What is your favorite style of music, and why?

My favorite is jazz. 

There is just something about it that I’m not sure I can explain adequately.

Right now, I am sitting in a dark venue in Valencia, Spain named La Vitti. The show started with a performance by the amazing Roxane Arnal, and is now being followed by a jam session. By jam session, I mean that any musician in the audience can get on stage an play along if they feel so inclined. After a few songs, I got up to do a rendition of the song, Fever.  I love the driving bass and the sultry vocal texture I can use with the playful lyrics. This venue is perfect for the piece as well. The lights are a low, soft yellow, the audience is almost completely silent and fully engaged, and the sound equipment is some of the clearest I’ve ever heard. The ambience is almost dreamlike, perhaps womb-like. It feels like we are drifting together down a warm, lazy lazy river. A river of wine, maybe. It’s the kind of music and setting that immediately causes me to stop whatever else I may be doing, that arrests any thoughts I may be having, and forces me to listen with my whole essence. It is grounding. It brings me both forcefully and gently into the present. I close my eyes and FEEL the music. And I am not alone. Regardless of who we are, where we came from, where we are going, or what our days have been like, in this room, once the music starts, we all vibrate together. We are all linked, one rhythm. 

It is, truly, a difficult thing to explain with words. 

Almost all jazz does this to me, pulls me into the now. However, the completeness of the experience here in the thrum of La Vitti amplifies the intensity. It is a whole body experience with all senses engaged. Coltrane, Basie, Duke Ellington, low lights, cozy atmosphere, crystal clear sound equipment.... It is otherworldly. In this music, in this place, we are both lost and found. 

What kind of music moves you?

Generally in partner-dances like the Lindy Hop, the person leading the dance is usually male, and the person following is usually female. 

Lindy Hop: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfDw7eZhR-8/

Sometimes, however, dancers like to mix up tradition and expand their skills by learning to dance both lead AND follow, regardless of their genders. If you look closely in this next video, for example, you can see one dance pair made up of two men, one pair of two women, and one pair where the woman is leading and the man is following.

Lindy Hop with non-traditional gender roles: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfEC4b2nK6c/

Sometimes, men, or leaders, are afraid to let go of their role in order to let someone else lead.  Sometimes, the role of follower is often seen as a weaker role.  However, it takes a lot of personal strength to let someone else guide you.  It also takes a lot of trust, and a surprising a mount of skill.  For example, followers have to learn to read body language and to mimic it, very quickly.  Sometimes, people are afraid to dance with someone of the same gender, thinking that it is weird or that it means anything, when in reality, it often just means that the dancer has a wider range of versatility.  Learning to both lead and follow can help make a person a much better dancer, as they are able to understand what their partner is actually experiencing and expecting.  Being able to lead and follow also guarantees that the dancer never needs to be bored at an event, as they can dance with anyone.

What do you think about the roles of lead and follow?

Do you think that one role is more difficult than the other, or that one is strong and the other weak?

Do you think there is anything wrong with learning both?

Do you think that being able to dance as lead And follow can make someone a better dancer?

Are you comfortable with letting someone else lead you?

Have you ever danced with someone of the same gender?

Were you comfortable or uncomfortable?

Do you think that there is anything wrong with dancing with someone of the same gender?

Who do you think makes a better dance leader, men or women?

What are your favorite dances?

Have any of you ever tried the Lindy Hop?  As a Jamaican woman who loves to move, I have learned many dances over the years.  I have learned various African dances, belly dance, modern dance, salsa, bachata, Kizomba, waltz, fox trot, Argentine tango, and many others.  My current favorites are the Kizomba, Bachata, African, Tango, and now, Swing.  There is something so playful about swing dance, specifically the Lindy Hop that I love.  Pair the playfulness with the fact that it is danced to my favorite music, jazz, and anyone could see why I would love it so much.  Here is a video of my friends dancing the Lindy Hop in a plaza in Spain this morning: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfDw7eZhR-8/

Lindy Hop originated from African Americans in the United States.  The dance almost went extinct, but several years ago, one of the old icons was asked to teach the Lindy Hop to a new generation of excited dancers.  Here is an old clip of the Lindy Hop from a film called Hellzapoppin back in 1941: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSAOV6XEjXA ; It was one of those very dancers, Frankie Manning, who helped bring the Lindy back to life.  Now, the Lindy Hop can be found all over the world.  I have seen competitors in and from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain, India, Argentine, Mozambique and all over the United States.  Here is a video of a competition from 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9xxeWRxSbA

What dances do YOU enjoy?

Does the Lindy Hop look like fun to you?

Would you want to learn the Lindy Hop? 

Or, do you already dance the Lindy Hop?

What about it interests you?

Are there any Lindy Hop classes available where you live?

I have always held the theory that people who study music have an advantage when it comes to learning new languages.  By learning to cue into the subtleties of music, be they changes in speed, tone, texture or other, I believe that musicians are aptly prepared to recognize and mimic the subtleties of speech.   

Recently, I stumbled across a few articles supporting my theory*.  Granted, the articles talk more about the of mapping of brain activity than the tuning of the ear, but support is support.  Have you found, in your own life, that a background in music has facilitated your learning experience?  

* References:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/27/musicians-better-language-learners
http://www.fluentu.com/blog/learning-language-through-music/