On Friday, September 28
th, 2012, I received my
first swing dance lesson. While I would never have voluntarily done something
such as this (mainly because I am convinced that despite appearing to be
normal, I actually have two left feet), it was during English class so I had
little choice in the matter.
Friday morning before school, as I was putting on my shoes with the
least tread, as instructed by Ms.
Guerrard, my mom asked me why were swing dancing in class, and
that was when I realized that I actually did not know the answer.
As
I walked into the cafeteria, only slightly tardy, I saw Ms. Guerrard
instructing all of us how to do the basic step. We were split into two groups,
the leaders and the followers. The first thing we did, was a little bit of a
warm up by bending out knees. After that we were taught a simple rock back. As
a follower, we stepped back with our right foot and transferred our weight from
the front foot to the back foot. We repeated this motion a few times before
adding the next step. Ms. Guerrard showed us a triple step that we would do. We
then practiced this move. Each time we learned a new step, we would repeat it
without the music, and then with the music several times to assure that we
correctly completed the step. After we completed it, she would add on a small
piece.
Once
we had gotten the first few basic steps down, we proceeded by repeating the
process with a partner. Because we are young and awkward with people of the
opposite sex and dancing, it took us a while to warm up and be able to laugh at
ourselves as we looked like complete fools, or at least I did while I was
dancing, if you could even call what I was doing dancing (it was more like
tripping over my partner’s feet, or my own, then apologizing profusely and
laughing uncomfortably). Once we finally had conquered the step with a partner
and were confident in it, a new step was added. And once again the process
repeated.
Finally
having learned what we thought was all of it (including a spin), we paired up
once again and repeated the steps with music and a partner. As my partner and I
began to get the hang of it, we would rotate and get a new partner. Then
another step was added, where the female would get pulled in close to their
partner and stay close for several steps before being pushed out. This is when
we learned the true purpose of swing dancing. Apparently, swing dancing had
once been used as a way for men to court women, and by pulling them in close,
they were given a chance to, ahem, get to know one another better. Swing dancing
was a perfect example of division an analysis because the dance was divided
into small steps which we then learned individually before slowly growing upon
each other.
