Allison and I received a fantastic compliment last night from an Intermediate Lindy Hop student who chose to check us out based on Tuesday night chatter about our classes and events. This person remarked on the agency we provide students and how much this was appreciated. One such example she called upon was when a student asked us how to incorporate boogie drops into their Lindy Hop and our answer was “you tell us” as we proceeded to play music. After that song we shared our ideas and riffed off each other.
Moments like these where agency is provided are best found when the teachers sit back and allow the student to explore. For us, this often happens to music rather than silence or teachers clapping/scatting out a rhythm.
The follow up question, though, was had I always taught this way with a strong dance-to-music emphasis, try this out, empowering students, etc. And the answer, as I reflect on it, was complicated. I started teaching a lot more in Denver at the Mercury Cafe approximately 2008-2010 alongside Tiffiny Wine. There wasn’t a strong music focus then and when music was played it was often either “Rock It For Me” by Ella Fitzgerald or Fats Waller’s “All That Meat and No Potatoes.” Yes, the same song for beginners week after week where it took a toll on the door person (“why the same version, Kenny?”) and me.
It was only when I left Denver for Portugal the spring of 2011 that I found agency as a teacher and the improvement started. My co-teacher there was a skillful DJ and her classes were RICH with music. Classes were fun again and I steadily increased my teaching skills teaching a wide mix of levels (four, I think) in a foreign country where movement is more valuable than words. And it just kept going from there as I taught with many different people in many different countries trying to gain as much knowledge as possible through observation and feedback.
Some main takeaways that lead to providing students agency are:
dance to as much good swing music as possible
classes ought to be fun
if you could embody your talking points into movements and have your students join in, do so
allow students time and space to discover themselves and their partner in the step
Hope this helps your future teaching and student experiences!