Yes. With a few tango steps in there.

I watched it transfixed with my mouth open.

I found some Bal Swing to compare - both French

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVcQr6WX1PQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIx10stJB4c

Oh yuck! All flashy turns and no actual dancing to the music to demonstrate a feeling for it. My idea of hell. It's like New York and LA salsa - all flash and no substance. See how many twisty turns I can do and how I can shake my butt. Aren't I clever? Nope.

Balboa has more style.

But that's just my view

I am inching closer and closer Diamond. I always fought shy for two reasons. The first is that I am not a fan of 50's Rock and Roll music. But oddly I do like swing,

The second is that once I was taken to a Ceroc night and concluded it was dancing for people who didn't want to be bothered with learning to dance. The leads came any old where. The number of times a guy would try to yank a turn against my weighted foot and even against the momentum of the direction I was travelling in. This would have ben more forgivable it they had been motivated by a sudden accent in the music, But sadly it seemed to have more to do with them having a light bulb moment and just thought of throwing in a turn.

However I was persuaded that my introductory experience was not good by a friend with whom I go to lots of jazz gigs in the summer time. Earlier this year he taught me a basic swing step which was fine. It took me a while to get into the pattern but there on in we got on rapidly. In fact it was pretty well the same as salsa in many ways. So this summer I was able to dance to some of the jazz numbers which made the festivals even more fun.

So lindy might be on the cards. I have to say though it looks a bit energetic even compared to salsa.

I'm just waiting for Frankie's Argentine Tango - I'm sure it will be 40/40 EPIC!

Swing is real, Ceroc and Modern Jive are just 'made up for cash' ways to get people to part with money and pretend they are learning a dance. I am so sorry you had to endure that! It's soooo boring

There are so many styles of Swing now it's easy to get confused. Even those who are doing it get confused. East Coast Swing is different now to the way I used to teach it (good basis for swing and R & R) and West Coast Swing is so dumbed down I can barely believe it's the same dance!

I like Swing that avoids the 'hunched back and knees akimbo' style that some adopt. Looks fine on a guy but makes women look a bit butch and ungainly. It is possible to do it upright, but it depends on who is teaching you

Well Brendan better get some real AT experts in because he hasn't got a clue how it's done and he sure as hell can't teach it.

Feel so sorry for Frankie

Nah. Just need loads of kicks and krotch displaying lifts and you've got a Gaucho Smelly Armpitty With a Crabs Infected Barrio Puta Wurcher for Len.

Unless said AT expert has studied SCD AT s/he will hinder rather than help.

To be honest SK I don't know what he taught me. He has been dancing in that style family for years. It is quite possible that knowing the aim was just to be able to get up and dance at jazz gigs and knowing I already knew salsa he may have adapted something to make it easy for me.

I think it was more or less a simple combination of side steps and rock steps. It took me about 10 minutes to keep that basic pattern going and bizarrely I found my feet added toe taps in certain places (salsa imprint perhaps?) which an onlooker said looked good.

From there he just added things that felt really familiar, that I would call under arm turns, fan steps (like a salsa abanico), cuddle turns etc. I found it surprisingly easy once I had the basic pattern down. it was probably nothing recognisable in terms of East Coast, West coast etc. I have no idea what it looked like but it felt like salsa except to a different rhythm Each time I got up to dance the first few bars faltered a bit until I settled into the pattern then I found I was just following. But it did allow me to get up and dance and not just with the guy that taught me so for me - job done. Maybe there is something I can upgrade and polish though.

There is going to be a Sirtaki / AT this week

Bendy posted a link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0W62rt9U7Y

Looks great fun

Milonga style might be better especially as it picks up speed.

Here is another one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyhxdvp4LAo

Morena is my favourite Milonga tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Xk8GvimtY

That's brilliant. Just shows what a good lead can achieve! Oh, if only the average lead in the UK would bother to learn! I firmly believe a good dancer who leads well can make you do anything and follow brilliantly if you are receptive enough and you have studied various kinds of dance. The rest is hearing the music and your own innate musicality - which you definitely seem to have. What fun!

Yuck. Thanks for that vile image.

An AT expert hinder? Not possible. They only hindrence will be Brenda's arrogance and disinterest in bothering to learn.

Study SCD AT? You are kidding! Of course expert AT people see it ....and fall about laughing. I mean, it's not as if the travesty they call AT on SCD is that difficult to mimic.

Oh dear. I didn't like that at all, and that's a couple of people who really know what they are doing.
Goodness knows what Jake and Janette will do

Probably where TPTB got the idea from

This is not Bal-Swing! The first one is poor Lindy Hop, the second is much better Lindy Hop! I'm guessing Bal- Swing is the name of a French dance night

This Is Bal Swing the dance, which is a variant of Balboa. Pure Balboa is a closed hold dance, developed in the tightly packed Balboa Ballroom in. California in the 30s. Bal-Swing allows for more open figures and is what is most commonly danced today:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WMSPjP0U6m8

Pure Balboa is, I imagine a lot like AT in how it is led and followed through weight changes. Not that I've gotten around to trying AT yet!

Oh no! Do not like that one bit. Mind you, they are going for the Euro Nuevo style - all open hold, elbows in the air (hate that style) and over done footwork and adornos. So naff.

In Lindy Hop, that down and dirty bent knees look is very much acceptable and Jazz (and what some people refer to as 'Savoy Style'. I prefer the slightly more elegant and upright look, 'Hollywood Style' but these are terms that have fallen out of favour recently.

The dances I do all strive for preservation, not progression, so we try to keep them looking as they would have done in their own time (Lindy Hop/Balboa/Collegiate Shag/Vernacular Jazz and it's variant. Charleston steps). Other Swing dances do move with the times, especially West Coast Swing. A lot of it has to do with the music chosen.

An Thropologist, Ceroc/Modern Jive absolutely is for those that can't be dealing with the learning curve of learning to dance properly! It's got a lot of patterns from other swing dances, but without any of the footwork, styling or musicality.

We quite often get Ceroc leads turning up to Lindy class saying they want to learn to dance 'properly'. They don't last long. They are used to be super star leads at Modern Jive and when they are actually confronted with Lindy's 7 basic footwork patterns they tend to disappear sharpish! It's a shame really, because they do have a head start, as they understand the mechanics of lead and follow already.

Still, the best thing any Lindy Hopper can bring to their very first lesson is a love of Swing music.

Oh no they are going to do that final can can thing with all the dancers aren't they! Sighs.

Ah, bless you for coming to the rescue and explaining! Great to see that video. Thank you.

Having watched that vid very closely I can see that the Balboa lead is not quite the same as the AT hold and lead - but then AT is not the same as any other dance I have learned (and I have studied quite a few).

I won't bore you with the ins and outs DB just in case you decide to try it . Put it this way, you need a hell of a strong core, an immaculate axis and an ability to lean forward with your weight at the front of your feet (constantly) to dance AT.

Many pro AT women develop a very curved spine and prominent bum (as it were) over the years achieving that AT V-shape, axis and the extreme extension of their legs. And it takes forever to learn the walk. You have to undo everything you've ever learned in other dances.

Here's one of the most loved, raved about AT couples on the circuit today - Noelia and Carlos. Note her exceptionally curved back and bum and how her lower body leans away from his.! She's adorable, but they are not my favourites because, although they are brilliant, their style is to0 OTT for me. She is a brilliant Swing dancer as well! This is a milonga, the fastest dance in the AT repertoire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvWm08bvNLQ

Wonderful post. You talk so much sense! Yes, I know that the 'down and dirty bent knees' (great phrase!) is madly popular, but - like you - I prefer a more elegant Swing and I love that you strive for preservation. I am so with you on that.

I watch Modern Jive every now and then (when forced to) and am bored to tears by it. I miss the old classic West Coast and East Coast Swing. Real style and syncopation. Twirling someone on one foot 10 times is not what I'd call choreography, or those lumpy fish dives and flailing arms.

Lordy, I am showing my age!

Thank you for the video. Sofakat! It really demonstrates the core to core lead and follow principle.

I wrote a long reply and lost it while looking for a YouTube reference, so I'm off to sulk for a bit

Gahhh! I hate when that happens. Glad you liked video. Will look forward to your other posts. I learn so much about your chosen dance forms from what you say: it's such a great insight and you explain it so well

Here's the video link to same AT pro dancer Noelia dancing Swing. I wonder what you think of it? I like her style very much but would not dream of commenting on how good it is, or not!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LGDPVwWMhg

I love them - one of the reasons is they are about the same heights as my favourite follower and me and I am trying to emulate him. Carlitos is actually 1 cm shorter than me. I asked him via facebook.

But interesting that you find them OTT. I like them because they seem relatively understated and dance mostly in close embrace.

I love this style

Noelia Hurtado & Carlitos Espinoza - Vals "Miedo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cQH219gm1k

Chicho to me seems relatively OTT
Chicho Frumboli y Juana Sepulveda - 13 aprile 2013 - vals "Miedo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coQCTL2YRz8

Who would you suggest as more understated / less OTT than Carlitos?

Well, it helps that she's dancing with Max, who is a very good Lindy lead, one of the best (very rhythmical, great tap dancer too) who I posted as Charleston reference last year.

I've had one of my best ever social dances with Max. I blush to think of it tee hee!

I think she's pretty good actually, but she doesn't quite fill out the music with her movement and occasionally she messes up her feet and has to kinda trot to get back on the correct foot. I'm going to assume she' doesn't dance to swing music very often and is actually following Max and more emulating what she's seen, rather than dancing what she knows. If I'm right, then clearly, if she wanted to be, she would be a phenomenal Lindy Hopper.

I heard Max is married to an AT dancer, actually...

If my post is going to be long - here or elsewhere such as emails - I tend to write in Word or Notepad. I am mortified when spelling or grammatical errors get through.

I have a file I call "Draft" which I overwrite.

Oh my cripes!

Max is on my Facebook friend list so I just looked it up and his new wife is in fact Noelia! He moved from Montpellier to Buenos Aires to be with her