Hello fellow readers,
Due to the current circumstances, we have shut ourselves indoors for the health and safety
of every human being, by doing so, the Earth is healthier and the air is cleaner. In addition,
we have found ourselves with more free time. In having so much free time, what do we do?
We find creative outlets like art, movies, binge-watching TV shows, music, and dance, which
brings me to today’s post: dancing behind closed doors.
As many of you know, I love to swing dance (check out my previous posts: Swing On By!,
Holiday Swing Dancing, and California Balboa Classic 2020) and when the world closed its
doors, so did all the amazing dance venues and swing dance weekends. Just before the
community shut down, I was lucky enough to volunteer at a swing dance weekend called
Inspiration Weekend hosted by Atomic Ballroom (Irvine, CA) - I’ll have a future post about
this weekend. While I was volunteering, I had the opportunity to help in the house where
the instructors were staying and I remember them talking about how worried they were
about how things were going to change soon. Flash forward two months and now all these
instructors have adapted to find new means of income; most of them now host swing
dance lessons online.
Location: LindyGroove (Pasadena, CA)
Starring: the wonderful, Daniella
Photo credit: Victoria Chan
It’s incredible to see how over a couple of months people resorted to whatever was/is
accessible online. I know swing dancing is not the only dance being offered online, but I
was overwhelmed by how many people started doing it, and a couple of my favorite swing
dance venues took to the virtual world and started hosting Zoom lessons. Instructors
started posting lessons, live bands started hosting live music sessions on Facebook, and
both really just wanted to keep the community alive and asked for donations. You have
to stop and think about how many of these incredible artists lost their main source of
income - along with so, so many workers out there - and have turned to their friends for
help. Small businesses everywhere are struggling, including one of my favorite dance
venues, Atomic Ballroom. The least we could do is take lessons and pay like we normally
would.
Another thing that has taken the world by storm is the app Tiktok. I dragged my feet for
as long as I could, but eventually caved and downloaded the addicting app. On it, I saw
so many people learn to dance from short videos then record themselves dancing. People
even took it a little further whenever they could. I mentioned previously on my post
“Holiday Swing Dancing” that my incredible friend Kendall’s video went viral on Tiktok
of her and her husband dancing collegiate shag in the rain - find her on Tiktok
@live.collegiate.shag. Another video of theirs aired on EllenTube recently, as well! In a
recent interview she had with the amazing Paul - he has a Twitch channel “pauldances” -
she stated that people tend to share the video without her tagged so she has no way to
know just how many people are watching her videos. However, she continues to post
weekly videos and hopes to continue to inspire people to dance.
Paul, whom I just mentioned - and have mentioned on my previous swing dance posts
“Swing on By!” and “Holiday Swing Dancing” -, has continued to bring people together
with his Twitch channel and has hosted what he calls The Global Online Social where
he’ll have music playing and people can join in and dance. He’s also interviewed some
amazing dancers and instructors. Check him and Kendall out some time, you won’t be
disappointed.
Amidst all the turmoil, a lot of people have come together to share their love of dance.
The amazing Lizzy & the Triggermen brought the world a song to dance to and the
dance community did not disappoint in bringing joy through dance.
Dance has a greater impact in our lives than we expected. Whether it's being playful on
Tiktok or taking time to learn a new type of dance, we strive to be better during these
hard times. You’re not alone, if you want to learn to dance, now is the time! Enjoy the
time we have and make memories you can share with future generations. We are always
living through history but right now we are living through a historical event, so make
the most of it!
Live every day to the fullest. Stay safe.
Love, Damaris
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