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Swing Dance

Teaching Follows to Swing Dance
Balboa, Lindy Hop, Swing Dance

Teaching Follows to Swing Dance

Chris and I have had a couple opportunities to teach Balboa and Lindy Hop recently, and we’ve gotten very gratifying feedback on how well we teach together as a team – especially how much we work with the follows in class. Chris gets as much credit for this as me, because he’s very conscientious about making sure the follows have material to work on. I’m just a loudmouth and make sure I get heard in class. 🙂

Photo courtesy of Dave Welch at Photos With Class

Because of the nice response from our students, I’ve been thinking lately about our teaching partnership. Of course, we aren’t perfect and are always trying to improve on this ourselves, but these are the major points I see as critical in giving the follows an equal education.

1) Stop seeing the follow as the less important member of the team. To teach follows effectively, both the leads and the follows must respect how important their role is in partner dancing. If both teachers model this behavior and outlook, the students will hopefully feel the same way.
Something as simple as the leader-instructor introducing the follows’ styling, and showing genuine enthusiasm for spending time on the topic in class, will help balance the roles.

2) Spend enough time preparing – together. The follow-instructor must be clear on the class material in order to participate in actually teaching, not just dancing. I suspect that when the follow-instructor isn’t contributing to teaching, it’s usually because she doesn’t know what the leader-instructor is going to demonstrate next. She’s trying to figure it out along with the class.

3) While planning, pay attention to whether the moves are lead-centric or follow-centric. Try to balance the material with different moves or additional styling.
4) Teach the Skills needed when following. This might include where to hold your arms, position your weight, or different footwork that makes a move easier. This is especially important to remember when teaching Advanced classes – teaching the nuances of Following Skills changes an Advanced class from “a bunch of choreography I can never use after I leave class” to “now I’m a better follow!”.
5) Sometimes a class will be at a completely different level than the material planned. So go with it! Even though you’re teaching off the top of your head, still try to address the reasons why you make certain choices as a follow, not just the mechanics of how to execute the move.

What other techniques do you find helpful for effective teaching of both roles in partner dances? As a student, what do you find helpful, or dislike?

Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout 2013
Balboa, Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout, Swing Dance

Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout 2013

After years of not traveling further than San Francisco, all of a sudden last year Chris and I decided to leave our bubble and start traveling to dance events – I left one job with over 2 weeks of vacation time saved up and realized that not using it was the dumbest thing ever (yes, they paid me out, but it wasn’t worth it). We’ve been invited to teach at several out-of-state events in this last year, and we love teaching, meeting new people and seeing a few sights, so we’re trying to take advantage of as many opportunities as we can. And now that we’re meeting people who live all over the world, we need to keep traveling so that we can see (and dance!) with them.

Last weekend we went to snowy Denver for Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout. Now, Chris and I were both born and raised in Southern California, and we are NOT built for snow. I went to college in Iowa, but that was 10 years ago now (yikes!) and it was a small town and small campus so I didn’t have to deal with a car. So of course the first time we venture out to Denver, the town is hit with the biggest snowstorm of the season!

We were prepared for cold weather, but I forgot how darn WET snow is. I SO did not bring the right shoes – I only had one pair of flats with me. 7-Eleven bags to the rescue!

But that said, we still had a great time! RMBB is a fab event – we always had it on our list of events to go to, sooner or later. The music is great, the venues are pretty, and good/NICE dancers always turn out. We taught two classes (advanced Balboa and LA Lindy Hop) and I was in 2 contests – just the right amount of obligations for a fun weekend away. (Teaching and competing *are* fun, but sometimes you don’t want to keep an eye on the clock.)

Here is video footage from the two contests I was in – enjoy!

Open Strictly Balboa – 
Chris & Beth, 1st Place
(For my family members who only want to watch our spotlight, that starts at 9:52 😉

Invitational Jack & Jill –
randomly paired with Andreas Olsen, from Sweden, whom I met only the previous night!
(Andreas and my spotlight starts at 5:08)

Big thanks to David Bradford for the video footage and for the great dance we had! 🙂

Cal Bal Classic 2013
Balboa, California Balboa Classic, Hal Takier, Swing Dance

Cal Bal Classic 2013

The weekend before last was the California Balboa Classic, a new Balboa event in Los Angeles with classes and dances. Originally intended as a small event for locals, word about this one spread like wildfire and the workshops sold out within a week or two, even after an entire extra class track was added! And people even flew in from other states! I’m SO excited about this new event – I’ve felt for a long time that LA needs a dedicated Balboa event, and I’m so glad that the response was so good.

Like the hams we are, Chris and I entered the Open Balboa and Swing contest – “Balboa” and “Swing” here referring to their 1930s & 40s meanings where Balboa was only closed (chest-to-chest) position, and Swing is anything that separates from your partner.  I had a TON of fun with this contest – there were several rounds where we were told to demonstrate musicality, showmanship, etc. A lot of Balboa contests tend to emphasize one end of the spectrum or the other, but it was nice to have both in this one.  I just hope it didn’t go on too long for the audience!

Here are the videos I could find – they’re linked from Facebook instead of YouTube, so I hope they work for you.

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Warm-up

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Chris & Beth Spotlight

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Fast Battle

And finally, Chris and I got to take home these GORGEOUS glass trophies! First Place, and the couple featured in the photo are 2 of our dance heroes, Hal and Betty. We stole several of their moves for the Fast Battle, and I will proudly display this in honor of them and all of our old-timers.

International Lindy Hop Championships – Live Streaming

This weekend is the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington D.C. – after only 4 years running, it has quickly established itself as one of the premier swing events. 

Yehoodi is hosting a live streaming feed for the evening competitions, so if you’re interested in seeing what’s currently happening in the world of swing dancing, check it out!

Buena Vista Street – Grand Re-Opening!

This post is overdue but fun, so only slight apologies for the delay! 😉

After long anticipation, Disney’s California Adventure opened its newly retrofied Buena Vista Street and Carsland on June 15th, and the day before they closed the park for final preparations and a private party for press and employees. To add some fun to the street inspired by Los Angeles in the 1920’s & 30’s, Chris & I joined some friends in dancing to Dean Mora’s Modern Rhythmists. So much fun to be there at the re-opening of Buena Vista Street, dancing to LA’s best and most authentic early jazz band!

Chip & Dale dancing the Charleston

Dancers en route to California Adventure
Twilight on Buena Vista Street

Chris and I joined dancers from Pasadena Ballroom Dance 
and the Hollywood Hotshots for the event
Hollywood Hotshots Minn Vo & Stefanie Klausman performing “Campus Capers”
After the first band set I changed outfits and got a quick photo with the Red Car Trolley. 
So neat to see this bit of LA history recreated!
Chip (or is it Dale?) dancing with some visitors.

With Katie, Hollywood Hotshot and fellow FIDM graduate!
Pluto getting down!

Another Maharaja Costume

Since we’re talking Majaraja costumes, I thought I’d share one I made for myself a few years ago. (oh, no, I just checked and it was in 2008…that was a long time ago already!!)

The Friday night theme at Camp Hollywood was Maharaja — Chris wore a tuxedo (inspired by Hal), and I made a “1940’s does Arabian Nights” playsuit – you know, like how all the costumes in period movies of the 30’s & 40’s look more like contemporary fashions with only a slight nod to the past. That’s what I was going for.

Again, this is a rayon fabric for good swish. The skirt is a long panel that’s gathered with box pleats into the waistband, and I put butterfly sleeves on the top for ease of movement.

These photos are from the Amateur Balboa contest – we got first place that year. It was also probably the best hair day of my entire life, and I like to think that had a little to do with winning. 😉