In this exercise, dancers take turns being the one who is playing with making a change, and others in the group try to observe the change. The dancer can be dancing in a partnered or solo context. The steps below are written for a partnership, but you can adapt them for solo dancing.

Roles

Each group should have three to four people. One person is the dancer, a second person is their partner (lead or follow as appropriate), and remaining group members are observers.

• Dancer: This person is going to play with changing an aspect of their dancing
• Partner: This person supports the dancer by being a stable partner. The partner should keep things simple unless the dancer requests otherwise. The partner should also try to observe the change introduced by the dancer and see how it affects the partnership.
• Observers: Observers try to see the difference that the dancer is making. Even though the dancer is the focal point, observing changes just by watching is a skill, and observers get to practice that skill.

Exercise

1. The dancer chooses the change that they want to practice and tells the group what they chose. For example, maybe they have a tendency for certain steps to be much larger than other steps and want to work on keeping their step sizes even.
2. The dancer and their partner dance for a little bit to get a baseline, without any intentional changes. This is the “A” version.
3. When the dancer is ready, they tell the group that they are going to try the “B” version and dance while trying to make the change they selected. The partner and observer(s) look for the change.
4. Discuss everyone’s observations. Did the dancer feel like they were successful at making the change they wanted to make? Did the partner notice a change? If yes, how did it affect the partnership? Did the observers notice a change? Some changes may be more or less visible, so the observation step may be easier or harder depending on that.
5. The partner trades roles with one of the observers, then the dancer and the new partner dance the A and B versions. If the difference isn’t clear, it may help to exaggerate the A version by making the opposite change of the B version. In this example, that means intentionally taking irregularly large steps.
6. Discuss everyone’s observations. Was the change clear? Was it consistently present in the B version? What, if any, obstacles does the dancer feel are making it harder for them to implement the change?
7. Continue trying A and B versions for a bit, and switch who is the dancer so that everyone can get a turn.

Crowd-sourced Tips for Swingouts

Both roles

• Relaxing my arms
• Keeping my pulse
• Keeping the triple steps “pulse powered”
• Sourcing energy from the ground