Learn Swing Dance! Lindy Hop for Beginners: Charleston Rhythm (Class 1 of 6)

Welcome to our Lindy Hop for Beginners video lesson. This is a "home edition" class - our goal is to give you as much of our regular Lindy Hop class experience as possible.

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Is there a difference between “Swing” and “Lindy Hop”?
Our answer is: no! Well, sort of ;) Lindy hop is part of a family of swing dances such as Charleston, Shag, Balboa, Blues and others. In this video, introduce you to Charleston rhythms that fit beautifully on faster Jazz music. If you're interested in other rhythms, check out our other video: "Lindy Hop for Beginners: Triple Step Rhythm"    • Learn Swing Dance! Lindy Hop for Begi...  

In this video, we jump straight into warming up and practicing dance steps. If you're new to Lindy Hop, we also want you to know that Lindy Hop is a dance that comes from Black American culture; knowing more about its history will help you appreciate what you're learning so much more. For that, we've prepared a series of short videos that give you an introduction into important topics in the history of Lindy Hop.: https://swingstep.com/courses/history...

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This is Class 1 of 6 in our online Swing 1 course. If you want to keep learning swing dance with us, you can continue your Lindy Hop for Beginners course with an Online Pass. You’ll have access to our full Swing 1 course, and much more!

full access to our Lindy Hop for Beginners courses, as well as all our other online courses! That’s 90+ hours of instruction videos, including both partnered Lindy Hop and solo classes.

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We have more than 90 hours of online classes for all levels of dancers: Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz, Musicality Training, even Skills and Drills that leaders and followers can practice on their own without a partner :)

Check out https://swingstep.com/classes/online-... and get started right away!

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:26 Slows
05:15 Quicks
05:47 Mixing Slows & Quicks
07:45 A word on dance roles
08:39 Footwork structure: 2 Slows 2 Quicks
10:14 Footwork structure: 4 Slows 2 Quicks
11:09 Both versions to music
12:40 Visual clues to follow along
15:24 Tip for Follows: clear weight shifts
19:08 Closed position: V-shape
21: 54 Different patterns to music
24:05 Mix it up!
26:38 Hopper's Dictionary: Jockeys
27:35 Hopper's Dictionary: 6-count basic
28:03 Hopper's Dictionary: Rock Step
30:47 Watch and Try: Rotation
32:48 Tip for Leads
34:54 Tip for Follows
36:25 Kicks
38:15 Tip: Keep the pulse on every beat
39:48 Kicks in basic footwork - solo
42:19 Kicks in basic footwork - partnered
43:43 Tip for relaxed kicks
46:54 How to communicate different movements
52:45 The Freeze
01:00:08 Let's play: Heel-Toes
01:03:45 Practice sequence



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** SwingStep also offers: **
Online Lindy Hop Training from Beginner to Advanced https://swingstep.com/classes/online-...

Online Teachers Training Program for Dancers https://swingstep.com/classes/teacher/

Local Lindy Hop lessons in Heidelberg https://swingstep.com/classes/heidelb...

Festivals and Events: https://swingstep.com/events/

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Lindy Hop is a Black American artform; knowing more about its cultural heritage will help you appreciate what you're learning so much more. Here are a few resources to get you started.

The History and Culture page on our website includes a series of short videos that give you an introduction into important topics in the history of Lindy Hop:
https://swingstep.com/courses/history...

The Lindy Hop and Anti-Racism page is about where we are now as a global Lindy Hop community and what you can do to honour the culture of the dance, plus links to other organisations actively working on these issues so you can find out more and support them:
https://swingstep.com/this-is-swing/l...
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