It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing.

Today marks a year and a month since I started taking regular swing dance lessons.  July fifth, 2013.  I had gone to a couple of dances before, but the classes were the official start for me.  I came out of my first class excited, happy, and a bit confused.  It was a challenge, for sure, going from completely independent, choreographed solo or group dances like tap, jazz, and ballet, to partner/social dances in which I essentially had no idea what a guy would throw at me next, and had to follow his lead and depend on his skills to show me what we were going to do next.  I sat at a table with my parents at Baskin Robbins after my first lesson and told them, "This is a completely different ballpark."

But oh, I was in love.


A year later, I'm even more in love with swing, and it's made an indelible mark on so many areas in my life--I'm listening to 40's music when I'm not in class because I've fallen in love with it.  I'm watching Lindy Hop professionals do their thing on YouTube every chance I get.   I'm trying out vintage hairstyles and looking for that perfect swingy, twirly dress (preferably with polka dots, of course).  I'm planning out when I can go swing dancing next.

I didn't know much about swing dancing when I came to that first class--I knew it was typically from the 40's.  I knew my grandma had done a little of it.  I knew a few names--Charleston, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug/East Coast swing.  I knew I'd be dancing with another person, and it could potentially be extremely awkward.  But I had stumbled across a video on YouTube of a swing dance flash mob at the Denver Airport, and I just knew, as a dancer does, that I had to do it.  So I delved into researching where I could learn to swing dance in my area--and living close to Memphis, it wasn't hard to find.


I'll tell you a secret: I'm not a "social" person.  50% introvert?  For sure.  Socially selective?  Yep.  Of course I don't dislike people, but sometimes I'm awkward and it's painful and being home recharges me.  And you know what?  Swing dancing is considered a social dance.  And whereas something like going to a party with a bunch of people I don't know just might be one of the most painfully awkward and unpleasant things I could imagine, I'm not sure I could love this "social dance" any more than I do now.  Maybe it's because dancing has always brought me out of my little shells.  I'm no socialite, but dancing makes me unwind, makes me have fun.  I can't hear music and not dance.  It brings spice to life.  I suppose it's similar to how I find it hard to share my heart and my stories verbally--but give me the pen and the paper and I'll show you my life story.


Swing dancing has always been a way to have fun and feed that love of dancing that's in my soul.  But it's slowly taught me other things, too.  I went through my first few months of swing dancing tense, a little knotted-up ball of nervousness half the time I was dancing.  I wanted to dance well and connect well with the people I was dancing with so badly, and I was hard on myself.  I did a lot of over-thinking.  In the few brief moments when I'd get into a really good dance, I'd open up and be my carefree self, but give me an awkward conversation or a messed-up dance move and I was a goner.  But I've slowly learned to relax; to be myself; to chill out and just be.  I'm learning to stop switching on my "I have to be socially acceptable" mode and to stop putting up my walls of robot politeness, to, instead, simply be the person I am when I walk into the room.  To enjoy it and enjoy the dance and enjoy the people.  Swing dancing has called me out of my comfort zone in many ways.  It continues to do so, and I love it.

Now I welcome the feeling of not knowing what's coming next in a dance.  It's exhilarating, exciting.  Listening and reacting to the music and my partner is a little adventure in its own.


I've fallen in love with a dance that I've realized could be danced by someone who could neither see nor hear; you don't have to see a person dance the steps and learn it from them or hear them give you instructions; they can take you by the hand and make you feel the dance, and I think that's beautiful.


I've fallen in love with a dance that I've realized reflects a relationship with God; as a follower, you can't really know exactly what's coming next.  You fly by the seat of your pants and you take it as it comes.  You trust your partner.  You let him lead.  You have to learn not to panic when something completely new and different and surprising happens, or when he leads you straight into it.  Much as in life, you have to make the decision to go along and make the best of it or else the dance--or life--will stink.  And so many times, just as I struggle with believing that God's still got me, I try to back-lead my partner or guess what he's going to do next. You know what that makes me?  A bad follower.  I'm learning to let him lead and to simply follow.


I was talking to a man the other day who told me, "I wish I had been swing dancing when I was fifteen."  He chuckled.  "I was doing stupid stuff...getting my head rammed into a pole.  I guess swing dancing just wasn't cool when I was a kid."  I laughed.  "Well, I've never really been cool, so...."


Maybe that's why.  Maybe it's that quirky, unique blast into the past that swing dancing provides.  It's not quite like any other dance, and for just a bit, you can almost set yourself in that time, almost like another world, where things were just a bit simpler and just a bit classier, even in the midst of a chaotic, upside-down time upset by war.  I love it.

Source

A little over a year after that first lesson, when I came out confused and exhilarated all at once, I'm still confused and exhilarated sometimes.  I've tried five different kinds of swing dancing, and Charleston & Lindy Hop are still my favorites.  I've fallen in love with another kind of dance.  I helped teach a swing class for the first time last week.  I've met new people and a bit of a new world has opened up for learning to express myself and be my own person, wherever I am and whoever I'm surrounded by.  I love it.  And I can't wait to see where the rest of this swingin' adventure's gonna take me.

Faithful Fridays ~ Sometimes It's Scary to Follow.

Hey, everyone!  :)  I'm back again for Faithful Friday.  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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I have a little analogy in store for you guys today.  ;)

So as I mentioned in my last post, I had my first swing dance class on Wednesday.  And when we were on our way home, I was discussing the differences between the styles of dance I'm used to--like tap, jazz, and ballet--and swing dancing.  Because in any of those other types of dance, you're usually dancing a choreographed routine.  You know the moves that are coming next.  You just have to execute them correctly.  It all depends on your ability and skill in dancing.

However, in swing dancing, there is the leader (the guy) and the follower (the girl).  You may know the general style of the swing dancing you're doing--Charleston, Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, or whatever, but you as a follower have to depend on the leader to guide you and show you what he wants you to do next. 

And that's a lot harder than you would think!  I think it's especially hard for me because I get really embarrassed if I don't do what the "leader" was leading me to do, and I'm always afraid I'm going to mess something up (especially since I'm new to this and don't know a lot).  You have to relax and not worry because swing dancing is a fun dance.

Sometimes it's scary to follow.  It seems easier to dance to my own routine, independent of anyone else.  

Just like often it seems easier to depend on ourselves and on what we can see and do in our own ability, instead of entrusting ourselves and our futures into the hands of God, whom we cannot physically see, or who may seem far away to us.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

-2 Corinthians 4:18

I think we set a big lot by our feelings.  Feelings are real, but they aren't always true.  You may very well feel like you're ugly, but that doesn't mean that you are.  You may very well feel that you're alone, but that doesn't mean that you are.  

You may feel like it's easier and safer to do your own thing and lead yourself, but that isn't true.  We have no idea how big this world is, and just how much trouble can be poured into one life from the world.  If we take all of this on our own shoulders, it only results in worry, fear, anxiety, and unrest for our whole lives.  

I read this in my devotional, Jesus Calling (by Sarah Young), today, and I really liked it.

Who is in charge of your life?  If it is you, then you have good reason to worry.  But if it is Me, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive.  When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Me.  Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Me.  I will either take care of the problem myself or show you how to handle it.  In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Me.

In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.  

John 16:33

Sometimes it seems harder to relinquish everything to God--to surrender it all to Him and just let Him take care of it.  It may seem safer to take it upon ourselves and try to get our own little ducks all in a row of our own.  But in reality, we have absolutely no idea how much trouble this sin-stained world is capable of giving us.  But God is the maker of that world, though it has been damaged by the sin humans initiated, and He is so high above all and any trouble!  It may seem like we're taking a step off into thin air when we hand our problems over to God without holding anything back, but sometimes that's just part of faith.  

Once you do that, and you hand your problems to God and let Him lead you, you can rise above all of the worry and the trouble and the anxiety and dance through your life with God leading you.

Sometimes it's scary to follow, but it's oh so worth it.

All images via Pinterest

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God bless you guys and have a great day!  :)

Joy :)