Love to Lindy

[Minnie M]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Sorry guys, I'm not a lindyer myself, nor does it interest me, I just don't like the bouncy kicky thing about it. But each to their own.........

hmmm...... that is what most people think Lindy is about - I hate that too Jamie

Some people think Ceroc dancers are like that too

Most of the good and great lindy dancers DON'T bounce and skip - especially the ones who follow the Dean Collins style and Steve Mitchell style

Is this bounce and skippy

YouTube - Kevin y Carla - Bei mir bist do schoen

[fletch]

Originally Posted by Minnie M

hmmm...... that is what most people think Lindy is about - I hate that too Jamie

Some people think Ceroc dancers are like that too

Most of the good and great lindy dancers DON'T bounce and skip - especially the ones who follow the Dean Collins style and Steve Mitchell style

Is this bounce and skippy

YouTube - Kevin y Carla - Bei mir bist do schoen

yes, yes, yes,




This is what I was/trying to do at Rockbottoms

and the moves can be and are simmilar to some of the move in Northern Soul perhaps thas why i like it.

that clip is fab, I hope i can fins somone at 'chill' to have a go with

if you know anyone can you point them out for me pleaseeeee

[straycat]

Originally Posted by Minnie M

hmmm...... that is what most people think Lindy is about - I hate that too Jamie

Some people think Ceroc dancers are like that too

Most of the good and great lindy dancers DON'T bounce and skip - especially the ones who follow the Dean Collins style and Steve Mitchell style

[great clip]

Not to mention this, or this.

Although I do think the 'kicky' part can look extremely cool when done well - especially at speed....

[straycat]

Followup to the last post - there's a common miconception about Lindy (perpetuated, alas, by not a few British lindy folk, amongst others) that this 'bouncy kicky' style is what it's all about - and that couldn't be further from the truth.

The essence of Lindy distills down to musical interpretation and smooth connection with your partner. The oft-abhorred 'bouncy kicky' style (I think) is, at its worst, a bad caricature of the kind of performace styles seen in clips like the Hellzapoppin sequence.

And, of course - because of the core connection & musical aspects of the dance, it does lend itself very well to other forms of music.

The mistake I made when I first tried learning Lindy was to approach it as 'another dance just like MJ, but with different moves' - and then to get put off by some of the things I thought (wrongly) were trademark Lindy moves. I only really started to progress when I realised how wrong I was about that whole impression I had of the dance.

[sidney]

I tried lindy a couple of years back when I had been doing mj for a year, but found it hard going, but now I would like to give it another go, as we do have a group in Leics who have been doing it a few years, and yes it can be cliquey but I found when you want to learn it, this group really welcome you and make you feel part of the group, as they want to spread the word, and to keep it going plus they have a very nice venue now as before it use to be in a church hall. I think if I give it another go I might get that urge again to enjoy dancing again, as I am bored with mj and need another outlet.

[Blind_Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Little Monkey

Like what? The Mad Monkey Mambo?

Sorry Little Monkey, I should have explained what I meant more clearly.
What I should have said was if there is enough of you who are interested in learning Lindy in Dundee, you could look at starting your own group and explore the possability of bringing a teacher in..

[straycat]

Originally Posted by Spin dryer

Ultimately, I stopped doing lindy because many of the people on the scene are a little too eccentric for my liking. Many of them started as cerocers, yet rather than being grateful that MJ introduced them to dancing, they sneer at it and have a deluded sense of their own abilities.

I think most of us have encountered this attitude, and it certainly stinks (quite simply, without Ceroc, I wouldn't be dancing)
It's not an attitude limited to Lindy though - in every dance form I've done, I've encountered the same - from your classic arrogant MJ people to your classic arrogant Salsa people - I wish it wasn't so, but in all walks of life, alas, there's people who could stand to learn a little more humility Luckily, along with the bad, there's plenty of great people - it's simply a matter of not letting the bad apples affect us.

Originally Posted by Spin dryer

One thing that bugs me is seeing people do lindy to modern pop music. It looks absolutely ridiculous.

Got to disagree here - it can look amazing (see the Mihai & Kerry link I posted above. Or this one, for that matter) It's not the dance, it's how you dance it

[Spin dryer]

Originally Posted by straycat264

Got to disagree here - it can look amazing (see the Mihai & Kerry link I posted above. Or this one, for that matter) It's not the dance, it's how you dance it

Nice and smooth. You've persuaded me Straycat. I guess I'm too used to seeing the Hellzapoppin bouncy stuff.

[ducasi]

The thing that annoys me about Lindy isn't the "bouncy kicky thing", but the crouched posture, with going knees going everywhere. Oh, and the music.

That said, when I can get over these factors, yeah, it can look good. I especially like those cool slide-y moves.

That's why I voted both for "I love Lindy" and "I hate Lindy", but not for "I'd like to learn to Lindy".

[TA Guy]

I gave Lindy a good try some while back. Took some evening class like lessons and went to a more cerocy type night run by some guy, can't remember his name now, but he was a champ of some sort.

In the end tho, I decided not for me. At the time, all I ever saw around was the bouncy type of Lindy, which didn't really appeal to me. And, yes, I came across the type of snobbery described elsewhere in this thread, particularly from the those who had migrated from Ceroc.

Rant on. I also think it would be a great help to Lindy if all the teaching DVD's were re-parcelled so they didn't have a picture on the cover that looks like two clowns with laughing sticks up there hindquarters. I've absolutely nothing against the spats, braces etc, in fact, it adds atmosphere in a great way to freestyles, just the DVD covers, facial expressions etc. YUCK!!! I just want to drop a spider into their wide open mouths. Rant over.

[straycat]

Originally Posted by TA Guy

I gave Lindy a good try some while back.

But then she dumped you? **

Originally Posted by TA Guy

And, yes, I came across the type of snobbery described elsewhere in this thread, particularly from the those who had migrated from Ceroc.

Of course - it's possible this could say more about certain Ceroc mentalities than it does about Lindy folk
So Ceroc turfs them out to plague us Lindy types. Wonder if we can get them interested in switching to Salsa

Originally Posted by TA Guy

Rant on. I also think it would be a great help to Lindy if all the teaching DVD's were re-parcelled so they didn't have a picture on the cover that looks like two clowns with laughing sticks up there hindquarters.

Um... you mean like this one? Could be as you describe, but it could alternatively be a scene from a zombie or vampire movie....
Or there's this one (shudders)

Some Lindy covers for you... there's this one, and this one, or maybe this one?

I respectfully submit that there's a fair representation to be found of good and bad marketing to be found on both the MJ and Lindy sides

**(sorry - that one was impossible to resist)

[Spin dryer]

Originally Posted by straycat264

this one? Could be as you describe, but it could alternatively be a scene from a zombie or vampire movie....

[jiveknight]

Originally Posted by Spin dryer

For the avoidance of doubt, my post was not in any way a criticism of your band, or your zany outfits! You created a great atmosphere that night (and the others when I've seen you). Moreover, the Jive Aces are obviously not lindy snobs, or you wouldn't play at ceroc nights at Ashtons.

Sadly though, and I've heard many others say this, the lindy scene is more cliquey than any other that I've come across.

Thanx, no offense was taken.

There are a few "swing police" (not my name) and it does sometimes become a bit too serious. But this is probably the same as many dance scenes. The dance originally was a "street" dance - ie people having fun to swing music in the Savoy etc and creating new moves and using old charleston moves in new ways etc - fun. I guess when teachers started standardizing the moves so as to impart them to non dancers all the differences of opinion started.

I do love playing in LA and watching the smooth "Hollywood" Lindy Hoppers on the dance floor though - I don't know anyone that really does this smooth lindy the same in the UK. And the East Coast guys in DC are brilliant.

Dean Collins, who is attributed with styling the Hollywood lindy, said something about there not being any style as such, just swing music - its on his web site anyway...

cheers!

[TA Guy]

Originally Posted by straycat264

Um... you mean like this one? Could be as you describe, but it could alternatively be a scene from a zombie or vampire movie....
Or there's this one (shudders)

Some Lindy covers for you... there's this one, and this one, or maybe this one?

I respectfully submit that there's a fair representation to be found of good and bad marketing to be found on both the MJ and Lindy sides

**(sorry - that one was impossible to resist)

I have to admit my take on Lindy is completely coloured by what was around back then.
Several forum members have been talking about the smooth style of Lindy, that sounds great, but it just wasn't around when I was interested in learning (at least in my area).
Likewise, I'm sure the Lindy DVD collection has hugely increased since then, but at the time, there were about two that kept popping up at weekenders etc. both with those 'clowns' on the cover. I'm sure the Lindy world is much better now in many respects, same as MJ. We all evolve

[straycat]

Originally Posted by TA Guy

I have to admit my take on Lindy is completely coloured by what was around back then.
...
I'm sure the Lindy world is much better now in many respects, same as MJ. We all evolve

I must confess too that my own initial take on Lindy was similar to yours. I have a vague impression that you're South-Coast based - if so, I wonder if we saw similar scary sights...

If it wasn't for certain people persuading me to give it another go, I too probably would have have left it at that also - so I'm very glad they did.

[Minnie M]

Originally Posted by jiveknight

........Dean Collins, who is attributed with styling the Hollywood lindy, said something about there not being any style as such, just swing music - its on his web site anyway...

cheers!

This is the lindy style I love - Robert & Claire Austin (of prior LeJive fame) do a good job of teaching it.

and of course The Master Frankie Manning