Fashion

Shoes

The commonest mistake is thinking that a sporty grippy sole is a good idea. It isn't. When you are dancing, you need to be able to adjust your position on the floor, and an ability to skid and slide is a very useful one. When doing the Lindy hop or a similar dance, both partners want to be able to spin, glide, and turn. Spinning on a grippy sole is possible, but it takes a lot more effort, and puts a lot of strain on the ankle. People go to a lot of trouble to make sure that dance floors are smooth, so that people can slide on them easily. This is wasted if people all wear trainers.

The next commonest error is high heels. Women who are used to going out for a gentle dance on the spot by themselves often turn up to swing dances wearing the high heels that they have worn to parties in the past. They soon find out that a partner dance involving lots of leaning, and travelling across the floor at speed, as well as the occasional jump, is not the arena in which high heels excel. A moderate heel is okay, but anything that might be described as a platform or stiletto is just a way of hobbling yourself.

Some people wear "jazz boots". These are specialist dance shoes that have a sole for the ball of the foot, and a separate one for the heel, and in between, the upper of the sole goes right around the foot. This makes them very flexible in the middle. The soles are often thickish and padded enough to suit people who like doing lots of big jumps.

There are specialist dance shoes for both sexes, and these tend to be very light, with very soft leather uppers for comfort. Conventional shoes, such as a smart office worker might wear, are suitable.

One aspect of the specialist dance shoe is looks. One fashion is for two-tone shoes (often black and white) with panels of different colours. From a distance it can look as though one is wearing spats. The writer of this article pleads to his readers, that if any of them sees him wearing a pair of shoes covered in spangley sequins, of that type only ever worn by dancers, could they please as an act of mercy shoot him?

Practical clothes

Lindy hop makes one sweat. There is no getting round this. You must choose something that you are prepared to get sweaty. Spare shirts are a good thing for a major dance night, and if staying at someone else's house, a dance-sock isolation bag is likely to be appreciated. One thing that works well is to wear a T-shirt underneath a shirt. At first you will feel a lot hotter, and might wonder why you are wearing the extra layer, but after a while you will get roasting hot anyway, and at least your partner will be spared from contacting quite as much of your sweat as otherwise might be the case. The T-shirt stops your top shirt from clinging to you.

When dancing close to someone, be aware that unless your partner has an uncommonly insensitive nose, he or she will be able to tell whether the shirt/blouse you are wearing is clean. There's nothing quite like a vigorous dance for bringing out the aroma of the unwashed shirt.

Dresses and skirts are often worn for Lindy hop. Sometimes they can add to the dance by flying out during spins. Sometimes they can add to the slinky elegance of the wearer. If tight or long, they can limit the dancer's ability to do jumps and kicks. If the dancing is going to be sedate all night, this might not matter, but even slow dancing has dips and other moves where a tight skirt can hamper proceedings.

When dancing, you are going to be gripping your partner's hands a lot, and sometimes quite hard. Big rings are a mistake. Catchy jewellery, watches, and the like can get caught in hair, clothes, and generally get in the way. It is best discarded.

Women with very long hair can look great when doing big spins and twirls on the dance floor, but they pretty soon get sick of hitting other dancers with their hair, getting it caught in watch straps, and having it stick to their sweating - sorry, I mean <i>glowing</I> - faces, and they choose to wear it up and out of the way.

Some dancers wear padding for their feet. Extra thick army socks work well, and there are other solutions such as gel insoles.

Many dancers who are keen and expect to dance all night, carry with them a little towel for brow mopping and hand drying.

Stylish clothes

Dressing up is part of the fun of dancing for some, and for others it plays no part. Casual clothes are fine, and can be seen worn at swing dances everywhere. For those who want to go a step or two further, though, the vintage look is strongly favoured. Some people buy old clothes, some buy new clothes that look old, and others search through charity shops to find just the right look. World War Two uniform and civilian dress sometimes turns up, but more often, people go for a 1930s dapper look.

One look is the "zoot suit". During the days of cloth rationing, men of style sometimes chose to make their suits especially generously cut. The trousers are baggy at the thigh (good for dancing) and narrow at the ankle, and high at the waist. The suit jacket is like a frock coat, and comes down to somewhere around the knee. A big suit (<i>zoot</I> means
exaggerated) needs a big hat, and a broad-brimmed hat, sometimes with a long feather in it, tops off the outfit. The very big hats can hamper dancing a bit, and a short man should not wear them, because unless the brim clears the top of his partner's head, he will not be able to get very close to her. Other details include spats (worn on the top of the shoe), shirt, tie, and sometimes a farcically long key chain, which can be a real nuisance when dancing.

Braces are often preferred to belts. One thing they help with is keeping a shirt tucked in.

Hats can look the part. The members of the <I>Hep Cat Club</I> in Malmo, Sweden use the hat as a trade mark. Whenever they go along to an event, they stand out as a group, because in one part of the room everyone is wearing a hat. For period authenticity, men should remove their hats when indoors, but for style they should keep them on. Ladies have a variety of head gear to choose from, including pillbox hats with small veils, and substantial hairnets.

Which period is picked varies mostly between the 1920s and 1950s - the swing era. By the 60s, swing had fallen from favour, and the dance of the day involved tearing out hair and screaming at The Beatles. The 1920s was the time of the flapper, the 30s of the show girl and the mobster, the 40s of the war, and 50s had the beginning of rock and roll. One look for women is the "Bobby Sockser" with a flaring knee-length skirt. Another is the Hawaiian look, often with a brightly coloured head scarf, short tight skirt/sarong, and shirt with the lower front ends knotted together. Another is the sailor look. This last one involves the sailor trouser, which is popular with keen women dancers not least because it is very practical to dance in. The trouser has a tight-fitting waist, and a loose fit at the ankles. It does up with a panel at the front held on by four large decorative buttons, two each side.

Lindy hop was in some ways the hip hop of its day. There are many cross-overs with hip hop, and many Lindy dancers are ex-hip hoppers who wanted to learn a partner dance. One unfortunate side-effect of this is that some people have come to the mistaken belief that such things as trousers big enough for seven people, with a crotch at the knee, and loops for storing a collection of mallets, are somehow acceptable. Another staggeringly ugly look involves wearing a basket-ball vest or American football shirt that is seventy-two sizes too big. If you see someone who has fallen into this trap, please have a kind word with them, for the sake of humanity at large. For some reason, ersatz parachute jump-trousers, with two-dozen pointless long ribbon-like ties, have been sighted at swing dances. There is no excuse for them.