In 2012, I’m questing to make dancing simpler for beginners of the “two left feet” variety. As part of that project, I’m creating a slew of good, short dance lessons on video.
Lindy hop steps don’t have to be frustrating. In this video, I’ll teach you the “Shorty George.” You’ll start with simple movements and layer up from there. If you get stuck, go back to the step before and practice until you feel comfortable.
If you have any questions about the move, leave me a comment and I’ll help you out.
Here are some extra tips:
- Make sure your feet stay parallel and relatively flat on the ground. A lot of beginner dancers forget this when they start ‘getting’ the move.
- Allow the arms to coordinate with the movement of your torso. It’s like walking; you don’t have to try very hard to not suck at swinging your arms.
- If anything feel horribly awkward, try breathing and relaxing.
- And if that doesn’t work, try forcing it (gently).
What counts? 8&1 2 3 4 5 6 7
What steps? kick ball change, step, step, step, step, step, step
What feet? right right left, right, left, right, left, right, left
A smart and/or famous person once said, “You can’t be a good dancer unless you’re a good dancer.”
Dancing and partner dancing aren’t separate things. If you’re bad at solo dancing, you ain’t so great at partner dancing, either.
Some beginners don’t learn solo lindy hop steps because they seem hard and expose our weaknesses. I feel ya. I practice solo steps alone in my living room, away from anyone who might watch me screw up.
Thanks for watching. I promise next week’s video won’t have a black box around it.
P.S. For more free dance stuff, click here.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Great work Rebecca! How are things going out on the west coast?
Thanks! Things are fabulous. NYC treating you well still, I hope. :-)
Aw yiss! Great work. :) I had to comment to say how much I like that you didn’t edit out the cats.
Disappearing cat at 1:55!
Genevieve and I watched it this morning and will be practicing later tonight after work! True story.
Yeah, awesome! Nice picture of us on your blog, btw. “Filipina Rebecca,” I think that’s what you tagged me as on Facebook. Haha.
Awesome video! I was trying to explain the Shorty George to a friend last night and this was waaay better than my attempt. I am personally looking forward to even more jazz step videos where you break them down into movements as opposed to sequences for my learning and teaching benefit.
Thanks! :)
Glad you found it useful. Check out the next video on Tuesday!
We always suspected that Rebecca was magical, but we had no idea she could make cats disappear!
Thanks for the lesson. It made us a little teary to hear your voice again, and it was especially wonderful to get a lesson from you, AND in something we’d been wanting to learn.
We’ll have to try to send you a video sometime of how our dog, “Jitterbug” reacts when we try to practice dancing.
Love always—Bob and Susan
The kitties act like such prima donnas, don’t they? Can’t wait to see your video! And I’m SO happy you liked it!!