What To Wear Swing Dancing
Clothing styles from the 1940s and 1950s have the most appeal to swing dancers and lindy hoppers whereas charleston dresses are ideal for 20s dances.
What to wear swing dancing. Swing dancing is a fun energetic and athletic dance so you want to dress stylishly yet comfortably. A vintage dress is a classic swing dancing look that works great for more formal swing dancing events. So you have bought your tickets to your next swing event and are planning what you are going to wear. What to wear for west coast swing social dancing.
You probably won t see many poodle skirts outside of halloween dances in the lindy and balboa scenes. Whenever i invite my non swing friends to go swing dancing one of the most common questions they ask is what kind of shoes should i wear i ve interviewed my swing dancing friends and drawn from personal experience and observations to provide some answers here. Typical attire for social dancing is jeans and a t shirt. Many continue to swing dance and love to dress up in vintage styles.
Late night dancing attire should be about comfort. Many people wonder what to wear for west coast swing dancing. Because the style is so athletic and requires a lot of jumping flipping and dipping it is important to wear the proper clothing to get maximum enjoyment out of your next night of swing dancing. In the 40s dresses usually had fitted tops and collars with an a line skirt.
There s no need for special sports clothes but be prepared to sweat a bit especially when dancing to faster music. So you might want to bring a spare t shirt in your bag in case you d like to freshen up. Don t overthink it too much as it is usually dim lighting during social dancing. Swing dancing came about in the late 1930s and had a revival in the 1990s.
Our recommendation is that you wear something that you feel comfortable moving in. Swing dancing was prominent in the 1940 s and 50s so try to pick a dress fitting with this era. Swing dancing is also about self expression and the lack of a firm dress code really lets you include what you wear in that self expression. These two eras have iconic clothing styles that are easy to recreate using repro or vintage.
Swing dancing started in the 1920s and is still thriving today in many area of the country and there are even nightclubs that are dedicated to the athletic style of dancing. You probably have taken some lessons and are more comfortable with the dancing and now it is time to add some style to your craft without sacrificing comfort.