It’s just over a year now
since I started learning the Lindy hop, the leader’s part mind you, since we
were lacking boys and some of us girls had to volunteer to dance the boy’s
part. I haven’t regretted volunteering one bit!! I really enjoy the leader’s part
– it’s much more challenging, interesting and jazzy than the girl’s part, so I
am still taking classes and seminars as a leader. However, I sometimes feel a
bit of an alien because I am not dancing as a follow at all, plus I also get
the feeling that sometimes it’s looked down upon for a girl to dance the
leader’s part. That’s why last week I took my first class as a follow and
hopefully a year from now I won’t be as lousy a follow as I am now….Still, I
think I will always be a much better leader.
Swing Heil!!
One year ago I also
started this blog as a sort of notebook for myself and others to learn more
about the swing era, the music, the fashion, the society. As a one year
anniversary present of sorts I bought myself these two books representing two
eras (the '20s and the '30s), two different dances (the Charleston and the
Lindy Hop), but also two sides of me: the leader part that is often looking to
Frankie Manning for styling, and the girl part that is always looking to the
Flappers for styling. The '20s and the Flappers I have loved for almost two
decades now, who knows why. My obsession with Woody Allen movies and his obsession
with the '20s might have something to do with it. In college, I even took an
entire seminar on the 1920’s and the 'lost generation' of writers and even
wrote a paper on the Flapper herself. As for the '30s and Frankie Manning, I
got to learn a lot about them this last year, and hopefully you have learned
some things along with me through this blog.
Last night I started
reading Frankie Manning - Ambassador of Lindy Hop and I
thought that maybe some future posts on this blog might be about various
subjects mentioned in the book, with the hope that they will inspire you to go
on Amazon and buy the book yourselves. It’s a wonderful edition, beautifully
narrated by Manning himself, and I think every Lindy hopper ought to own a copy.
I hope you stay
tuned for future posts and if you enjoy the ambiance of this blog, you can also
come join My Swing Archives on Facebook for a trip back in the '20s,
'30s & '40s.
