If you're a dance lover, and swing is on your list of learning styles, after reading this post about the swing steps for beginners, you're sure to start those long awaited classes.
Swinging is a very social and joyful dance that allows you to move your body naturally, meet new people every day and enjoy a different, fun and forever. For this reason, we have taken the time to select 6 of the basic swing steps that will allow you to learn this dance from scratch.
From now on, we want you to be the one who wears vintage clothes (or not) and enjoys a swing song as a couple practicing your new moves.
We want you to feel the music and to be able to express it with your own body. That's why at go&dance we always invite you to dance wherever you are.
And today, swing dancing!
Get ready, now we'll show you the basic swing steps (some of them, as there are many of them) so you can start warming up in this vintage style step by step!
Do you know how to dance the Swing style?
In case you didn't know, swing is a dance style that comes from the 1920s and 1930s. It is danced in pairs and is characterized by being a dance style that is danced by "little jumps".
The most important thing is to learn the basic pass with the flow of swing music, and from there, although there is also technique in the steps, the key is to let the body flow and move.
It's a very cheerful and fluid style.
Want to know more about the way he dances it?
Pict by boogieKalendar.ch
Here are 5 of the basic steps you need to know to dance SWING
It's 5 steps but there are actually many more. We always recommend that if you want to learn to dance well, you sign up for a dance academy or school where they offer swing classes for all levels and close to you.
#1. Basic 6-Step Swing Step
The key to the basic swing step is the swing.
The swing has a basic 6-stroke step and a basic 8-stroke step. Next, we explain the basic step of 6 beats and then the 8 beats.
Make a setback with two beats, then mark step 3 and 4 with the same foot forward, and then mark step 5 and 6 with the opposite foot backward and repeat the series successively.
Would you like to try it?
2# - 8-Step Basic Swing Step
After you have learned the 6-stroke step you can learn the 8-stroke step so that you can combine them on the track. Here's the basic 8-stroke step.
The basic 8-stroke step is marked in the same way as the 6-stroke step, but after the first four steps another setback is marked on the opposite side and then two steps back are marked by 6 and 7.
The chain of this 8-stroke basic is setback (1 and 2), step forward (3 and 4 with the same foot), setback starting with the opposite foot (5 and 6) and two more steps backwards marking the (7 and 8).
Once you have internalized the steps, you have to mark them to the rhythm of the swing and they are marked with little jumps, don't forget to add a touch of flow to your swing style!
3# - Single Step of Swing
First, two steps are marked, one on the left and one on the right and then the setback, and so on.
It is very important to be able to internalize this step well as it is used constantly in the different combinations of swing steps, and especially when marking step changes.
So you know, start practicing in front of the mirror in your house or while you're walking down the street.
#4 - Girl's turn at the basic pass
After learning the basics they play the twists and turns and is that the twists are one of the most popular figures in any dance style.
It marks a setback, and then the boy marks a twist to the 2-stroke girl with the same foot and 2 more steps are marked with the opposite foot to back off.
As you can see, the steps are very simple, and in all the figures you always have to keep the basic count of 6 or 8 depending on the figure.
#5 - Displacement at the waist or what are called "promenades"
You start by marking a setback and then the couple goes around with 2 steps and sliding their arms around the waist, and to finish the series you mark another setback and you can chain it with the basic swing step.
As we have already mentioned, the grace in marking the steps of the swing is the swinging, and this will always be in accordance with the musicality.
And so that you can practice everything we have taught you, we are going to recommend 2 top places to dance swing in one of our favorite dance capitals: Barcelona.
Although we also recommend that you directly search our list of places to dance and filter by your location the style you want lindy hop, balboa, blues, swing...
Pict by shbarcelona.es
- Sala Apolo: this famous discotheque opens the doors of the swing one Sunday of every month receiving the Barcelona Jazz Orquestra and its Jazz & Swing evenings.
- Harlem Jazz Club: 22:00 they organize every Tuesday at 22:00 a jam of blues, swing and early jazz that will take you back to the 20s and 30s all at once. Don't forget to use your best vintage outfit.
And to finish our post we'll share this short video where you can see several couples enjoying their swing, and yes! The 1920's are back to the present day: swing is not just part of the story, swing is a fashionable dance style!
It's amazing to see how a style can be danced with such fluidity and at the same time be transmitted in such a simple and attractive way, are you sure you want to dance too?
What do you call the Swing steps you learned first?
Now it's your turn. Tell us in the comments which steps you learned first and share your story by learning to swing with us.
