(9) Swing Dance Date

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[Chapter 9: Swing Dance Date]

I asked her, “Where do you want to eat? Red Robin or Ruby’s Diner?” She replied, “Ruby’s sounds good. We haven’t been there in a while”.

We were seated in an outdoor area eating our meal overlooking a lake. I got a burger, fries, and a strawberry shake with a cherry on top. She had a special sandwich, onion rings, and a Shirley Temple soda drink. I could see a walking path that went to a gazebo near the edge of the lake. I asked her, “Do you want to go for a walk around the lake after we eat? I think I see gazebo where we can do some dancing.” “That sounds like a good plan. We have plenty of time until the movie starts at 9 o’clock”, she replied. The waitress came and took my credit card and came back with the paper for me to sign and leave a tip. To do a 15% tip I rounded it to a convenient number and then moved the decimal place one over to be a 10% tip in my head. In my head I then added half of that to itself to be a 15% tip. I wrote in the tip amount and the total amount. After we finished we walked with my right hand holding her left hand with our fingers intertwined. She was turned toward me slightly with her right hand going across her body gripping my upper left arm while she tilted her head onto my right shoulder leaning against me as she walked. It was calm quiet peaceful and serene. There was a slight refreshing breeze with a subtle whistling sound. We came to the gazebo and I put my arms around her and gently rocked back and forth as we stood in the middle watching the light shimmering the water.
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When we had fully taken in the moment and milked every last drop out of it, I said “Do you want to dance?”. She asked, “What type of dance? Hustle or Swing?”. “Swing. Lindy Hop”, I replied. I took out my music device and put on the song “16 Tons”. We put our things to the side and started to dance.

The rhythm for Lindy Hop was “step, step, triple step, step, step, triple step” or “1, 2, triple step, 3, 4, triple step”.

We were facing each other a little less than arms length apart. I held my left hand extended forward about waist level with my fingers perpendicular to my palm making a horizontal L shape. She had her arm extended with her right hand in my left hand with her fingers cupping my fingers from the top.

There was tension in our arms so when I stepped back with my left foot on the 1, it pulled her forward along the slot.

On the 2, I moved my right foot to the left in front of my left foot along the same line to move myself out of her way as she came forward along the slot. During the “triple step”, my right hand caught her back so I could swing her her back in the direction that she came in a circular manner like a trebuchet while I stepped my left foot in further in front of my right foot along the same line as before and then alternated stepping each foot quickly pressing my feet into the ground as I stepped 3 times. I was shuffling forward along the line forward slightly while rotating 180 degree to face the other direction during the triple step.

On the 3, I stepped back with my right foot hooking it slightly around my left foot while using my right hand to propel her back down the slot in the opposite direction.

On the 4, I released my right hand from her back while getting out of her way in the slot by stepping my left foot out of the slot to be parallel to my right foot with both feet painting perpendicular to the line of the slot.

On the last “triple step”, I stepped in place 3 times alternating feet pressing my feet into the ground as I rotated 180 degrees to return to my starting position.
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I keep counting in my head as we were dancing, “1, 2, triple step, 3, 4, triple step”. Her steps were a little easier than mine. She was just going back and forth along the slot whereas I was the one getting out of her way and acting as a counterweight to swing her around like a trebuchet. She actually traveled a further distance than me because I am anchored in the middle swinging her back and forth.

On the 1, she stepped forward with her right foot.

On the 2, she steps further forward with her left foot.

On the “triple step” she hooks her right foot slightly behind her left foot stepping 3 times alternating feet pressing into the ground while turning 180 degrees to face the other direction.

On the 3, she steps forward with the left foot.

On the 4, she steps further forward with the right foot.

On the last “triple step”, she steps her left foot near her right foot stepping 3 times alternating foot pressing into the ground while rotating 180 degrees to return to the starting position.

We kept repeating this basic Lindy Hop step over and over. It feels like a rubber band being stretched and released as she is catapulted back and forth along the slot. It takes a lot of practice to get the feel just right.

I mixed in some other moves like raising my left hand to my eye level on the 2 to have her go under it.

There is another turn where I spin her counterclockwise with my right hand on her back on the 3.

There is a move called the “Tommy Bahama” where I switch her hand from my left hand to my right hand and they spin her counterclockwise on the 3 while keeping her arm low to not hurt her arm.

We kept dancing until we got tired. The Lindy Hop can be exhausting. After “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B” finished, we stopped dancing and started walking to the movie theater nearby. We got our tickets and played a few arcade games using quarters. We then got some popcorn, nachos, and a frozen coke with two straws and went to be seated. We were holding each other’s hand until we moved the armrest up that was between us. I was to her left and she was to my right. I put my right arm around her back onto her right shoulder. She put her left hand onto my right leg just above the knee. The lights started to dim and the previews for the movie started.
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