h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on... Um, apparently. So I'm, uh, told. *yeah!*

Yes, and I would avoid swinging naked, if possible. It's one of those bouncy, jumpy dances that really do better when everyone is clothed.

there's a new killer dilller
there's a new Harlem thriller
there's a new way to ruin rugs
A new dance for jitterbugs
The flat-foot-floozie with the floy floy

Hmmm.... I don't know. I do quite a bit of swing dancing (everything from simple swing to Lindy). With the right person dancing naked could be a lot of fun

I would have to disagree rather strongly. It's a safety issue. Swing dancing is a bouncy, twisty process. Watch those knees and elbows!! I can't help laughing like crazy when I think of balboa naked. Talk about "OUCH!"

I Will give you Lindy, but a good swing dancer bounces very little doing most moves. Unless they are either very new with the dance or doing arials the only real danger is the embarassment.

um...yeah

Swing has had an upsurge in my neck of the woods allso (Norway).
There are frequently held swing classes in many towns/villages and paople are comming in and learning to swing.Unfortunantly swing becomes one of the few dances they actually can and enjoys.So Swing is the thing for everything.Be it an actual swing tune or the latest disco hit or techno tune.
I just thought you'd like to know

Cool! That's great to hear about. I love to know what's going on in other countries. So people swing to techno where you are? hee hee...we do that in the states too. Once you learn how to move you tend to use those moves for all kinds of music. At least, that's what my freinds and I find.

agreed. after about a year of dance I found it difficult at first to not do swing moves in a non-swing setting.
However some places work with it. The Metronome in San Francisco for example will play rap or hip-hop as their last song, And everyone lindys to it.

Rap and hip hop also are a lot of fun to charleston to. I love watching Ryan and Jenny teach charleston to hip hop.

Clothing or no, be wary--swing dancing can carry overtones of extreme personal danger if you are uninitiated. I know--I am currently wheelchair bound (with two broken legs) following a freak swing-dancing accident.

True story.

Let's be careful out there, kids...

Arials are rather taboo in Chicago. At Liquid about a year ago, there was a spotlight dance going on. A young man was dancing with a woman he didn't know and it was obvious he didn't even know how to 6 count. We saw him ask her something, she shook her head no (rather vehemently) and he proceeded to whip her around and try an over-the-back arial. He dumped her right on her face and broke her nose. Blood everywhere. She says that he asked her if he could flip her and she said "no" and he proceeded to try and kill her anyway. Needless to say he was banned from the scene. Nobody would dance with him after that and they forbid arials at Liquid from that night on.

The only way I attempt arials is with men I have been dancing with for 2 years in a matted area with a spotter. Then, if we do it 50 billion times and the floor is clear, maybe we'll throw one out.

The big thing that's taught in Chicago is to be aware of yourself and your partner. Problem is, a lot of the people that have been dancing out here for awhile (the ones that go to Catalina every year and wear sweatsuits out to clubs) think that they are so good now, everyone should just watch out for them, and proceed to plow into everybody. *sigh* It's always too bad when one or two rotten sports have to ruin the evening for everyone. I get tired of early morning mystery bruises.

I read about your "swing accident". Silly boy, that was you getting drunk and thinking you were Superman. You should try it again sometime before the Guiness (Celidh dancing is a lot easier after Guiness than swing is, trust me...oh those sevens!) Swing accidents are when two couples are lindy hopping and manage to toss the girls into each other, or more often, kicking out and making a solid connection with the front of another person's knee and snapping it backward.

I am so glad you aren't talking about 'Swing' as in that crap music

oooo...you're cultured. I bet your mama's proud.

That seems to be a curse here (Chico, CA). We have a country swing dance scene here, and they seem to enjoy comming out for swing night as well.

The problem is that the floor is not that big, and having 5 couples having no idea of how to do the basic count, all of them only doing arials, and none of them having any idea about personal space on the floor has caused some problems. I guess I am lucky to not have seen anyone dumped on their face. Although I have seen a few ladies dropped.

Overall I have gotten a real bad taste for arials, and have really lost my interest in them. This has become a fairly common attitute that a lot of the regular dancers here have adopted.

no, you missed my point. I mean something completely different - I wasn't being sarcastic!

It all comes from ignorant people doing things they haven't researched, you know. A person I know what kicked in the head at a swing dance by a flying foot on a crowded dance floor. That, and you really should look for some retro clothes to add to your style, otherwise, you are just an imposter. And, you should listen to Count Basie.

Hear hear! I'm all about the music! So much swing music is SO good. I'd also like to throw my vote in for any and all of the classic musicians.

Two of my personal, modern favorites are The Ray Gelato Giants and Indigo Swing. Ray sounds like the reincarnation of Louis Prima and Johnny Boyd has a very "Bobby Darin" esque thing going.

Ray is here: http://www.raygelato.com

Indigo Swing is here: http://www.indigoswing.com