Only one tip from last night's class

Well, I will start by saying that I really need to keep thinking down when I dance. Kind of a general rule. Think down, stay down, dance down INTO THE GROUND! I know I've said it before, but it's kind of really important.

Just a minor adjustment I need to make in my hips in terms of posture. Keeping my back bent at an angle similar to what I do now (to keep my centre over my knees), I need to pull my butt in just a little bit. The teacher last night told me that it was looking good and offered me that advice, saying that it would help connect my hips to my legs, thereby making my swivels even more amazing - I tried it once, paying lots of attention and it went from "oh, wow" to "WOAH!" She said it took her a long, long time to work on it herself, so here's to a long, hard, laborious road ahead.

The other day, I got a pair of $5 runners with cute flowers and things on them that I would be able to use as dance shoes. Need some duct tape before I can dance in them, though. Super excited about my new lindy shoes (NB: I find all shoes exciting, but dance shoes most exciting of all, closely followed by 4+ inch heels)!! =)

And yet another video. Watch the tandem sequence at around 1'58". I love the whole sequence, but the part that interests me the most is their transition back from tandem into lindy - it really looks quite simple (looks similar to a tuck turn), but the effect is great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4C_BOY-heU

Troupe-adore

So it seems I have the swing out down pat*. Yay! Just a tip to be more connected was to give the connection not with my fingers but with my palm (from the top of my palm to the middle; so when you bend your fingers at a 90-degree angle, it's where the palm bends). And one last tip: RELAX!!! And don't ever get so caught up in the technique and moves that you forget to have fun and enjoy the dance! =D

Apparently I also have good posture, so hooray for that! I heard myself being used as an example for one of the follows beside me and she told me later on that it's true that I do have a really nice dance posture. So thanks, once again, Trish!

But onto the new moves we learned! A little choreography (to Jailhouse Rock, Blues Brothers style).

Commence swing out
fall of the log variation counts 7-2
3&4 triple step to close/circle
8-beat tuck turn (leave your left hand visible for the lead!)
over the head, twist out, spin towards the front
step and to the left for 8 counts
step and to the right for 4 counts
slide trombone
step and to the left for 8 counts
kick your backside (right, left)
5,6,7,8 (head left, right, left, right)


Just a personal note on the fall off the log variation:

• on count 7: kick ball change step (these two counts are in quaver time)
• kick ball change triple step 5 6 7 8 (so it's basically a swing out with a kick ball change variation over the 1, 2.)

And some choreography that we learned from the first troupe meeting, but I didn't write it down, although now, apparently it's important, because it has a lot of the basics of the moves that we'll need to know (hence the writing of it now). This one is to Carl Perkins' version of Blue Suede Shoes.

"two for the show

bam bam" right, left pose

"now" left

"go" (count 5) right foot forward pivot around

"cat"

"go"
"but" left step on the spot

1 pump kick right

4 pump kick left

5-8 kick ball change scoot step

1-7 tap left foot

8 bring feet together, bring it up!

1-8 stepping with shoulders

1-7 tap with heel (left first)

8 crank to the right

spin to the left (remember to stay balanced and more importantly stay low)

at 4 left heel

ball change *2

ball change with shimmy

1, 4 Elvis knees

1, 3, 5, 7 Elvis knees

lead jive step

lead jive step with slide

step on the spot

running man (very small running man!) on the spot

And finally, a video. I love what the very first couple do when they come out for the first time, also love Thomas Blacharz & Alice Mei's first spotlight, love the second spotlight from Todd Yannacone and partner (it's probably written there somewhere) and there is SO MUCH GOLD in the rest of the video... But the thing that made me cry out with awe was probably around 7"48'-7"55' (when he starts to spin her and he bumps her around. AMAZING!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTVJ9fOmro

*nobody ever has the swing out perfectly down pat. This is a relative term, used in its loosest form, in this case, meaning close enough for jazz.

A brief history of swivelicious

I'm up late and can't sleep! Thought I'd take it out on my keyboard and the internet and write some stuff... And I thought, heck, I may as well let all you good folks out there know my story! ...no, not my whole life story, just my dance story.

The A Frame

I guess it started in 2008 when I decided I wanted to take dance classes. I'd always wanted to learn foxtrot and quickstep... Little did I know back then that they took their roots from the great family of swing! (I do still want to learn the foxtrot and quickstep one day...)

So I think it was November or December 2008 when I started taking ballroom classes. It was a rotational class, promising a mix of styles - they started with salsa (one of the styles I was hoping to avoid, truth be told, because I knew too many people who did it and I'm an indie kid. That stuff is just too mainstream for me.). It was nothing too serious, mostly old people in the class, and learning mini-routines of maybe 6-10 moves over a period of about 4 weeks. After my third lesson, the instructor ended the class with a message that sounded like "that's the last class for the year, we'll resume again on January 16". Which would have been fine, had I not been flying out to Canada for exchange on January 6... So that was the end of that, much to what I think to be my then boyfriend's unspoken relief.

Then, February of 2009, a friend of mine who was living in the university dormitory with me invited me to a swing night that had been organised by David, who was a friend of hers. He would go on to teach me my first air steps and lindy basic in November/December of that year, and not long thereafter, become my boyfriend (and one of my favourite dance partners - and not just because of the romantic interest). I decided this swing dancing thing was a lot of fun, but did not really want to commit while I was overseas. I put it on the backburner and decided I would check out swing dancing upon my return to Australia.

Meanwhile, I took a short salsa course (I think it was 6 or 8 weeks) that one of my friends had invited me to - despite my standing objections and prejudice - because it was something to do and it was free of charge.

Throughout 2009, I attended a few more of these swing initiation nights, I think I attended about 4 in total. One of these nights, David taught me my first airstep: the pop jump (though I later learned the variation of pulling my knees up like a sitting frog, which creates the illusion of being higher!). That same night, he also taught me the honeymoon (first part of this video) and the chair (a.k.a. shin splints, as shown in this handy tute).

March 2010 saw me make the commitment to swing, signing up for my first swing class with Swing Patrol, Sydney. My first teacher was the fantastic Jake Meadley, who unfortunately, after just four months, had to make the move to Perth, where he knew the swing community really needed him. Man, he was fun, and we were all sad to see him go. So in July, I started taking classes from the no less fantastic Derek and Trish Carruthers. Amazing and inspiring dancers and awesome teachers... In the time I took lessons from them, I learned the basics of pretty much every style of swing dance: six beat (or what these Canadians like to call East Coast), six beat and eight beat lindy, charleston (20s, breakaway, hand to hand, side-by-side, tandem), and the very basics of balboa, shag and west coast. They also taught me a couple of swing line dances, such as the jitterbug stroll and the shim sham (a few months later, around March 2011, I did a workshop to learn the Al & Leon shim sham, which I posted in a previous post, but haven't quite got the hang of, yet). My lindy hop (towards which I am frighteningly biased) improved a LOT, in terms of technique, repertoire, variations and musicality. I also began to attend social dances, starting at about once every two weeks and learned my first routine for the end of year ball. Early 2011 saw Trish take leave from teaching swing in order to have her and Derek's baby (who is an absolute cutie, just by the way) and the marvellously talented Brock Mifsud took over for her. LOVE the teaching team at SP Sydney!

In November 2010, I attended the Sydney Swing Festival (my first swing weekend!) and entered my very first competition with Conan French. We hit the up and coming division for GOLD!

I taught Conan how to do the chair, and he and I both watched a few youtube videos to figure out how to do the A frame (as pictured at the top of the post). We thought throwing a couple of aerials in would get us the medal, but it turns out our competition had the same thought! However, upon watching back the video I had asked a friend to take I saw that the connection between myself and Conan was much more evident, and while our technique was still a little sloppy, it was cleaner than the competition, so I can say, with as much humility as a winner can muster, that we truly deserved that medal.

My first solid (gold, although not actually made of solid gold or any gold at all...)
achievement as a lindy hopper!

Also, pictured with Conan after being awarded our medals (above left).

January 2011 saw the start of some highly public dancing (what can I say? I love the attention), mostly as an ice breaker (i.e. a dancer who is to dance on a dancefloor so as to encourage non-dancers to be dancers, even if just for the event!). One of the biggest highlights has to be the Trocadero recreation as part of Sydney Swing Festival 2011.

The Trocadero Team!

February 2011 saw the start of fortnightly blues classes and socials, which helped me to appreciate this somewhat... intimidating, for want of a better word... style of dance. At this point, I was dancing twice, sometimes three times a week and loving it.

Then, making the decision to move back to Canada for a working holiday (and yes, I'll admit, to spend time with the man who had become my boyfriend at the end of 2009 and with whom I was pursuing a long-distance relationship... but that's another story... although I would like to quote Jake Meadly, here, who, at one point, quite ironically said, "in swing dancing, we're normally apart more than we are together", which was the case for David and myself at the time that it was said...), I had to give up my regular swing regime in May.

Meeting up with some swingin' Sydney expats in Vancouver, on my way to Québec City.

Without many socials to attend over the Canadian summer, and no classes, I actually began to experience physical withdrawal symptoms, no jokes. I did get to a few socials, though, and experienced a couple of things which I had not yet experienced before:

(a) going to a social, getting a dance, then getting asked to dance by leads who said they had seen my style on the floor and wanted to take me for a spin (more or less quite literally) and

(b) getting to dance with Benjamin Ricard (yes, the world champion swing dancer of Ben and Gen fame) at a social, who said that it, and I quote, "felt really good". Yeah, that is a hint of smugness you detect there. ;)

Anyway, classes have recently started back up (this week, in fact!) and I'm really excited to be taking a swing class with my boyfriend for the very first time, and even more excited to be a part of my first troupe! Although I have been told that I would probably have had the moves to make it into the top troupe, the truth is, I didn't really want to because I didn't want to devote my whole life to swing (well, not just yet, anyway) and seeing as it's my first time in a troupe, I figured I'd want to ease myself into it and test the waters with the less demanding of the two. Anyway, I know I'll be learning at least two routines with the troupe: one for Christmas and one for the 2012 Canadian Swing Championships. All very exciting!

So there you have it, my lindy hopstory (as opposed to history). =)

And once again, a video. This is the performance ball routine that I would have done just last week, had I stayed in Sydney. Go level 3 Newtown! The audio and video is a little bit off, so I've included the rehearsal tape so you can see the musicality that's written into the choreography as well. The magic is in how it works in the group, though, so that's just below. ;)

The teachers doing the routine for the video diary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIR0d20pIX8

The routine on the night (unfortunately not on youtube, but this should work, nonetheless)!!
https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/cfs-ak-snc4/347702/17/10150312482371843_30181.mp4?oh=b724130f57367a174e0dea1a9066af96&oe=4E800100&__gda__=1317011712_363867c8bcbe312b4c5f328b21baac48

You'll be grounded for life, young lady!

Gotta work on staying grounded and dancing into the floor, particularly on triple steps.

Must remember that the middle step is less of a hop and more of a step. Also the transfer of weight into the first step of a triple step is crucial to get that grounded feeling. And unless you are flea hopping or doing aerials or any other exceptional move (and I mean that in the most literal sense of the word), ALWAYS have one foot in contact with the ground and stay GROUNDED!

I need mirrors - and not just for vanity. ;)

On another note, we played with sugar pushes at last night's class. Here's a tip for the leads: if you're travelling side to side, you need to keep the tension constant! I found I was pushing one of the leads (I was trying to do it with my eyes shut so I could do it by feel more than by visual cues) until we were halfway up the room because he wasn't holding the tension constant!

A good follow will go where she is sent until she is told otherwise. It's like Newton's first law: an object [i.e. your follow] at rest or in constant motion will remain at rest or in constant motion unless acted upon by an outside force [i.e. her (yes, you're right, or his) lead].

And finally, another video! My old swing teacher shared this on Facebook. Some very cool moves and very neat technique going on here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_4B2w90cNA

The importance of stretching

I am sure I didn't sleep wrong last night. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ouchie, ouchie, ouch. How the heck does one stretch their back? Right up there between the shoulderblades. Anyone? Please? D=

Mind you, it's a terrible habit of mine that I don't stretch enough... And when I do stretch, I usually do well before the act, but afterwards, forget it. Then the next day, I regret it. Sore mornings are kinda my thing. =/

Also, another video! I found this one because the folks at Swing Patrol Newtown are going to be learning the Singapore Stroll and I am super bummed that I won't be able to go and learn it! But this is Jumptown (Canberra's kids!) performing the Singapore Stroll at last year's Christmas party. =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unhBF_8HCFs

Also, while we're talking about routines and before I forget the al and leon shim sham which I learned last year, I'm putting it up. Although in the version I learned, I think we put in some jump charlestons and one last break step before suzie-q-ing it out of there. Good thing I still have my notes! Gotta find some kids in Quebec who know this version so we can confuse the heck out of the other dancers when they have to freeze. I miss you Sydney Swing Patrol cats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgEv6yJsvqk

She's a trouper!!

As you may or may not know, I recently joined my first troupe and tonight we had our first class. Super exciting stuff!

One and a half hours of intense dance, man. IN-TENSE - like camping; camping is in tents (say it all out loud). ;) Seriously though, we spent probably 40 minutes (perhaps more) just doing plain ol' swing outs: no variations. Which is incredibly difficult for swivel addicts (e.g. yours truly -- they almost come naturally)! But when I did leave them out, I saw that hiding behind those wonder and awe swivels that everyone loves so much, was a LOT of technical stuff that needed work.

I found as I progressed through the night, I relied less and less on counterbalance to keep my balance at counts 3, and, and 4 of a basic swing out. I was reminded of dancing into the ground and not always on my toes. Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, as they say. ;) And I did notice some improvement in the boys, too. We are going to be a nice, tight-knit bunch. These kids may become some of my best friends here. =) But I digress.

So, as soon as I got home, I decided I would write down everything I thought I needed to remember and keep the notes. I then thought, what better way to keep all my notes together than the internet? Thus, this blog was born. =)

I also will challenge myself to try to find at least one inspiring swing video for every post I make, which will help me do the troupe homework (which is to find an inspiring swing video and share it) and at the very least, will give me a bunch of videos to turn to if ever I need inspiration. =)

So here then, are my notes from class #1:

SWING (the F) OUTS: important things to remember

Please note that this is a personal list and these are only some of the numerous things people need to remember when swinging out!

1. Keep your frame! Shoulders down and back, core ready.

2. Stay grounded (cause) and hold your own weight (both cause and effect) and stay balanced (effect).
***How to stay grounded: Keep your centre over your knees. Dance INTO the ground.

3. Counts 2 and 3, should be equal travelling steps in a straight line. Make sure your legs are not crossed at & 4 (swing that left leg around a touch earlier and focus on trying to stay grounded!).

4. Stop travelling at 6. (shout out to my old swing teacher Trish, right here. She told us follows that on multiple occasions. Sorry for not listening - or listening, but not incorporating it into my dance - Trish, but thank you for being right and for being an amazing teacher!)

5. ALWAYS keep enough tension in your arms/frame (see first point, particularly re: shoulders) and make sure the distance between you and your partner is not too large (see previous point) and you will have sufficient stretch for count 1.

What bugs me is that I know a lot if not all of this already, I just forget it when I dance! Grrr. >.<

Anyhow... I shall end with the video, as promised. In fact, there are a few for this post, because it's no secret that I watch lindy vids and, as this is my first post, I'd like to share a few things I have found inspiring in the days and months (should I say years? I guess it's been about a year and a half that I've been committed to swing...) before this blog. ;)

This is one that I have admired for ages, I love these kids from Montpellier - fell in love with them when I met them in Canberra for the Jumptown Jam 2011 - Thomas Blacharz and Alice Mei. I would like to draw your attention to the half time/time play they do that starts at 2'47".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evs1yx7EHUE

I also love their ILHC routine for 2011 - the part where they do variations on a shim sham in particular (it starts at 1'38"). It's... what was that word they kept using? AWESOME! =) Love the crossovers, tacky annies (you can really see the connection!!) and the half breaks! And their cheek at 2'47"! And that routine does nothing but show the personalities that I met at the Jumptown Jam. Watch it and see why I fell in love. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYno_v0KkUs

The third video isn't lindy hop, granted, but it *is* a relative of lindy under the big umbrella of swing, and I do like the partner switching they do - I think it could be appropriated. There's also a cool move at about 1'32" which I think we might be able to turn into a high-five or something a little less sensual (oh, you WCS kids). Partner switching happens shortly thereafer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNE3YSr_o2A

This next one is a blink and you'll miss it move that I just found tonight (seriously, it is cool, but it is over in 4 seconds).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Wnzr8J_aI

The fifth and final video tonight is one that I received in an email from my own mother - bless her! I don't agree with their choice of music (too country for my liking), but their routine looks like a lot of fun to dance and perform. And it's pretty unique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evs1yx7EHUE