Heartland Swing Festival 2014 – BBQ, Snow, Spinning, Babies

Are We Having Fun Yet? So asks the cutout people at the Des Moines Social Club, one of this year’s Heartland Swing Festival’s venues. Based on the crowd’s enthusiasm and cheer, I would say “yes”.

Heartland Swing Festival is a rare event that places great emphasis on the amateurs. Many amateur events typically nod to the professionals in a special J&J or similar competition, but at HSF we dance with the novice finalists for their finals. That’s it and it’s nice. Also, with some of the team and showcase routines, it feels like these amateurs serve more unique pieces as if they’re untouched by frequent YouTube watching. It’s refreshing.

Heather Ballew and I had a full schedule with 8.5 teaching hours including our special team workshop where we analyze and critique their performances. This year, with a full 90 minutes, we also included swingout technique and aerial coaching where we discussed jumping, landing, and timing. It was productive and fun. My other duties included DJing the Amateur J&J and AnySwing Goes prelims Friday evening. Even with the extra teaching hours, it was a pretty fun weekend mainly focused on teaching.

In between the dancing, there were random interesting moments. Like the time someone told me I might swarmed by pregnant women in the future. Needless to say, I impressed her last year with the care I showed her on the dance floor. Sunday night I was fireman carried down a hall and spun around. Then I hoisted Evan Borst and spun him around. One of these days, there might even be video. And did you know that Des Moines has really good barbecue? Fact check me at Jethro’s and The Flying Mango. Before I leave, check out the winning team routine and a fun class recap:

Heartland Swing Festival 2013 – Back with Ballew

Back in the Midwest, where saying “y’all” is acceptable and recognized. It’s nice to let my American speech patterns run free. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if the students understand me, but they do! I’m no longer overseas. I can discard my Latin roots, return my American slang, speak faster, and be more natural. And it’s not just because I’m teaching again in American, it’s because I have Ballew, The Heather Ballew.

She’s a strong follow, leader of Colorado’s balboa scene, a kickass competitor, a friend, and a great teacher. It’s fun planning classes with her. We possess our individual dance philosophies and then Venn diagram them for classes, such as the ones we taught at Heartland Swing Festival. Here are a few reasons I enjoy teaching with Heather:

  1. always has something unique to give the students
  2. pays attention to individuals and the entire class (some people get sucked in by that one student, others only see the forest)
  3. it’s easy to riff ideas. Teaching becomes an easy two-way conversaton
  4. she knows her stuff and I trust her
  5. she sees things I don’t

So much on that list is important and emphasizes why it’s so great to be hired as a teaching couple, but also learn from a teaching couple. You get role models, individuals that have mastered their role, and equal information. I love teaching as a solo traveling instructor, but it’s a lot of work. Bottomline: hire Heather and I to teach for you. 🙂

Enough of the Ballew Appreciation Festival. Let’s talk about Heartland. This is one of the easiest events to work for. It’s well organized, Heather and I had an instructor liaison, Des Moines has cool restaurants (sidetracked!!!), has a great event management team, kickass MC (funny without wanting to be the center of attention), and hotel rooms with separate bathrooms. Other events could learn from Heartland.

This year was nuts! I was recruited to teach two early morning lindy hop classes with Lian Tarhay. Her partner, Dan Rosenthal, got delayed leaving Boston. Due to a miscommunication, I had to run .6 miles to the class venue at 8:40am. It wasn’t Heartland’s fault, but several people thought it was at the hotel venue. Oops. I was also the competition DJ which meant I was at the DJ booth a lot. I even dj’ed an impromptu set once I realized there was no music scheduled before the Friday comps. There were instructor demos, instructors dancing in the Novice J&J Finals (surprise!), judging slow finals at Friday late night. Those slow finals were pushed later due to Robert Bell playing later due to comps going over. Sleepy.

Sunday presented Heather and I with possibly our most unique class to date, the Team Talk private session, a great idea from Michael Brafford. Teams would come that morning to watch their video footage, receive personalized feedback, and practice some ideas. Heather judged the team competition and I ran their music Saturday night. I had someone film all the teams with my camera and I went back to my hotel room that night to watch the footage and take notes. Once Heather returned, we went through the footage together and talked ideas, practicing camel walks, and discussing swingouts. We went to bed around 2:30am. Thanks to all the team participants that arrived on time and took lots of notes. We appreciate your participation, finding out more about the teams, your excellent questions, and Charleston jamming with us.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun at Heartland. It was great seeing the other instructors, more familiar faces, and discovering I have a fan club. By the end, Heather and I taught 6 hours, judged numerous comps, danced so much, ate so much, and I dj’ed a whole lot. We hope to return next year.

If you reach the end, check my Heartland Video Playlist.