Why I choose Lindy Hop

I guess I should start off with why I choose to dance Lindy Hop primarily, and why I am called a Lindy Hopper over the multitude of other dances that I have danced in the past and that I may call upon in my form.

Lindy Hop is an American dance and is native to its culture. It has grown to become an international phenomenon, as I see the many people from other countries at swing dance events and exchanges, as well as a sizeable ballroom audience penetration as well (seen by the creation of the American Rhythm ballroom dance East Coast Swing). I study Lindy Hop as part of my personal desire to learn the general culture I grew up in and my pride in being an American, not by birth, but by my engagement in its culture, especially that of music and dance.

From an early age (exact age unknown), I pursued dances of many types, including Modern, Jazz, and social ones like Salsa, Country, Rumba, Foxtrot, etc. I liked a lot of them, but I came to learn Lindy Hop and love it with a passion that I have held for no other dance before.

All the other dances are fun and all, but Lindy Hop holds amazing flexibility in its feel and adaptability. If you give me a very light-hearted song, I can dance with so much charm you'd swear I was giving off sparkles. If you give me a slow and dark song, I can milk every beat and animate the music. If you give a sensual song, I can reflect that in the dance even in open position. I was never able to express sensuality even after years of Foxtrot, yet I could feel electricity in the fingertips of a follow's hand within months of dancing Lindy hop.

I view dance as an expression of the music, and jazz dance most closely exemplifies that view. As I have been a musician for all of my life, I am intimately familiar with music, its making, and the structure that defines it. Like jazz music, which is free in every way that fits in the jazz structure, jazz dancing is free in every way that fits in its structure- in other words, the dancer and the musician (should one choose to make a distinction) is free to be organic and natural in their pursuit of the music and the dance.

Another major thing that also stands out to me is that Lindy hop is NATURAL. Its posture and movements all make sense in an everyday context. Every mood and emotion can be expressed in vernacular jazz, and one's body language becomes part of one's dance. I never knew how to quite express myself with my back arched, head held aloft and slightly to the left, right hand at a 45 degree, and arm locked out to the horizontal. There's no day-to-day equivalent for that position.
The Lindy hop stance is athletic and its motions come from the core, just like a well-balanced person. As one does not try to move a 60-70kg object with solely the strength in the arm, one also does not try to yank a follow with the arms, but moves her using the strength in the core. Movements are initiated with weight changes, much like running. One can theoretically lead anyone into dancing Lindy Hop without too much difficulty or stepping on feet.

Lastly, Lindy Hop is a very communicative dance. You cannot dance Lindy Hop by yourself. there is almost equal communication given by the lead and the follow to each other, and the dance is driven by both. The lead does not dominate the dance, but leads the follow into various conversation pieces where the follow can add her own input and styling with tremendous flexibility without affecting the lead. It is in Lindy Hop that I truly find the old axiom, "Dance is a conversation," to be true.

It is for these reasons that I choose to dance Lindy Hop and have come to embrace its related dances in Vernacular Jazz Dance. I continue to study dance in form, technique, and history to this day, and it is an inherent and undeniable part of me.

-Jesse