Category: Dance Teaching

Learning Lessons

I’m reminded of Mike Faltesek and Thomas Blacharz‘s solo critique class at Stompology. Two dancers would solo dance for 60-90 seconds and then Mike and Thomas would provide constructive criticism. Nerve racking! Sometimes that criticism wasn’t directed at the individuals but toward the group. Falty was saying, and I will paraphrase, that practice isn’t pretty. Practice shouldn’t be done on the social floor. Practice should involve sweat, tears, and pain. Yeah, I’m probably taking liberties there. The point? You must work to earn your knowledge. Then it’s currency.

A few weeks ago, I taught in Zagreb, Croatia for Streetcar Called Lindy. Besides enjoying teaching the hard working beginner level students, I enjoyed teaching the very last class, Tricks for Lindy.

I asked the students if they wanted to learn the difficult material first or save it for last. They chose the difficult material (yay!) – The Tango Dip as I learned it from Mike Faltesek and Casey Schneider. We spent the entire hour teaching this move and few people actually owned  it at the end. It’s a difficult pattern sequence. I applaud everyone’s effort. People worked hard and it was great to see. There was technique, solo practice, unfamiliar body movement, twisting, and power. Kudos to the students for their dedication. I hope they continue practicing this move and one day use it in a choreography, jam, or while social dancing.

Another classroom experience balances this one, the Surprise Endings class. I started the class by doing a solo warmup with an 8 count rhythm ending 7, 8, 1 Snap 2. The students were doing really well during the warmup, but incorporating this rhythm inside a swingout proved difficult. Sometimes rhythms inside partnerships are harder than solo and vice versa. Therefore, we had to talk about swingout technique, what it means to stretch/release, and making intelligent decisions.

Students were asking “what if I can’t do this?” or “what if we do it at the same time?” If you want something, you have to work hard for it and you have to make intelligent decisions inside the dance framework. I talk about this in the video and went into detail during class. Sometimes rhythm variations are going to take students outside their comfort zone. I, as the teacher, can provide methods and steps toward success, but the students have to take the final step. Though I will do my best to provide you with the right tools, you’re ultimately responsible for your success.

I related a story that was told to me at a 23 Skidoo practice about a pro that would practice  a rhythmic variation 500 times in front of a mirror before trying it on the social floor. I don’t know if it’s true, but it illustrates one person’s successful method. Immediately, a student pointed out that they aren’t a pro. So? It’s not about what you aren’t, it’s about what you can become. This pro had a method. It might not be your method, but you could probably create a way to help yourself.

Be willing to work hard

Be willing to fail and learn from this

Be willing to try again

Be willing to struggle

Be willing to have fun

Learning is tough, but the rewards are priceless.

No Rest in Bucharest

There are times I wish I still possessed my stolen smartphone. Times when I see a picture I’d like to capture, but my camera is inaccessible. Times when I’d rather map directions on my phone rather than paper. Times when someone says something insightful and I wish I could write it down for memories sake.

It seems that I learn a lot about a swing dance scene at the first meeting, oftentimes the car ride from the airport. My job isn’t always merely to teach my material, it’s to improve the scene.

Bucharest has a small west coast swing scene. They’ve been teaching for 3 years, but have 20-30 regular dancers. Cristian has calculated that he has taught at least a couple hundred people, though. However, being that people are social animals, they prefer parties where greater numbers gather. This means salsa and tango.

The WCS Intensive Weekend is meant to change that. It’s to be a catalyst where dancers from across Romania can come and learn west coast swing. It’s the first west coast swing weekend in Romania. There will be dancers from at least 3 other Romanian cities and a couple from Bulgaria. There will be dancers from salsa, tango, ballroom, and lindy hop. Lindy hop will also be offered since it’s virtually non-existent except with a very new group in Brasov.

Overall, I think the weekend was successful. I was pleased with the overall attendance. Classes seemed full for the space and, as I said before, dancers from surrounding communities came to support this event. The organizers did a great job taking care of myself, Estelle Bonnaire and Julien. We had an apartment to ourselves, received spending money for food, and there was always someone to take us home and get us to the venues on time or even early. They also took us to get great food and if there wasn’t time, food was ordered. I really enjoy events where I can focus on my duties rather than worrying about a needy chaotic organizer.

You could see the maintained energy gradually dwindle on Sunday night. Visiting dancers had already traveled home. I was exhausted, having arrived for morning classes and taught 5.5 hours. The organizers seemed happy. Attendance numbers seemed higher than anticipated. The Saturday night dance featured 7-8 performances including a social west coast swing demo, zouk, salsa, tango and more. This also meant these styles influenced the dance floor a little. It was fun to witness the intermingling. Hopefully, this means more people will seek out west coast swing and this event will happen again and grow.

Oh, and I left the dancers clamoring for more lindy hop. The joys of teaching dance.

Sweet Georgia Blues – Rediscovering the Blues

Darn writer’s block. I’ve been trying to craft an opening paragraph about Sweet Georgia Blues, but it’s proving difficult. 8 opening sentences later, I’m still running dry.

How do I describe a weekend that was both torturous and invigorating? My laptop completely died Friday morning and I spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon in a state of panic.  I needed my notes, all my music with my DJ software, my Fast Blues playlist, my Spirit Moves videos. Best Buy fixed it and then my computer wouldn’t start Saturday morning. It was dead. Dead, dead, dead. I dealt with partially transcribed notes on my cell phone, recreating material in my notebook (who uses pens anymore?), and playing music off my limited iPod collection. Evin and Noah Galang helped me greatly with this unfortunate situation.

Anyway, I discovered I have people at Sweet Georgia Blues. From Virginie Jensen, Andrew Twiss, Evin Galang, and Heather Ballew, I saw great blues dancing, quality that hasn’t been matched in years. I saw great body movement, spatial awareness, individual style, momentum, and musicality demonstrated. Their blues dancing is touched by other influences and it looks great. I was home (for a weekend).

My blues dancing is influenced by my lindy hop, ballroom, west coast swing, and jazz dancing background. It’s so great to create a wide variety of movement because your partner is also widely versed and connection skilled. I say embrace your influences, keep learning, and dance to the music. Dancing to blues music will lead you to the blues.

For example, this couple was jamming out at The Speakeasy in Longmont, CO. They were shaking it, working the fishtails, leading and following a few simple patterns. They were in the moment and rocking it. I get caught up in our tiny “dancer” community subculture and forget about this entire group of people jamming at blues bars and festivals. We could all learn something from them.

Dance. Have fun. Don’t forget to breathe. Let loose.

You can find me teaching the blues I enjoy at these upcoming events:

September 21 – Teaching a Bluesli Workshop in Zurich

October 5-6 – Teaching lindy hop, blues, solo charleston and aerials in Luxembourg with Jesse Hanus

October 19-21 – Teaching blues at Drag the Blues in Barcelona

 

Beantown Rejuvenation Spa

Beantown was rejuvenating. If you had personal dealings with me during the week leading into Beantown and Beantown’s first three days, rejuvenating would probably not be the word you would use. Frantic, hurried, busy, neurotic would have been much more fitting.

This was Beantown’s first year for auditions and the organizers asked me to be the Auditions Coordinator. Yes, I’m the guy you can blame for not getting into the level you wanted. On a more serious note, Aurelie, Tony and I spent many hours figuring out this process. We wanted it to be successful for the auditioning students, the instructors, and the organizers. While these processes can always be improved, I was pleased with my behind the scenes staff organizing the lines, volunteering to dance, scoring, refreshing the judges sheets, and checking people in. I’m also thankful for the judges scoring all 140+ people even when things got crazy with two circles.

Not only were the weekend hours spent with the regular auditions, I also ran morning late auditions, evaluated each track’s class level, talked to teachers, ran the appeals process, taught 4 classes, and finished learning a routine that I performed Sunday evening.

Sounds exhausting, right? That’s where Beantown Rejuvenation Spa comes into play. Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five along with Gordon Webster and Friends were what I needed. I needed music that demanded swingouts. I was tired of hot jazz and charleston sounding tunes. So I sweated through my clothes, dancing in front of the band with as many great dancers as possible. I was selfish. I needed this.

Since I returned to Denver three months ago, I went social dancing twice. There are several factor involved, but I would rather spend my hours fitness training, working, and brainstorming curriculum or making new YouTube videos. Traveling and teaching takes a toll, so it’s nice to take care of myself. Then Beantown’s final two bands arrived on stage for four nights and I could finally feed my dance soul. When it’s just you and the music, nothing else matters. You can temporarily forget your responsibilities and just let loose. All this thanks to two kickass swingoutable bands.

Beantown was a blast. I had a great time teaching with Heather Ballew and Jesse Hanus. Other great moments include a champagne picnic, a challenging plank, many bananas, Suite D, Feats of Strength, severe rain, the Track 6 performance, my psoas collapsing and the many Bulgarian lunges to keep me dancing, Elaine Silver and I assisting Javier Johnson during Beantown’s Got Talent. There’s probably more, but if I list any more, I’ll go bananas.

My Summer Goals

It seems that many people wonder where I am currently. I’m back in Denver, have been for 7 weeks and have nearly 7 weeks remaining. I’ve enjoyed my break from world traveling. It’s always nice returning to a familiar place. I get to see my friends, hike 14ers, discover new restaurants, and attend US events like Midwest Lindyfest, Stompology, and the upcoming Beantown Camp.

I’m most happy because I get to regularly train at Apex Movement again. Being a traveling dance teachers takes a toll on your body. I sleep in unfamiliar beds, teach aerials with unfamiliar people, have an irregular training schedule, and miss my wonderful chiropractors as I gradually wreck my body. Every time I return, my chiropractor asks “where’s your muscle mass?” or says “ohhhhhh” as he feels my back.

Fitness training equals greater dance longevity. Swing dancers love recounting their injuries or war stories, so here are some of mine: 1. Mild scoliosis 2. Flew off an innertube behind a boat and hit a wave wrong, thus hyperextending my back. Continued dancing and doing aerials until my lower back locked up. I’m susceptible to lower back rotation now. 3. Couple mild concussions thanks to soccer and a pullup challenge 4. Torn meniscus chasing down purse thieves. 5. Ankle sprain thanks to a poor lache to precision 6. Rotator cuff issues due to asymmetrical muscle up technique and calling out “lindy flip!” too late for my partner to react well. 7. Wrist issues thanks to poor swingout technique and repetitive swingout tossouts. Stuff happens. Best learn how to heal and improve yourself.

Needless to say, 4 months off in Denver will do me some good. While I’m here, I’ve made some training goals with Cosmo Dudley’s help.  He runs the Apex Movement Englewood location. He suggested two pulling goals, two pushing goals, two leg goals, and 1-2 full body goals.

Pulling: Dead Hang Symmetrical Muscle Up, .75 BW Pull Up
Pushing: .5BW Ring Dip, 1 Handstand Pushup
Legs: Back Squats 2.0BW, Advanced Level Shrimp Squats on both legs
Whole Body: 5 Climb Ups for time in sub 17 seconds, 3 sec hold on Flag – both sides

Thanks to my current training, I’ve achieved a symmetrical kipping muscle up. I never had a symmetrical muscle up since I started parkour training. I had an asymmetrical muscle up where I flared my left arm first. This eventually sort of wrecked my shoulders. They are still less mobile than where they were 2.5 years ago. My shoulder mobility also limits my full range of motion for handstand pushups, so I’m training negatives, shoulder presses, and different kinds of dips. Legs are fun and climb ups are a beast.

Stay tuned. I hope to achieve these goals by summer’s end.