… or slightly less so 
My friend from Queen’s University recommended (understatement there) I join the Swing Dance Club at my university.
So hey, I’ve decided to make learning the Lindy Hop my New Year’s Resolution.
Anybody here swing dance? What should I expect on the first day? 
Me and SO took West Coast Swing lessons recently. Loved it! Here’s a YouTube of some Lindy Hopping.
Ok, I’ll admit it: I’ve wanted to do so for a while as well. I have no idea where to look and have a bum back and leg, so I don’t get around too well’s the problems at hand.
I’d still like to do it. I have no beef with anyone else wanting to learn.
Over Christmas I discovered that my nephew and his girlfriend are keen swing dancers, he even has a fantastic suit made by Anton’s of Melbourne. He says this is a good guide to how you learn.
Great choice, Casserole! I’ve been lindy hopping for around 3.5 years now, and I absolutely love it. It’s a really fun dance, and there are lots of great people in the scene. Everyone I know is very welcoming, and understanding of beginners – we’ve all been there, and we’re all still learning anyway.
I see from your profile that you’re in Hamilton – I’m not really familiar with the scene there, but if you make it over to Toronto, I highly recommend Mandi Gould and Bees Knees Dance. I’ve met Mandi when she’s come to Vancouver for events here, and I can’t say enough good things about her.
As for what to expect the first day, you won’t be tearing up the dance floor at the end of your first class, sad to say. You’ll be working on learning the basic steps, and hopefully learning how to establish connection and all that kind of thing. And then, three (or five, or ten…) years down the road, you’ll still be working on the basic steps and how to establish connection, just at a somewhat more nitpicky level… 
If you have any other questions, fire away. I’m far from an expert, but I’ll do my best. And welcome to the finest little addiction I’ve ever picked up!
I had to learn the Lindy Hop in a college dance class, and have to say it is the one dance I still remember a little bit of. It was 22 years ago. It was very fun, and I was lucky to have a really cute baseball player as a partner. sigh…
have fun!!
Here’s the Lindy Hop scene from Hellzapoppin’ - once seen, never forgotten!
Unfortunately I feel a bit too old to learn to do this kind of thing now, but I did go to rock’n’roll classes for a few years, and loved it. Have fun, OP!
Hopped over to Cafe Society.
If you can walk you can dance. I am over 50 with a bad back, knees and ankles. I have been swing dancing for almost 2 years and I love it. I am not a rock star by any means but I have a good time and I get aerobic exercise and my bad back etc have much improved from dancing. Frankie Manning is going to be 95 and is still dancing. http://frankie95.com/
Casserole et all, most large cities have swing dance groups, for the most part West Coast dancers and Lindy Hoppers are seperate groups. East Coast dancers are usually a subset of Lindy Hop. Bop clubs are a little different as well. This is from my own observation and may differ in another area. Let us know where you live and I will see what I can find for you.
Adhemar (in Memphis, a small but dedicated swing scene)
Seconded. After all, most of us are not Frankie Manning in 1941, and this (footage of social dancing at the Seattle Lindy Exchange) is more what you’ll be doing on a daily basis.
Which actually brings me to the best part of lindy hop culture – exchanges! These are weekends (for the most part, I’m just back from one in San Diego that ran Dec. 29 - Jan. 1) where people from all over the place get together and just dance. Generally, there will be afternoon, evening, and late night events, where you dance until 5 am, then start all over again after a few hours sleep. You will be exhausted and sleep-deprived, but you will have met all sorts of wonderful people, hopefully made a few new friends, and danced until you dropped.
Sounds fantastic! Thanks for all of the information. I definitely can’t wait to get started now.
Some of the fittest people I see on the telly are dancers. I guess what I’m most afraid of (besides making a fool of myself on the first day) would be busting a gut really early on…
Casserole, where do you live?
What’s “bust a gut”? Where I live it means to laugh a lot, which we certainly do. We make silly faces, or miss a lead in some spectacular fashion or lead something that didn’t quite work as planned but it is all in fun. If you mean bust a gut as in injuring yourself, you can overdo it as in any activity. You can always sit down for a minute if you need to.
Ms Macphisto, I was in Seattle for ECBF in Novembet and met some really nice folks and I just signed up for Frankie’s 95th in New York in May. Whoohoo! I also met a blues dancer at “enter the Blues” last year in Atlanta who was from Vancouver, tall guy named Jason?
Adhemar
Cool. I was at ECBF too, had lots of fun. I want to go to Frankie’s 95th, but I need to figure out if I can make it work. My big dancing claim to fame is getting a new year’s kiss (on the cheek) from Frankie at Swingout Northwest 2 years ago! And I can’t think of a Jason who would have been in Atlanta…oh well, the Vancouver scene is big enough that I don’t know absolutely everybody, especially if they mostly dance in the suburbs…