I've been meaning to bring up something that has been bugging me for a while.  In the position I'm in, I often hear about the reception of dancers from out of town by the dancers in LA.  Overall, I'd say they generally don't have anything but positive things to say, but a very specific problem has become apparent that I can't stay silent on.

There seems to be, among *some* of the dancers (and I emphasize the "some"... I don't believe it's a majority by any stretch of the imagination), a rejection of anything that isn't exactly what they do, who they learned from, or in some other way giving the impression that there is only one "correct" way/place/style to do this dance.

I have heard several stories of people who asked someone to dance and got the response, "I only do Hollywood/Savoy" (in two of the cases, they had actually accepted the dance, and then stopped after a few Lindy circles, said the comment and left the dance floor).

It is prejudicial behavior and is no different than racial prejudice.  You may as well be saying to someone, "I don't dance with White/Asian/Black/etc people."

In addition, I know that there are factions of people who feel that in order to validate themselves, that they need to publicly put down other groups of dancers, or even individual dancers -- it's prevalent on the web, and I personally think that all it does is make these groups look immature and insecure.  Don't get me wrong.  Everyone is free to have their own opinions about others and I'm not suggesting that any kind of censorship take place, but I see no purpose except to be hurtful in publicly expressing those opinions in written form.  I would rather not have people from other places associate meanness, immaturity, pettiness and being pointlessly hurtful with the LA Lindy Hop scene.

To me, all of this behavior is not only the height of rudeness, it goes against everything I think is wonderful about this dance we all love.  This kind of exclusivity and putting down of people who are different from you is petty, and hurtful, and it makes the swing scene in LA have a very negative atmosphere, which is not at all what this dance is about.

To me, good dancing (as a leader or follower) is about adjusting your style to the particluar partner you're dancing with so you are both enjoying what you're doing.  Good leading and following allows for everyone to have their own individual style.  One of my favorite quotes from a dance instructor (I'm pretty sure I first heard it from Steven Mitchell) is "there are no mistakes in dancing, just new moves".  There's room for everyone to devlop the style that they are most comfortable with, without getting mean and hurtful about the fact that something else is what is more comfortable to some others.  I'm guessing that most of you out there would probably agree with me on this.

I want a solution to this problem.  I don't think this kind of prejudicial behavior should be tolerated and I certainly don't want to see my town (I've been doing Lindy Hop here in LA for about 6 years now) to get the reputation of being an unfriendly place for Lindy Hoppers.

I challenge all of you to follow the advice we've probably all heard at one point or another: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."  Think and feel what you want about the merits of the dancing style you prefer and the detriments of any other style if you must, but bring a measure of class and manners with you to the dance floor that keeps you from needlessly giving LA dancers a bad name. (Again, don't get me wrong -- I'm sure other areas of the country have their factions to contend with too, and I'm sure we even experience the occasional visiting dancer as rude as well -- by no means does LA probably corner the market in these respects).

Hopefully, we can help keep our swing scene free from this kind of prejudicial behavior and free from people feeling the need to put down dances and dancers that are different from what they might be most comfortable with -- there's room for all of us out there!

Swingin'ly, Margie Cormier margiekate@lindyhopping.com

I took the liberty of sending this statement in preview to a few people who I feel have been around for a while and might have something good to add to this discussion.