You have come to the right place. We have some great dancers that are always willing to help out new-comers. That having been said...

Yes, you are more than welcome to join the club. It's $15 for you and a guest all semester. That's for the dances. The pre-dance lessons and the lessons on Tuesday night are free for everybody.

Check back regularly for dance information when we start up again in January. Hope to see you around!

welcome, rabbit.

good to have you on the forum. see you after new years!

thanks for the warm welcome ... as for the lindy exchange ... shouldn't i actually know how to do the lindy hop for that?

the lindy exchange -- can you sign up for some of the events, or do you just sign up for the whole thing? also, what's so special about the Apollo Ballroom (besides the name, which sounds very romantic and marvelous)? another thing -- i love dressing up -- do people ever dress up for the dances, i mean like period clothes (Swing Kids movie type stuff)?

okay, g4l, i didn't suppose i would actually be kicked out of the event for wearing a 1940's era swing dress, but what i want to know is ... would i be the only one?

also, how do folks usually dress for swing kids club dances?

Since BYU is pretty much shutdown for 3 weeks, your best bet is to follow this thread on swingutah.com

http://boards.swingutah.com/viewtopic.php?t[Emoticon not found]32&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

rabbit:

okay, g4l, i didn't suppose i would actually be kicked out of the event for wearing a 1940's era swing dress, but what i want to know is ... would i be the only one?

also, how do folks usually dress for swing kids club dances?

This is what people normally wear.

http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc007282es.jpg

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/615/dsc004726qw.jpg

http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc004692ic.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc002901xl.jpg

BYU is a little bit more strict. BYU fashion police would kicked you out if you wear something doesn't meet BYU standards. Ask Bug, she knows all about it [Emoticon not found] [Emoticon not found]

geek4life:

Oh, and please don't wear anything sharp or pointy in your hair. One follow almost took out my right eye ball with her sharp hair clip when she did an outside turn.

long braids can be brutal too.

you can wear whatever you feel comfortable in. some people dress up, some wear jeans and a t-shirt. around here, it seems to be mostly the latter.

rabbit:

so ... what you're saying is ... i can't wear my favorite outfit?

wow. i don't even know if you can post your favorite outfit on byu's servers...

for the record, you picked the wrong link. you need the one without "img.php?file=..." in the name. should look more like "http://img5.picsplace.to/img5/15/nasty-lil-kim-liz-web.jpg"

geek4life:

...

Well, hopefully the BYU web police won't come after me ...

p.s.

btc -- thanks for the help. i don't know how i ended up with that weird link.

rabbit:

H'lo, everyone --

I have always wanted to learn how to swing ... could I join the club (+guest) and bring my husband along as my guest to lessons and dances? Or do we both need to be members to take the pre-dance lessons together? I was so excited to stumble onto your site ... please let me know if I've come to the right place.

Thanks so much!

rabbit

-Mrs. Rabbit, try not to stick with your husband the whole night because most leads would make an assumption that you want be left alone with him. Especially when you are new.

-It's OK for girls to ask guys to dance. I promise we won't bite.

-Try not to get discouraged. It may take a few months for you to feel completely comfortable swing dancing. Even then, nobody ever learns everything. It took me a month to learn my right foot from my left foot. [Emoticon not found]

-Remember to meet El Presidente of SKC a.k.a. Buzz. He'll introduce you to everyone. If you see a guy dancing with another guy, chances are one of them is Buzz or bobthecow.

-We have dancing this Thursday, December 29th @ University of Utah. Free lindy lesson starts at 7:30pm in the Olpin Union Ballroom

Check this link for more updates

http://boards.swingutah.com/viewtopic.php?t=114&start=300

rabbit:

is it swing dance lingo to refer to men as leads and women as follows?

lead: a dancer who typically leads. most often a male, although a female can be a lead as well.

follow: a dancer who typically follows. usually a female, but not always.

each of these terms can also be used to refer to anyone (male or female) who is currently filling that role, whether or not they usually do so.

in swing dancing, it is not unheard of for males to dance with males, or for females to dance with females. if you want the long story on that one, let me know.

rabbit:

do buzz and btc just enjoy dancing together, or is there actually a shortage of follows at some events?

no, we're usually short on leads, not follows. and don't let geek fool you. he dances with guys too... he usually asks me to dance at least twice.

btc wrote:

in swing dancing, it is not unheard of for males to dance with males, or for females to dance with females. if you want the long story on that one, let me know.

sure, i've got time ...

Buzz:

bobthecow:

no, we're usually short on leads, not follows.

Hm... I think I may have to disagree with this one. This year we have been short of follows quite often.

No way! i still see more follows than leads in BYU swing club.

also, is bobthecow's avatar a pic of himself, or just an admired hairstyle?

The guy with the mohawk was bobthecow himself back in his gangsta days in Washington state, but don't let his hair intimidates you because he's harmless as a rabbit.

Buzz:

Hm... I think I may have to disagree with this one. This year we have been short of follows quite often.

I can remember 2 dances this past year where we were short on leads. One of them was the Harvest Moon Lindy competition at the MAC, so it doesn't count as a BYU dance, even if all the competitors were BYU students. The other was probably after priesthood session, though I might be wrong about that.

geek4life:

bobthecow's hair at the moment

you're

just

jealous.

p.s. i would never. ever. wear shorts like that. wow.

In my opinion, in Utah, there are more advanced leads than advanced follows. The number of intermediate leads and intermediate follows is about equal. There are more beginner follows than beginner leads.

I've never heard of any feminist groups having a problem with calling people "leads" or "follows" since it isn't always gender specific, as has been stated.

I prefer dancing with women follows, but I dance with guys on occasion when A) there is a shortage of follows [Emoticon not found] there is a shortage of follows I want to dance with* C) I feel like it D) i've danced with all the available follows several times and want to dance with someone new. or E) a guy asks me to dance.

* = don't ever assume that because I'm dancing with a guy, that it means that I don't want to dance with you... whoever "you" may be. [Emoticon not found]

traci:

* whatever. i'm so offended [Emoticon not found]

well, I wanted to dance with you tonight. but you were nowhere to be found...

traci:

story of my life. that's what i get for moving. instead i went to a tri-stake "single's" dance and couldn't find my groove in all that trashy music they were playing. i really wanted to be at Rachel's. does that count?

Your New Year's resolution is to move back to Utah.

rabbit:

do buzz and btc just enjoy dancing together, or is there actually a shortage of follows at some events?

Swing dancers dance with anybody or anything....even teddy bears

That picture is AWESOME

I love how Grant is first-basin' it with that teddy bear.

rabbit:

g4l wrote:

Swing dancers dance with anybody or anything

guess that's why they're called swingers ...

[Emoticon not found] [Emoticon not found]

popthestack:

In my opinion, in Utah, there are more advanced leads than advanced follows. The number of intermediate leads and intermediate follows is about equal. There are more beginner follows than beginner leads.

I agree with pts (hey ryan if you were popmystack it would have been pms). That's why at a BYU dance there will be more follows than leads cause we have a decent amount of beginners that come to the lessons. When there are more guys than girls, the secret is to stick around because eventually the numbers even out roughly. And if they don't it's fun to watch guys work on their follow or a good time to talk to people. I know who would talk when you can dance but I've heard it's been done.

While at things like the lindy room at the mac (when there is one), and impromptu swing parties, there is usually more guys than girls because we have more guys in our "diehards" group.

The Skillet, though typically a diehard heavy affair, seems to me to be have been consecutively pretty balanced, which is nice.

Rabbit the Golden Skillet has lessons too. They are usually on Fridays (though not this Friday because of the exchange) at the Cottonwood mall. It's kinda hard to find the place that it's at if you don't know what you are looking for. The lessons are from 8-9 and dancing from 9-12. Lessons free and dance a cheap $3. Great dancing usually only a couple beginners, but you should still try it. For one you get free lessons from Jane and Shulie a.k.a. Julie and Shane who are both awesome.

it's acceptable for guys to dance with guys.

Word. But I prefer not to Blues, not to Balboa and absolutely no tandem Charleston with other dudes.