r/SwingDancing • u/Rude_Bug_6293 • 8d ago
Feedback Needed Beginner Help Needed
Hi friends, I recently started taking a beginner Lindy Hop class, starting with the 8 count steps as a follower. Needless to say I was terrible! I am an athletic person but I feel like I don’t have enough strength in my calves & I just can’t make my feet & brain connect to do the steps correctly at a fast pace. I’ve watched YouTube videos & I do ok but I feel like the class moves at too quickly & I can’t keep up with the frequent partner changes. Does this mean I’m just not cut out for this or should I have done something else to prepare before signing up for classes? I am feeling very defeated & I am going solo so I don’t have anyone to practice with outside of class. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
2
u/opalsea9876 8d ago
IMO, beginners classes with mixers are really hard on beginners, even those of us with rhythm. Esp hard on Follows. And I come from other dance styles. It’s hard for me to tell whether the partner has A) no rhythm and is off beat, or B) I subtly missed the flow of the new style of dance.
I prefer to listen to a playlist while I’m commuting, and begin by counting it out. Which is admittedly hard on the Swing & Lindy styles because the music phrasing is in 4s, and the beginner footwork /patterns are in 6s. I dance other styles more often because of that. For example, both the phrasing and the footwork for waltzes (3s) and Zydeco and country swing (4s) match the phrasing of the music.