Originally published in the first issue of China Youth magazine in 2024Swing youth, with the simplest happinessText-Wang Liyuan
Stills from the movie "The Light of the White Tower" At the 13th Beijing International Film Festival in 2023, the movie "The Light of the White Tower" won five awards and became the biggest winner. "The Light of the White Tower" has completed two screenings in the mainland, and in the film, a "pas de deux" between Xin Baiqing and Nanji has left a deep impression on many audiences. This "pas de deux" is actually a very popular social dance among young people - swing dance. It may be hard for you to imagine that many young people in big cities wear suits in big factories during the day, but change into retro-style shirts, polka-dot skirts and dancing shoes at 8 o'clock at night, and dance to jazz music in bars, theaters, and even by the Liangmaqiao River. Swing dancing originated in the United States from the 20s to the 40s of the 20th century, and is a retro social dance that developed along with the swing style of jazz. During the Swing Age, there were hundreds of different styles of swing dance, but the ones that survived and are now mostly dancers are Lindy Hop, Balboa and Charleston. In "The Light of the White Tower", the dance that Xin Baiqing and Nanji danced belongs to Balboa. Swing danceThe popularity of swing dancing began in super first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and now young cities such as Nanjing, Qingdao, Xiamen and Chengdu have also joined the dance "group chat". Most of the young dancers are white-collar workers, but there are also some art workers in film and theater, and swing dancing has become a way for them to release themselves after intense, high-intensity work during the day. Swing dance entered China around 2003 and developed as a small-scale community. Around 2013, similar organizations took root in cities across the country, but they were smaller, confined to circles, and spread more through acquaintance recommendations. Nowadays, with the development of the new **, searching for "swing dance" as a keyword on WeChat, you can search for more than 50 swing dance organizations, and there are countless personal accounts about swing dancers on Xiaohongshu, making the swing dance circle continue to go out of the circle in recent years. In fact, many well-known Oscar-winning films "Sing in the Rain", "Vulgar**" and "La La Land" have swing dance clips. Swing dance can spark a trend in the 20th century, and it is inseparable from the power of movies, and now the popularity of "The Light of the White Tower" once again uses the mass media of movies to bring swing dance to young people. Simple pleasuresFine hair is the choreographer of the balboa dance danced by Xin Baiqing and Nanji in "The Light of the White Tower", and is also one of the people in the Beijing circle who learned swing dance earlier and promoted swing dance. There are at least 70 zero-based introductory classes held by Fine Hair every year, with about 20 people per class, that is to say, within a year, she has led at least 1,000 people to cross the threshold of zero-based swing dance. And the reason why there is a swing dance section in "The Light of the White Tower" is also because the crew once took a fine hair experience class. "After the experience class, it felt very cool, Balboa's dance moves and the environment of the bar at that time were very similar to the atmosphere that the director wanted to present, so there was an important plot in the film. "There is a popular saying in swing dance circles that you can walk and dance because of the low technical threshold, which also reflects why young people are so receptive to swing dance. Chunliang was influenced by friends to start to contact swing dance, in the previous 28 years of life, he had nothing to do with dance, now after less than half a year of learning, he can already freely invite followers to dance at the ball, and can also better drive the follower in terms of skills, in his own words, "after half a year, I can finally play flower work at the ball". "They say I have light on my body when I dance. This is a sentence that made Hee Hee completely fall into swing dancing, "I was at a low point when I came into contact with swing dancing, but dancing made me get great recognition from others." For a long time, the swing dance carried me forward, as if chasing the light. Later, Hee Hee herself began to become a light and began to influence others, and she was the one who led Junliang to start dancing. The most interesting question that Fine Fur has ever been asked by students in her teaching career is: "Teacher, how many degrees do the leader and follower turn in this tandem charleston?" The student who asked this question was a programmer, and Ximao said: "When we first taught in Zhongguancun, employees from many large factories in the vicinity came to jump, and many of them started from scratch and jumped all the way to the present. I also asked them why they like swing dancing, and they said that when they dance swing dancing, they can completely withdraw from their work, they can completely take their brains out of the program, put them on the basic steps of 6 or 8 beats, and count up to 8, and they can complete a movement and get simple happiness. "In addition to the technical threshold, there is no restriction on the venue threshold, so that swing dancers can dance whenever and wherever they want, and many students often review the content of the class again in the small garden downstairs of the dance club after class. During the "May Day" in 2023, "Swing Beast", a swing dance organization in Beijing, launched the "Go Travel, Go Swing" campaign, encouraging every dancer who travels to take a picture of dancing**, and strive to use swing dance to check in the corners of the world. Some people check in front of the West Pole Boundary Monument in China at an altitude of 3,000 meters, some people check in in the desert of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang, and some people check in on the beach in Semporna, Malaysia. 
Swing ball. Have a new circleSisi is a "post-90s" with a lot of hobbies, she worked in a large Internet company at that time, she had many hobbies, and she wanted to go skateboarding, skiing, traveling, and dancing after work. But among these hobbies, she still chose swing dancing. In her opinion, swing dancing is not only about dancing, but also about a more intimate community, and there is no faster way to break the distance between strangers than swing dancing. Swing Dance, she met a group of partners who worked together and founded the "Swing Beast" dance troupe. As for why it is called "beast", she said: "Because we have a beast-like love and pursuit for swing dance, and we also have a beast-like vigorous, rushing, and blooming vitality!" Sisi, who has been dancing swing dancing for 5 years, looks back and thinks about the past, and she is also surprised that she can last so long for just one hobby. Swing dancing allowed her to gain too much inner energy, and at the same time harvest love. Now Sisi has left the Internet factory and transformed into a full-time swing dance teacher. In this way, Sisi hopes to continue to spread swing dance, so that more people can communicate openly, embrace each other without scruples, and use the social dance method of a hundred years ago so that anyone can reconnect. In the second season of the variety show "Nice to Meet You", Zhou Xun, Aya and flying guest Li Xueqin experienced the simple happiness of a swing dance party in Shanghai, and even Li Xueqin, who has always called herself "social fear", is quite easy to accept. Li Xueqin said after the experience: "Of all the social activities I have encountered in the past few days, swing dancing is the most inclusive. It looks like a high barrier to entry, but the swing dancers are patient and accommodating to us newbies. So even if I don't, I'm not going to be nervous about being unfamiliar here. And every time you dance, you can get to know someone, which is a great way to socialize. After helping Hee regain her light, swing dance also became her key to opening the door to an unfamiliar city. The nature of her job requires frequent travel, and dancing shoes have become an essential piece of equipment in her suitcase. In addition to Beijing and Shanghai, where they lived, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Kunming, and Xiamen danced at the balls. Each city has its own style, Shanghai's ball is the most exquisite, Beijing's ball is more casual and inclusive, Hangzhou's ball is mostly college students, more interesting and entertaining, but her favorite is Xiamen's. In her opinion, Xiamen is the most enthusiastic. "When I went to the Xiamen Dance Club, I had just learned a rookie, but they didn't dislike my skills at all, and they also held a welcome jam for me, and every leader invited me to dance during the jam, so that I quickly integrated into the new environment. "Jam" refers to a form of dancing in which a dancer celebrates a birthday, a dancer from another place visits, etc., everyone forms a circle and takes turns dancing with him, while others beat and cheer for the dancer. Many people who like jazz or retro costumes will be more likely to come into contact with swing dance, which is a must-have for swing dance, but because of the special social attributes of swing dance, the dance quality is characterful, and it also allows swing dancers to quickly break their inherent circle of friends and find new like-minded friends. Although there are solo dancers in swing dance, most dancers prefer the duo form, and the dance suddenly closes the distance. Most of the students who went to the beginner class with Chunliang advanced to the intermediate level together, and a dozen or so people in the small group also established a deep friendship, went to class together, went to the dance together, and didn't go home after class to continue reviewing. If there was no swing dance, they would have been ** people, investment bank analysts, and diving instructors, and because of swing dancing, they had a new circle and new friends. They will hold an exclusive jam for their birthday celebrants at the dance party, choreograph an exclusive birthday dance for their partners, and bring their happiness to every friend. Now, swing dancers around the world are no longer affected by the pandemic, and more and more international competitions and events are slowly resuming. Tickets for each class of the Swing Feast to be held in Shanghai in August 2023 were "lighted in seconds" after the tickets were opened. Dancers from all over the world are gathering in Shanghai, and the swaying happy energy is constantly being released. 
Swing ball. Click on the image belowBuy China Youth Issue 1, 2024
Producer: Pi JunFinal review: Chen MinReviewer: Liu Xiao, Liu BowenEditor: Hao ZhizhouPainted beams(Internship).