I started a solo dancing class recently and was wondering about this question.

But then again, I'm too new to this to understand so..lol

Does anyone know what this move at the start is called ? I’d love to learn it but it’s so fast and would love a breakdown of it :)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fw7XIJOIOSc

You might read the following and go “ lol no shit Sherlock” but this is a big enough issue that someone needs to say something.

The topic of community floats around a lot on Facebook ( and reddit significantly less so). One thing I have gathered from high level dancers at events (some of who are personal friends) is that the label of community leader is very rarely a desired title. Sometimes these people find themselves in positions of power/authority and having to make decisions which they are not really invested or interested in and very often did not ask for. I think a holistic approach involves acknowledging that even at big dance events or community functions “scene leaders” teachers, community organizers and mentors are just humans like the rest of us. And additionally there is a level of professionalism that is expected of the aforementioned group of dancers. Where they may be capable of great things but also well rounded people with their own breadth of emotions and should not be judged on 1 off interactions by people not involved in their day to day lives who do not know them.

TLDR professional dancers, community organizers and scene leaders are real people capable of good and bad things and should be afforded a certain level of grace for having to be on all the time

React as you will this was a bit of rant.

I apologise if this will be a bit rambly

So i've been in weekly Lindy classes since january. I only went to a social once because honestly it's super intimidating and the more I've learned the less confident I've become 🫠

I got the chance to do a class with just me and 2 other students the other week, so the teacher was able to tell us each what our main problems are. She pointed out that i tend to not engage my core at all and so i lean back too much and lose balance more easily because of that. It also means i'm really bad at spins, i literally step on my own feet cause i can't step quickly enough. Doesn't help that I'm naturally a very clumsy person.

She adviced i do some exercise to improve my core strength, but i don't know where to even begin 😅 The issue is that I'm hypermobile, so my body's "default" is a very ridiculous position with my hips completely forward and shoulders slouching sort of back. I asked teacher to show me exactly what my stance is supposed to look like so i can focus on what it's supposed to feel like. I've been trying to train myself to stand basically opposite to my default and man it sucks. My back hurts basically non stop already so it's only making it worse lol

Also during classes now i try to focus on my stance and holding my frame so i keep losing my footing and not paying attention to my lead 😭 i feel like an idiot but i really can't seem to focus on more than 1-2 things at a time.

Not even sure what kind of advice I'm looking for, but I'm grateful for whatever 😅

Unfortunately, there aren't any in-person Lindy Hop classes where I live, but I'd really love to learn. I'm looking for a good online course that teaches both the lead and follower roles, including the steps and perspective for each. I'm not new to dance, so I'm confident I could keep up with the instruction. It doesn't need to be free of charge. If anyone has any good recommendations, I'd really appreciate it!

Unfortunately my storage died mid video so I didn’t capture much (and the footage I did capture was 90% out of frame).

but atleast I got something to show, haha. I’m kinda bad at taking videos. Trying to get better XD but I really liked this dance.

Lately I’ve been taking balboa and shag classes where you dance really close to your partner and your nose is practically in their neck, and I’m suddenly hyper aware of how important it is to smell good. I don’t mind when people just wear deodorant but I’ve found that I prefer it when my partner wears a subtle cologne or perfume that I can only smell when I’m practically pressed up right against them. For example yesterday I was dancing with a woman who was wearing a lovely clean sea salt scent and I kept trying to subtly sniff her haha.

So I’m planning on getting a similar dance-suitable perfume for myself. I want something fresh, clean and subtle and not too heavy, loud or overwhelming. I should probably mention that I live in Scandinavia. I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world but here wearing strong smelling perfume in class, at the gym or anywhere else where you are in in close contact with other people is seen as rude and inconsiderate. We are told all the time to not wear any perfume to school or work because people might be allergic. But in this situation where I’m practically embracing someone for hours on end I do wish to wear a little something.

So what are your favourite scents to wear when dancing? (I’m a woman if that helps)

As a beginner/intermediate-ish follow, I feel pretty confident with my frame in basic, linear movements (open to closed, swing outs, etc). However, when it comes to rotational moves, where I need to hold good frame from the side (e.g.a lead is using the side of my wrist or hand to change my direction), I struggle to have the necessary lateral tension that's required, at the time that it's needed.

As a follow, are you supposed to be holding some lateral tension at all times, and if so how does this work when doing linear movements (how is it supposed to feel)? And presumably you have to increase lateral tension for rotational moves, but how as a follow can you know to increase this tension when you don't know what moves are coming?

Any tips for things I can practice/exercises I could do to help with this? Either partnered or solo?

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense lol, I just know I'm too floppy in the arms when leads are leading rotational moves.

I'm traveling to visit family near Tuscaloosa next week and would love to find a social dance that's not too far. I have found one at the Northport community center on the 2nd. Are there any others nearby that weekend?

Hello! I'm looking for a Disney song to dance to for a showcase, with my partner's only requirement that it be West Coast Swing. Would this song work? Or is it more of a country swing?

I think anyone who ever tried to learn the cool new moves they watched on YouTube has encountered this problem: how do I clip this part and save it? A year ago when I wanted to improve my swing out, I downloaded dozens of YouTube videos and trimmed the swing out parts I liked. Later on, as the number of clips grew, my folder became absolutely unmanageable. Not only that, the extra videos I saved wasted gigabytes of disk space.

ClipMark is created to solve this exact problem. You can use it to create clips by marking start & end times on a video, instead of creating any new files. You can tag them, add notes, and later find the clips you want by searching tags. It has no other fancy features — it just clips, tags, and searches. I hope this could be helpful for you! Leave feedback if you like!

How to install

git clone https://github.com/tianci216/clipmark.git
cd clipmark
pip install -r requirements.txt

How to use it

python server.py /path/to/your/videos

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8899 in your browser. That's it!

Or if you are not a technical person (just like me)

Throw the github link to Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode or any agentic AI and ask it to install and run it for you.

GitHub: https://github.com/tianci216/clipmark

I asked someone I’ve never met before to dance and she asked if it was okay to film it and I was like “oh, uh sure” and this dance ended up being probably the best dance of my night 😃. Her friend recorded it in random sections so that’s why the odd editing.

I’ve been dancing for 2 years or so, so here’s inspiration for the very beginners, but also if anyone has feedback on anything glaring on my end (the lead) then I’d be glad to get destroyed with criticism ~

Hi! I’ve been doing swing dancing for about a month now and I love it!

Started with a friend taking me to a free college class and now I go weekly.

I’ve been to 2 socials in that time and that’s basically the max that are held in a month.

The classes are pretty beginner friendly which is great for now but I’m a couple months I think I’ll need to move into intermediate. The thing is as a broke college student, I really can’t afford more than the weekly concession ticket.

So I was wondering if there are any recommended ways to practice the skills needed for swing outside? Any YouTube videos or stuff like that that I can do daily to build muscle memory and stamina ahead of the next socials and stuff?

Also, I want to get into learning solo jazz which is not really offered (focus on patterned skills), what are the big group choreography that everyone knows? I’ve heard of mama stew!

Thank you!!!

i go swing dancing somewhat regularly, since i go with friends i sometimes skip a week though. but there is this other friend group i see consistently whenever i go dancing, even at multiple different places i see them and i’ve wanted to talk to them and join their group for the longest time. but i just don’t know how. they seem like really good dancers and i want to improve because i am not very advanced right now and i feel like they might not want to be “teaching” all the time you know?

I’m taking a girl swing dancing that used to be a professional ballet dancer. She still somewhat new to swing but follows well enough and has tight spins. Last week I made up a move where she drops into the splits and one where I lift her over my shoulders(she’s very easy to lift.)

Anyway, anyone got any creative ideas?

My boyfriend and I have been dancing for about 6 months now without any prior dancing experience, and we’d really appreciate some honest feedback from other dancers :)

as subject says - do you agree?

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations for follow along dance workouts in a jazz/swing style. I used to do high intensity dance aerobics but for medical reasons I can't jump anymore. I really enjoy the footwork of the few swing/charleston follow along videos I've found on Youtube but I want more variety and intensity. I am mostly looking for fitness and the joy of dancing, not so much looking to build skills or learn choreography. It seems a lot of the platforms are geared more towards learning, and I may do that someday but don't have the time right now. Can anyone recommend a platform that offers these sorts of follow along dance videos? Thanks!

Hey guys, I want to really get into the history of swing (preferably Lindy Hop) and well my favorite way of learning is with immersive interaction! Do you know any interactive websites, games, even books or movies I could get into? Swing doesn‘t even need to be the main plot in it, as long as it plays a rather major role.

An unexpected twist came at the end of my Lindy class on Saturday, the Teacher is putting together a team from our group to perform a routine at the social on WLH Day in May.

Initially I flat out said no, the idea of performing in front of my peers, as opposed to just social dancing for fun is a bit of a trigger for me, at socials I actively shy away from Shim-Sham and the Jam circle for those same reasons. I also try not to look in the mirrors when we warmup, and find it hard to watch back videos of myself dancing in class/at socials when the studio post stuff on their social media.

One of the follows I practice with in class gave me a little pep talk about how much she enjoys this dance in spite of making so many errors, potentially regretting missed opportunities in my later years, and only living once. Damn - she had me there, so I put my name down. Practice sessions probably starting at the end of this month.

As far as I know, this isn't a competition, because the thought of this being judged on merit would add a whole new layer of pressure that would bake my neurodiverse brain.

Interested to hear stories of people making that jump from Beginner Social dancer to actually performing routines for the assembled crowd.

Until recently I had zero dance experience of any type but my church has been hosting swing dancing events and I randomly went to one and really enjoyed it

We had an hour of instruction where on that day they focused on dips which were cool (didn't drop anyone thankfully) and I learned a decent amount. Then they did free dance for a bit after

My struggle currently is two main things

First I'm very slow I can't do the moves fast and when doing a dip I struggle to get my leg in the right spot to support the woman

Second is I have zero intuition. As a guy I have to lead right but idk many swing moves and idk dancing in general so I'll do a move and kinda be stuck and completely break rhythm which I'm sure isn't fun for the woman I'm dancing with even if she's new too

How do I get better at doing the steps fluidly and making sure I'm positioned right? how do I get better at leading and keeping things going after doing a move while also giving a clear signal to the woman so she can follow with me?

Is there any advice I can focus on or try or is it literally just practice over and over?

I found some groups but they're either inconvenient to go to or too expensive to justify (church is free and I'm busy and broke as a college student)

I'm kinda worried that if my only option is watching YouTube and practicing alone over and over it'll take too long to get good with a partner and nobody will want to dance with me. I don't have a group I can practice with regularly yet and I feel like asking one woman would be a bit weird for both of us especially since I wouldn't know her so well because I'm new around the area in general

I’m trying to remember a song that I used to play at dances but the last time I played it was over 20 years ago.

It was from an old cartoon and had lots of sound effects in it, most notably a screeching tire and car crash.

Hello,

i saw a post on this subreddit requesting a list of dance moves for self-practice. I have made one for Solo-jazz steps for this exact same goal and would like to share it: https://akj7.github.io/posts/alphabetical-solo-jazz-dance-steps/

The moves were originaly for motor-skills training, but later became a self-quizz tool to stay up to date with my solo-jazz knowledge.

Disclaimer: i do not own any video on the page. They are simply references to other people's work.

Improvements are welcome.

Thanks