After trying unsuccessfully to get into Super Taste in NYC’s Chinatown, we got cheap dumplings, then headed to the Lower East Side. Without the bouncer, The Back Room bar in NYC would be difficult to find. There is a small sign for the Lower East Side Toy Company on a gate that opens into a staircase which ends in a tunnel leading to the bar entrance. The inconspicuous entrance adds to the Roaring 20’s Prohibition Speakeasy theme, which attracts the Lindy Hop crowd.

The bar itself is a story and a half, with a band and a dance floor on the upper portion. It serves cocktails out of tea cups. These can be enjoyed in a comfortable, softly and warmly lit seating area located just beyond the band.

I visited on a Monday night. There was a solid contingent of 50 or so dancers. The Hot Toddies, a small band with an incredible singer, played swing era songs. The upper floor was tight, and catered well to balboa, but there was some room for Lindy. The lower floor was more open at the beginning of the night, but filled up as the hours passed.

I had two main dance ideas on my mind that Monday. The first was pulse. After watching video of myself dance, I have noticed that my pulse can get a bit too pronounced. I want to smooth it out, and move it lower. I would like to feel it more in my thighs. I’m not exactly sure how to do this, because I use a more pronounced pulse as a synchronization tool. By emphasizing it more, I feel like I can more dependably match what my partner’s feel for the music. That may be telling, in that I am using visual queues for rhythm. A greater focus on the music might tamp down the pulse. Getting more in tune with the partnership’s stretchy tension might do the same.

The other idea I have been playing around with is what it means to always be dancing. The spaces the dancers leave for their partners invites improvisation. A simple side pass, for example, leaves a lot of room for flair, since neither partner needs to put much energy into executing the move being led. Simplicity, in this way, leads to creativity. There is tension between that type of creativity and creativity of high level partnership patterns. Mixing complicated patterns with simple expression is an art.

In addition to this, there is the felt prerogative of a dancer to show they can dance through individualized movement. Adding solo movement risks breaking the groove of the partnership. I have been erring on the side of individual movement, which has made me feel less connected to my partner. Overcorrecting then makes me feel as though I am not really dancing and instead acting as a small-piece choreographer. When I watch dancers I admire, their stylistic individuality does not break the rhythm of the partnership. They are dancing at all times, as if they can split their minds. Part is choreographing, and part is listening to the music carefully. I see, in great dancers, an ability to have different parts of the body do different rhythmic patterns simultaneously. That is a skill closely related to that of dancing while leading, or dancing while following.