Dancing

Dancing is an enormous interest of mine and I have now danced across several sifferent continental plates, including at the join between the North American and Eurasian plates in Iceland. My First Ever Dance lesson was Lindy Hop on the 20th September 2012 in Oxford and within 6 months I was dancing as much as possible and reached in the finals of the Oxford Jack and Jill competition. I have dabbled in Blues and Salsa before the year was out. My Love for music has spurred my dancing on as I find more styles to dance to some of my favourite tunes. Clubs have become great places to mash styles together and cause a scene whilst having totally unique fun.

Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop is a fantastic vintage Swing dance with lots of hopping and sliding. There are groups, troups, camps and weekends all over the world and a fantastic community connecting them all together. After 6 months I got into the finals of the Oxford Jack and Jill and although I didn't place it was a huge confidence booster and drove me to new heights. Since then I have spread my wings from Oxford to further afield to Iceland and Italy and also attended International events in the UK such as the London Lindy Exchange and London Swing Festival.

Oxford is still my Dancing home, so many good friends and lovely venues where I have spent hundreds of hours dancing to the sounds of swing. But unfortunately after my Placement year I was back to Aberystwyth where I met the Aberswing crew. Aberystwyth has given the opportunity for teaching Lindy Hop and spreading the joy and passion that I have for the style. I have kept many strong links with Aberystwyth and still see them at events round the country.

Blues

Blues was an unexpected dance style for me but Oxford has a fantastic blues scene and although it took a while to get into I found it invaluable for my Lindy too. Blues now has a special place in my heart as it is such a beautifully personal dance. "Stand Up Cuddling" is an art that looks easier than it actually is but once you hit the groove with your partner, you melt like butter and can stay there all night. I am able to lead and follow blues and love switch dances as they allow the connection to be even stronger. Highly recommended but you need to be accepting of the fact that you are going to be right up in someones sweaty, hot grill for an intense physical connection whilst you are dripping with sweat and probably quite drunk. My favourite.

Salsa

After an intensive week of Salsa in oxford, I have become one of those dancing people who wants to do all the dancing even if it means never having any other time. Salsa music is fantastic and exotic anyway but Salsa was an even more eye opening experience of hip wiggling, hair swishing and relaxed snaps. Not something I have done a lot of but would love to pick it up again when I next have the chance.

Page photo property of Christopher Allen.

Further Interests