On Friday night, the Lipscomb Student Activities Board transformed Bison Square into a dance floor, complete with twinkle lights and a DJ, for the annual Swing in the Square event.
While most students who attended did not have extensive dance backgrounds, several couples danced like they had jumped straight out of the ’40s.
Freshmen Audrey Inmon and Johnathan Sottek whirled around the floor, completing flips and twists in beat with the big-band music.
“Swing is definitely a different type of dance than we do today,” Sottek said. “It’s more respectful…it’s one you have to think about more because you have to count rather than just move around.”
Inmon said she danced in musicals as she grew up in Memphis; Sottek said he practiced his moves at Centennial Park swing dancing events last summer. Both agreed that an event like Swing in the Square gives students a valuable opportunity to learn how to dance.
“A lot of dance today is more just chaos, but with this you have to work with the person across from you and can’t just yank [your partner] around,” he said. “It takes a lot more communication.”
The swing era lasted from around 1935 to 1946 in the United States. Artists like Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday played popular jazz and big band music that encouraged the sugar-pushing, lindy-hopping dance style.
“It’s kind of a cool look back in history,” Sottek said. “You don’t really think about that while you’re doing it, but it was the dance of an era, so to go back and visit that can be really cool.”
Inmon said she appreciates swing dancing and an event like Swing in the Square at Lipscomb for several reasons.
“It’s fun, it’s great exercise and it’s great for meeting people.”
Sophomore Rachel Kenagy tried out swing dancing for the first time and said the event provided her with a fun respite after a busy week.
“I think it gets everybody out and distracted a little bit from midterms coming up next week,” she said.
Photos by Anna Rogers