Each week reporter Jeff Darge searches campus for a new club to join.
Dancing is a bit of a daunting task, like most art forms. To get out and put yourself on display might be scary, but it can also prove to be very rewarding. That is why I decided to dance with the devils in Gilbert with ASU's swing dancing club, the Swing Devils.
To get a better feel for the club, I actually did not go to one of Swing Devils events at ASU. This is because while the Swing Devils are an ASU club, they also act as ASU's connection to Phoenix's swing dancing community. Many of the events are not necessarily put on by the club, rather, the club participates to non-ASU swing events.
This is how I found myself in Gilbert's Bold Roost Espresso Bar and Cafe. The floor of the coffeehouse had been cleared to give a dance floor the size of most living rooms and loud jazz played over the shop's speakers to encourage "social dancing," where dancers walk up to each other at the beginning of songs to ask if the other would like to dance.
The event itself, described by a few as a smaller swing event, had about 15 people in attendance. Some dancers were older, some were high school students and some were Swing Devils. I got the feeling that the swing community is tightly knit; it seemed like everyone already knew each other.
This is not to say that the community is exclusive. I was asked if I would like to dance within ten minutes of arriving. I had to disappoint a few people by admitting that I just had no idea what I would be doing.
This led me to a position that I've been in often while visiting a new club; standing in abject fear. This time, it was due to the knowledge that I would soon be swing dancing despite the fact that I would look like a robot. (Ironically enough, I look surprisingly human when I dance the robot.)
I walked up to business junior Sarah Winch, Swing Devils president, and she showed me a few basics of swing dancing. I eventually told her that I was ready to give it the old college try.
When starting out, I chose to follow instead of lead because leading sounds very daunting and I had only arrived a half hour before. Granted, it made dancing a bit awkward because of the notable height difference between Winch and myself. I had to find a way to awkwardly contort my arm so I could place my hand on her closest shoulder, which is not an easy task considering we were standing right next to each other and I was about seven inches taller.
Despite an awkward height difference, I was able to learn the basic foot pattern of the dance. The movement that swing tends to follow is planting and pivoting one's feet to a beat described as "one-and-two-and-one-two-three." This pattern, which lasts about four seconds, took me the better part of an hour to understand.
When I finally got the pattern down, I made a sudden realization: If this is the root of swing dancing, then everything that I was watching was being improvised.
I was shown a few follow moves, and had a greater realization for this improvisation. I learned that all of my reactions have to be based on cues from the lead that take the form of light shoves in certain direction. The lead shoves, and the follow responds. To swing dance, you must develop an understanding of these cues.
Nowhere did I see this understanding on better display than when I watched Winch and club Vice President Nicholas Tran, computer science junior, dance. To say they moved with grace would be cliched, and does not do the duo justice. However, they moved with such an understanding of each other that one might be mistaken to believe that the dance was structured. They moved like professional dancers.
The event began to dwindle down and people began to wish each other a good night. I made my way to Winch's car, which was my ride home, and I was able to talk to both Winch and Tran about swing dancing and the night that had just finished up.
Winch told me about her experience in dance. She said it did wonders to boost her confidence. She was a shy individual at the beginning of college and says she overcame this through swing.
Both love the social aspect of swing and the community that it exists in in Tempe.
When it came to my fear of looking like a bad dancer, Tran lent me a piece of advice: "If you mess up and no one gets hurt, it's just a new move."
I'm very proud to say that I invented a number of new swing dancing techniques during the night. If I could describe the experience of swing dancing and its improvisation style, I think it would be "all in good fun."
Those interested in getting a beginning lesson in swing from the Swing Devils should check out their beginner lessons on Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the Sun Devil Fitness Complex on the Tempe campus. Those with a little more experience can check out the intermediate and advanced lessons, now taught by Winch and Tran, on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m., also in the SDFC.
Related Links:
Kat’s Korner swing dancing venue takes dancers back to The Golden Age
Reach the reporter at jdarge@asu.edu or follow @jeffdarge on Twitter.
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