15. Whip with swivels

This is the characteristc whip for his style of lindy. Unlike in the basic whip where the follow is lead forward on one, in this version of the whip the follow will be lead forward on two. This is significant because this motion matches the accented even beats in swing music. For the lead: The lead's footwork will remain the same but the left hand connection is different. Instead of stepping back and bring the follow forward on 1, the lead allows the energy in his connection to build slightly on one but does not lead the follow forward until two. To do this the lead must slightly let his let arm come out as he is taking a short step back on 1 with his left foot. The rest of the whip is the same for the lead.

Depending on the tempo, it may be difficult to hold back until two. To compensate for this, shorten the length of your connecting arms at faster tempos.

For the follow there are a lot of changes. Swivels are what makes skirts twirl, heads turn, and it is perhaps the single most powerful element of this style of lindy. Swivles can happen in the whip on 1,2 and 6 through 8. That means a follow is only ever not swivling on 3&4, 5.

Swivles involve counter motion between the upper and lower parts of the follow's body. As the follow's hips twist one way, her shoulders are supposed to twist in the opposite direction. The effect created by this is that, when facing the lead, the follows shoulders remain parallel with the lead's shoulders as the follow's hips twist from side to side.

Swivle on 1: The follow is on the balls of her feet with her knees bent. She picks up her right foot and twists counter clockwise as she steps down in place. Her right heel and butt should be pointing at the lead. The follow's left knee should be very close to the pit of her right knee. Hip motion is emphasized by keeping the feet close to being on the same traveling line.

Swivle on 2: The follow picks up her left foot and twists clockwise as she steps forward with her left foot. The swivle on 2 is not as extreme as the swivle on 1 because of the step forward.

On 3&5, 5, the follow does her basic whip footwork.

On 6, the follow separates form the lead and turns her body counter clockwise into her right arm so that she is perpendicular with the lead.

For 7&8, the follow does a triple crossing behind. On 7, she steps behind her right foot with her left foot. On &, she steps in place with her right foot. On 8, the follow steps to the left with her left foot and points both of her knees to the left.

The follow can use the counterbalnce connection of her left hand to pivot from 6 to 7. This means that as opposed to stepping to seven, the follow lets gravity twist her so she falls around to seven. You can't be wearing sticky shoes when you do this. The follow can use this connection to pivot to &8, 1. The follow should only ever give the lead as much weight as she needs to smoothly do her swivles. The counter balance conection for swivles should be comfortable for both the lead and follow.

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