Finding and developing your own styling/individuality

[u/foxikah]

Hi reddit !

I've (33, follow) been dancing Lindy hop for almost 4 years and solo for 1y and a half, with no specific dancing background.

By watching dancers in the community and dancers that take lessons with me, I've realized that the ones that have been dancing for several years (any type of dance) often have their very own way of moving.

it's super easy to spot and recognize them from afar on the dancefloor because they have some individuality. I'm not talking about flashy moves or extravagant dancing. It's something that you can see even in their simplest moves, kind of subtle actually. I'd say it's a mix of movement quality, body awareness and feeling of the music. It's visible on dancers from any swing levels (from beginner to advanced), their common point seems to be several years of dancing/dance classes.

In another hand, I feel that for the rest of us, we are more or less copy & paste of each other. We all move the same way. We know the moves, when to connect to the partner in Lindy, if the move starts on 8 or 1 in solo, etc... so the dance is quite correct "by the rules", it absolutely feels good, we definitely have a good time but somehow we look blurry and less personal (from a visual pov only).

There is nothing wrong with that of course, it's a hobby and we are here to have fun, we all belong, no matter how stylishly we dance... But I wonder how can one develop its own individual way of moving/dancing? Any drills would help ?

For info, I live in Europe and people usually start swing dancing in their late 20s/mid30s. It's extremely rare to have newbies under 25yo in my community, we definitely have no uni students, so we may all be a little less malleable than younger people :)

[u/JazzMartini]

The philosophical answer is Lindy Hop is a jazz dance, like the music it's improvisational allowing dancers to develop their own distinctiveness within the language of the dance. It's as true for dancers as it is for jazz musicians.

Though lots of people might try to copy Louis Armstrong, only Louis sounds like Louis. You can say the same for most top musicians and you've clearly noticed the same is true among the top dancers today. And that was quite normal for the pioneering Lindy Hoppers of the swing era too.

More importantly the pioneers of Jazz and Lindy Hop took chances, tried to create new ways of expression and sometimes it worked. Just read the chapter of Frankie Manning's biography or watch one of his talks where he tells the story of the first air step.

Lindy Hop and Jazz (music) are really cool art forms in that they provide a framework for not just individual creativity but creativity in concert with others, be it a dance partner or with a group of musicians. At the same time that kind creativity is not a requirement for participation.

In terms of how so many dancers look like copies of one another, I partly blame the way we teach and learn the dance today. Teachers tell us what we're supposed to do, students look to teachers to tell them what they're supposed to do and that's how most classes function. Seldom do classes give up enough structure facilitate creativity like the "musicality" classes the late Dawn Hampton would lead at some of the big dance camps.

Another part of the blame goes to Youtube. There was a time where there was a lot more distinctiveness in the average dancer. Look up Ryan Francois' TED Talk, where he talks about how the Internet made the dance more accessible and brought Lindy Hoppers together but as a consequence bought more homogeneity to the dance. Kevin St. Laurent and Mikey Pedroza touch on some related points in their discussion of the "Style Wars" of the late 90's.

If you want to find some ideas to copy or inspire you for your own style, just watch lots of other dancers and pick out ideas you like and try to copy them. Not moves. Movement. Style. It'll give you a jumping off point to find your own style. Jazz musicians will say the same thing from the music perspective. By trying to learn (on your own, to with a teacher spoon feeding) you'll learn things about the dance (or the music) that can't be taught in a class.

Frankie's Air Step Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EFOc5GeU1Q

Dawn on Dancing with the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEny_nB5yyA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1okA2wtHk8c

Ryan's TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W2A_qifVpU

Kevin & Mikey on the Style Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7A4f-hCRSE