Overview
Workshops
Class Descriptions
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Levels
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1 - Intermediate/Advanced Hollywood Style Lindy Hop Techniques
2 - Beginners Collegiate Shag - Part 1
3 - Intermediate/Advanced Balboa
4 - Charleston
5 - Intermediate Balboa
6 - Intermediate Lindy Hop
7 - Beginner Balboa
8 - Beginner Collegiate Shag - Part 2
Balboa:
Balboa is a form of swing dance that started as early as 1915 and gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is led with a full body connection. The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, like weight shifts, that most viewers cannot see. As a result, Balboa is considered more of a "dancer's dance" than a "spectator's dance".
Collegiate Shag:
Today the term "Collegiate Shag" is most often used in reference to a kind of double shag that is believed to have originated in New York during the 1930s. To call the dance "collegiate shag" was not as common during the swing era as it is today, but when it was used (as it was with other vernacular dances of the time) it was meant to indicate the style of the dance that was popular amongst the college crowd. This name later became somewhat standard in the latter part of the 20th century, presumably because it helped to distinguish the dance from other contemporary dances that share the "shag" designation (e.g., Carolina Shag).
Charleston:
Today Charleston is an important dance in Lindy Hop dance culture, danced in many permutations: alone (solo), with a partner or in groups of couples or solo dancers. The basic step allows for a vast range of variations and improvisation. Both the 1920s and Swinging Charleston styles are popular today, though swinging Charleston is more commonly integrated into Lindy Hop dancing.
Hollywood Style Lindy Hop:
Hollywood-style Lindy Hop is a variety of Lindy Hop, an American vernacular dance. It is also sometimes referred to as Dean Collins or Smooth-style, but these terms also sometimes refer to different styles of Lindy Hop.
Hollywood is the style seen in 1930s and 1940s movies. It was danced by Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Hal Takier, Jean Veloz and others.[citation needed] It was reconstructed from these movies in the late 1990s by Erik Robison and Sylvia Skylar. They were the first to call it "Hollywood Style".[1] The swingout (the basic step of Lindy) is danced in a position often described as someone about to sit on a stool, thereby bringing their center point of balance closer to the ground. This piked position is the classic look of Hollywood with the back straight and a slight forward tilt. The Hollywood style is also a slotted dance, meaning the follower travels in a straight line instead of the more elliptical or circular Savoy-style Lindy Hop.
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