Keep meaning to post about this: just watched the professional lindy hop dancers from a few weeks back, and once again struck by how amazingly inelegant and ugly their dance was. As far as I recall they were champions at this style of dance...??

Maybe it's me but I thought the whole routine was just plain weird, and the girl looked like a frog much of the time swinging through the air with bent legs...

I found it very strange. Anyone actually know anything about this dance style? Was that REALLY how the best-of-the-best lindy-hoppers dance?

No expert of the dance but I really enjoyed their performance. It was full of energy and humour and they had such good control all movements were so precise!

Any expert comments will be gratefully received.

My friend has danced against them before and says that wasn't their best performance... It did look alittle wierd but I don't think it was that bad really... But that's just me and I'm no expert on the Lindy Hop...

http://www.ryanandjenny.com/ Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas

There's some background info here. They have done a lot in their field. How good they are, I don't know, but they are certainly not amateurs.

It looked authentic to me but I'm not a dancer, have you ever seen lindy before?

They also performed a longer routine on DWTS

http://raphaelpungin.com/dance/dwts/...s/2r_lindy.ram
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 29-10-2006 at 16:17

I thought it was clever, I just also thought it was ugly - it didn't make me go, "oh I want to see more of that!


Nope, which is part of my reason for asking: I expect it's probably just that it's not a style of dance that appeals to me, but it just struck me as so amazingly inelegant and graceless.

I think they said they were some sort of champions or something? I forget.

I didn't "get" it, I suppose, and I wondered if it was them, or just the style as a whole...

I loved the lads' swing dance that night, and really enjoyed the pros' jive that followed... but I didn't like the lindy-hopping at all.

Just saw this - thanks, I'll take a look

I read on a dance forum that the boys swing dance was very poor and inauthentic. That seemed to be the unanimous opinion. It was also said the dances were labelled incorrectly - the west coast was east coast. That was also choreographed by Ryan and Jenny, it would be good to hear from an expert but I think East Coast and West Coast Swing are mainly done in America.

If you don't like that style you probably won't like it no matter how well it's done. The feet, jumps and movement are usual in the lindy routines I've seen.
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 29-10-2006 at 16:28

Having looked at the longer routine, I think that's just it - I don't like the style. I probably wouldn't have liked the boys' dance if it had been more "authentic".

Takes all sorts - thanks for the info At least I know why I didn't like it, and that it's the style, not THOSE dancers - which I suspected, but just wondered about.

I didn't particularly enjoy the Lindy Hop but I liked the group dance though.
Was just a bit shocked that the BBC mixed up the East/West Coast Swing on the little title bar.

Sarah, I agree with you - and for me it was the flat shoes that the girl wore on the lindy... it did make it look clumpy.

They are obviously very talented, it just wasn't my thing

Glad it wasn't just me!

Yes, Lindy-hop can look a bit wierd. With most of these displays it never seems to be 'social-style' dance more show dance which I have to never looks as good as normal dancing.

I have started doing Lindy this year, taking a bit of a break from Salsa, and the Lindy I am learning is far ore laid back than what was shown. I believe it's a fore-runner of Jive and Rock n Roll and is not quite as energetic as the later ones.

These styles probably do look a little inelegant now you say it but it fits in with the style of music that the developed around. The style fits the Jive/Rock n Roll music beat.

Having done a bit of most of them the important thing is they feel great when you do dance those styles and that really is the important thing. The fact that other people might enjoy watching it is really of secondary importance. OK, ballet IS for watching but the styles shown on SCD are meant for two people enjoying the moment with each other and when done properly you forget there are other people around. So, if you are doing some strange legged dancey stuff but it feels great to you the fact that it looks wierd to someone watching is irrelevant.

The best thing you can do is go along to a class if something takes your fancy or even better these days try and find a few clips on the net.

And as for looking wierd the Paso Doble isn't exactly a normal dance by any means.

The Best exponents of the Lindy Hop were black Americans in the thirties and forties who probably didn't eat too well and were quite slim and supple. The girl in the "demonstration" looked like a rugby full back.

They were nowhere near as good as this and by comparison their dance looked really laboured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTg5V2oA_hY

I can totally understand this, but in that case I don't really understand why it's presented as spectator fayre. Though I gather that some people did enjoy watching it, which is the main thing.

Thanks for the linky, DR (Seems a bit rude to address you as "Doghouse"...) - now they DO look like they were having fun.

Snigger!

I do wonder where they find these demo dancers. Having now seen a few dances of which I know enough about to know whether the performance was good or bad I have no idea what to think of the demos of dances I do not know much about.

The Beeb really does need to do some better research and get the best dancers in ratehr than the ones that they find after a google search and have good websites saying how great they are.

I really enjoy watching Lindy, Rock n Roll and Jive. Not all the dances are that manic just the ones where the music allows for those moves to be done.

I was being overly harsh in saying stuff the spectators but it got the point across that it is not just about outside looks. Having an understanding of the dance can help to make it more than just legs going everywhere and see how the moves fit with the music and thus it becomes more than it is.

(wierd analogy time). For years I looked at paintings by Kandinsky and just thought they were colourful squiggly paintings and that was that. I then read a book about how the style developed and what the squiggles were and I now appreciate them much more. I do not have to do that with all painting: Constables are self-explanatory just in the way that you watch an Argentina Tango and realise it's a sexy dance - no more explanation needed.

The demos on SCD are there to show the range of different styles of dance one can do and hopefully someone will have seen the Lindy, found it interesting and gone to their local class.

Here's some more information on the dancers in the Youtube video I found.
Wasn't the band great?

http://www.savoystyle.com/whiteys_lindy_hoppers.html

The "Slim and Slam" of the "Slim and Slam Allstars" TV show from which this excerpt from "Hell's a Poppin'"was taken are these guys. "Slim" Gaillard and "Slam" Stewart.

http://www.pocreations.com/slimbio1.html

I'll have a look at those later - thanks DR.

Alfster: Like I said, I do realise (even just from this thread) that some people enjoyed it. I guess it didn't click for me, is all

I wasn't going to put it quite as baldly as that, but I do think the girl's body shape didn't help. It certainly spoilt the overall look of the dance for me. We're too used to slim longer legged dancers and the flat shoes she had to wear didn't do her any favours at all. I did wonder if she'd begun as a gymnast as she appeared to have the perfect proportions for that discipline.

OK! No probs, understand where you are coming from.

Though I still like my reply! I got Kandinsky into it.

LOL - I have a feeling its the first time that Kandinsky has been mentioned on the SCD forum! Well done!