Details next block, social, discussion group

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We have bad news and we have good news.

The first piece of bad news is that the new corona measures have derailed some of our plans for this course period. The most painful is that we’ve had to cancel the social at De Waagh that we were planning.

More manageable is that we will be required to follow 3G-rules in our classes: If you come to one of our classes, we will have to check your app to make sure you are vaccinated, tested or recovered.

That brings us to the second piece of bad news: Because there were too few registrations and not a good balance of follows and leads, we’ve had to cancel the Lindy A course for the upcoming period. Lindy B will still go through as planned, starting next Friday. A reminder here that you can still register for Lindy B until Monday at 1pm!

Then, finally, the good news: We’re starting a book club! Lindy Hop has its roots in Black communities in the US in the 1930s. While living in a racist society, Black dancers created an art form in which they could – at least for the time of a dance – escape the blatant racism of their society, enjoy great swing music, excell on the dancefloor and be proud.
We still live in a racist society today. What has definitely changed, however, is the demography of the dancefloor. Go to almost any social or Swing festival, and you’ll see a predominantly white audience. Although many of us can name-check famous Black swing musicians, it’s all too easy to forget that jazz music in general and swing dancing in particular is strongly rooted in Black american culture.
Though we might be late to the party, we at Lindy What try to reflect on this and have a critical look at ourselves and the Lindy Hop community. We thought a good place to start was to get a better understanding of racism and how you can actively fight it.
That’s why we decided to start a book club. The first book we’ll be discussing is “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. We meet for the first time on 8 December, probably digitally due to Covid restrictions.
Anyone is welcome to join this reading group, just let us know by email. In the first session, we will read the intro and the first three chapters. If money to buy the book is an issue, please also contact us. We bought several copies so we can lend you one.
It is our intention to discuss more books, and with each book we talk about, we also build up an expanding library of books about dancing, racism and a better world.

Lots of love and keep dancing,
the LindyWhat team