Swinging out?

Swing/blues dance community, you disgust me!

Ok, not everyone. But enough people to make me feel sick to my stomach sometimes.

I never thought I would be expressing these feelings but I have come to a breaking point where I am not enjoying dancing as much. I love dancing, it's a lot of fun. However, this year it has become evident to me that the swing and blues community isn't what it should be. I have experienced swing dancing in 5 different cities, and in each city a degree level of cliquishness. In some cities it is more prevalent than others. I wish not to say which cities I consider more clique than others. But this certainly makes dancing in certain places more difficult and less enjoyable than others.

I don't take lessons. I hang out with pretty much the same groups. I don't ask new people to dance as often as I should. I have preferences in dancers and dance songs. All the classic signs of a dance snob. However, I don't have time or money to take lessons. I never turn down a dance with a newb unless I'm really tired. And when I do turn a dance down for said reason, I will dance with them later. I do have preferences in dancers, as many people do, but I will dance with anyone because it's fun to meet new people and have a really good time for 3-5 minutes. And some songs I just can't groove to. Yes, I can be a dance snob but at least I know and am doing my best to fix that.

I have certainly encountered dancers and dance cliques whom I feel they think they are all that. They enter a venue with a "high" stance, and sometimes just walk right in like they are an important asset to a venue. They have a certain "clientele" of dancing partners that they would rather dance with and sometimes only dance with them. They have high expectations of other dancers (for example: level of expertise), and/or dance events. And when they dance with others who might not be at the same level as they are, I feel there is little to no content to it and dance out of sympathy or guilt. Some may even talk bad about other dancers. (Though I realize this blog is doing something similar.) Many will only hang out with people of their caliber. And from what I've heard, some dancers expect to be escorted off the dance floor as to avoid having someone else asking them to dance. As well as asking to leave an old group of friends behind. I have not experienced this but other dancers I know have. There may be more attributes that can be considered snobbish that I have not stated here but to sum it all up: This is truly bothering! Again, I may be clearly wrong but these are the impressions I've been getting from a handful of people and again: disgusted!

I am not talking about the whole swing/blues dance community. I am only talking about a handful of people in it. It only takes one person to ruin a perfectly good party. It is your attitude, your snobbishness, that is making my enjoyment of my favorite hobby/activity less enjoyable.

Aside from snobbishness, there are cliques that make others feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. While we may have a certain group of friends within a certain scene, some of these groups of friends have certain attitudes that make the scene look bad and give some dancers the wrong impression about the scene, which doesn't bring the dancing any justice. I feel like there has been too much drama or even self involvement created in some of these scenes that I just do not wish to go back even if some of my favorite dancers are from there. Aren't we doing this to be open, have fun and avoid drama?

This is not what dancing is all about. It is not what Frankie Manning would have wanted out of the community, and not the message that Dawn Hampton and Norma Miller are trying to convey. I do not believe this is unavoidable. Everything is avoidable if we know what we are aware of what we're doing and what we are getting into. Dancing is about having a good time, meeting new people whether they are new to the dancing, or the location, making them feel comfortable, and not stray away from what the true meaning of dancing.

I recently watched a video by Charleston Alley of Dawn Hampton and she explained swing dancing. In the first 20 seconds she said "I think the people do not understand the spirituality that's associated with swing dancing." And I hold this to be true, even amongst certain swing/blues dancers. Dancing is a very spiritual thing for many people, myself included.

I will continue to dance, drama and self-involvement free because dance is spiritual and hella fun! Until next time, see you on the dance floor.

-Alex