QuickStart to Swing

My wife and I have had the most enjoyment and satisfaction utilizing this book and watching our dance improve tremendously. I initially purchased this for us to use in conjuction with our private and group lessons. It has been an irreplaceable tool. We found this book an ideal resource covering the choreography in a logical progressive fashion and is indexed to allow quick access before and after each lesson. We were actually more impressed with the whealth of information offered on topics concerning technique of the rock step, leg movement, and partnering skills. Such information applied to our dancing has transformed our swing and improved our dancing in general.I feel as if it has answered many of my questions concerning our dancing. Working through the lessons has ironed out wrinkles in my leading, technique and footwork. I would recommend it to any level dancer.

A Swing Class in Florida made up of 8 couples has very successfully completed a Beginner / Intermediate Level Lesson Series. In my attempt to find the strongest teaching tools and dance resources available, I decided to resort to the oldest of teaching techniques - a Teacher and a textbook. "Quickstart to Swing," was my choice for this Swing class after previously reviewing several of the books out there with very stringent criteria. This class was primarily made up of beginners who had taken classes elsewhere in the region. Their goal was to improve in rhythmic skills, leading and following, speed, and much better rotational skills using both new and old Swing figures found in Quickstart to Swing. Upon signup, they were all required to purchase a copy of the book along with a weekly syllabus. With their new study guide, and my assignments they were to report to class having already worked with Mr. Allen's book. The class would primarily focus on a review of their practice work at home. It was exciting to see this group progress as quickly as they did easily covering the objectives at the start of class. Some of the comments of class members right from the first session were: "I never used my knees properly before - now I am much smoother and my ankles are not bothering me," " My shoulders no longer cause me to pass beyond my control," and "My partner and me seem to be in a more desirable position," "I do not have to use as many basics to get back into position between steps!" I was very happy especially because they were happy. Not one student made reference about the use of a book during class as a crutch for me as their teacher, instead they were happy they did not have to memorize or forget important techniques offered during class time. They all seemed pleased to have a reference at hand. "Why hadn't they thought of it before?" was one of the favorable comments. One of the publicized comments about this book and the others Mr. Allen has written is that they become a tool that works coincidentally with a competent teacher during class. This book definitely lives up to its billing! UNLIKE,"The Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing," by Stephenson or "Let's Dance! : Learn to Swing, Jitterbug, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Foxtrot and Salsa With Style, Grace and Ease," by Bottomer which are very inaccurate renderings of Swing dancing, QUICKSTART to SWING by Jeff Allen is easy for any instructor to use without the fear of contradiction between competent teaching and a book's contents. Teachers if you are able to put ego aside this book is a wonderful way to build respect from your students and increase their capacity along with their speed in learning. I cannot recommend this as a great dance resource enough. Email me at: Dance [email protected] and I'll be happy to tell you more!

I have owned this book since May 2000. It has helped to reshape my Swing dancing. Admittedly as a Swing dancer of several years, I thought I knew a lot and was pretty good. Now I am faster, smoother, and a much better leader. My partner and I work with this book often because its technical instruction during each move presented and the large section at the end of the book are INDISPENSABLE! Among the discussions are several concerning rotation. Just knowing what makes a rotation successful and when the best time to lead one with respect to my partner's body & foot positions are worth the price of this book. Unbelievably the overlapping general ideas have actually helped our Salsa dancing tremendously. Many figures can easily be converted to suit Salsa. Once we heard a good teacher say the development of most Salsa figures come from Swing dancing we began to experiment with some of the "Moves," presented in Jeff Allen's book. We have learned to apply "Overhead Swivels," and several of the "Pretzels," to our Salsa. After all Salsa is a sauce with many dance types as the ingredients. I highly recommend, "Quickstart to Swing," to everyone!

Quickstart to Swing is 2nd of the Quickstart Series Books that we own. The first is Quickstart to Social Dancing that my new bride and I used for our wedding dance. One of the dances taught in "QtoSD" was the East Coast Swing so this became the rhythm of our choice when we started working with Quickstart to Swing. Like any how-to book, you do not just start reading it you work with it a little at a time. Our goal was to get through the first two lessons for our wedding day and our honeymoon cruise. We were able to do this by patiently working with each other as solos and as a couple. Each step has the technique, an overview, and the step & movement directions. As if this isn't enough, there is virtually a second book within Quickstart to Swing called "The Technique." You could call this section the problem solver or everything you ever needed to know about Swing dancing! At the ship's nightclub, there were couples dancing to the Swing orchestra - we wondered if some of them were at war with each other? Yanking and pulling, holding on to each other by the fingernails to stop from falling apart with rocking back and forth using their shoulders as an imitation to Swing dancing. The faster the music got the worse they got and some of it looked dangerous. We're from New York and this looked like a reenactment of the Millennium party we attended where we decided to really learn how to Swing dance without trauma. Two physical directions that Mr. Allen uses were incredibly helpful to us - unbelievably the letter "U" and the letter "W" but since we are not supposed to spoil the plot in the review, will just tell you - they work. This book is like a cookbook for Swing dancing; you WILL go back to it over and over again. By [email protected]

I've been reading and more importantly using Mr. Allen's book for two months. I have been dancing Swing (not Lindy) for about a year now and can sincerely say that I only wished that this very valuable Swing dance-learning vehicle were available at that early point in my Swing experience. Imitating others and learning from group classes seemed to have produce many distortions in my, "monkey see monkey do," mentality as an approach to this dance and its various rhythms. It almost as if my eyes were lying to me about the application of the most basic movements as I attempted to do what I felt was correct. The various sections on Swing technique in the book have helped me immensely to refocus and prioritize what I thought was actually happening out there on the dance floor. The six pages devoted to just the "Swing Rock," or as some of my teachers have called it the, "Back Rock," are worth the price of the book alone. The way he breaks it down has caused a considerable improvement in my dancing in the way that no ten or twenty dollars worth of lessons that I have taken has! What I have learned to do with, "Quickstart to Swing," is compare any of the similar steps or moves to what I presently know and simply tune them up. All of my partners have noticed the improvement and now I am able to learn any of the other steps in the book or at classes with ease! Needless to say, I've become a happy Swinger having moved out of the doldrums of frustration. I must admit that I was disturbed to read another reviewer slamming Jeff Allen's book for not including the basics in Lindy Hop. I really wonder if they read in the book's introduction that he states and I quote, "The reader of Quickstart to Swing will develop good potential for growth into the more advanced or difficult forms of Swing dancing. These forms are as follows: The Lindy Hop (regarded as the original and most difficult form of Swing that has retained its unique characteristics since the 1930's).........." Or, in the description of the book's contents above! In California, my neck of the woods, most of the good Lindy Hop teachers require that their students be well versed in the East Coast Swing (one of the 4 rhythms in this book) before they even attempt the Lindy. Perhaps this reviewer would have had an easier time and would have continued dancing if they had not tried something too hard and actually used a more building block approach. Once again get this book and use it a little at a time and you'll soon find out have valuable it is. I'd give it TEN stars if I could!