Prefatory Note

A long time ago, we used to teach Lindy Hop. We don't do this anymore (mainly because of work responsibilities) and we reccommend that you seek out current instructors in the DC Area. This section is included as a historic artifact that demonstrates the difficulty of developing instructions for dancing. If you can't take live lessons, video is the absolute next best thing. The best of the "dance lesson" websites is Unlimited Swing that lets you pick and choose from LOTS of instructors. If you go through our curriculum, you'll probably laugh at our attempts to use clumsy math-like nomenclature to get points across. We experimented with animated GIFs to teach Charleston (Lesson 3) because in 1998, it could take five minutes to download a grainy 20 second video. Times have changed....

So, read along and have a chuckle at our attempts at pedagogy.

Our approach to the Lindy Hop was threefold:

1. We want our students to get out and about dancing as soon as possible
2. We stay very close to history --- we teach Lindy just as it was done at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem during the late 1920s and early 1930s
3. We teach Shim Sham, the group dance that was the inspiration for Chick Webb's song "Stompin' at the Savoy"

We have a lot of material to get through, so come prepared to work and learn!

The in-class lessons will be supplemented with graphics and other materials on our website (see below).

The effect of our curriculum is cumulative, so you have to attend all the sessions to get the full benefit. Also, we will give you exercises to do at home that will get you in shape for dancing.

Here's what we plan to teach! (Click on the hyperlinks to read about the Lesson. If you can learn well from written materials, they are yours for the taking)