Teaching Lindy Hop the Old School Way

I recently purchased the Dancing Masters of America; Description of Dances Taught book for the 1940 convention and promised to share some of the material with those that follow me online.  There is some fairly novel and unique information in that publication to be certain, but I felt compelled to share the genius of the simplicity of the Lindy Hop instruction given.

Let me state upfront the goal of a dance master was to teach social dancing first and foremost to the masses in an easy and functional way. Their goal was not initially exhibition, though they did teach such material as well, as professional stage dancing school also existed in yesteryear for that express purpose. I feel many teachers could learn from the simplicity in approach they took.

For starters, Lindy fundamentals were very rarely taught in Shuffle (a.k.a. double-time / triple-step) timing until after someone was able to dance in single time. Let someone master three steps per bar before we ask them to do five steps per bar, especially if they have little or no prior dance experience. The extra time they now have can be focused on connection and remembering the next fundamental pattern. Look at the very last figure, it’s actually the third figure repeated in shuffle (aka triple-step / double-time). It’s not a new figure, but rather the point is to take what the student is already functional in and THEN up the complexity.

Another example of a simple progressive approach they utilized was the amount of turn employed. Note that they only do quarter rotations for a throw out into break-away position (aka send out) and returning to closed. The other figures use half rotations (for rotating basic, passes, and under arm turns), broken down via two quarters rotations. Utilizing less rotation does not detract from the joy of dance and insures success for both leader and follower alike. The ability to have a feeling of success on the dance floor encourages the dancer and affords them the confidence to believe they can in fact learn to Lindy versus a complex or difficult approach which often frustrates the novice and leaves them wanting to give up.

Finally there is no blended rhythm (i.e. six AND eight count). Instead they teach eight count passes and turns. These turns are also only half rotations (180 degrees) broken into two quarters for simplicity and flow. The use of eight count based figures is often very helpful for musicians who like to phrase and feel uncomfortable with inter-measure phrasing when they are initially learning.

To my fellow instructors and any novice that may read this, please remember that a student must first walk before they run and that the goal of a great teacher isn’t to show them what YOU can do, but rather what you can do for THEM.

Lindy hop Swing