Drag the Blues Away – Barcelona

Staff picture! Due to fortunate circumstances, I taught at Drag the Blues in Barcelona, Spain with Jana Grulichova. I was en route to Carcassone, France for culinary adventures and was glad I could participate in this new blues event.

Drag the Blues has a simple mission- slow blues. In a blues dancing world being dominated by speed and “authentic” blues, this event stands out. Hold your partner close, strut your stuff, be musical, be you, have fun dancing to blues music.

Because one of my specialties is dips, tricks, and aerials, Ferran gave me a Dips & Tricks class where people remained with their partner. How fun! We started easy and then advanced our way into two different lifts. Hopefully, dancers will practice these moves, be inspired to learn more, and one day use the bigger moves in a choreography.

I haven’t really mentioned my teaching partner yet. Jana Grulichova was a pleasure to work with. We hadn’t really talked about classes outside of me sharing blues lifts practice videos, so I outlined our 3 classes. We met at Swing Maniacs and went through 5 hours of material in 1 hour. Easy. She’s light on her feet, is comfortable giving me weight, does nice arm styling, takes talking opportunities (I’ve taught by myself too often), and personally helps students.

I’d like to share some more things that made Drag the Blues unique to me. They had two specialty classes Friday, 4 classes Saturday, and beach dancing and paella eating on Sunday. It was chill and I got to see more of the city. This rarely happens during weekend events. Us instructors also got many opportunities to hang out with each other and chat (another rare occurrence). The venue was at an amazing hotel with a great wood floor. There was live music both nights. I especially liked Saturday when Carrie Lewis took the stage. Then there was the Crazy Jack and Jill where each couple had a spotlight in which they had to act out a theme (casanova, hating each other, loving each other, etc).  It was quite fun and apparently my facial expressions were quite humorous to one competitor.

Overall, I thought Drag the Blues was quite fun. I hope they run it again next year. Keep your style, Barcelona.

Valencia Recap – Paella, Dips, Tricks, Black Bottom

Valencia, Spain offers a great time especially when I get to work with Miguel and Carla, the proprietors of Black Bottom Lindy Hop. This was my second visit to Valencia and I was looking forward to it. February 1-3 would be my final weekend before I returned to the US. They had a great weekend planned featuring must eat foods and 6 hours of workshops.

That weekend was my last hurrah and seemingly, a coming out party for Black Bottom Lindy Hop. A student made cookies and a lindy sweets train, there were t-shirts and a special inappropriate move – Miguel’s Black Bottom. I attended a Black Bottom (not the jazz step) class where Miguel and Lucia taught a move from Skip Ups and I was inspired.

Most importantly, I had paella for the first time! I’ve been tempted by paella in the past, but the advertisements, the shrimp, restaurant commercialization have been turnoffs. Two years ago or so, I had a dish called paella at Ondo’s Spanish Tapas Bar in Denver. It came out in a cylindrical shape and contained chorizo, bacon, and shrimp for its proteins. I mainly remember the rice tasting and feeling wet, maybe slightly oily. And if you visit Madrid and Barcelona, you will find many restaurants advertising paella. Is it paella? Mmmmmm…. not really.

This is true paella from the Albufera region of Valencia, Spain. Rice, green vegetables, chicken and rabbit served in a large round paella. Delicious, hearty, authentic. Just how I like my swing dancing. Once you get to know the taste of authentic paella, you can’t go back to the cheap substitute. It won’t work, you’ve been spoiled.

This leads into other reasons why I enjoy visiting Valencia so much. The dancers have individual style, Miguel and Carla have great branding, they know what makes food and lindy hop so great (quality ingredients, authenticity, uniqueness), there’s a beach, and it’s cool, quirky, and there’s great architecture. Other dance scenes just have a permeating sameness, not Valencia. So, if you get the chance, visit Valencia, eat some of their fabulous regional cuisine, and say “hi” to Black Bottom Lindy Hop for me.

Game Management – Aerials in Barcelona

Coaching aerial workshops is much like refereeing fútbol or soccer, for my American friends. You must be constantly aware of the players, the flow, anticipate their movements, and pay attention to your crew, your fellow teacher(s). After the parkour influenced warmup, the class begins with the rules. Think of it as the captain conference in the middle of the field, except everyone is responsible for themself and their classmates. 1. The flier’s safety comes first. 2. Communication is important. Don’t get ahead of the teachers. Make sure you, the flier, and your spotters agree to what you will do next whether prepping or “going over. Fliers can say “no”.

Then the teaching begins. We start with basing technique, trust exercises, jumping and landing technique. Once the aerials begin, we start off small, moving as slow or fast as we need, giving everyone time for repetitive movements, giving the couples lots of personal attention. Gradually, as aerials get more complex, we use spotters for the up preps and going overs. Oftentimes, we used Pol of Spank the Baby. Otherwise, we used volunteer couples to spot us or we spotted them. It’s a hands-on experience.

From there, you need to trust the students to take care of each other. Hopefully, they’ve paid attention to your techniques, instruction, and visual examples. Then it’s a matter of scanning the room, anticipating who needs special attention, and listening for questions. Sometimes I’ll see an error, but I see the students making an analysis of it or self-correcting. Play on. Other times, class must be stopped, advice handed out through generalities or gently pointing out corrections to specific partnerships that apply to others. I want you to learn and be successful, but most importantly, I want the students to achieve these aerials safely.

Aerials are fun and accessible. Aerial workshops are great because they have a way of making the hard seem easier. Aerials are rarely easy, but through the right training, outside support (exercise, fitness training), attention to detail, you can make them more effortless looking. It’s a different level of teamwork and partnership.

 Special thanks to Daniela de Zabaleta and Pol Prats Ferrer of Spank the Baby for having me teach at their studio, Sara Planas for teaching with me, and 23 Skidoo for helping me develop as an aerialist specialist.

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 here for the playlist.

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