After having tried a Lindy Hop workshop at Beach Boogie and having sat through fast swing bands wishing I could dance to their music, I decided to look out for a Lindy class.
I found one
in Penge, S. London.
It's run by the South East London Lindy Hop Club on Thursday nights. They seem to belong to a group called 52nd Street Jump who operate in London, Surrey and Sussex.
The website was very short of information (I know they didn't have the internet in the 40's, but puuurrrlease!) so I just turned up.
First ****-up, it's week 7 of an 8 week beginners rotation! I was all for leaving and coming back in a couple of week, but the teacher talked me into staying and I'm glad she did.
I managed to keep up as we did some kind of 8-beat swingout thingy (step, step, triple step, pivot, step, triple step???), but then was dumped into freestyle with some poor lady. The teacher rushed over, gave me a quick private lesson and told me I was not allowed to leave while they did the intermediate class, I must watch then she'll help me some more.
So I stayed and watched, and freestyle started and everyone started doing a stroll. I thought it looks like fun, but being the heavy footed lummox, I'll just get in everyone's way.
Well, someone dragged me up and I was surprised to find how easy it was! I won't shy away from them again.
Another quick private and an introduction to someone to dance with me and I was away again.
I even recognised and said hello to someone who was doing Lindy at the Pigalle Club when DT and I went there last month!
What a friendly bunch and what a lovely "club" atmosphere. I'll definitely be going back there.