Swing Out! A Lindy Hop Taster on Musicality and Embodied Connection

Abstract

Improvised dancing with a partner offers a unique insight into embodied cognition, joint interaction and musicality. In this workshop we want to practically explore this through a beginner’s class in Lindy Hop.

Music and dancing have been an integral part of human culture since ancient times and they are intertwined with many different cognitive faculties [1]. Dancing with a partner requires the anticipation of the partner’s intentions based on bodily cues, musical timing, and shared social context [2]. In dance, leaders must plan actions before execution, while followers must attend closely to both physical and musical signals and understand broader patterns. The required cognitive processing can either be facilitated or impeded by the clarity of the music.

Lindy Hop is a swing dance that developed in the 1930s in the African American working class and experienced a revival in the 1990s as a dance for the predominantly white middle class. It is marked by high kinetic energy, involving use of the entire body in the dance. It also heavily relies on improvisation [3] and is a social dance in which everyone dances with rotating dance partners rather than having one assigned partner.

In this workshop we will experience this dance and its cultural roots first-hand with a beginner’s dance class. Whether you are curious about the history of Lindy Hop, or just want to try out a new dance, this workshop is for you. Rather than learning a fixed choreography we want to focus on feeling the music and following it through movement. You will be equipped with the basic step pattern, some turns, and a few kicks and tricks to set you on a path to free improvisation.

You’ll also experience what it means to change dance partners frequently, and how this shapes the perception of the dance and interpersonal communication. Last, but not least, you’ll swing, groove, mess up sometimes and laugh about it.

So, grab your dance shoes and get ready to Swing Out!

[1] M. Pearce and M. Rohrmeier, “Music Cognition and the Cognitive Sciences,” Topics in Cognitive Science, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 468–484, Oct. 2012, Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01226.x. 

[2] J. Phillips-Silver, C. A. Aktipis, and G. A. Bryant, “The Ecology of Entrainment: Foundations of Coordinated Rhythmic Movement,” Music Perception, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 3–14, Sep. 2010, Available: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2010.28.1.3. 

[3] H. Spring, “Swing and the Lindy Hop: Dance, Venue, Media, and Tradition,” American Music, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 183, 1997, doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3052731.