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Swing + Argentine Tango = Swango
The Swango FAQ should be mostly answered by the interview with Louise Thwaite, below.
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| Interview with Louise Thwaite |
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Swango Explained
An Interview with Louise Thwaite
By Chernicky
9/18/2002
HipHopLindy: First, I was thinking about kind of an intro paragraph about you. Where
you grew up, what got you interested in dance, what your dance background
and training is, your achievements, and what you are doing/working on now.
Louise Thwaite and Frankie. |
Louise Thwaite: I grew up in Wolverhampton in England. Danced when I was very young until
the age of about 9 when I was struck with chronic stage fright. There were
too many shows and too many exams and all I wanted was to give it up! I
didn't really dance again for 20 years! I did a few adult tap classes now
and again, one course of adult ballet (I hated it). I was a keen disco
dancer of course when I was at school, but it wasn't until I found Lindy Hop
that I really danced again in any serious way. At the time I was working 80
hour weeks in the TV Industry and Lindy became an obsession very quickly, so
much so that eventually I left the industry altogether to dance and teach
full time. I realised that dance is what I should have been doing all my
life. That break in career took me on to ten years of travelling, teaching and performing. I am now based in
Boston and really don't want to travel any more unless it's to go Scuba
diving! My current project, other than working on my own dancing, is
teaching courses on Jazz and World social dances in a local high school.
Something I have wanted to do for a long time is introduce teenagers to
social dance. My aim is to build this programme to make dance an integral
part of the curriculum and to create a dance performance company of 14 - 18
year olds.
When and how did you first get involved in Swango?
Entirely due to my friendship with Daniel Trenner. We met initially about 8
years ago when Simon Selmon and I were teaching at a Dance event in Cape
May, NJ. After that we would run into each other at various events here in
the US and I became more and more interested in Tango. Simon and I
organized a workshop for Daniel in London around 1996 where he taught 'close
embrace tango' with a beautiful argentine named Elina Roldan. At the end of
that class they danced a close embrace tango to Blossom Dearie's version of
'Thou Swell'. I was captivated. It wasn't exactly Swango but very much the
beginnings in my mind. In 1998 I went on one of Daniel's Bridge to the Tango
tours to Buenos Aires to study tango more seriously. I danced on average 9
hours a day for three weeks and came home about 10 pounds lighter and
totally hooked. While there I danced a lot of tango to swing music with
Daniel, he showed me his early work on combining the two dance forms, much
of it using west coast swing. I was interested immediately in making it
work with Lindy. Actually West Coast Swing is a more natural choice for
swango becuase of it's walking characteristics, but Lindy for me, is in it's
spirit, a better choice.
I know that you are in love with Arg Tango. What was it about the dance
that sparked that love?
It is the perfect synthesis in motion of the intellectual, the emotional and
the improvisational. This sounds a little pretentious as I read it, but it
is the only dance form I know that allows for the expression of every mood -
from the tragic to the comedic. It's basic rules are beautifully simple but
the application can be endlessly sophisticated. It is incredibly romantic,
but is also intensely rhythmic. It can be expansive or intimate, or even
both at the same time! I am challenged everytime I dance it both as a
leader and a follower and I believe I could spend a lifetime studying and
always have something new to learn.
What aspects of tango/swango are specifically interesting to swing students?
The best tango musicians and the best tango dancers make tango swing!
Danced at it's highest level the best dancers of both styles inhabit the
music in a very similar way. They dance on the 'back of the beat' by that I
mean they hang back very slightly in the music, creating a more intense
sensation of rhythm. If you are musically adept as a swing dancer then you
have a natural predisposition for Argentine tango. Also for me, a good
swing dancer is a natural improviser. Argentine tango is the ultimate
partnered dance to challenge your improvisation skills. Until you get to
Swango of course!
You've taught a number of classes in Swango at various workshops and camps.
How do you introduce primarily lindy dancers to Swango that do not know
anything about Arg Tango?
I teach the basics of Argentine Tango. I have found no other really
effective way. If you just show a couple of Argentine Tango moves that can
be incorporated into Lindy then you are just borrowing from one dance form
for the other. Perfectly legitimate of course, and very fun actually, but
that is a different class. I also encourage people to go and study Argentine
Tango seriously. The truth is that you can introduce the concept of Swango
to people who are proficient in one dance form but not the other, but to
actually dance Swango at any real level of proficiency you have to be very
at ease, in both forms, in their own right.
Describe the Arg Tango basic.
A forward step, a side step, and a back step. Add a pivot as a linking
movement and these are the basics. The 'Salida' is often taught as the
'basic' step but in my opinion it is one of the early combinations that you
learn not the basic in itself. The Salida is actually quite a complex
combination that includes the use of the two systems of walking found in
tango, and the most significant piece of irregular grammar - the follower's
cross. These are not basic concepts. If the very first thing students
learn is the Salida, then often they do not understand what that combination
is made up of and cannot transfer that knowledge to help them break down
other combinations they might see.
Describe the Swango basic.
I think of the basics of Swango as conversion or transition points not
steps. The most basic of these for me is the conversion of the followers
back ocho on the right side into a rock step. This will take you from tango
to swing, take that same rock step in swing and you can move from swing back
to tango again. There are many other conversion points.
Can you talk a bit about some specific examples of swango moves, in order
to illustrate how one would progress while trying to develop the dance?
Not really, the progression and development of vocabulary is up to the
individual dancer, however, there are certain aims that should be focus
points in order to progress. Firstly, make it musical! Secondly it should
be leadable, not learned and automatically executed vocabulary Use the
differences in posture and balance that are individual to each dance form to
help you with this.
When it comes to music, what do you use for swango: swing music, tango
music, or some sort of hybrid thereof?
I use mostly swing music. There are some interesting hybrid compositions
appearing actually, that is something I watch with interest.
What are some of your favorite songs to use for Swango?
'Exactly Like You' by Carmen McCrae, 'I Love Being Here With You' by
Ernestine Anderson. 'Slow Boat to China' by Dee Dee Bridgwater.
What should one look for in music to use for swango?
Something that really swings but is not too fast. Most of all you should
want to dance to it. If you like it, try it. If it works then use it.
Louise Thwaite and Daniel Trenner... OG Swango, circa 1995/1996. |
Is there one originator of Swango? (If no, How far back can we trace the
lineage?, and who are some of the known originators, etc...)
The first person I ever heard use the phrase Swango was Daniel Trenner and
that was about 1995/1996, he may have been using it before then. For me, he
would be the originator of it. However, I am quite sure, the world being
the way it is, that there were and are other people who have played with
these ideas before and since.
Who are the leading figures in the development of this dance?
Daniel Trenner, Roxanne McKenny, Lori Ross, Rebecca Shulman and myself are
some of the people I know who have been interested in this work. I am sure
there are others.
What do you predict the future of this dance looks like?
I can't wait to find out. I think that the really interesting work lies in
adding exchange of lead and follow into the mix! That is when the
improvisational possibilities will go through the roof. Imagine two people
dancing together who lead and follow both dances, they will be trading off
both dance forms and roles! That is going to be very interesting. I think
that the fusion of Tango with other styles is going to broaden. Some very
high level Tango dancers have been borrowing salsa and swing moves and
putting them into Argentine tango for some time, I am interested to see
where they go with that. In truth, if you can find the right tempo you can
dance tango to almost any kind of music, it is so adaptable and versatile
that anything is possible.
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