What is this blog about?
I intend to cover Swing Dancing & Music and everything related (and possibly tangent) to it. Don’t be surprised if I place extra emphasis on the specific swing dance Lindy Hop, just because it’s my favorite and my specialty. Over the course of this blog, I hope to share my insights, musings, opinions, memories, and experiences in the wide world of swing. Some of the topics I may cover include:
- swing dance history
- music
- evolution of the dance
- local, national and international lindy dance events
- social, psychological and philosophical aspects of partner dancing
- musicality
- connection
- performing
- competing
- etiquette
- learning strategies
- working as a dancer & teacher
Who are you?
I’m Nathan Dias, a swing and lindy hop dance teacher, DJ and entertainer based in San Francisco. I started swing dancing in 1997, and Lindy Hopping in 2001. Since then, I’ve taken tons of classes, clocked thousands of hours on the social dance floor, performed with several dance groups, competed in dance contests, traveled across the continent and world to dance, taught lessons and put on local swing dance events. I’ve also made many friends and shared strange and wonderful experiences with them along the way.
Why are you writing this?
My friend, neighbor and lindy hopping friend Charlie spurred me on to start writing a blog. He suggested that my 11 years of accumulated dance knowledge and insights might be of value to my students and dancers out there. He also suggested that a blog would be a good way to establish my voice as an up-and-(hopefully)-coming teacher here in San Francisco. I really liked those suggestions. Thank you Charlie!
I must also confess that, as someone experienced in web design and search engine optimization, I am aware that Blogs can be extremely useful for promoting web traffic. As someone making a living from dance, that is an awesome benefit. I will ask your forgiveness in advance if I ever stray too far off topic, and I encourage feedback and criticism to help me stay on track. The mark of success for this blog will be if you, the reader, find it to be more of an informational and recreational resource and never notice the marketing aspects.
One more word about the blog’s title. Swing or Nothing is a misheard lyrical take on the title of one of my favorite swing dance tunes, “Swingin’ on Nothingâ€. At some point soon, I’ll figure out who wrote and orginally performed it.
Okay, with that introduction out of the way…may the blogging begin!