Please do more 'leader edition' videos. Although I prefer being the follow most of the time, I also dance as the 'leader' time to time (during classes or social dances). Love your videos in general, thank you so much for sharing!
I now regularly listen to Brooks Promo music as a result of subscribing to this channel. Thought he might be pleased to know they played Pass The Bounce in our Lindy Hop social dance last night here in Dublin. Your great music has made it across the Atlantic 🙂
Really enjoyed this video! Fantastic energy, amazing editing. Huge respect. On occasion I intentionally ramp up the energy on 5 (6:10)... if the three way conversation seems to be heading that way ... but I think you also covered this at 0:51
Continuous movement. I have a request. Could you do a video on open to open, 8 count Lindy turn, footwork variations for leads. Could you recommend the ones that are easiest for the lead to achieve a continuous movement with and are least likely to effect the natural flow of the followers movement. Particularly ones that work in social dancing with different followers. Some of the ones I have been taught in classes don’t strike me as the easiest. Example ,(step, step, triple, step, step, sweep, travelling kick ball change, step, step, triple, swivel, swivel), nice move but very difficult to do smoothly without some previous practice with that particular partner.
Hey Brooks I notice you start that momentum of bringing your partner towards you on count 1 and then carry it into count 2 even though your stepping forward slightly with your right foot then on count 3&4 your momentum has definitely changed towards your partner. Can you comment on that a little? I find that my momentum is definitely going towards my partner on count 2 which is probably not correct?
Hi Dennis, Yeah, that's pretty accurate for what I'm doing in this video. Probably more valuable is that I think of that stuff as the "effect" instead of the "cause". I want to lead Laura in a direction then later I want to catch her, so I start off going backwards and transition to going forwards later. I think it's fun to play around with all those timings to find out what works best for you and your partner. For me, priority #1 goes to the rhythm and the music: making sure I'm doing my rhythm on beat and really dancing _with_ the music. After that, it's a lot of personal preference on how to lead which comes from playing around and exploring. Hope that helps!
I love the detailed explanation from Brook. I have Problem's with the Lindy circle. Is there anything you can recommend for this. Thanks for this awesome clip!!!
I haven't seen you dance, but my best idea is stepping too big and trying to get around your partner. It's counterintuitive, but stepping underneith yourself and turning around is so much more effective then stepping around your partner.
Hi Brooks! I usually follow, but I'm working on my leading. I have a question about thing #4 : I have always concentrated on getting out of the follow's way (twice!), and I think I'm therefore traveling around too much ( my path is an oval shape). When you say the lead also travels along a line, does that line lie diagonally across the follow's line? So, if I imagine dancing on the face of a giant clock, and I imagine the follow travels from the 12 o'clock down through the the centre towards the 6 o'clock and gets re-directed towards the 12 again. Would you say the lead aims to travel from the 7 position to the 1 position and back? ( or maybe a bit more from the 8 to the 2 and back again?) I have so often heard about the follow's "line", I don't remember ever learning that the lead has a line too. It makes sense, but I want to check that I have understood correctly! ;) I hope I've described how I'm visualising it in a way so that my question makes sense. Thanks in advance! (Maybe someday you might make a swingout video with the camera angle looking down from above? That would be excellent!)
Great content, thanks for sharing! I have a question that has been confusing me for a while. Regarding the trust your partner part, what makes the follower actually come to the closed position, except the fact that she knows we are going to do a swing out? What makes her rotate?
