Croydon Swing Dancing Classes

Hi Croydon!

Steph and I had another fantastic evening and we were pleased that so many of you were there! The Beginner’s class continued brilliantly with 6 count footwork, and Level 2 were looking great with their Charleston moves.  Notes on what we did are below as usual.

Next week Grace will be back with a guest teacher to carry on your swing dance journey! Steph and I want to say a big “thank you” to you all for making us feel so welcome at SP Croydon and we look forward to seeing you all on a dance floor soon.

See you soon,

Chris & Steph

Last Week (Wed 25 Aug)

Beginners (Level 1)

We continued with our 6 count with pumps, and did the following moves:

Tuck Turn – Leaders, starting in the closed position, open the follower out to your right on the “step, step”; then bring her in front of you during the first “pump land”, raising your left hand high as you do so.  On the final “pump land” turn the follower out using your right hand on her back to do so.  The follower turns clockwise, and you end up facing each other in open position.

American Spin (aka Free Spin) – This is the one where the follower does a free spin in open position.  Leaders – you need to bring the follower towards you on the 2 and 3, raising your hand palm up to build up some spring tension between the two of you.  Then use the 4 to push through to send the follower around in an clockwise spin.  During all of this, both the leader and the follower do their normal footwork – step, step, pump, land, pump, land.

She Goes, He Goes – Like the Pass By we did last week, but the leaders also do a turn. Leaders after the rock step bring the follower forward raising the left hand on the pump land to ‘change places’ with the follower on the next pump land. Followers will do a half turn to the right.  Leaders though, on the final pump land, turn through the gap your arm has created so that you add in a turn to the left.

Under Arm Bring In – Leaders, as you bring the follower in raise your hand and draw it from your left to your right, to turn the follower to their left.  End up in closed position.

Level 2

We started by refreshing our Charleston connection using the Tap Behind move – rock, step as normal but creating some space between the two of you, then the leader turns you both towards each other as you kick land.  Then the leader initiates a tap on 5.  We talked about the difference between finishing this move off – either tap on 5, hold and step back on 7; or you can tap 5 and then slide backwards through 6, 7 and 8.  The leader can signal the difference by leading with their body – the two have different “feels” to them!

We then did a travelling Charleston combination of moves which starts from the side-by-side Charleston position.  The first eight counts went as normal up to 4, but the leader raises both your hands to create a window in front of you both (framed with both the leader’s and the follower’s arms).  You then both turn through the window and outwards on the “kick and kick land” that happens 5 to 8, ending up facing the opposite direction to where you started.

The second eight then continues with the normal Charleston footwork, but with the difference being the leader is on the right of the followers. Lead the rock step, then travel forwards on 3 and 4.  During 5 and 6, creating a sweeping and turning motion to turn you towards each other and back so that you are facing the direction you started the whole sequence with.  Finish the move in the normal side-by-side position.

Remember, during these moves you’re always doing the regular side-by-side Charleston footwork!  

We worked on a variation for the above two moves. Firstly Russ’s variation where he added in a basic between the above two eights – a great little variation which definitely tests whether you’re leading and following! The second variation was in the second eight, adding a spin (with both the leader and follower turning outwards), during the 3 to 8.  You then need to use a third eight to kick forward on 1 and 2, then turn on 3 and 4 – with the leader catching the follower’s back as you turn so you can lead back into the normal side-by-side position during 5 to 8.

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 Our Croydon teachers Alan & Grace