Swing out
The signature move of Lindy Hop. Eight counts in which the partners rotate half a circle around each other, using stretch and release.
Rock step, triple, rock step, triple (1 2 3&4 5 6 7&8)
Swing Hall
The swing out is the signature move of Lindy Hop, which emerged in Harlem in the late 1920s and 1930s at venues such as the Savoy Ballroom. Dancers like Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Al Minns and Leon James shaped the language of the dance.
The central pattern of the dance and the one most Lindy Hop classes build towards. Almost everything else, from variations to aerials, is built on or around it.
- Learn the send out first, then the circular path.
- Think “circle”: the partners orbit a shared centre.
- Feel the stretch on the rock steps and the compression on the triples.
- Practise leading from the body: keep the arms elastic.