Get Ready to Social Dance Again

August 5, 2021 by Joo-Lee

Shim Sham, Tranky Doo
Lindy Jazz Dancers dancing together in the hall after months of practice on Zoom

As a Lindy Hop dancer, you’ll know that the absolute best things about coming to classes are meeting other people and dancing with different partners in a warm and wonderful social environment.

But how do you do that in a world where we still feel unsure about giving people a hug?

Covid rates are still high, so that means it’s not yet safe to dance in the sociable way that we used to.

However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t use this time to prepare for when we can social dance and dance with partners again.

You see, many people think that social dancing is about dancing in close contact or it’s only possible if you dance in pairs.

But really, social dancing can be whatever you want it to be.

Want to dance with friends, old and new?

It’s the perfect chance to have fun and see your friends.

Don’t feel safe being in close contact right now?

You don’t need to be. You can dance Lindy Hop solo, in pairs, or in groups of 3, 4, 5, or more.

Hopefully, very soon, we’ll all be partner dancing again, but for now, why not work on your skills so you feel confident when the time comes?

First, there’s something I need you to know.

Learning partner dancing skills does not require you to:

  • Have a dance partner or have close contact with anyone;
  • Lead and/or follow a partner;

Confused? Don’t be!

The most effective ways to hone your partner dancing skills are:

Mastering your own movement

If you’re not in control of your own movement and coordination, this affects your dance partner.

Improving your dance vocabulary

This means learning as many moves as you can BEFORE you partner up. That way, you’ll have the confidence to dance with dancers of different levels when social dancing is back again.

Improving your leading and following skills

If you have a partner, you can dance with them in hold, as we all did before the pandemic. If you don’t have a partner, this can be done with ‘shadow dancing,’ where no physical contact is needed. Often, dancers over-rely on physical contact to help them lead or follow and this can affect the flow of the dance.

Do you want to be confident with all of this and more?

Get yourself back into the swing of things for the social dancing comeback with our next course which starts 7th September.

The course is designed to get you feeling confident enough to enjoy social dance events again.

Don’t let fear or a lack of confidence stop you from doing what you love.

Learn new moves, rewind and re-learn the moves that you used to know, and learn to lead and follow with confidence.

Your next social dance event awaits.

What are you waiting for?

Click here to see the course details.

  • 6-week course – Tuesdays 7 September – 19 October 19:30 on Zoom
  • 6-week course – Wednesdays 8 September – 20 October 19:30 at St Aidan’s Church Hall, Durham DH1 5BL
  • Workshop and Social Dance – Saturday 23 October – 12:00 at St Aidan’s Church Hall, Durham DH1 5BL


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