CALLICOON, NY — I spent my Friday night with a bunch of swingers—swing dancers that is. Yoga instructor, actress and all-around guru Susan Mendoza teaches a free swing dance class at The Western Hotel. It is held upstairs in the grand ballroom, and it feels like we were transported back in time, when people actually went out dancing on Friday nights. If you want to come try it out, classes are held every Friday at 6:30 p.m.

We are learning the Lindy hop style of swing dance, which Susan told us it originated in Harlem in the 1920s, and the style includes lots of tricks and partnering and amazingly fast moves (just look up videos on YouTube). Although you think of swing dance as partnering, Lindy hop can actually be solo and partnered dancing. Indeed, most of the class we learn moves on their own, such as the chicken, the Shorty George and the helicopter (intrigued yet?). When we do partner, we often switch up partners (you don’t need to come with one) and take turns doing the “male” and “female” roles.

It’s not an exercise class, per se, but halfway through you start to realize, “Oh, I’m sweating and using my muscles.” Sometimes we do planks or squats, but other than that, the dance moves alone require strength and stamina. However, even though it may be difficult for some, the class is open to everyone, no experience is necessary. We laugh as we learn.

That’s the whole reason Mendoza wanted to start these classes: to have fun. “I felt it would be a great outlet,” she said. “It’s a free event; you can come out, be with folks and have a laugh.” Besides being just a dance class, the gathering is really all about bringing community together. Mendoza said it’s also great for social interaction, exercise and stress relief.

Mendoza is an experienced dancer and is trained in many styles of dance—swing, ballroom, jazz, ballet and modern. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, she trained there and in Nova Scotia and Toronto through the Canadian Dance Teachers Association, achieving Bronze Level, and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, receiving her Associate in Modern Dance. She has workshopped with the Toronto Dance Theatre, Les Ballets Jazz Canadienne and Alvin Ailey performance workshops to name a few. She studied dance, theater, voice and movement for over 35 years in Canada and New York City, and is now “coming back around to it.”

Mendoza and her family (her husband and their two young sons) moved to the area full-time two years ago, after coming here on weekends for many years. This past year, she opened the Chi Hive Studio for Yoga and the Expressive Arts in Narrowsburg. During her time in Canada, she said, “My eyes were opened up to the amazing dances out there in the world.”

She wants to bring some of that back, especially social dancing. At the swing class at The Western, participants learn how to connect, and to learn timing, rhythm and aligning yourself with your partner. “It’s a whole other language,” Mendoza said, “It’s important to keep that going.”

[The Lindy hop dance class is held on Friday nights, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in The Western Hotel, upstairs in the ballroom. The ballroom is available for events of all kinds. Due to the success of this class, Western Hotel proprietor Irene Nickolai is seeking ballroom, Salsa, or Tango instructors to lead a class. Contact The Western for more information, 845/887-9871.]

A history of Lindy hop

The Lindy hop is an American dance that evolved in Harlem, New York City, in the 1920s and 1930s and aligned itself with the jazz music of that time. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development, but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston.

A recorded source of the dance’s name is famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, nicknamed “Lucky Lindy,” who “hopped the Atlantic” in 1927. After Lindbergh’s solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris he became immensely popular, and many people named businesses and other things after him.

During this time, white people began going to Harlem to watch black dancers. According to Langston Hughes, “The Lindy-hoppers at the Savoy even began to practice acrobatic routines, and to do absurd things for the entertainment of the whites, that probably never would have entered their heads to attempt for their own effortless amusement.”

Frankie Manning was part of a new generation of Lindy hoppers, and was the most celebrated Lindy hopper in history, considered one of the founders of the dance. Lindy hop entered mainstream American culture in the 1930s, gaining popularity through multiple sources. Hollywood films, such as “Hellzapoppin’” and “A Day at the Races,” began featuring the Lindy hop in dance sequences.

Lindy hop today is danced as a social dance, as a competitive dance, as a performance dance and in classes, workshops and competitions. In each, partners may dance alone or together, with improvisation a central part of social dancing and many performance and competition pieces.