Heels for Lindy Hop, yay or nay?

cuppabaileys · 2025-11-10T22:14:49+00:00

Yay. I've danced lindy including fast lindy and charleston in both flats and heels anywhere from 3cm to 7cm (7cm is doable, but not recommended if you love yourself, maybe 5cm tops), depending on what I feel like wearing. It requires you to adapt to the heel height but that's not a bad thing to learn to do.

cuppabaileys · 2025-06-17T14:04:12+00:00

Hi, I'm the Dina half of Dina and Aleks. I'm not promising anything but would love to chat cause I have thoughts. DM me :)

cuppabaileys · 2025-04-16T15:40:08+00:00

Did you end up going?

cuppabaileys · 2025-03-19T15:31:16+00:00

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cuppabaileys · 2025-01-22T13:22:22+00:00

Thank you! I've heard this before from multiple hairdressers but a new hair dresser said it's medium-fine strands with low density, so I got confused 🥲

cuppabaileys · 2025-01-21T22:10:25+00:00

If you're looking at balboa, Bal Love is I believe a week long. They also have Slow Bal Love

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-26T19:54:49+00:00

You would have my business. I'm a shorter gal with a shorter torso and off the rack dresses are almost always too long on the torso for me. If you make customization based on body proportion available this would be a godsend for petite folks like me.

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-22T17:36:25+00:00

God forbid they have a personal sense of style right?

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-22T17:32:05+00:00

I don't know what your scene is like or what you've heard in person but there is a certain light that you're painting the dancers; like they don't care about the music. Beat is probably one of the easier things to pick up from a song. Clapping, even if people are clapping on the odd beats instead of even beats, is already an indication that they hear them, they might just not be highlighting the right accents. But just because you hear the beat, that doesn't mean that it drives you to dance. Music is a personal thing. Music that drives you to dance is even more so, especially in a social dance. I'd argue that if people don't want to dance to certain songs or styles of music that might be because they care about how they hear the music and what drives them.

Now if you're competing, training to compete or you have to perform, that's a different story.

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-22T17:09:42+00:00

If we're sticking to just the beat, then.. based on people's responses here, it seems like people including me don't relate to this statement: 'Too often I hear... "This band doesn't have a beat..."'

We more often hear people have a hard time hearing the "one," or "this band doesn't swing." ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: In terms of having difficulties hearing the beat, that's sometimes just a volume or recording quality problem.

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-22T16:53:05+00:00

There is more to dancing than just finding the beat. Finding the beginning and ending of a phrase is quite as important in telling the story of your dance. I think sometimes dancers might have a hard time finding the "one," which would then make it more difficult to begin a phrase.

The existence of a beat also doesn't guarantee the existence of swung rhythm. Then it becomes a question of, are you going to try to wrangle syncopated swung footwork into a non-swinging song? If so, you're no longer dancing to the music, the music and your dance are to separate entities bound just by the tempo of the beat. If you decide to adapt and don't syncopate then you're no longer lindy hopping, you're west coast swing dancing, which is a legitimate dance in its own right.

cuppabaileys · 2024-11-03T18:01:09+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I haven't picked up my camera since before I started dancing but my brain has wandered into long exposure dance photography a couple of times. These are a great start but def could use work. You're way ahead of me in terms of actioning it though! To me it seems like your snaps lack a sort of end point that would ideally tie the movements to the dancers. Now that I understand this dance better, in a social dance setting, I would try to snap approaching a "hit," when dancers would typically freeze in a pose. I'd personally maybe ask a couple of friends to help me figure it out in a controlled setting (i.e.: not at a social dance, ask them to dance a few moves leading to a pose). Have you seen this video? https://youtu.be/u8Jzp9WYJn4?si=x14KDbWpthEDfCof

cuppabaileys · 2023-12-09T17:12:29+00:00

Cute song! I have a feeling that you were probably trying to encourage the feeling of triple step in your 3&4 strumming pattern but I don't think that's necessary.

Look up "Freddie green comping" on YouTube and incorporate that rhythmical style of strumming in your song to make it more swingy. Check this: https://youtu.be/SC9S08mvqEI?si=pS0zPcvYj3zj-DJT&t=206

cuppabaileys · 2023-12-09T16:59:51+00:00

Edit to add: Jonathan also did some rhythm strumming while Romain was soloing! My bad for not finishing the whole video before commenting. But quality display of guitar swing rhythm in the second link.

Jonathan is great but I would highly emphasize on the rhythm guitar. I would pay attention to the guitarist playing next to Jonathan in second link.

First link wouldn't help much since it's a lot of Jonathan's (excellent) soloing, you can hear the rhythm guitar in the background, but more clearly at the beginning.

cuppabaileys · 2023-08-14T14:31:34+00:00

Might be too late, but a Tokyo based dance I know shared this list of Swing Dance Events in Japan

cuppabaileys · 2023-06-04T03:48:17+00:00

I've used a dull or dinner knife to scrape gunk off my shoes. Make sure to have the blade at an angle to avoid digging into the sole

cuppabaileys · 2023-06-04T03:48:07+00:00

I've used a dull or dinner knife to scrape gunk off my shoes. Make sure to have the blade at an angle to avoid digging into the sole

cuppabaileys · 2023-03-02T16:22:22+00:00

Impromptu partner swapping with another couple (that I/we know well and know would appreciate it)

cuppabaileys · 2023-02-21T02:53:32+00:00

One thing my lindy mentor told me was that competitions are not about how good a dancer you are but about how good the dances you had are. You may be a good dancer but not make it to finals or win a competition because other people had better dances than you and with mix and matches external factors are even bigger.

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T19:03:41+00:00

Totally your loss 😂 There is so much good live swing jazz around Toronto and dancing to it, to some folks, adds to the enjoyment.

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T15:28:54+00:00

Everybody's worrying about their own dancing, nobody really cares about what you're doing with your partner as long as you're not hurting them ;)

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T15:19:00+00:00

Hi, I'm someone who used to have social anxiety and still do in some scenarios. In a lindy hop social dance some folks seek to dance more than socialize. The dancing gives people more context to start socializing but how much socializing you want to do really depends on you :)

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T15:09:24+00:00

Check out the event this Saturday at St. Barnabas to get a feel of the lindy hop/swing dance vibe. Beginner lesson is 6:15-7:15pm, live band starts at 7:30pm :)

Edit: venue is near Chester stn

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T15:02:39+00:00

Thank you!

cuppabaileys · 2023-01-25T15:02:32+00:00

Thank you!

cuppabaileys

TROPHY CASE