in open position
– leaders: back-together, triple-step (moving 180 degrees)
– followers, walk forward, matching leader’s shoulders
– on 4, face-off position
– on 5, leaders look then step to side 90 degrees
– end in open position
A small victory…
Tonight, I had a small victory which made me feel good. I was able to run 10 kilometers almost pain-free. Every day my gastrocnemius gets a little stronger and is a little less sore. As I tell Tina, my massage therapist, my “fist of pain” is getting smaller. What surprises me is that I can dance East-coast swing and Lindy Hop pain-free. It is the sudden jarring impact of landing with twice the force-of-gravity while running is the main culprit. The plan is to try and run the same distance tomorrow.
I started another set of Lindy hop swing dancing lessons with Alana, Rebecca and Louis. We spent most of the lesson going over the basic foot work, RS-TS-S-S-TS. Most the drills we did had us dancing forward and backward where as in other classes we would dance from left to right. There was one thing that sort of bother me a bit and that is what to do with my right hand. I’ve always been taught to place my right hand on the follower’s scapula or shoulder blade (either left or right). Rebecca and Louis were having us place our right hand on the follower’s right hip. It sort of felt awkard having been taught to avoid putting your hand on a follower’s squishy bit.
Lindy 1.2
Last Thursday, I had my first Lindy Hop dancing lesson. There is a bit of a story as to how these lessons came about. About two weeks ago Andrea, sent out a group email mentioning that they were in need of leaders for upcoming lessons. A couple of days later along comes another email saying that they were in desperate need of leaders. This caught my attention so I kept a copy of the email on my desk. At the Friday night dance, Andrea asked me if I was going to take the lessons and I was more yes than maybe. A day later I got an email saying that if you replied within 24 hours the lessons would be free as the waiting list of followers was continuing to grow. This was enough encouragement for me to signup for the lessons. The lessons will repeat what I did in an eight course in the spring and I’m looking forward to brushing up on the steps.
Time…time…what time is it?
Tonight (Friday) while running south along the span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1208637574_0″Rideau Canal/span I had an br /interesting experience. A runner was coming towards me from the br /opposite direction as I fumbling with my GPS watch. He started br /pointing at his wrist and shouted time, time, what time is it? I wasn’t br /sure what time he was interested in as my watch was showing that I was br /18 minutes and 34 seconds into my workout as well as being span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1208637574_1″6:45pm/span. I br /shouted back that it was span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1208637574_2″18:34/span which seemed to satisfy him. On the way br /back, I bumped into the speedsters that I run with span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1208637574_3″on Wednesday night/span br /who were doing their warmup. I sped up considerable and they responded br /allow us to do the next two miles at a pace very close to slowest kmbr /interval pace of 4:20. It felt good to burn off a day’s worth of br /stress. At the same time my legs were nicely limbered up for swing br /dancing.br /br /Last night, I had my first of six span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1208637574_4″lindy swing dance lessons/span. We br /reviewed some of the basic moves and spent much of the evening doing br /slow step, slow step, followed by step – triple step – step, with the br /s-ts-s being done on a eight count. They mentioned that it would be br /frustrating at first but if we were patient the prize was out there br /waiting.
