Hi! Kris here, from the SwingStep team. This is the right question to ask! I can't give you a universal answer though 🤷. Especially when applied to partnered social dance, I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all scaffold. Here are some thoughts to get you started though; scaffolds I commonly use in a lot of my beginner Lindy Hop classes: - rhythmic scaffold for the movement (eg scatting the sounds of the footwork) - learning a move in isolation, or as part of a short sequence, before trying to improvise and develop lead/follow communication - having a small set of song styles and tempos to use for practicing a particular new idea before branching out to others - creating very clear times in a dance for students to express free individual movement, to make sure they all include self-expression early on; but knowing that my goal is to remove the clear times and allow students to expand their ideas of self-expression to fill all their dance time. Some of these scaffolds might be there for longer, some I want to take away very quickly. But all of them are likely to be parts of a typical beginner class I teach. I'm sure if you think about your own classes you can add to this list, and/or brainstorm with other teachers. You just have to ask yourself: what are the things I might do temporarily to help students leave something new in the dance? Anything that's temporary could be considered a scaffold. And then you can start doing the really interesting work of asking yourself which scaffolds you think are most efficient, which best honour the culture your dance is a part of, which best suit your own personally as a teacher. A combination of those things will give you the tools you want to use most often. Hope that helps!

PS, if you're looking more into teaching, let me take this chance at a shameless plug... SwingStep now has an online teacher training program! So you can dig much more deeply into our dance teaching ideas if you're interested 😇

@@splendidformation3268 what a great idea! Can you send us an email so we can discuss it further? [email protected]

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@@saha6716 thanks! Don't worry it's not just built-in, we practiced. If you enjoy it and you practice you'll get it too 😊

I would say, both seeing and dancing the swing out will inform both your mental representation and your mental model. The difference is more: what are you able to explain or analyse as components of what you're doing/seeing/etc (this is the model), versus what you intuitively think or do (this is the representation).

@@SwingStepTV Thanks for the respons. I'm sure you're swamped in both online and offline communication so I really appreciate you taking some time to engage with your audience in this manner.

@@musing_wdb happy to nerd out with a fellow teacher anytime 😜

Nice!

Thanks!

It's easier than it might seem, just takes a little bit of practice :)

With audio software (GarageBand, Ableton, etc), and a little playing around, you could make your own. We also have prepared loops at different speeds over on our website; this clip is part of of our Musicality Training course. swingstep.com/courses/musicality-training

I love it too. I've not heard of an original name for it; I usually just say skip up (or kick the dog) with a turn back to closed.

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😆 yeah we did it so there aren't any music rights issues etc. I certainly recommend putting on some good music when you want to do the exercise yourself 🎶

Thank you :)

It makes me very happy to see that this brought you lots of joy! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much!

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Hehe I was wondering who will be the first person who notice this <3

? If you look in the description you can find chapter headings to let you skip to what you're looking for. The warm-up starts at 2:21

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)

Glad you liked it! Speaking as a follower, those subtle things are the same for us too: we want to connect to the music and to each other, and find ways that make our flow and play more enjoyable - that's not just for leaders ;)

The second song is a fast one, and Anna and Slava are dancing Charleston steps to it. Different footwork and a bit different groove than the first song, but Lindy Hop is a very rich dance and both are a part of it. In fact we often mix these two things within the same song while we're social dancing 😊

Thanks!

Wow what a lovely compliment. Thanks! P.S., I can tell you from the follower's perspective, the entrance is usually the hardest part for us too :)

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Thanks Andy I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks!

Hey, of course questions are always welcome :) It's often hard to answer dance questions in words, but I'll try and if it doesn't make sense let me know... I would say there are two differences between the variation we're showing and what I believe you mean by a surprise swingout from this movement. First: the preparation to travel will be different. If I want to do the underarm pass, as a leader I'm preparing to go under the arm so I'll be preparing myself to travel forward; as a follower there's an intention and body language I can see and feel from my leader that demonstrates that they want to go forward, and that looks & feels very different from the invitation to swing out (in which the leader will be preparing space for the follower and also be moving in that direction for a little longer themselves). Second: the rhythmical connection we have makes a huge difference to communicating a step-step or a triple step. You don't have to overanalyse it, but there's a small difference in how my body moves -- for instance if I do "triple step, triple step" versus "triple step, step step", my body will move and groove a little differently in the moment before that second triple step than it will in the moment before a step step. You can train this with a partner by for instance dancing lots of lindy circles and varying them (try changing up how long you stay in the circle with step-step rhythm before you exit with a triple. or, try staying in the circle but sometimes dance triples and sometimes steps.) Be a little careful that you don't over-exaggerate your movements in order to make the differences clear (e.g. being super bouncy in triples and super flat in steps will probably work but also is probably not a natural way for your body to dance lindy hop); instead allow the differences to be subtle but focus on staying rhythmically synchronised with each other in your basic grooves before you try to communicate the differences. Hope that helps! - Kris

@@SwingStepTV Hey! Thank you, the answer Is very long and clear, i'd say the second point answer me better and i get it!, About the first point there is also a swingout variation where the leader duck under the follower arm and the preparation is similar (that's mostly why i asked it). Thanks again for this deep answer. You are doing a great job, and i guess your students are happy to have someone like you.

You're very welcome@@carlobruno9592 :) If you're looking for more detailed lessons, we have multiple online courses (including swing out training, skills & drills for leaders and followers, solo jazz, etc) over on our website: swingstep.com/classes/online-pass/.

Oh, and P.S.: if you send me a video of the swingout variation you have in mind, then I could give a more complete answer to the first point. You can email [email protected] with a dropbox link, or youtube video, or whatever's easiest for you.

@@SwingStepTV i did an online lesson with michael and evita, they call it "swingout variation leader goes under the arm". Obviously was done and explained in a more slow and paceful music than this, anyway i found this example in a fast jack & jill, at minute 01:15 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmHTeHutrryobZY

Aww, thank you!