Stated alternately, "Do I need pre-requisite skills, or natural talent"? To "Do" Lindy Hop?
In short, no.
Before you roll your eyes and disregard dancing as something you are can't do because you have "two left feet," know that everyone can Lindy Hop.
Lindy Hop can be practiced or "done" in many ways. The way YOU do Lindy Hop is up to you.
So, do you need dance experience or skills to do Lindy Hop?
The short answer is no, and the long answer is also no.
This all might sound kitschy and cliche, but. It's true, and I'll tell you why.
Don't worry, we don't need a 10-page paper on the history of dancing in America to understand why.
While many dances have been codified into rigid competitive forms from their once-social roots, Lindy Hop has not. It has always been a changing and evolving activity. There has never been, to my knowledge, a time when Lindy Hop's mainstream practitioners developed the dance into a form, written or otherwise where if you didn't "do it this way" you weren't doing Lindy Hop. This is a feature for most of its current practitioners rather than a bug.
Many people want to come into a dance class and be told exactly what to do and when to do it and not be expected to improvise. However, Lindy Hop, like its music, IS improvisational. Initially, you will learn the most common patterns, or as I like to call them, "mini-choreographies," and then you dance with a partner who has also memorized these choreographies, and then you do them together WITH the music.
A short digression:
We frequently joke in the Lindy Hop community (at least locally) that there are not "mistakes" -when you're learning. We say this for two reasons. One is that it's simply mentally and emotionally more helpful in our opinion to not focus on "fixing" "mistakes" but rather to focus on the very true fact that there genuinely are no negatives to the learning process; everything that's experienced is a part of the journey. Learning is not linear, and learning is not negative in any sense. If you're humbling yourself to learn a skill you're putting yourself in a position to feel bad about your ability to DO things. Your instructors don't need to add to that feeling.
Back to the history discussion. As mentioned above, you may do whatever and the Lindy Hop technique's only requirements are safety and musicality. Do whatever it is you were going to do, but make it musical, and make it safe.
"I never taught people where to step on '2', because when I learned how to dance there was no '2'. We just danced to the music." ~ Frankie Manning
Americans don't dance; therefore, dancing is SCARY
It seems to me that there is a dearth of dancing in America, especially amongst white Americans. Now, don't get me wrong, of course, I recognize all the different kinds of country-style dancing, ballroom, West Coast Swing, as well as all the other very popular dances done by many white Americans. These are exceptions to the rules, and mostly fall into one of two categories: localized bar dances like country dancing and Carolina Shag, or niche hobby/competition communities like ballroom.
This, in my humble opinion, is NOT the case with Lindy Hop. Lindy Hop is the competition-averse, sober person's dream activity.
Do not let white American culture ruin your capacity for joy. Do not let the community you grew near let you down now for the rest of your life. It is NEVER too late to dance. It is never too late to take up something that can potentially bring a polarized world into harmony with each other. Lindy Hop can be subversive to the point of revolution. A divided world united together with swingouts. A black-and-white world turned beautifully, ambiguously, and truthfully grey.
No experience needed - two left feet are welcome
Many who fall in love with Lindy Hop go the competition route, or the performance route, but most stick with it socially dancing and improving their basic techniques just for the love of doing it better than they had before. Lindy Hop is one of the few realms of adult American life where anyone can collectively practice an art form that doesn't need a ceiling to break through. By some member's estimations, there are people who have been doing Lindy Hop for 20-plus years who have seemingly never "improved" their basics but, they are still well-respected members of the community, they are always welcome, they are still loved, and frequently they are carriers of tradition and local historians.
Life is happening now - don't miss it
Don't let fear prevent you from starting. I know it's scary, but with the pandemic lifting, and ever more terrifying human events, learn to live NOW because a good future probably isn't coming. Despots have been known to ruin things for everyone else. I'm not saying "give up and distract yourself with dancing". I'm saying that dancing, might actually make you the closest you've ever been to true happiness. And there's no reason not to take advantage of that opportunity IF it's available to you.
Consumption is NOT the solution to the malaise you feel about the world- ...maybe swing-outs are!
I know it might not feel like it now, but I assure you. You are falling for exactly what the US economy wants' from you. If you fill that all too common void in your soul by binging the next show as soon as it came out, or by buying the new thing, the trending - new new new. Perhaps the happiness you're looking for is NOT consuming something for once. But, actually creating something. Creating something in harmony and in tandem with others. Might just be one of the most satisfying things you could experience as a person. It's worth trying, I promise.
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