You may have it down pat at the venues you frequent: you know the other dancers, you know the bands, you know the floor. It gets to be so easy after a while! You go out, meet your friends and dance your face off. You know pretty much what to expect (aside from surprise pecking), …
Category Archives: Blog
The Buzz: Tips for Growing Your Lindy Hop
– My Own Personal Journey Howdy folks! Firstly, just a quick note that my tips and methodology on how I grew as a Lindy Hopper are what worked for me. You might find they work for you a lot, a little, or not at all. I only hope the following words can be of some …
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The Buzz: Can I get Frim Fram Sauce on That?
Anyone who knows me knows that I love listening to swingin’ jazz, I love to swing dance, and I love to cook delicious vegetarian food. I’m in good company; there are lots of vegetarian and vegan Lindy Hoppers here in Toronto as well as abroad. In fact, quite a few of the Bee Keepers (a.k.a …
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The Buzz: An Introvert’s Guide to de-Wallflowering
I Can Has Lindy Hopz? It was almost exactly a year ago this weekend that I finally faced my fears and went for it… I asked a stranger to dance. A bit of backstory perhaps. Like many swing dancers, I’m an introvert. A shy introvert. Big time. I can easily tuck that behind a blanket …
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The Buzz: Music for the (young) Lindy (grass) Hopper
One question we frequently get from level 1 students is “where can I get music good for practicing”? The easy answer is to look for swing era jazz. Jazz from the 1930s. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb. Great artists from the swing era but the library of material from these …
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The Buzz: Musicality – Understanding the Band, Part 1
Musicality is one of the most important elements of the dance we all do, but it’s also the most difficult element to teach. Some people believe that it’s something you either have or you don’t, but this is simply not true. It is, however, more difficult to illustrate because it involves training your ears and …
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The Buzz: Kick-start Your Improvement
– The Myths and Facts of Getting Good Fast When any dancer decides they would like to pursue Lindy Hop more seriously they inevitably want to “get good” really quickly, and through this desire many people fall prey to comparing themselves to other dancers. The fact of the matter is that some people learn faster than …
The Buzz: Getting Started as a Swing DJ
When I started DJing for swing dancers I was pretty nervous. Like most beginner DJs I worried that I’d play a song and the dancefloor would clear. At a swing dance, all attention is on the music and if it isn’t right, it’s your fault as a DJ. It feels like a strangely vulnerable position …
The Buzz: Putting Toronto on the Map
– A How-to guide for self-coached teams Since late 2013, I have had the pleasure to work with a group of fabulous dancers in the troupe That Swing! Many of us felt that working towards a big goal would help push our dancing and to help us to develop as a team. No one from our …
The Buzz: In Depth – The BKD Curriculum
In the months leading up to September the new partnership at the helm of Bees Knees Dance has been all abuzz. From finding our new home(s), to getting the word out, to deciding the new fee structure, we’ve done our best to really maintain what makes BKD an amazing school and introduction to the Swing …