The popular trend has taken the Clinton, N.Y. campus by storm, where 120 students are currently taking swing dance classes as an extracurricular activity. When Hamilton's Office of Student Activities offered sign-up for the class, students lined up at 6:30 a.m. to register. When the class quickly filled, Beverly Low, the director of student activities, received 100 e-mails from students, faculty and administration begging to add another class. A second class was added, immediately filled and left 70 people still wanting to take swing!
Low decided to offer the class after hearing many requests for music by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Cherry Poppin' Daddies on the college radio station for which she is advisor.
She said she was shocked to see the line of students on the day of registration and overwhelmed by the popularity of the classes. The dance instructors are members of the Syracuse Swing Dance Society.
Hamilton professor of sociology Dan Chambliss says swing is popular because it is "structured flirtation." He says it allows a person to "be with someone of the opposite sex who they find attractive without further implication." In addition, Chambliss says, it's an activity in which skill is important yet learnable. Largely driven by young women who convince their boyfriends to participate, it's about looking good in public, in front of your friends, he said.
Young people today have helped make swing dancing popular again because they've seen it in movies and in TV commercials. They like the music and it's a good excuse to get dressed up. "They see people doing it and it looks snazzy. It takes skill but you can learn it quickly and impress your friends," he said. And, it's structured dancing - there are rules and there's a "right way" to do it. Chambliss also said swing dancing is a great form of relaxation because it requires concentration. "You have to focus on it, unlike watching TV, which is passive." Chambliss likens swing dancing to the aerobics craze that made exercise popular.
He also noted that while colleges spend a lot of money bringing in passive entertainment for students -- lectures, concerts, movies -- swing dancing is active. "It's a re-recognition of the appeal of participation versus passive activities," he said.
