In the late 1930s, Lindy Hop was not a popular dance in Southern California, dancers preferred Balboa or Collegiate Shag. Dean Collins is credited with bringing the Lindy from the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York to the 'The Palladium' on Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles. Many of the LA based dancers in that era adopted what has become known as the Dean Collins' style.

Dean Collins & Kewel McGowan

Dean Collins also taught a large number of people the dance including many celebrities including Shirley Temple, Joan Crawford and Caesar Romero and even Arthur Murray. He continued to teach throughout his life and Jonathan Bixby and Sylvia Sykes, more recent swing dance champions and teachers from Santa Barbara learnt, directly from him.
The term "Hollywood style" was originally coined in the late 1990s by dancers Erik Robison and Sylvia Skylar. Although the term is used to describe the LA dancers from the WW2 era, originally, Hollywood Style included NY dancers as well. Hollywood Style meant Vintage style!

The Hollywood Style 'Swingout' (the basic step of Lindy) is referred to by practitioners of this dance as "The Whip". The basic technique advocates a "piked" position meaning that the hips project backwards to resemble a slightly "sitting" look, with the dancer appearing to lean slightly forwards into the dancing position. This is a signature look of Hollywood style. This form of Lindy-Hop is a slotted dance, meaning the follower travels up and down in an imagined "narrow box" instead of the more elliptical or circular Savoy-style Lindy Hop. Dancers in the Pete Smith Specialty "Groovy Moovie" (1941) show this influence executing smooth slotted whips in their performance.

Suitable for slow, fast and mid tempo swing music music, the dynamic nature of the Hollywood Style Lindy-Hop makes it fun and easy to learn for adults of all ages.

The Lindy-Hop level 1 workshop is designed for those keen to learn or refresh the fundamentals of Lindy-Hop and an introduction to the techniques and signatures of Dean Collins smooth 'Hollywood' Lindy-Hop style. The workshop is suitable for absolute beginners or those who have only a little experience of the dance and are keen to consolidate thier knowledge.

The itinerary concentrates on the fundamentals of the basic steps, and swingout techniques before progressing onto signature patterns.

COURSE ITINERARY
The day will be divided into sections with short breaks for refreshment and a lunch period. Start and End times are advertised on the Workshop Page.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED
Loose comfortable clothing.
A change of top, a towel and some deodorant.
Suitable footwear for dancing (leather soles preferable- your foot must be able top turn or slide on a wooden floor - dance "trainers", high heels, boots, fashion shoes or sports shoes are not suitable for this course).
Pack lunch (We provide tea, coffee, water and squashes).

PARTNERS
This course is aimed at 'dancing couples'. Please book your workshop places, or small groups with us as couples (1 male lead, 1 female follow).

BOOKING
Couple Price - £45 (Up to and including 7 couples).
Couple Price (for all couples when between 8 & 10 couples book)- £40.00.

for those who may have paid already, and if the 8 couple limit is passed, we will refund the difference of £5 on the day of the workshop.

We regret we cannot accept bookings for more than 10 couples. We aim to provide quality instruction and by keeping class sizes down we can concentrate on delivering the best information to you, in an invironement that is appropriate and possible to do so.
Bookings are taken on a first come, first served basis.

The course is aimed specifically at swing-dance students. For Teachers and those interested in promoting Lindy-Hop & Swing-dancing for commercial purposes please contact us to arrange private sessions.

AVOID DISSAPOINTMENT - BOOK EARLY - CALL US NOW FOR A BOOKING FORM
On: 07766 754092 or e-mail us via our contact pages: CONTACT US

PAYMENT
Advance payment for courses is appreciated. We are equally happy to accept a minimum deposit of £10 per couple, that is to reach us at least 2 weeks prior to the event. The balance can be paid on the day of the workshop.

REFUNDS
We regret we cannot offer refunds of deposits for cancellations within 14 days of the event or for "no-shows" on the day of the workshop. Early cancellations or cancellation by Cal'donias owing to unforeseen circumstances or target numbers not being achieved will receive a refund in full.

Payment by cheque, or cash. Please make your cheque payments payable to:

Cal'donias Swing Dance Society
1, Coddenham Road
Needham Market
Suffolk IP6 8AU
UNITED KINGDOM

ON THE DAY
The venue will be open 30 minutes before the advertised start time. Please aim to be in the venue at least 15 minutes before the advertised start so that you can complete any
administration with us, and prepare yourself for the session.