The last few months attending swing dance events as a Penn State student has been awkward and downright frustrating at times. I’ve had people literally in the middle of dances try to bring up the topics such as the Sandusky scandal or my opinion on the former coach Joe Paterno. It got to the point that when deciding what shirts I wanted to wear to dances, time would be spent pondering not wearing one of my Penn State Swing Dance club t-shirts just to avoid the potential hassling that came along with it.
At least for myself, swing dancing is at times an escapist activity for me where I can free my stresses of my daily life whether that be bugs while programming or a tragedy that has befallen my beloved town of State College and many innocent victims. Underclassmen who I teach dance lessons to on a regular basis travel with us to large events, where we are recognized as a group from Penn State. I loathe the idea of them having to deal with this at an event such as Boston Tea Party. With Paterno’s recent death, I fear that this pestering that has quieted down recently may intensify again. The last thing I want, even more then being hassled myself, is my students who to go to an event to have fun and learn from the international Lindy Hop community… to be reminded of the troubles from home.
I apologize if this comes off as a bit of a soapbox rant, but all I can ask is take some consideration before you bring up things in conversation, this goes especially for in the middle of a dance. This just doesn’t apply to just talking to Penn State students and alumni, but anyone who is dealing with unpleasant circumstances.
Recently Southern California lost a dance legend, Hal Takier. Words cannot even begin to describe the debt that the swing dance community owes this man, or how much he was cherished by his community, especially by those in Southern California.
Marcelo from yehoodi gave me permission to edit and re-post something he originally wrote on Yehoodi for Hal 90th birthday, that I think is a well-put tribute.
Hal Takier, is a man whom many (including myself) call the greatest swing dancer who ever lived.
Hal is an incredible man, full of life, insight, and wit. With his wife Marge at his side, Hal has helped those of us who have sought to learn about Los Angeles’s local history and the invention of Balboa come to discover and appreciate this amazing dance and its unique contribution to American history.
Hal’s dancing is now the foundation for hundreds upon hundreds of young dancers (including myself). We are all shameless imitators of Hal’s innovative dancing style, which combined pure Balboa with the rollicking moves of Swing:
Along with the drop seen here, Hal also invented the infamous “Merry-go-round,” several drops, and his singular three-wall flying lindy basic is now known as a “flying Hal.” Hal was one of the dancers in the famous “beach clip,” showing off his insanely fast Balboa style.
Hal was never a professional dancer like Dean Collins. He worked all his life in a rubber factory down in the southern part of LA, driving up to Hollywood to compete in the weekly cutting contests, which he won regularly (much to Dean Collins’s dismay). He belonged for a time to the group the “Ray Rand Dancers,” known for their Balboa and swing combinations. At one point he was considered so good that contests tried to keep him off the floor! That inspired him and his friends to protest the contests that would try to keep them out:
In addition to tons of feature film appearances, Hal’s most famous appearance in movies was in The Maharaja Soundie short from 1943. It’s available on YouTube here:
Hal is also credited with inventing this classic swing pose, in this legendary photo which has appeared in magazines, album covers, and posters:
I had the absolute pleasure to interview Hal and Marge for a documentary I made in film school about his contribution to swing dancing.
I will never forget the one thing he said that is to this day the single most important piece of advice I’ve ever heard from anyone about dancing:
“Enjoy the music. It’s all about the music. When that music gets going….boom. I’m gone.” -Hal Takier
Clips of Hal:
On the same thread Marcelo talks about a few clips of Hal.
Hal dancing with his partner at the time, Betty in the famous “beach clip.” Hal’s the one in the black pants. Randomly: The girl in white who dances with the guy in white before Hal and Betty appear, she’s Vanna White’s mom
- Marcelo
Scroll to the two minute mark and you’ll see Hal dancing with Alice “Scotty” Scott, doing among other things an absolutely dynamite Merry-go-round. Scottie’s drop dancing thing is still super popular. Hal’s in the horizontal striped shirt:
- Marcelo
Hal and Betty Takier dancing at Bobby Mc’Gees, an old school venue in Southern California.
Hal and Marge dancing to the song ‘Avalon’ at the Disneyland Carnation Plaza in 1987. Check out those quick successive spins at 1:23.
In Memorandum
Through the generosity of the scholarship program Balboa Rendezvous had at the time, I had the privilege of meeting Hal and his wife Marge at the Balboa Pavilion two years ago. A role model and a master of his craft, I always saw Hal as the quintessence of what it meant to be a Southern California dancer, a jitterbug. A quote from Marcelo’s documentary gives one of the many reasons I sincerely believe that,
“He’s the best swing dancer of all time ever. 84 okay, and up to last year he was whopping all of us. Everytime he went out, he would dance longer and harder then all of us.”
Posted in Uncategorized on January 8, 2012 by Apache
Avalon, this is a word that if you are a Southern California dancer should be no stranger to you. If you aren’t (or are behind the times, tsk, tsk) allow me to explain. Avalon is a historic city on Santa Catalina Island (often shortened to California locals as Catalina Island), in California, that contains one of the most beautiful ballrooms, The Casino Ballroom in the United States. This picturesque location is immortalized in a jazz standard with the same name as the city, ‘Avalon’.
Perhaps the sentiment I am trying to express can be best summed up by this quote,
“’Avalon’ is practically an advertisement for the resort town on Catalina Island off the coast of California which was a popular resort destination for the film community of Hollywood.” -Chris Tyle
Mythical Origins
Originally Santa Catalina Island was inhabited by the Gabrielino/Tongva Native Americans, until about 1930 when most of them died off or migrated to the mainland for work. [1] However in 1887 a gentleman by the name of George Shatto purchased the island for $200,000 with the intentions of developing it into a resort town. According to wikipedia: His sister-in-law Etta Whitney came up with the name Avalon, which was pulled as a reference from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Idylls of the King”, about the legend of King Arthur.
Mr. and Mrs. Shatto and myself were looking for a name for the new town, which in its significance should be appropriate to the place, and the names which I was looking up were ‘Avon’ and ‘Avondale,’ and I found the name ‘Avalon,’ the meaning of which, as given in Webster’s unabridged, was ‘Bright gem of the ocean,’ or Beautiful isle of the blest.’ [2]
- Etta Whitney
To quote Wikipedia about the Arthurian legend origins of this island city,
Avalon (probably from the Welsh word afal, meaning apple; see Etymology below) is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae (“The History of the Kings of Britain”) as the place where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay.
The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon by Edward Burne-Jones (1881–1898)
The Casino Ballroom:
Unfortunately in spite of Shatto’s efforts to develop the island he defaulted on his loans and was forced to sell the island. However in 1919 a chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought a controlling interest in Santa Catalina Island and its associated properties. [3]
In 1929, Wrigley built the Catalina Casino over the site of a previous dance hall known as the Sugarloaf Casino. Throughout the 1930s the Casino Ballroom hosted many of the biggest names in entertainment, including Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, and Gene Autry. [4]
“Catalina was Hollywood’s home away from home, and casino gigs were highly sought after. The concerts were broadcast across the country on radio, enhancing the venue’s popularity. Thousands of concertgoers paid $2.25 each to take the Great White Steamer from San Pedro on the mainland to Avalon. Then they danced to big band music, thanking their lucky stars that the concerts themselves were often free, thanks to the building’s founding father, chewing gum mogul William Wrigley Jr.”
-Rosemary McClure
Buddy Rogers Orchestra at the Casino Ballroom
To give one an idea of the grandeur of this place again I will quote the L.A. Times writer McClure,
“The casino, 12 stories tall and ringed by balconies that overlook the bay, was believed to have the biggest dance floor in the world when it was built. It was called a masterpiece of Art Deco design that “receives patrons at its doors from seaplanes, yachts and motorcars,” according to a 1929 article in the Catalina Islander newspaper.”
-Rosemary McClure
Exterior of the Casino Ballroom
Interior of Casino Ballroom
An important detail for dancers, the Avalon Ball website writes how the floor was constructed at the Casino Ballroom,
The ballroom dance floor was carefully constructed of maple, white oak and rosewood that rest on a layer of felt and acoustical paper. The felt and paper are installed over a subfloor of pine that floats above the support beams on strips of cork. Such careful attention was given to the dance floor to ensure a smooth and comfortable dancing experience for the building’s many visitors.
The Jazz Standard:
This part of the post is what I am assuming most swing dancers would be familiar with, the jazz standard known as ‘Avalon’. It was a 1920 popular song written by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose.
“A popular jazz standard, the song has been recorded by many artists, including Cab Calloway (1934), Coleman Hawkins (1935) and Eddie Durham (1936). The Benny Goodman Quartet played the song in their famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.The song was included in the biographical films The Jolson Story (1946) and The Benny Goodman Story (1956), and is also being noodled by Sam (Dooley Wilson) at the piano right before he plays As Time Goes By in the movie Casablanca (1942).“
In the original lyrics of the song there are two versus and a repeated chorus, though in most performances of the song that are non-instrumental only the chorus is frequently sung.
I found my love in Avalon
Beside the bay
I left my love in Avalon
And sail’d away
I dream of her and Avalon
From dusk ’til dawn
And so I think I’ll travel on
To Avalon
For reference here is a 1937 performance of ‘Avalon’ by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra:
In a modern context here is the Gaucho Gypsy Jazz band featuring Tamar Korn:
In Context with the Contemporary Swing Dance Community
The Casino Ballroom at Avalon is still used by the Lindy Hop community. Small events are sometimes sponsored there, but it is most notably featured by the Catalina Jazz Dance Festival.
Travel On
When I think of Avalon I get slightly nostalgic because of the history and meaning the place has in a myriad of ways. The song ‘Avalon’ is one of my favorite songs to Balboa to and for myself as a Southern Californian brings memories of home when I am away.
If you have any particular; thoughts, details I missed, or even fond memories of the place, I encourage you to share them in the comments section. If you get the chance I encourage you to travel on, to Avalon.
Footnotes:
[1]: Otte, Stacey; Pedersen, Jeannine (2004). “Catalina Island History”. A Catalina Island History in Brief. Catalina Island Museum. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
[2]: Williamson, M. Burton (December 7, 1903). “History of Santa Catalina Island”. The Historical Society of Southern California (Los Angeles: George Rice & Sons): 14–31.
Posted in Dance, Personal on December 30, 2011 by Apache
As the new year approaches I can’t help but reflect upon common themes of what has consisted my experiences of being a member of the swing dance community in years past. One I want to touch on in particular is the concept of paying it forward.
To quote wikipedia, paying it forward is defined as:
The concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead.
When I first started dancing Southern California I went to a venue called Rock Harbor, which was a free venue that the instructors were local dancers who generously donated their time. One day I noticed two of the instructors there dancing Collegiate Shag, a dance I had seen previously and was intrigued by. Alas, my struggle though was like many people who want to learn Balboa, I had difficulty finding lessons. Those two instructors Alan and Amantha were nice enough to change the lesson the next week to teach Shag so I could learn the basic step and set me on the path to delving into the dance.
Last night when I was out dancing and I noticed a girl off on the side trying to figure out a Shag double rhythm basic and struggling with it. I offered to help and a few minutes later she was doing okay enough to follow a basic in open and closed position and seemed thrilled. It was only maybe five to ten minutes tops of my time at most.
Raldoph Waldo Emerson once wrote,
”In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”
For myself my best way of repaying the gift that Amantha and Alan gave me is to render the same gift they gave to me onto others. I encourage those of you who have experience in the dance community to do the same. It is a simple act that fosters growth in our community and invaluable to the individuals that it assists.
The number one request (besides aerials) that most swing dance instructors get from newer to intermediate dancers are flashy moves, flashy moves, and… flashy moves.
I’ll admit for awhile as a swing dance instructor I would teach nothing besides reinforcing technique in aboslute basic moves. While that had the advantage of drilling in solid fundamentals, it had the disadvantage of boring most of my class to death.
For the classes I taught that weren’t the first time dancer crash courses, I changed my methods of how I taught. I would choose moves that while they looked impressive/flashy, would be demanding of a certain technique point I wanted to drill in. Particularly on the point that they would fail spetacularly if people did something such as trying to run around their partner or if a lead tried to muscle a follow around.
This quote from Bug’s Question of the Day by Byron Alley hits the nail right on the head about how I feel about this topic as well,
But even then, it’s important not to imagine that people need to master their basics before attempting more advanced moves. Often it’s the opposite: people need to attempt, and quite possibly fail at, dancing at a higher level in order to appreciate the value of fundamentals. Show them moves that simply FAIL if the technique is not there. Failure is a necessary part of learning, especially a vernacular dance like Lindy Hop. It gives dancers a better understanding of the frontiers of the dance.
(Caveat: there’s a difference between encouraging failure and getting people hurt.)
I will admit though this method of teaching isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. I have recieved criticism in the past that teaching in this way creates an intimidating and discourging envionrment for students. Personally I beg to differ and think that doing this establishes a sense of humility in dancers and fosters a respect for technique because the students gain an context to understand why it is important.
In swing dance this is the idea of taking technique from other dances and attempting to apply it in way that is (usually) detrimental to making social dance work.
As a swing dance instructor whenever I get new students who have a background in areas such as ballet or gymnastics I am always excited, yet apprehensive. This is because, while they have a significant advantage over their peers in terms of experience with learning things visually, they have the unique challenges of separating technique (that does not apply well to Lindy Hop) from their past experience and in the cases of being a follow, allowing others to initiate motion versus using leads as a prop.
When you have too many frames, sometimes its hard to see the picture.
In the past I struggled how to teach people who went through this problem. I conveniently learned the answer when I took a semester of Ballroom dance. My difficulty in that class lied within the fact that I kept trying to apply Lindy Hop technique to dances that it didn’t make sense to, such as Rumba. What allowed me to get past this mental block was my Ballroom instructor at the time told me to picture dances like outfits such as formal wear or beach appropriate attire. Within those outfits certain characteristics and things worked within the idea portrayed. It sounds silly, but it worked. Whenever I did a different dance a mental switch would flick and I would utilize certain techniques, such as toes would become pointed in Irish step-dance.
For those of you who teach and have students who struggle with the idea of not mixing up technique from other dances with swing dance, give this analogy a shot. For individuals attempting to learn Swing Dance or perhaps dances outside your comfort zone such as Hip-Hop or Bhangra, the idea of picturing each dance as a separate entity can assist you greatly as well.
Let me start off this post with a personal story. In my first Jack & Jill competition that I made finals I was paired with a follow named Josephine who I had never danced with before in my entire life. The format of the finals was which in phrase battle style which meant for two sets of eight counts of 8 we would have to dance alone in front of a crowd with no idea of how the other person would react. To add onto that a fair amount of the people I was competing with were paired with people they regularly danced with at regional dance events. To say that I was in a slightly intimidating and nerve-wracking situation would be an understatement.
An interesting trend that my friend Annabel Truesdell noticed and I agree exists as well, is competitions in the United States are cutting out warm-up songs before competitions. The main reason I am assuming for this is since more events are creating more divisions, time becomes a pressing issue and those warm-up songs add up.
Opinions
I figured to get a good representation of how competitors in the community feels about the topic, I’ve asked several individuals who regularly compete across the United States for their opinion on the issue with the following question,
What’s your opinion about warm-up songs before competitions? I’ve noticed this trend of some events are cutting them out to save time, but have noticed some competitors complaining about it in result.
These are the responses I received:
Alice Pye who writes for the blog The Rantings of A Lindy Hopper and regular competitor at Lindy Hop events around the United States such as ILHC & Camp Hollywood.
”I need them definitely. Especially for jack and jills, obviously and also form the promoter/organizer point of view if you take that minute to give everyone a warm up song in the beginning, you’re pretty much guaranteeing a great show for the rest of the competition. I think cutting that warm up cuts a lot more than that one minute, it cuts the fun out of the rest of the comp.” - Alice Pye
David Lee who regularly competes at Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and Lindy Hop events across the United States at events like ILHC, All Balboa Weekend, and Hot Rhythm Holiday.
“Yes, it helps to have a warm-up song. It is a lower pressure environment to get to know your partner’s connection and the warm-up song is usually a little slower.
For example at ILHC this year, we went straight to spotlights. I danced the lindy J&J with a partner I have never danced with before in front of the whole community of lindyhoppers. A warm-up song would have helped me smooth out some of the edges. Generally if you go straight to spotlights, it is going to be fast and faster for the final all-skate.
I think a contest should test all tempos of your abilities. For example, the first year of ILHC used a slow and fast spotlight. Westies test the range of a dancer’s abilities by using a classic and contemporary song. It would be nice to see more contests that show the entire range of tempos that lindyhop is danced to rather than fast and faster.
The tempos of contests is a separate issue, but the warm-up song has been filling the role of the slow song in previous contests. If the trend is to eliminate the warm-up song, then we need another way to show off lindyhop to slower tempos.” – David Lee
Laura Glaess an international instructor who regularly teaches, competes, and judges at competitions from ULHS to the Lonestar Championships.
“Hmm… I feel like I can kind of see both sides. As a competitor, you really want that warmup song. If it’s a Jack and Jill, you need to get an idea of what the other person is like. If it’s a strictly, you want to use it calm down. However, as an organizer, you’re considering all of the people who are sitting there, not dancing. If you’ve got a load of comps, all of those warmups can add up.
I think if the event doesn’t have that many comps, give everyone a warmup song. It’s only a minute. If the event is really stuffed, I think the Jack and Jills should still get one. It’s an investment in the show they’ll be putting on.” - Laura Glaess
Morgan Day a.k.a. Super Mario who regularly competes in Lindy Hop, Balboa and Collegiate Shag competitions on the West Coast.
“As a competitor I’m for them. Personally, I think 90 seconds isn’t a significant time in the competition when you have a phrase battle that goes on for 6 minutes. Some event organizers might want to cut them so they can jump right into the “show” part of the competition, but a dance competition isn’t a pre-planned show (like what they do at Camp Jitterbug). A warm up songs lets dancers (especially amateur dancers) get into competition mode smoothly. That’s my $0.02.” – Morgan Day
Mary Freitag who writes for the blog Art and Dancing and who regularly competes and teaches at Lindy Hop and Balboa events across the United States.
“I like warm up songs for jack and jills, and I think that they aren’t really necessary for strictlys. Whenever I have done finals of a jack and jill and they don’t have a warm-up, I can never really get in the groove with my partner….even if I have danced with them a bunch before. Warm-ups really do help for jack and jills, even if it is just 1 minute! However, with strictlys you already know your partner and usually are dancing together for the songs right before the strictly anyways, so don’t really think they are needed.” – Mary Freitag
The Cost of Cutting out a Warm-Up Song
I agree from personal experience with the sentiment that most of the dancers who gave me responses wrote which is for Jack & Jill’s (especially in the case of newer dancers) that the warm-up song is an investment that organizers should put in to create a better quality experience for the audience that the competitors are trying to entertain and for the competitors who may be dancing with somebody for the first time in their lives.
Each choice has repercussions, the deciding factor is if the benefits outweigh the costs.
The opportunity cost for cutting out this warm-up means likely some of the competitors will have a case of the jitters and may not dance to their full potential that they would with one. As many of the dancers who responded agreed, that one minute is not a significant cost for the benefit of increased entertainment value for the crowd and a more likely positive experience for the competitors.
However in terms of a Stricly competition I would say like Laura wrote that it is a nice benefit to allow competitors to calm down with their partner. However like Mary wrote most people who compete in Strictly competitions already know their partner and usually dance with them right before the competition anyways. If there are not that many competitions that weekend and time allows for it, I can only see benefits from allowing for warm-up songs, but it is completely understandable if they are cut from the schedule due to time constraints during busy events like ILHC.
Alternative to Traditional Warm-Up
David Lee in my brief chat with him made a suggestion which I think has a lot of merit and has a similar format to what many people who enter Strictly competitions already do,
“One other option for warmups is to gather the competitors beforehand, match, and then give them one song of social dance time before the competition.” – David Lee
What this does is not cut into social dance time, yet provides competitors a chance to know briefly the individuals they are dancing with. There is a third benefit that I realized the more I thought about this, which is this type of warm-up is also not in front of a crowd making it a much more low pressure environment then a traditional warm-up.
Warm-ups Worthy Investments
When it comes down to it at least for Jack & Jills’ if organizers are forced to cut out warm-up songs I think it would be more efficient to better organize the weekend then cut them because even if in the worst case scenario that there are 5 J&J divisions and each warm-up takes an unrealistic 3 minutes. That is still only 15 minutes out of an entire weekend to provide your attendees with a better quality experience. If that still seems like too much of an investment on part of organizers, implement David’s idea to still provide competitors with that sense of comfort and not cut into your event’s schedule.
I think a quote from my conversation with Alice best sums up my sentiment on the matter,
“You really have to choose the right corners to cut ’cause sometimes you think you’re cutting something out, but it’s actually holding a lot of other things in place…” – Alice Pye
This past Friday night/Vendredi soir I had the privilege of visiting Cat’s Corner located in Montreal, Canada. For those of you unfamiliar with Cat’s I am reluctant to say it is just a swing dance venue because it had a community atmosphere when I visited.
Community
Options for everyday of the week.
One thing that Cat’s especially does to help out with the community feel is that it caters to the unique co-exisiting Anglophone and Francophone cultures within the city.
Within my visit to Cat’s I noticed the instructors for the classes would ask at the beginning their learning language preferences and would teach in either English, French or both depending upon the results. For those aspiring to learn French or students more comfortable learning in their native tongue, the lessons at Cat’s create a welcoming atmosphere.
Events within driving distance & Swing Cats!
Another thing Cat’s does to foster this sense of community is networking with not just other swing dance venues in the city but with surrounding communities as far as Rochester. When I was hanging out the following Saturday with some Cat’s organizers in the studio office, they were actively looking for events in the surrounding area to promote while munching on some Fairmount bagels.
This contrasts some of the horror stories I have heard in the U.S. of venues almost bitterly competing against each other. Which ultimately in the end just hurts the local dance community because of the pyrrhic victories.
Options
As in most places they featured in their spacious and beautiful main studio, not one but two DJs that went until around 2 AM. However in the other studio they had a blues room open as well around 11 PM. As shown in the first picture they offer not just multiple levels of Lindy Hop, but classes in Collegiate Shag and Blues as well. Not listed in that picture, but I am fairly sure they have instruction in Balboa as well. The best thing is the classes are free with dance admission. What this does is encourages new dancers to find their own personal niche in the Cat’s community by taking classes tailored to their pace and preferences.
What is Cat’s Corner?
This is my view as a visiting American, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Talking with local organizers and dancing at the places I get the sense that Cat’s Corner is not just a dance venue but a place to be involved or be a part of. The staff (offical and volunteer) seems endeared toward the idea of maintaining and improving Cat’s and the classes are situated to cater toward the preferences of the dancers.
Nearby awesome food is an acceptable answer.
I know it sounds slightly cheesy, but I think it is what great events in the swing dance community do. People go to ILHC or Herrang because they want to be part of that experience, there is a distinct attitude and personality that is associated with those events that attracts people.
So if you are in Montreal on a Friday, pay a visit to their fun community. If possible grab a Schwartz sandwich beforehand and some poutine after.
This past weekend during Steven and Virginie, a workshop weekend in Rochester I had the privilege being in attendance at the live recording of a new CD “Live in Rochester” by The Gordon Webster Swingtet featuring vocalist Naomi Uyama. While the experience was amazing and Naomi’s vocals on “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” sent a wave of nostalgia through me, in hindsight it put an interesting thought in my head.
Many people in the swing dance community know Naomi as a one of the dancers in the international instructors circuit, but my first experience with her was as a featured vocalist with The Boilermaker Jazz Band. To me for several months she was “Naomi, the vocalist” not “Naomi, the International Lindy Hop Instructor”.
Mike Faltesek is another example of someone who fulfills these double roles. Around the world from Seoul, Korea to Philadelphia, United States dancers know him as a widely recognized swing dance instructor. Yet he also has an identity as a musician for the Careless Lovers having played recently at such events like Camp Hollywood or the Albuquerque Lindy Exchange.
Steven Mitchell is a shining example in this category for having been this duel role for quite some time. He regularly travels around the world as a swing dance instructor with his dance partner Virginie. However he also known to sing with Gordon Webster and occasionally other bands.
And You Crossover
It’s no secret that some jazz musicians ranging from back in the early 1900′s like Artie Shaw to today are skeptical of dancers, thinking we would dance to anything if it had a beat. But a trend I have noticed is the swing dance community putting an honest effort understand the viewpoint of the musicians who perform for our community and to show that we appreciate what they bring to our community.
Perhaps this effort has always existed and I have been largely ignorant to it, but lately it has seemed to come not just from prominent members of our community leading by example (such as dancers listed above), but from scene organizers and average dancers as well. An example of this is found here in a post by Hamphats.ca of how the Montreal swing dance scene went up in arms on Facebook when a promoter was late in the payment of Meshiya Lake and Her Little Big Horns.
The Welbourne Jazz Camp is another example of this integration, creating an environment where one can pursue an education as a dancer, musician or both if you wish. To quote their webpage,
“The creators of Wellbourne Jazz Camp (Amy Johnson, dance director, Ben Polcer, music director) have a vision of further bridging the gap between the inseparable jazz music and jazz dances.”
I think a lot of dancers wonder how can we improve and grow the scene? I think this idea of bridging the gap is a step in a very positive direction.
I’m not saying you have to go out and pick up a musical instrument and join a jazz band. (Though it is totally cool if you do.) But even little things help such buying a band’s CD instead of burning it from a friend or even something as simple as going up and introducing yourself to band members and thanking them if you enjoyed their performance. Most of them are more then happy to talk to you and you can get some amazing stories in the process.
Often when I am teaching swing dance classes I want to assess how my students are doing or give them tools to assess each other/ themselves. One thing I learned quickly is if I asked the class, “Does anybody have any questions?” I would be met with blank/confused stares and occasionally a brave soul.
Average Student: What is this? I don't even
Vocabulary
Often for students something will feel wrong but they sometimes just lack terms to articulate what exactly is ailing them. When a follow tells a lead that a move is being lead wrong, it is useful. However it is far less effective then an answer such as ”You are tensing your left arm so I can’t feel connection.”
What I try to do when asking students a question in a class setting are questions that target specifics. For example if I am teaching a rock step, “Follows did you feel a stretch from a rock step that propelled you forward?” or “Leads were your follows waiting for you to release tension on the rockstep, or were they backleading?”.
This works as well if you are trying to get students to give each other feedback, which I often do in my intermediate and above classes. An example of this is “Okay after you try the move three times to the music, stop and talk to your partner about what made it work or didn’t work. Some potential things to talk about are connection, tension, not looking at the ground, and if it was smooth or choppy.” When I phrase feedback that way, they have four different categories to flesh out their conversations with and this usually results in actual conversations giving vital feedback, versus the chit chat or blank stares I see during some classes during feedback time.
What I plan to try one of these days, is the classroom I teach in has a blackboard. I want to put the words up in chalk and see if visual stimulus would help my students out. Try this out, tell me how it goes!
The last few months attending swing dance events as a Penn State student has been awkward and downright frustrating at times. I’ve had people literally in the middle of dances try to bring up the topics such as the Sandusky scandal or my opinion on the former coach Joe Paterno. It got to the point that when deciding what shirts I wanted to wear to dances, time would be spent pondering not wearing one of my Penn State Swing Dance club t-shirts just to avoid the potential hassling that came along with it.
