Berlin Blues Explosion – 2012 Sequel

What happened, Berlin Blues Explosion? We got off to such a great start last year. I gave you a rousing two thumbs up and strongly complimented the European Blues scene. One year has passed and the honeymoon is over.

BBE, the sequel, brought more instructors, more class tracks, and more dancers. There were new solo and partnered camps, new venues, and new DJs. The potential for awesomeness was there, but why were you more Hangover 2 than The Dark Knight?

My bout with food poisoning or its violent equivalent did not help matters Wednesday before the event, but I was already experiencing discomfort before the event. I felt ill prepared and unsure of some organization elements. What was emphasized – trust in Claudia.

Along with organizational matters, I was also concerned with the blues dancing. Berlin Blues Explosion is billed as Europe’s largest blues dancing event and its emphasized to us instructors that: “We are an authentic blues event…. The material that you deliver here at this festival will filter through almost every nook and cranny of the European blues community in the twelve months following and even after that. Please give consideration to your material and ask yourselves if it is relevant/appropriate to the growth of the community in its current state.” I stress over these things because I don’t consider myself a blues dancer. I dance blues, enjoy the music and culture, but I’m a lindy hopper first, blues dancer second, a dancer overall. Stress just means that I’ll be uber-prepared for classes. However, there was also much recent debate and in-depth analysis about blues, the blues aesthetic and what isn’t blues happening on Facebook’s International Blues Dancers forum.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, writes: “In the act of tearing something apart, we lose its meaning.” Blues dancing, for me, encompasses a wide range of emotion and dance expression. It is danced to music ranging from Egyptian Fantasy by Sidney Bechet to Big Ovaries, Baby by Gaye Adegbalola (Louise’s new favorite song). It has a particular aesthetic that is captured when dancing musically to appropriate music. Blues dancing can be danced big or small. It can borrow elements from other dances if it keeps the aesthetic.

Louise and I finally met via Skype. We discussed my recent complaints and frustrations with blues, but decided that we would focus on what we do best- Offer a variety of fun material for blues dancers, focus on the dancing, play lots of music, and have a  good professional time. We succeeded.

Down to business. Why didn’t I enjoy BBE 2012?

1. The Music. Last year, the DJs were specifically asked to keep high energy during the beginning of the night. This year seemed to be much slower and had less energy throughout. How could I give my energy to music that wasn’t giving any to me?

2. The Competing Dancers. This year I watched the J&J finals and judged prelims and finals for the Strictly and Solo comps. I will speak later about judging, so I will focus on the J&J, since I didn’t judge it. I was disappointed to see small dancers and uneven partnerships. People danced tighter and smaller, sometimes these choices seemed anti-musical. Very rarely did both people in the partnership bring it. Where were your voices?

3. The Judging. I only judged Sunday, since Chris thought I was too ill to judge Saturday. Several of my “no’s” made Strictly finals. The winning Strictly couple were my 4th place. The Solo top 3 were my bottom top 3. All of this is fine. That is why many people use the natural break when scoring prelims and relative placement for finals. I hope the placement sheets get posted, so I can contrast my judging to the other judges and the final placements. (If you read this and see my scoresheets, feel free to contact me with questions). Clearly, I have different values as a blues competition judge, so let me explain what I look for. 4 people outside the prelims competition asked me, so I will attempt a recap.

A. Musicality. I want to see the dancers capture the mood and feeling of the music. This is a matter of me going “yeah, you go!” or “what the ….”

B. Lines and Posture. Since it’s a competition, I want the dance to look good. It can feel as good as possible, but if it looks bad, I will score you lower. This means a good pulse, neutral spine especially head and neck lines, finishing movements with your arms and legs. If you hit a pose, HIT the POSE!

C. Blues Aesthetic. What does this mean? I honestly have difficulty putting this into words. I know it when I see it, but that doesn’t help the reader. Athletic, grounded posture; dancing from your core; relaxed, even pulse; soulful dancer; movement rooted in jazz/blues. Take that as you will.

D. Variety of Movement. I want to know how skilled you are. Can you lead from different connection points, execute position and embrace transitions, include your partner into your solo movement, and be musical with your choices?

E. Appropriate Dress. If you made finals, dress like it. Certain clothing choices will either detract or improve the look of your dance.

Finally, I don’t judge the first all skate. I do judge the spotlights. If there is a final all skate, I will use this for tie-breakers. Otherwise, my goal is place you during your spotlights.

4. No Statements. I think dancers are afraid now. You’re looking to these teachers for definitions and dancing within their constructs. Let me address some issues.

A. Blues is sexy. It’s also depressing, funny, minimalistic, angry, sad, shocking, sensual, and more.

B. Blues is not just close embrace. It’s open, perpendicular, side by side, back to front (his or her), and breakaway. Any others I missed?

C. If you were not born into a blues tradition, you can create your own tradition. That’s what I loved about BBE last year. The Europeans were daring, making statements, and not pigeonholing themselves into someone else’s strict definition.

D. And we’re still learning about blues. We need more teachers and events to publish their materials online and tag appropriately so people can find this material better.

Overall, knowing all the competition results, I was dazed. Congratulations that you won and finished top 3, etc. Will European blues dancers look at these results and modify their dancing to win or will they continue developing and searching for their personal style. I encourage the latter. Find you.

Bestival 2012

Even innocuous sounding adventures have a pernicious edge. The hot Swing Patrol topic around May/June was Bestival 2012. It was advertised as an awesome party featuring lots of great music, Stevie Wonder headlining, once in a lifetime opportunity, etc. I would join the Swing Patrol team and enjoy free admission pass for the entire 4 day event.

I focused on the teaching to crowds and once in a lifetime opportunity and forgot the rest. And by rest, I mean I didn’t do my research.  After finally saying yes, I discovered I would be on an island surrounded by 50,000 screaming nutsos, sleeping in a tent (no problem, I’m from Colorado), wearing a wildlife costume (huh?), and unsure about my food situation. Fortunately, someone else was providing the tent and sleeping bag, though they decided to arrive a day later than I (lucky Vogue/Hermes gig dancers), and someone else organized a small group to take the train and ferry together.

Still, what was I thinking? I dislike smelly hippies, temporary toilets, and being surrounded by loud partiers. Well, my Denver friends understand my survival mechanisms. Find good food and pack good books. Go fully charged Kindle!

My group arrived in time to do the first Swing Patrol Friday session. Overall, all the sessions went really well. Loz managed the mic first and Scott Cupit took care of the rest. Swing Patrol brought a lot of good energy to Bestival’s Al Fresco stage. So, we demo’d social dancing, the Shim Sham, the Tranky Doo (boo faulty memory), Charleston, taught hand to hand Charleston, gave free hugs, shared raunchy Aussie-isms and kicked electro-swing ass (even blindfolded).

In the end, I was still managing a smile, albeit a deranged one. It was a long four days, but an enjoyable one. I don’t really follow the current music scene, but I follow food and swing dancing, so I made do with this crazy bunch.

For more pictures, find my album on Facebook. And if you’re interested in the food, that review will come later.

Exploring the UK – Oxford, Durham & Newcastle

Wow! The last week has been crazy. I just returned from Bestival, an outdoor music festival like no other. More on that later, but it seriously delayed any attempts to capture my recent UK travels.

I visited Oxford August 28 to teach Inappropriate Dance Moves and Blues. Vivien Nivesse runs the Tuesday dance night there. As he explained it, the dance night has morphed into a blues night featuring fusion type music for the last few nights.

I arrived early to Oxford and did some exploring. This was mostly inadvertent since I headed right past the venue after my bus stop. This did mean I found a middle eastern restaurant and enjoyed a Moroccan spiced chicken ciabatta sandwich.

Tamsin Howells was kind enough to teach with me. I’m always a bit nervous teaching with someone I don’t know for Inappropriate Moves classes. I’m quite appropriate even though I teach these classes all the time. Well, she was a good sport and really brought the energy in both classes. The Oxford dancers certainly did their part too, asking great questions and practicing to much music.

The blues class featured some moves inspired from the Spirit Moves. This got people moving with their entire body and using the floor. We also worked on pulsing, opening and closing the hip flexors, and applejacks.

September 3-5 I traveled to Durham and Newcastle. This is run by Joo-Lee and the Lindy Jazz crew. I was there to teach balboa Monday night (Durham) and blues Tuesday night (Newcastle). The Monday night balboa class features a 30 minute drop in beginner lesson and a 60 minute intermediate balboa lesson. The beginners were taught down holds with a linear and rectangular basic. Since I thought there wasn’t a break between classes, we also added a linear slide as an intermediate class preview. But there was a break.

Gillian, the local balboa teacher, and I taught the Maxie Stop Slide to the following intermediate class. Her and Andy were pleased since this move was giving them trouble. The beginners and everyone else followed along admirably to finish the night with social dancing until 10:45pm.

The next day featured a Durham walking tour and a trip to Newcastle. I planned the class with Joo-Lee and then we drove to Newcastle. These dates I visited worked for three reasons. 1. I was going to leave the following week; 2. They were right after her cruise; and 3. Both dance nights featured the once a month specialty topics at their respective venues.

My recent blues teaching focus has been on pulsing, using the floor, and being rhythmic. I’m tired of watching posing blues dancing, so drawing inspiration from the jookin’ elements works really well. We taught touch step basics along with a fun sit dip that I first learned at my first STLBX.

Oxford, Durham, and Newcastle are all growing scenes. Credit has to go to the scene organizers and the students’ energy. These organizers do a good job about creating a welcoming atmosphere while pushing their students through good instruction and music.

London Training – Hitting the Streets

Every time I return to Colorado after a teaching stint, I visit my chiropractors, Drs. Kenneth Kao and Rachel Yan of Vital Balance Chiropractic. And every time I go I hear versions of the following:  “wow, you’ve lost muscle mass.” Before I began journeying as a full time dance instructor, I was training constantly at Apex Movement in Englewood, Colorado. I would leave work at 3pm, grab gym clothes at home, eat a quick meal at Whole Foods (pizza), and do crossfit followed by freerunning or ninja warrior class followed by parkour class followed by open gym (maybe). I think Apex labeled my going away picture with the acknowledgement that I’m a psychopath.

However, I haven’t been keeping up with my training. I’m able to maintain my fitness to a degree, but not having weight equipment limits my growth. My training is necessary to maintain longevity, prevent injury, and to protect susceptible muscle groups like my knees and back. I have to find creative ways to use my urban environment for workouts. Fortunately, London is a great playground. Here are some of the ways I train.

Broadjumps and Forward Quadrupedal Movement

Jumping and Landing

Hanging Wall Pullups

Aerial Recovery

Check out my friends:
DemonDrills
Vivo Barefoot

Zurich West Coast Swing

This past Wednesday I hopped over briefly to Zurich, Switzerland. It was WestieStage’s first class day back from summer vacation. I was prepared with my single backpack and cuban heels. That’s right, I was sporting proper west coast swing footwear for the first time in over a year. Since I mostly travel for blues and lindy hop, there has never been much need to pack those shoes. However, this European journey also includes west coast swing workshops in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Classes at Salsa Mania went well Thursday. The Beginner class didn’t have any true beginners, but we still practiced push breaks (or sugar pushes). WestieStage is on a 6 week rotating schedule where each week features one of six fundamental basics.  We focused on improving their technique and threw some sugar tucks in there also.

The Intermediate class continued the push break theme as we played with right to left hand holds. This video also includes a final move that we didn’t get to in the class. It was a great class, featuring many local Zurich dancers and some out of towners. Overall, it was a great quick visit to Zurich. I hope to be back later this year or next.