From Bristol Lindy Exchange to Turkey Darts

This weekend I have been to Bristol Lindy Exchange for five whole days of dancey wonder. After weekends like this I am always hyped up on Swing. It astonishes me that partner dancing has somehow stopped being mainstream sometime around and after the 50s. Did people just decide it was more fun to dance on their own? Utter madness.

Or perhaps, did feminism start to out-mode the partner dances?  It is slightly frustrating sometimes and requires a kind of submissive compliance probably at odds to increasing sexual equality to be always doing whatever your lead wants, with normally little scope for creativity except for styling. This is why I like to follow *and* lead: so that sometimes *I* can control what moves fit the music and the energy of the dance. (Saying this following is great too, and it is wonderfully satisfying to follow well, but I think this may be a slightly more post-feminist view. Prog-feminism).

But surely it’s loads more fun to just lead as a lady or follow as a guy than to abandon the idea completely? Or was it not yet acceptable for a woman to act a man’s role and vice versa and the world needed a few decades of sexual equalisation before we were able to discuss leads and follows instead? 

And the progression is definitely not complete. I know lots of ladies who lead, but only a handful of men who are comfortable and get regular practise. I have heard men say they’d like to follow, but they’d worry that they’d make the leads uncomfortable. I have also heard some people tell others than men shouldn’t follow, “it’s just wrong.”

NO! Get over it! Men! Break free of your shackles and be gender-liberated! It’s loads more fun to have the freedom to vary your role, and even if it’s just a learning method, it’ll improve your leading tons. Freedom for men! Be inspired by this picture:

 Um. Wait. No.
This one!

Yes that one. Feel the gender freedom. But I recommend not burning your underwear. You may feel the gender freedom a bit more, but there's a time and a place for that.

Perhaps it’s much simpler than this, and it is characteristic of younger generations to eschew the practices of their parents and grandparents. This is why no-one in my year at school was called Gladys, Ethel or Doris, and why these days mullets only ever really happen by accident. Was swing dancing their embarrassing dad disco dancing equivalent?

These things do tend to come full circle though. When the original Ethels, Bertholds and Mabels, in their small print floral dresses (maybe not Berthold), smelling of lavender, sitting on ancient sofas covered in doily, are yesterday’s obituaries and long past needing their lilac rinses refreshed, people begin to look back on their hay-day with nostalgia and romance, and forget the less attractive ancient Ethel.

My youngest sister is called Amelia Frances. I was surprised when I was little because I thought this was an old lady name (sorry Milly). But no. It turns out there are now quite a few little Amelias. I was wrong. This was clearly the transition. She and I now wear small print floral dresses, and actually, I really *like* lavender. I also have a top made of about 20% doily.

So none of this rambling is conclusive, and all just my musings. But basically I am explaining my reasons for believing that the time is ripe for swing to retake the world.

Simples. Rally the dance troops!

(On that subject I want to be part of a dance troop! (not one with designs on world-domination) But it’s not going to work brilliantly at the moment, as things like that, where there is selectivity required, are a recipe for social disaster. There’ll always be people who think they should be in something they shouldn’t, or people who are borderline, or people who have not been selected when they should have been, all kinds of political and emotional horrors. The only way I think we could manage it was if someone who was clearly already in charge organised it. E.g. Christi and Paul in Edinburgh’s dance troop will work because they already have that position of authority. This basically means one of about 4 teachers in Leeds and I doubt this will happen. So we shall be troop-less.)

Back to exchanges: Exchanges are awesome. I wish we had one, but I’m not sure we have the market for both http://www.fsosleeds.com/ and a Leeds Lindy eXchange. And other people seem to think this too unfortunately, because it would be *awesome*. I wish every weekend was an exchange weekend. I would be a lot fitter too which would fab. Although my calves may end up the width of my waist. Which would not be fab.

So on the canal boat at Bristol LX we were discussing swing-ish songs which are disgusting. Yesterday I found this, it is called “Here comes the snake”. Oh dear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DuKryUfa6Q

At least The Spinach Song was relatively disguised. I am still able to mostly think about iron rich edible leaves when listening to it.

I just tried to find an amusing video to link to you to enjoy, but in fact I just intensely disturbed myself by typing in something suggested to me by Seb Sikora. Bad Seb. I shall link something very different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXoYK4b_q24&feature=fvw

This idea was inspired by Raulph Lauren, who have brought out a range of men's fragrences called, "The Big Pony Collection". Yes. I can see the logic... "What to girls like...? Um... Chocolate... Shopping... OH OH PONIES!" "Yes! Ponies! You're a genius". Presuably then someone in the marketing team involved a male preoccupation with size, and ta daa!

I hope they smell of different types of steaming wet horse. That would be very hot. "The Big Pony Collection" comes in four different scents. I hoped that one would be like "fallabella", but in fact they are things adventure, seduction, etc.

fallabella pony

This one is made brilliant by the inclusion of Turkey Darts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBWMGRD_pc&feature=related

 Massive love to everyone, esp if you went on Bristol Lindy Exchange.

 xxxxx