5 ms·

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime so

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.

viraptor 6y ago
At least one here :-) I've been to Herrang a few times as well, but unfortunately after Frankie Manning's retirement. I got to listen to Dawn Hampton though which was great. It's pretty popular with tech people (at least in Australian and UK circles) so I'm sure there are more of us on HN. (Herrang is a small village (pop 400) in Sweden which becomes an international swing dancing festival / camp for 5 weeks each summer) Frankie Manning has a good autobiography published - https://frankiemanning.com/book.php https://frankiemanning.com/book.php well worth reading for an idea of what his days looked like. He was at some historic events like battle of the bands with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Re. missing the dancing: I know it's not the same as the real thing, but have you tried joining some "local" zoom classes? I found it really fun to drop in to a random one across the world.
- any1 6y ago
  Yeah, Herräng is actually a big networking event for engineers and scientists disguised as a dance camp.
  - dumb1224 6y ago
    That's my experience when exploring locally...most of the people I met are from a very tech/scentific related area.
    - Tomte 6y ago
      It heavily depends on the city, of course. My scene seems to be dominated by teachers (the older participants) and social sciences/pedagogy/psychology people (the students): the local university is strong in those fields.
akdor1154 6y ago
Checking in from Melbourne, similarly missing it.
- agravier 6y ago
  Knowing Melbourne, there surely must be lindy hop groups.
  - akdor1154 6y ago
    There surely are, but we’re still in covid-control mode for a few things, and social dancing is probably one of the most effective infectious disease spreading activities I could imagine. :)
Darkstryder 6y ago
Lindy Hopper from France here! Looking forward to dance again... someday.
wdfx 6y ago
Yup! Took up learning before I got married, continued for 5 years after :)
- wdfx 6y ago
  The dancing that is... The marriage is still very much in progress
pathsjs 6y ago
Lindy hopper from Italy! We keep following some Zoom lessons, although it's not like the real thing, but at least we spend some time dancing! :-)
msluyter 6y ago
Was very much into it from like 1999-2008. Taught lindy classes locally for a number of years. Frankie, and notably Dawn Hampton as well, were huge inspirations. Until knee problems forced me to quit, lindyhop/dancing was probably the most joyful activity I've experienced.
CalChris 6y ago
Salsa. I did swing a long time ago and even did some ariels (which I've never done in salsa). Zoom classes ain't cutting it.
aldanor 6y ago
+1, lindy hopper from Dublin :)
jganetsk 6y ago
NYC lindy hopper here.
KerryJones 6y ago
Yep! I was Los Angeles based but traveled (including Herrang) and SF area now.
thangalin 6y ago
Danced the Lindy for nearly 20 years. About six months into it, I visited Herräng. Picture the main dance house: a huge spacious hardwood dance floor, cute decorations over the walls, a custom-built DJ booth at the back, and standing at the front was Dawn Hampton. Dawn was a short woman whose talents spanned dance, music, songwriting, and anything Cabaret. Her favourite song was Count Basie's Splanky. I had arrived at Herräng during setup week, and got to know some of the crew who run the show, plus a few secrets---password for free Internet, less-frequented shower areas, and to avoid laundry duty at all costs. Between the DJ booth and Dawn were countless dancers sitting, mostly cross-legged, eating up her every single word. So on that afternoon while Dawn was holding the crowd's attention, I was up in the DJ booth, gazing over everyone, a clear view of Dawn at the other end. When she asked, "Who wants to do Splanky with me?" nobody budged. It took me a half-second later to shout, "I do!" I launched myself off the platform, leap-frogged over people's heads, and managed to score a dance with Dawn Hampton to her favourite song. See when Dawn danced with you, she danced _with_ you. She held your gaze, recognized you as a person, played with you, back-led with you, showed you how to embody the music with your movements. She adapted to your level and made you look like a pro. She and Frankie Manning were Lindy Hop.
- froh 6y ago
  Dawn's "musicality" class in Herräng is legend. https://youtu.be/HYql477fb8w https://youtu.be/HYql477fb8w
- unimpossible 6y ago
  The really awesome part about Dawn (and musicality) was how open she was to the beat and the sound. One of my favorite videos is of her dancing to Bhangra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsTIp2KDfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsTIp2KDfc
froh 6y ago
Met my wife at lindy, grew together into balboa, blues, lindy, evolved into fusion groove swing, we miss social dancing, too. This snapshot video to me is nicely capturing the spirit of "what's lindy hop?" https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ
westopheles 6y ago
Swing dancer from Honolulu here -- primarily Balboa, followed by Lindy, Charleston, and Blues. Really looking forward to dancing again, which hopefully be safe again before too many more months go by.

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.

viraptor 6y ago

At least one here :-) I've been to Herrang a few times as well, but unfortunately after Frankie Manning's retirement. I got to listen to Dawn Hampton though which was great. It's pretty popular with tech people (at least in Australian and UK circles) so I'm sure there are more of us on HN. (Herrang is a small village (pop 400) in Sweden which becomes an international swing dancing festival / camp for 5 weeks each summer) Frankie Manning has a good autobiography published - https://frankiemanning.com/book.php https://frankiemanning.com/book.php well worth reading for an idea of what his days looked like. He was at some historic events like battle of the bands with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Re. missing the dancing: I know it's not the same as the real thing, but have you tried joining some "local" zoom classes? I found it really fun to drop in to a random one across the world.

any1 6y ago
Yeah, Herräng is actually a big networking event for engineers and scientists disguised as a dance camp.
- dumb1224 6y ago
  That's my experience when exploring locally...most of the people I met are from a very tech/scentific related area.
  - Tomte 6y ago
    It heavily depends on the city, of course. My scene seems to be dominated by teachers (the older participants) and social sciences/pedagogy/psychology people (the students): the local university is strong in those fields.

akdor1154 6y ago

Checking in from Melbourne, similarly missing it.

agravier 6y ago
Knowing Melbourne, there surely must be lindy hop groups.
- akdor1154 6y ago
  There surely are, but we’re still in covid-control mode for a few things, and social dancing is probably one of the most effective infectious disease spreading activities I could imagine. :)

Darkstryder 6y ago

Lindy Hopper from France here! Looking forward to dance again... someday.

wdfx 6y ago

Yup! Took up learning before I got married, continued for 5 years after :)

wdfx 6y ago
The dancing that is... The marriage is still very much in progress

pathsjs 6y ago

Lindy hopper from Italy! We keep following some Zoom lessons, although it's not like the real thing, but at least we spend some time dancing! :-)

msluyter 6y ago

Was very much into it from like 1999-2008. Taught lindy classes locally for a number of years. Frankie, and notably Dawn Hampton as well, were huge inspirations. Until knee problems forced me to quit, lindyhop/dancing was probably the most joyful activity I've experienced.

CalChris 6y ago

Salsa. I did swing a long time ago and even did some ariels (which I've never done in salsa). Zoom classes ain't cutting it.

aldanor 6y ago

+1, lindy hopper from Dublin :)

jganetsk 6y ago

NYC lindy hopper here.

KerryJones 6y ago

Yep! I was Los Angeles based but traveled (including Herrang) and SF area now.

thangalin 6y ago

Danced the Lindy for nearly 20 years. About six months into it, I visited Herräng. Picture the main dance house: a huge spacious hardwood dance floor, cute decorations over the walls, a custom-built DJ booth at the back, and standing at the front was Dawn Hampton. Dawn was a short woman whose talents spanned dance, music, songwriting, and anything Cabaret. Her favourite song was Count Basie's Splanky. I had arrived at Herräng during setup week, and got to know some of the crew who run the show, plus a few secrets---password for free Internet, less-frequented shower areas, and to avoid laundry duty at all costs. Between the DJ booth and Dawn were countless dancers sitting, mostly cross-legged, eating up her every single word. So on that afternoon while Dawn was holding the crowd's attention, I was up in the DJ booth, gazing over everyone, a clear view of Dawn at the other end. When she asked, "Who wants to do Splanky with me?" nobody budged. It took me a half-second later to shout, "I do!" I launched myself off the platform, leap-frogged over people's heads, and managed to score a dance with Dawn Hampton to her favourite song. See when Dawn danced with you, she danced _with_ you. She held your gaze, recognized you as a person, played with you, back-led with you, showed you how to embody the music with your movements. She adapted to your level and made you look like a pro. She and Frankie Manning were Lindy Hop.

froh 6y ago
Dawn's "musicality" class in Herräng is legend. https://youtu.be/HYql477fb8w https://youtu.be/HYql477fb8w
unimpossible 6y ago
The really awesome part about Dawn (and musicality) was how open she was to the beat and the sound. One of my favorite videos is of her dancing to Bhangra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsTIp2KDfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsTIp2KDfc

froh 6y ago

Met my wife at lindy, grew together into balboa, blues, lindy, evolved into fusion groove swing, we miss social dancing, too. This snapshot video to me is nicely capturing the spirit of "what's lindy hop?" https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ

westopheles 6y ago

Swing dancer from Honolulu here -- primarily Balboa, followed by Lindy, Charleston, and Blues. Really looking forward to dancing again, which hopefully be safe again before too many more months go by.