{"id":168,"date":"2014-05-23T09:56:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T09:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/?p=168"},"modified":"2016-05-11T10:37:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T10:37:17","slug":"swing-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/?p=168","title":{"rendered":"Swing Sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"G<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meet Gillian…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing I like about it is that it\u2019s all ages. Everybody is just a dancer and I like that. It adds to the variety and the richness\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gillian is a full-time Lindy Jazz volunteer\/teacher\/DJ\/ who enjoys dancing in a performance group-\u2018All That Jazz\u2019; making cards; baking and decorating cakes AND in her \u201cspare\u201d time works 5 days a week!!!<\/p>\n

She loves to use her imagination and be creative and enjoys it when she\u2019s given space to use “artistic license”<\/em>. Her favourite wedding creation was a 3-tier cake with sugar Freesias (Gillian loves Freesias) in all the colours of spring.<\/p>\n

According to Gillian, her sister Eileen tried to teach her to dance Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll for ages but to no avail. After seeing lessons advertised in her local paper she persuaded Eileen to go along with her assuming it was \u201csome sort of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll class where I\u2019d finally get to learn to do this thing\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Guess what, it wasn\u2019t. It was actually a Lindy Hop class with Joo-Lee and Andy!<\/p>\n

7 years later Gillian\u2019s still with Lindy Jazz and I think we can all agree, she\u2019s definitely learned to dance! She says she still remembers how intimidating and scary it can feel to be a beginner, which is why she likes teaching our Review class and why we think she\u2019s so good at it.<\/p>\n

Despite Gillian\u2019s initial reaction of, \u201cLindy Hop, what\u2019s that then?\u201d<\/em> she now has an intense appreciation for the dance, which has lead her to her true love, Balboa*<\/b>. Gillian loves the subtlety of both dances but says of Balboa,\u201d You really feel that connection with your partner, it\u2019s personal, it\u2019s between you and them and I like that\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>Gillian says Lindy Jazz has opened up a whole new world for her. She loves the social side of dancing and describes the world of Lindy Hop as a big social network, family and community. Normally the quiet one in the corner, Gillian has made loads of friends, traveled to lots of places and had experiences she says she would never have had.<\/p>\n

The first time Gillian traveled outside of Durham to dance was to Edinburgh Lindy Exchange with a small group of friends, including Eileen, and she says they were like “scared rabbits!”.<\/em> Her favourite memory is returning to ELX a couple of years later and finding she was amongst friends, felt she belonged and had found a second home.<\/p>\n

To anyone wanting to come to Lindy Jazz Gillian says just give it a go. “It can lead to so many fantastic things and you might surprise yourself. I surprise myself constantly with what I\u2019ve managed to achieve!”<\/em><\/p>\n

“We\u2019re really friendly, know what it\u2019s like to be new and won\u2019t make you do anything you don\u2019t want to. Take the plunge and just come and see. Don\u2019t stress, listen to the music, have a cup of tea, a natter and a dance and just let it gradually take you over.”<\/em><\/p>\n

*<\/b>You can see Gillian teach Balboa on the first Monday of the month at Lindy Jazz.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meet Eileen…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe music makes you feel good so everybody feels good and it vibrates around the room\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Gillian, Eileen is also a Lindy Jazz volunteer, teacher and expert cake baker. She is retired but needless to say, you rarely see her sitting still! She lives close to both Gillian and their brother but also has 2 children and 4 grandchildren.<\/p>\n

She likes all handicrafts, DIY, gardening and has an eclectic taste in music. Dancing is Eileen\u2019s social life and every August she and a group of fellow dancers pack their tents up and head off to Twinwood. Eileen says this floats her boat big style because she likes camping, they play her music all weekend AND she gets to dress in 1940\u2019s style.<\/p>\n

When she was younger Eileen used to go to the local dance to learn things like the old time Waltz, Boston Two Step and Veleta. Then in the 60\u2019s she substituted this for \u2018Bop\u2019, teaching herself by practicing to music on the radio.<\/p>\n

Eileen says she avoided the dance styles and music of the 70\u2019s, 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s simply because they weren\u2019t for her and returned to dancing 7 years ago with Gillian. They were both looking for something to do exercise wise and that\u2019s when they stumbled upon an advert in the local paper.<\/p>\n

Cue Lindy Jazz and the rehabilitation of Eileen\u2019s twice broken knee!<\/p>\n

Not knowing what Lindy Hop was Eileen decided that \u201cit had to be a bit more exciting than the Waltz!\u201d<\/em> and went along for the ride. <\/i>She was terrified when she started the Durham class. With encouragement from Joo-Lee and Andy and some perseverance she\u2019s still here 7 years later\u2026 thank goodness, we don\u2019t know what we\u2019d do without her!<\/p>\n

Eileen swears doing Lindy Hop has made her knee 80% better than it was and puts this down to weight bearing during dancing as well as the Lindy Jazz atmosphere saying, \u201cEverybody\u2019s happy, everybody\u2019s smiling, you can\u2019t help smiling when you do Lindy. You come feeling depressed and half way through your mood has changed\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>As for favourite memories Eileen says she\u2019s got so many it\u2019s hard to choose! The first one that springs to mind is when she won the \u2018Jack and Jill\u2019 competition at Snowball, which she described as a brilliant experience. Funnily enough though she too mentions that first visit to ELX, also describing herself and Gillian as \u201cscared rabbits\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Eileen says if you\u2019re thinking of trying Lindy Jazz just give it a go but don\u2019t just come once, come for at least 6-weeks. She says that way you\u2019ll get to experience Balboa, Blues, Charleston and Lindy Hop, and how they intermingle with each other and help with your dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll make so many friends and it opens up a world of places to go, people to meet and things to do\u201d<\/em> plus it\u2019s good exercise. Eileen is literally a walking advert for why dancing is good for you and in her opinion it\u2019s a much better way to keep fit than the gym.<\/p>\n

Eileen\u2019s parting words? \u201cIf you\u2019ve got knee problems come to Lindy Jazz, it\u2019s medicinal!\u201d<\/em>
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  Meet Gillian… \u201cThe thing I like about it is that it\u2019s all ages. Everybody is just a dancer and I like that. It adds to the variety and the richness\u201d Gillian is a full-time Lindy Jazz volunteer\/teacher\/DJ\/ who enjoys dancing in a performance group-\u2018All That Jazz\u2019; making cards; baking and decorating cakes AND in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[41,63,26,34,56],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance","tag-charleston","tag-lindy-hop","tag-swing-dance","tag-swing-dance-durham","tag-wedding-dance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lindy-jazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}