Second City Swingout 2026 Class Recap

Day 1 Second City Swingout

Class 1: Bobby White and Ursula Hicks

In the first class of the weekend, Bobby and Ursula led a non-combo class. We warmed up with body part isolations, dancing with a partner while focusing on relaxing the ankles, knees, butt, shoulders, and head.

Ursula then spoke about pelvic alignment. We practiced tilting our pelvic bowls forward and backwards, then returned them to the neutral position. We noted what neutral felt like, and how, when reached, the spine stacked comfortably in a line from one’s butt to one’s head. Ursula clarified how this neutral pelvic position relates to Lindy Hop posture, which is often described as an athletic stance. I noticed that when I take an athletic Lindy Hop stance, my butt sticks out. That is not entirely incorrect. The butt does stick out a bit, but while doing so, I have been curving my back in an s-shape. This class connected that curve to a pelvis tipped forward. By keeping a neutral pelvis in the athletic posture, the straight line from the head lies on a slight diagonal. After the class, I practiced reaching the correct position by finding the neutral pelvic position, holding that while leaning slightly forward by hinging at the waist, and bending my knees.

The second half of class involved partner experimentation. Lead and follow messed around with different movements in alternating phrases. We stayed on one foot and we held poses. As one partner tried things out, the other held down standard rhythms. We finished with call and response exercises. After one partner expressed a body movement, the partner reacted. Bobby used this exercise to describe a central component of his Lindy Hop style: he first leads a move, observes what his partner does, then reacts to that movement. One can describe this approach as a constant alternation between leading and following. The roles become more fluid.

Class 2: Kevin Weng and Laurel Ryan

The second class of the weekend focused on triple step variations. Kevin and Laurel demonstrated three different triple steps. In the most common triple step variation, the second footfall, which lands on the “and”, trails behind the forward foot. We practiced a second variation which moved the “and” step up, so it landed just next to the lead foot. The third variation moved the “and” step up even further, so it landed in front of the lead foot. We used these steps while moving around in a circle, changing between the variations and speed. The third variant was the hardest. While using it, I felt like I had to skip unnaturally. This is a bit odd, since the third variant is actually closest to a normal step. The first variant, however, is hard coded in my Lindy Hop muscle memory.

After learning the variants, we tested them out in standard patterns. Sometimes they fit in smoothly. Sometimes they felt incredibly awkward. We tested them out in swingouts. When I put the third variant into the 3/4 count triple step, it reinforced the idea that the first half of a swingout should be moving in the forward direction. The second step falling in front of the first step ensured that the forward momentum continued. The face off then happened more abruptly, and the swing had to happen quickly and with a bit more force. I won’t adopt that step variant as a standard in the swingout, but it did help me better understand the directional dynamics of the move.

Class 3: Kerry Kapaku and Michael “Falty” Faltesek

Kerry and Falty demonstrated a series of rhythm variations. It is hard to describe these in writing, but they were fun and challenging to practice. We started with a six count pattern. After the rock step, we added six grapevine steps. We practiced them with both swung rhythms and straight rhythms. We then worked on variations within the eight count pattern in a circle. After the first triple step, on the five, leads and follows practiced integrating six quick steps of swung and straight rhythms, before hitting a concluding step on the 8.

Day 2

Class 1: John Tigert and Annabel Quisao

Our first class of day two centered around a garbage bag metaphor. John and Annabel used the metaphor to who how to create a comfortable amount of space within closed position. A garbage bag has ties that can be pulled outwards to cinch the opening shut. In closed position, cinching downwards with the arms reduces the space. It can be uncomfortable for the follow, and reduces their ability to move freely and improvise. Leads practiced lifting their arms upwards and out. Doing so creates a stronger frame. We were careful not to put too much lift and expansion. Too wide a frame is also uncomfortable, as well as tiring. We found a sweet spot which created room, but felt like we could stay in that position for a long time. John tied this back to the garbage bag metaphor in a way I didn’t understand completely. He said something about the position of the arms when one is fitting the bag in the garbage can. It should be said that while the garbage bag metaphor was useful, John and Annabel explicitly stated it is generally not a good idea to symbolically put leads or follows in garbage bags.

While the arm expansion was most easily felt in closed position, one can keep that slightly expanded shape at all times. It is a posture as well as a philosophy. In open position, if one slouches and drops the shoulders, one reduces the space the body takes up. The interplay between lead and follow relies on what space is available. If one cinches the body in open, there is less volume for the follow to react to and move into.

Class 2: Peter Strom and Naomi Uyama

Peter and Naomi began class with a simple swingout variation. On the six, instead of continuing into a triple step, the lead caught the follow’s hip, and redirected them into an outside turn. The combination ended in closed position. It was a nice, simple combo, which they passed through quickly. The rest of the class focused on fine tuning a few important concepts.

Peter started by speaking about catching. He had us imagine catching a ball, then asked us to in substitute the ball for a kitten. When catching the latter, the class received the kitten much more carefully. Our knees bent, and our bodies descended with the imaginary cat in order to make the softest catch possible. The point was less about being gentle, and more about a continuous motion of catching. Peter and Naomi emphasized that the lead was responsible for catching the follow. Like catching the kitten, the lead starts catching the follow earlier than the moment of a redirect. For a six count basic, the lead starts catching with their body before the six, so that when the moment of catching comes, it is smooth and integrated.

Naomi and Peter coupled this insight with an explanation of who generates tension in the partnership. They argued that generating tension is predominantly the follow’s responsibility. Leads often try to generate tension by tensing the arms, which is a bad habit . It is uncomfortable. Instead, follows practiced generating tension through their movement. In a six count inside turn, they concentrated on continuing their movement away from the lead until they were caught. Leads contributed to this as well, with an opposite movement away, but Peter and Naomi argued that follow movement was the more important factor.

Recently, after having watched myself dance on video, I resolved to move less. It sometimes looked as though I were running around my partner. I saw myself taking big steps and appearing off balance. During Peter and Naomi’s class, I asked a question about the moment of the catch. I tried to describe how I wasn’t quite getting how I should gradually absorb the follow’s weight like I were catching the kitten. To answer this, Naomi danced with me in front of the class. Peter encouraged me to move away from Naomi at the end of a six count basic, as if I were about to lead a swingout. Then, when I swungout, during the second half, Peter chased my stomach with his hand to get me to move backwards more. This encouragement to move more seemed to contradict my previous resolution to move less. When practicing later, I tried to dance with more lateral movement. I found that in doing so, I ended up very far away from my partner, sometimes far enough to break our frames. Movement creates force, and both partners have to be always moving, but not in a way that pulls the other off balance. Even if I’m not moving a large distance, I still have to move. If one’s partner is moving little, one has to compensate by moving more. If one’s partner is moving a lot, one has to reduce the distance travelled by taking smaller steps.

Peter and Naomi continued the lesson by describing how speed is a defining factor of generating force. When a dancer is moving faster, it feels like they are using more force. Moving through a swingout at a higher speed means more distance is traveled, which means more tension has to be applied to redirect.

Peter defined the term “High Definition Range,” or HDR. HDR is variation in the amount of force and tension one uses when dancing. Peter argued that highly skilled dancers have a large range. Less skilled dancers stay at one point in the range, either being consistently light or consistently heavy. Varying one’s range allows a dancer to communicate more to a partner. A partner sensitive to fluctuations in the amount of resistance they encounter will find the dance more interesting, and will be able to use the variations creatively.

Near the end of the class, Peter and Naomi took an aside about a space. Peter related this to simplicity. He said that most often, he leads simple moves. Bobby White said earlier Lindy Hoppers have five moves: side pass, send out, tuckturn, swingout, and circle. Within those five moves, there is limitless improvisation. The lead must leave space for the follow to improvise, and then react to the follow’s ideas. The space is framed by endpoints created by the tension’s oscillation. Both lead’s and follow’s ideas react to the tension created, and move within the space provided. Both roles have to be constantly looking for what is possible within those limitations, and match the possibility to the music.

Class 3: Kerry Kapaku and Michael “Falty” Faltesek

Kerry and Falty concluded our class track with a session on sugar pushes. Falty described how to execute a classic Lindy Hop sugar push. He said that in the early clips, leads moved very little. Their steps essentially stay in place. Prior to the class, I executed sugar pushes by beginning with a lot of backwards motion. I have stepped as I would to lead a swingout; my body moves backwards in space to draw the follow forward. Falty likened that style of sugar push to West Coast, which uses a lot more lateral movement in sugar pushes.

Falty also corrected how we used our hands. In order to slow the follows down as they approached, he encouraged leads to widen their arms. Falty identified a common mistake where leads held their hand’s close to the sides at the hips. I commonly use that position, as it seems to help create a stopping block for the follow to spring off of. It took some practice to break that habit and use widened hands as the breaking mechanism.

Once we had worked through tweaks to our sugar push fundamentals, we moved on to variations. Kerry demonstrated a follow variation where she leaned in forcefully with her left arm before pushing off. If the lead provided a strong enough base, she showed how follows could rotate and kick their right led high, before springing backwards.

Falty then demonstrated a lead variation. On the two, he interrupted the follow’s step by placing a hand just above their right knee. The hand pinned this foot down, so that the lead could remain leaning on the follow’s thigh for a few beats, before launching off on the four. The move took careful aim and timing so that the follow would know to remain in place and provide strong support.