Online swing dance resources are especially helpful and needed during time of social distancing when majority of dance organizations had to cancel their classes and festivals. There were always a lot of great online platforms with Lindy Hop, Solo Charleston and Balboa courses however during last week teachers and musicians introduced a lot of new forms of teaching, playing and dancing. We tried to gather new and old resources to learn swing dance online, check them out.
1. Join a live class
A lot of great teachers use their own or swing dance schools’ Facebook or Instagram accounts to run live classes online. They usually announce it at least one day before and gather people on the event or just as a post. Please, remember to tip them using Venmo or PayPal if they provide the info!
These happen fast but if you follow people who hosted lives earlier hopefully you will catch one yourself:
- Virtual Balboa Weekend with Andreas and Olga
- Solo Jazz rooftop classes with Vincenzo Fessi
- Virtual Shag Workout with Steve Sayer
- Bal Practice Virtual with Laura Keat
- Tiny Apartment Solo jazz with Helena Kanini Kiiru
- Swingspiration live stream lesson with Elle & Samu
- Solo Jazz with Leonardo Ost
- Solo Jazz with Roser Ros
- What makes this song great? – musical discussion panel with Michael Gamble, Jonathan Stout and Laura Windley
When it comes to lives you can also catch some of the great dance music with this Quarantine Concert Calendar (majority of these work well for the US time). When it comes to the timing more comfortable for Europe we really enjoy virtual swing dance parties by Heart of Dixie and Andrej Hermlin and his Swing Dance Orchestra.
2. Private classes online
Email your favorite traveling or local teacher and ask them about the possibility of doing a video class or a feedback on your dancing. They can also help you to prepare a training program or put a choreography together. There is a special google doc dedicated to gathering contact info of full-time teachers hit by the cancellations of events that offer private online classes.
3. Take up a challenge
You can also take part in swing dance challenges. There is a given topic for each day and you work on particular skill among others. You can take a video of your training and publish it in a group where dancers inspire and motivate each other or add it to your social media with a dedicated hashtag.
- Lindy Lockdown Challenge
- 30 Day Social Distancing Balboa Challenge
- 30 Days of Solo Jazz
- Black Bottom 1 Day Challenge (in Spanish)
4. Sign up for an online course
There are plenty amazing, online platforms you can learn Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz and Balboa from. We divided them by these 3 swing dances:
LINDY HOP
DAX AND SARAH’S RHYTHM JUICE
Dax and Sarah run the Rhythm Juice platform with a huge amount of material to practice solo and with a partner. They regularly upload new videos. There are two options to choose from – both are very attractive and will surely excite every lindy hopper.
“To inspire dancer’s worldwide by providing personal feedback, coaching and structured learning to improve your swing dancing!” – Rhythm Juice
Price: $0 for 7 days trial and then $49 per month
KEVIN AND JO’S ILINDy
“Kevin and Jo believe that the old saying “practice makes perfect” can be improved upon by applying a small variation, “perfect practice makes perfect.” If you practice something wrong 1,000 times, you’ll be really good and doing it incorrectly. So take the time you need to practice the material correctly. The number one thing that all top level dancers share is training.”
COVID-19 special pricing: $19 instead of $30 per month
SYNCOPATED CITY BY MICHAEL AND EVITA
“Syncopated City offers a solution to overwhelm and feeling stuck. A comprehensive library of moves, styling, and variations that you can reference as many times as you need to truly master each move and make it your own. Each lesson is taught by the consistent, clear, and experienced voices of Michael and Evita.” – Syncopated City
Price: $25 per month
SOLO JAZZ & CHARLESTON
KSENIA PARKAHATSKAYA’S ONLINE COURSES
Ksenia focuses on solo dancing and creates complex courses focused on particular subjects. There are already 6 of them and the membership gives access to all the videos.
Price: €30 per month
BALBOA
i Solo Balboa by Olga Marina
“iSOLObalboa is online classes created to inspire balboa dancers and help them learn to practice solo to feel great dancing in a couple.” – Olga Marina
Price: €30 per month
Balboa ADDICTION by Mickey Fortanasce
“Check our over 200 posts including Patreon Exclusive Lessons like our ‘Compete’ and ‘Slides’ series. Recaps from nearly all of our workshops over the past year as well as fun links to some of our favorite dance clips, dance clip voiceovers and access to the Balboa Training Ground. Our online practice and focus group.” – Mickey
Price: $5-40 per month
Balboa Online by Bobby & Kate
“Balboa Online works with a video streaming service to deliver content to dancers across the world. Our goal is to offer simple, pay-per-video lessons, without the hassle of subscriptions. Once you have purchased a video, you will have access to that video as long as this website is up.” – Balboa Online
Price: $15 for a video
One8 Balboa
“It’s a series of short Balboa footwork videos meant to give you some ideas on how to improve your footwork so it’s in sync with the music.” – Vilnius Balboa Club
Price: $1-8 per month
Nick Williams’ Patreon
“Everything from lessons, demos, personal feedback and much more. Lindy Hop, Balboa, Collegiate Shag and beyond. With your help we can continue to expand and explore the depths of the swing dances.” – Nick Williams
Nick invites numerous amazing followers and records video classes for his Patreon account.
Price: $5-25 per month
