The Valencian Life – Lindy Hop, Aerials, and More

Move over Madrid, Zaragoza and .. gasp!… Barcelona. Valencia is my new favorite Spanish city. My primary reason for visiting Valencia did not include teaching. I met Carla and Miguel in Madrid last May. They came for my aerials workshop. They spoke highly and with pride of their home city, Valencia. We kept in touch and I saw them at ESDC and I gave them contact information for their USA East Coast swing and scuba diving trip this early autumn. When I discovered I would be teaching one weekend in Zaragoza (Sept 22-23) and another in Madrid (Sept 29-30), I found the perfect opportunity to visit Valencia.

Besides having pride for Valencia, Carla and Miguel spoke of eating and drinking well. They understood the ways to my heart. I would arrive Sunday night and leave Friday morning. They would host me and I would eat, drink, discover local culture, play on the beach, stroll past towering cathedrals, and teach lindy hop, dips & tricks, and aerials. It was a relaxed sort of busy.

Mornings would include training related to my classes or fun stuff as pictured above. Miguel wanted to learn the guy’s front flip, an aerial which I mildly fear, mainly because I don’t practice it consistently. We started with handstand practice, then front handsprings, then the guy’s front flip. He went over, nobody died, and we were all quite successful. Moral of the story: practice and perfect practice makes perfect and gives you stronger mental faculties.

Needless to say, everyone had a great time. The first day Carla helped me teach fun social lindy hop moves. Day 2 brought Dips & Tricks for the social floor. And Day 3 brought intermediate aerials for a select group (3 couples). Day 3 was more intense, but aerials always are. My main aerial workshop rules are as follows: 1. Her (or the flyer’s) safety comes first. 2. Communication is key – listen to the teacher, communicate to your spotters and flyer 3. Don’t get ahead of the instructor. We had some tense moments with the pancake, but we taught three different aerials and even if couples didn’t go over, they have the skills, steps, and video recap to know how to complete the aerial successfully.

Overall, I found Valencia to be a very beautiful city with great cuisine, culture, and bars. Credit goes to Miguel’s sister for dating the owner of many outstanding Valencian restaurants. Special thanks goes to Carla’s mom for making a fantastic home cooked meal for everyone. And thanks to Javi for driving me around especially to get orxata where it is grown. Also, you can tell a lot about a dance scene’s direction by the locals’ enthusiasm, sense of community, and social dance music. Valencia is a strong swing scene. I can’t wait to return.