You saw some people dancing outdoors to swing music or randomly ended up at at party and somebody pointed you to this webpage? Great!
Nice! It’s great to have you.
If you asked yourself what we’re actually dancing, then the answer might be “Lindy Hop”, “Balboa”, “Shag” or “Charleston”. Maybe even “Boogie”.
These are all dances from the big family of swing dances. Primarily - but not exclusively - these are danced to Jazz music of the years between the early 1920ies up until roughly the 1950ies.
Swing dancing has evolved a some fixed routines (like the Shim Sham), however it’s primarly danced as a Social Dance. This means that usualy it’s not danced as a fixed routine but rather improvised together to the music. Every dance couple normaly consists of a lead and a follow. Both of these roles are open to every gender.
The goal is always to have fun together dancing!
Social Dancing
Social Dancing (or short: Socials) basically just stand for parties where people come to dance and hang out. They are - in a nutshell - the heart of the scene.
Here people come together to dance, talk and have fun. Usually people change dance partners frequently, so it’s not a problem to show up to a social alone, even if you don’t know anybody. In fact it’s a great way to meet people!
You also don’t have to have reached a certain level in dance skills. Just the opposite, many socials feature a taster, meaning a short introduction (typically between 30 minutes and 1 hour), which will teach you a couple of steps to try out after.
We have a page with all the socials . Just have a look and come dance with us!
Learn
Hopefuly we have raised your curiosity and you want to learn more! The Rhein-Main area is home to quite a few clubs, teachers and dance schools who will be more than happy to welcome you!
Just head over to the list
History
Swing music is a very specific expression of Jazz, which originated roughly in the 1920ies in the US before it made it’s way to Europe. It incorporated specific black-american influences and culture together with european music.
We’re not qualified to give you a true historical perspective here, altough we’d highly urge you to aquaint yourself with the history.
It’s truly fascinating, dire at times, but also wonderful!
A few glimpes can be garthered here:
Especially within the last years there has been a renewed interesst into the specific afro-american heritage of swing and jazz.
German ressouces
The book Swingtime in Deutschland by Stephan Wuthe (Swing DJ from Berlin) also comes highly recommended for a glimpse into Jazz in the time of the third reich.
Also the city of Frankfurt has it’s very own swing history .