Lindy Hop! Level 1

Rusty Frank, Lindy, Disks 1 and 2:

These DVDs, 1 and 2 of three in this “beginners” series, are pretty good.

Disk 1 is nearly all six-count moves and disk 2 is mostly 8-count moves – which is probably the best order to do things in... The series is light-hearted, informative, and well intentioned in shaping beginner dancers to be good dancers; Rusty, for example, includes sections on etiquette, lead and follow, and so forth that most disks skip or barely touch on. And, it’s pretty clear what you’re doing and how to do it - up to a point.

Yep, there are some problems here... The posture and speed of the instruction and the demonstration dancing is, I think, a bit misleading, as is the “generic 8-count Swing Out” taught on disk 2. Lindy is usually faster, more energetic, and more spontaneous than what you see in these two disks. That, in the long run, may cause some problems for people who practice hard at home only to be “blown away” on the dance floor.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to get the disks, learn the moves and their names, and then try dancing what you’re learning to faster Swing music. Perhaps then some of the problems with moving faster in the same space, and dealing with breaks in the music, your partners “new” ideas and so forth, will help you move from the “easy way” this dance is presented, into a “real world” set of actions that will hold up, “out there.”

Teaching beginners is tough; being a beginner is even tougher. These two disks present a fun approach to the dance; an informative approach to the dance; and a good beginning to the dance – and 40 moves. They just fall a little short of how physical the dance is/can be.

I think they are worth a bit of your time; the continual “tips” on how to hold your arms, etc., is exactly what every beginner needs to hear at least a thousand times and, no doubt about it, they name and demonstrate each standard move very clearly. Just keep in mind that this is a very “nice” way to present a “lively” dance and plan up upping your game after you learn the moves and get out on the dance floor with the music and a partner.

In Disk 3, which I haven’t viewed, move “5” is “Polishing the Swing Out,” “14” is the Hollywood Swing Out, and “19” is the “Savoy Swing Out.” Could be that most of my concerns are addressed in the last DVD. If so I just wish they’d been presented much sooner in the series. The good news is you can rent them all at once – so there you are!