Talk:Swing Dancing

This is a great idea for a textbook! It's possible to insert animated gifs into wikibooks pages; that might be useful for a few demonstrations.


 * Thanks! It'd be cool if somebody was able to construct something similar to the animated gifs present at jiveoholics anonymous. Unfortunately, I really don't have the graphics know-how to do something like this. Alternatively, somebody could take photographs of people performing the moves. --NeuronExMachina 07:40, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

6 count basic section
I have a few comments on the 6 count basic section.

The basic step I was taught has the back step coming first. Using the numbers for the steps listed here, the lead starts with #5 then 6 then 1 on through the rest of the steps. And, for the follow it is a mirror image of the lead, going back with the right foot instead of the left.

Plus, I was tempted to just delete the word "crap." Instead I'll just say I don't think personal opinions about the triple step was a proper thing to add. Actually for a beginner, I wouldn't have mention that any step taking up those 4 counts could be substituted for the side/side moves. They usually have enough trouble remembering to keep frame while keeping count to the basic step.

go nuts.
This is a wiki, so anything that you see that you feel like you can improve, you should change. --Waxmop 00:37, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Is this a how-to?
I think that this would make a fine addition to the how to section. Just because it isn't written like crap and doesn't baby the reader, doesn't mean it wouldn't be good there.

Naming and types of dance to include
220.253.16.253 As with the swing dance wikipedia article, it might make sense to distinguish between the swing dances under discussion in this book - eg lindy hop, west coast swing, etc etc etc - and to make some sort of comment about the types of steps which are most frequently associated with each style _historically_ and in the current swing dancing world.

Overall Structure
220.253.16.253 It might be useful to reference the history of 'swing dancing' at the beginning of the article, and then to divide each section into specific styles (with some sort of disclaimer at the beginning making it clear that it's perfectly ok to borrow from each style in the social context), with a comment about each style. Not to reproduce the individual wikipedia articles, but to perhaps make it clear that 'swing dancing' is a wide genre, made up of many styles (with different histories).

Cultural Specificity
220.253.16.253 It's important to note that 'swing dances' and 'swing dancing' culture are different in each city and local scene. For eg, there is almost no west coast swing dancing in Australia, yet ceroc and rock and roll are very popular and quite similar in dance style, yet differnt in culture. The discussion of etiquette in this wikibook is a good example.

Reorganization
I'm going to suggest some basic reorganization here. Per other Wikibooks that I've seen and liked, I think it makes the most sense to have the Swing Dancing page as a Table of Contents for the Manual. Then the subpages (e.g. East Coast Basic, Charleston Basic, Lindy Hop Basic, Intermediate Moves, etc.) link off of that. If no one has any objections I'll be bold in the next few days.--Will.i.am 23:01, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
 * OK, I did it. I did some major revamping of the structure here to make it all un-orphaned and easier to follow.  Now all it needs is some TLC.--Will.i.am 23:14, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Application for visualisation
Just a heads up if you want to add some pictures of the steps to this book. There is a nice free Java application, that can be used for illustrating dancing steps that already has the basic moves for all dances built in. Have a look here: http://www.sebastianbauer.info/index.php?page=simpledance If you create new moves, don't forget to write a mail to the author, so he can make them available to everyone. --84.178.123.44 (talk) 16:19, 27 April 2009 (UTC)