Beantown Camp Strictly Finals

Look who's standing in the back left!

Feel free to skip past the first 2 minutes of all-skate at the beginning.  It's just a warm up and not very interesting.

After that comes the individual couples.  The first thing I noticed is, wow, these aren't all flawless rock-stars.  The next thing I notice is the variety of styles.  This is all Lindy Hop, but clearly these people come from different scenes, use different kinds of connections in the same movements, and are influenced by different instructors and professional dancers.

Can you see the differences?  Which couples do you prefer?

Beantown Bounce - Bobby & Kate

Thanks again to my friend Heather Warner-Dubin for another great video suggestion.  She recently had the time of her life at Beantown Camp and has been posting a ton of videos from the event.


This video features Bobby and Kate, who somehow just keep getting better.  Since Lindy Hop is the focus for this blog I don't usually post Balboa videos, but Balboa is another love of mine and with so many Lindy Hoppers also dabbling in Balboa I thought it was appropriate.  (Hmm, how many more times can I fit Balboa into a sentence?)

Is it odd that I find this performance refined, smooth, mature, and also cute at the same time?  Maybe the cute comes from the blending of their personalities - Kate's calm, confident demeanor crossed with Bobby's excited grin and wide eyes.

I highly recommend taking a class with them if you get a chance.  They're both very intelligent and clear instructors with a deep understanding of their profession.  I also recommend reading Bobby's blog, Swungover.  He's a wonderful writer who regularly presents very interesting insights about swing dancing and life in general.

Refined Yet Raw - Dax Hock & Sarah Breck

Thanks to Caitlin Greene for posting this on her facebook last week.  This is a performance from the ever talented and interesting Dax (sans mustache) and Sarah.

So let's just get to the point with this performance.  There is something happening here that is significantly different than what we're used to seeing in performance Lindy Hop.  On Caitlin's page I posted that this video, to me, seems completely refined and yet very raw.  Their steps, technique, coordination is really solid and still there's this almost animistic and aggressive quality I can't recall ever seeing in their dancing before.

The song starts out cool and calm enough.  "I like pie, I like cake..." They work in some typically (for them) solid jazz movements and coordinated partner stuff.  And then the song keeps building, and building.  Maybe they are feeding off the energy of the audience, or maybe there's a fire in their feet and something in their eyes that tells me they're really selling this.  He begins to swing out with more force, still coordinated yet a bit less carefully, and her hair ends up in her face.

Maybe they just really like pie and cake and everything she "bakes," or maybe this is a moment of inspiration.  Either way, I like the energy of this.