punkassjim

doingthelindyhop:

I get frustrated because I don’t have a big bag of tricks yet and sometimes I think I am boring the follow because of this.

Don’t worry too much about building your arsenal of moves just yet. The two most important things to get engrained into your brain in the beginning are these:

1. Just have fun. Look at your partner as much as you’re comfortable with, and smile. Laugh at fun things that happen, and laugh off the little mistakes. Fun is why you’re there. She won’t be bored as long as you’re engaged with her and bringing some joy to the dance. Don’t apologize unless you’ve accidentally bonked her in the head or something. Losing the tempo or screwing up a move are not apology-worthy.
2. Listen to the music. You’ll be tempted to pay too much attention to the moves. Sure, be careful not to step on your partner, and sure, give some attention to connection and form…but try to make the music just as much of a focal point as your partner. As your dancing gets more advanced, you’ll start taking classes that focus on musicality, and improvising to the nuances of the music. It helps if you start really listening to the nuances of the music early on.

Yay! Another lindy hopper!