Afterword

This is a large book, but it still only covers a fraction of the possibilities of Lindy Hop—so there are plenty of places to go from here.

  • Take classes. Each teacher has their own slant and style, and every class unveils new nuggets of information that will improve your dancing.
  • Dance with lots of different partners. Every dancer moves, acts and reacts in a different way, so dance with them and learn from them.
  • Try new combinations. Take one of the footwork variations, combine it with one of the Lindy Turn variations, and see if it works. Even just sticking to the variations covered in this book, there are a vast number of potential combinations.
  • Make up your own variations. Change the footwork, change the shape of the move, and invent something that no-one has seen before. If it doesn't fit within the over-neat classification and categorization of this book's structure, then good for you.
  • Watch other dancers. See if you can identify all of the moves they do, and if not try to figure out what they're doing differently.
  • Listen to the music. Discover more about the history of the music and how it interacts with the history of the dance, and try to improve your musical interpretation.
  • Join or set up a performance group. The skills needed for performance Lindy overlap with social Lindy Hop, but there are still a number of new skills needed—flashy show moves and airsteps, longer choreographed sequences, maintaining synchronization with the rest of a group (in both timing and style).
  • Try other dances. Like athletes who cross-train outside their sport, dancers who investigate other types of dance come back with an improved understanding and a different style. Other swing dance forms (West Coast Swing, Modern Jive, Boogie-Woogie etc.) are near relatives; further afield is a whole world of other partner dance forms (Salsa, Argentinian Tango, Meringue etc.) and non-partner dances (Hip-Hop, Tap, Line Dancing etc.).

Most of all, get out there and dance!

 
 

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