New Beginnings – Madrid, Spain

I’m in Madrid and having fun. I arrived Tuesday, November 6 and promptly starting training and preparing classes with Alba Mengual. There’s nothing like staying active to stave off jet lag. We are teaching 3 beginner lindy classes, 1 intermediate lindy, 1 advanced lindy, 1 advanced balboa, 1 beginner blues each week at various studios in Madrid. For more information, you can click here. There will be a website soon. Until then, stay abreast through Facebook.

Someone asked me if I was staying busy. I think 35+ dance hours during my first 7 days counts as busy. We’re practicing, designing class syllabi, djing, planning upcoming and recently happened workshops (balboa), dancing, and more. Nearly each class that Alba has promoted is completely filled. The above picture is from our packed drop-in class before Saturday’s big party. There were about 50 people attending the lesson. Later, I DJ’ed 3.5 hours. We heard that dancers really enjoyed the music and this was one of the most well attended swing dances in all Madrid. We’re off to a good start.

While I’m visiting Madrid, each month will feature a different workshop topic. This month’s topic was Balboa. Day 1, featured above, was 4 hours Improver Level. Day 2 was Intermediate Advanced for 4 hours. Each day started with us grounding the students with pure bal basics, weight changes, and enhanced connection technique. Then we looked at appropriate out and in material for the levels. Finally, we finished with throwouts and lollies for improvers, and throwout variations and fun material for intermediate/advanced. Want to watch, learn, or satisfy your curiosity? Click hereĀ for the playlist.

And while I’m here, I’ll continue being a food tourist. šŸ™‚ Cheers!

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.

Recent News from Barcelona/ESDC

Last weekend was the European Swing Dance Championships, headed by Sharon Davis and assisted by local Barcelona swing dancers. I was mainly attending because I wanted to be at a European lindy hop. ESDC seemed to be the big one and coincided with my current travels. I was also motivated because I enjoy Barcelona and my favorite European spot, Ohla Bar run by Max La Rocca, is here. My final reason is because I do too many blues events and was even asked if I do other dances besides blues. Yes, that question did hurt.

I registered for ESDC early on, originally signing up for the Jack ‘n Jill lindy hop and balboa comps, and balboa strictly with Louise Tangermann. Eventually, I added the All Star Strictly with Kate Patsky from Sydney, Australia. This is what I learned from ESDC.

1. Europe has a great lindy hop scene and I want to visit and dance with more lindy hoppers

2. Only attend ESDC if you’re serious about the competitions. And by serious, I mean you’ve trained a lot with this partner. I trained balboa with Louise in between our blues gigs, even training in Heidelberg where I met Ali and Katja. Training can supplement, but never replace social dancing. My balboa and lindy hop social dancing has been lagging behind other work. It showed this weekend. Also, you might see the announcement of *live music* *killer DJs*. It’s still a competition heavy event. Good luck with your social dancing.

3. Frankie stories still matter. At Ohla Bar, Kevin St. LaurentĀ was recounting a story when Frankie Manning was first demonstrating lindy hop. He’d start on the count he found most interesting and did the most inspiring step as he led a swingout. Each time it was different, uniquely musical. However, it wasn’t something easily teachable, so the swingout was codified, madeĀ digestibleĀ for the masses. What does this mean to me? Be musical. Get inspired. Dance like no one’s watching.

4. Competition heavy events are like the bad dj we all avoid. I appreciated the long competition intervals solely because I needed those 30-45 minutes to dry my soaking wet clothes. Otherwise, those long waits mentally took me out of the game. Sitting down so often and for so long made me cold. But what about all those awesome competitions and great dancers? Here’s my favorite: