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Taking a leap of faith on the dance floor

BY KRISTEN MELAMED

Posted 9/03/10

I’m not particularly afraid of heights, or the dark. Spiders and insects don’t bother me much, but there’s something about being lifted into the air in the middle of dancing that unnerves me.

This past weekend, some friends and I participated in Lindy 500, a three-day event at Towson University that included open dancing with a live band and lindy hop classes. I’ve been doing swing and lindy hop for awhile now and most of my friends, who have been dancing about as long I have, were eager to take the Aerials I and II classes. I was a bit more hesitant.

First of all, I’m not an experienced swing dancer. And the only lift I’ve ever really done was jumping up into my partner’s outstretched arms, which is (usually) low-risk.

Secondly, I had serious issues about falling and hurting myself, which is a distinct possibility whenever your feet leave the floor (sometimes I have trouble with stairs, so you can understand why a lift might give me pause).

But as I tried to rid thoughts of potential injury, I thought the class might be kind of fun, or at the very least, funny. And if I felt truly uncomfortable, I wasn’t going to lift so much as my heel off the floor.

The big aerial move we learned was nicknamed “The Cupcake.” While it sounds cute and fun, it looks like a version of a death spiral upon first glance.

When our instructors first demonstrated the lift, I almost ran for the door. Something along the lines of “Are you kidding me? There is no way I’m doing this” ran through my head.

It’s hard to describe, but the lift goes a little something like this: The leader puts the follower in front of him and lifts her off the floor and onto his shoulders. After a few twists and turns, the follower touches the floor with her hands before leaning back and landing on her feet. I know, it sounds crazy, but it looks awesome when done quickly — and correctly.

The scariest part, for me, was actually getting on my partner’s shoulders. You definitely have to put aside any trust issues and have faith in your partner (or just hope he will break your fall). And though I landed on my partner’s shoulders once or twice without falling, I whacked his face a few times in the process (but, thankfully, there was no blood or broken bones).

Though I was nervous, we wanted to try the whole lift, and so we learned it in small steps. We also practiced everything very slowly and with spotters, which made me feel a little better. It’s always nice to have someone catch you when you’re headed toward a hard wooden floor.

I didn’t actually nail the whole lift at once, but my partner and I got the move in small (and very slow and calculated) chunks. And I didn’t fall (too much) or injure myself or my partner, which I consider a total success.

The aerials class was fun, though there are other low-risk, less terrifying lifts I’m more apt to practice. I don’t think I’ll be doing “The Cupcake” again anytime soon on the dance floor — but I’m glad I took that “leap” of faith.