Lindy tips - how to keep your dancing (feeling) fresh

It’s a social. You’re in the middle of a dance (which you’re really enjoying by the way). Problem is, your dancing’s hit a wall. It feels like you’re using the same three or four moves again and again. Dancing’s supposed to be creative - that means you need to keep things fresh, keep changing - not a pattern that keeps on repeating, right? What’s worse, surely your partner has figured you out by now, knows you’ve reached the limit of your dancing vocabulary. What if they’re bored?! You panic, wracking your brain to think of a different move, a new variation - anything! Somehow, you make it through the rest of the song, but you spent the whole dance in your head and not with your partner.

Maybe this sounds familiar to you, maybe it doesn’t. Often when we’re in a creative rut, dancing can go from an enjoyable experience to a stressful one. But it doesn’t need to be. Ruts happen, but there are a lot of things you can do to move on from them and find new ways to enjoy social dancing without getting stuck in your own head.

First of all - relax. Social dancing is not performative. As we say in class, there’s no minimum entry bar for dancing - so there is no minimum amount of ‘variation’ or ‘creativity’ needed. Enjoyment isn’t defined by those terms, and you shouldn’t let it define you, either.

That being said, here are some things to keep in mind and work on, to keep your dancing feeling fresh no matter what you’re doing.

Play with timings

A good starting point is stretching movements out longer than you normally would.

For example, take a pass by shape and stretch it out, really exaggerate the end of it with maybe some twists or some shimmy’s or low downs - your partner will follow suit (for both leads and follows). Likewise, add pauses and breaks between movements - you don’t have to immediately jump into something new after you finish a swing out.

Challenge yourself you play with rhythms

Keep the creativity coming!

Add a shuffle ball change, a slide or a scoot in place of a triple step - just small things - suddenly the look and feel of a move is completely different. What’s more, your partner will be able to see and feel these small changes too - and often copy them too. After all, that is the essence of Lindy Hop.

Focus on adding one new thing

Learning new things takes time. So, pick a single shape, a single rhythm variation, you want to incorporate to your social repertoire and work on that. Then pick something new and work on that. Dancing’s all about the journey, so go easy on yourself and give yourself the time you need to improve at a pace that works for you.