Reflections on Dance

So in light of our Follow workshops a month ago and the general interest I've seen in Followers wanting to know how to be more expressive in lindy and blues, I want to give some general tips on how you can have your voice and body be heard by your leader in dance. I will mention that this technique is mostly for slowing down the leader to create space, but there are often moments of space anyway during a dance and follows do not always have to stop their leader to create variations. Accents with a follow's free arm, hips, or legs can be utilized throughout the dance for flair and some of those techniques were explained in our Follower recap. 

• Want to be self-expressive in dance. This is pretty self-explanatory, but if you're kind of shy in dancing and don't want attention directed at you or if you enjoy the comfort of your leader telling you everything to do, it will be unlikely that you'll improvise or add your own voice to the partnership. This also may happen if a Lead is very musical and gives a follow tons of space to dance, but the follow gets intimidated in some way and freezes like a deer in headlights. So make a conscious decision to put yourself out there, try things, and if they don't work you try it or something else again. Follower improvisation takes a lot of time to feel natural so don't get discouraged by the awkwardness during the first few attempts.

 

• Have a lead who's willing to listen to the Follow. Dance has evolved over the years. It used to be taught that leaders controlled all the movements and the follower accepted his directions (sometimes passively). Nowadays, lindy and blues have become much more like a partnership and two-way communication. I've heard it described as if the dance is a coloring book. The leader's job is to draw the black lines on a page and the follower's job is to color in the picture. This means that the leader creates a general structure of moves and then allows or even encourages the follower to make those moves awesome. You might even say that the leader is there to make the follower look good, because if the follower looks good then the partnership and dance looks great. If you get to dance with a leader like this, it is a huge opportunity to be self-expressive and you should take it. If your leader does not join in this school of thought, usually by being quite tense or doing continuous moves that leave little space for the follower to play, there's a few things a follower can do, which I'll explain below. If you try several of these and the leader just isn't hearing you, unfortunately followers are out of luck and should try their best to have fun anyway.

 

• Signal to the leader that you want space to play. Because the leader is in the primary control role in dance, followers need to assert themselves as having the ability and desire to be self-expressive. Some leads already give us this space, and that's great, but most of the time if you hear something in the music that moves you and makes you want to do something that the leader isn't suggesting to you, you have to let them know. Signals can occur in a variety of forms and this is the best thing to ask an instructor to demonstrate for you in person. Your main goal in a signal is to slow down what the leader is doing, do your improvisational thing, and then return the control back to the leader and return to following. Stretching slightly further from your lead in a swingout, delaying your core or hips from shifting weight in blues, or in general creating a bit more stretch than you usualy give are the best kind of signals. We should do this not by clamping down, gripping, or tightening our muscles because we don't like this when our leads do it to us, right? When a leader is about to initiate a move that's different from a basic they have signals. Leading a slightly bigger rock step, putting their hand up to create compression for a tuck-turn, etc. are all signals to the follower that something is different and we should pay attention to see what's going to happen next. The difference for followers is that we should never be leading a move. We should suggest, ask, and utilize space, but if you begin stepping before your lead or turning yourself it's considered hijacking and your leader will not be very happy. So now for the hard part; figure out how you can create a signal that gets your leaders attention, but doesn't completely freeze them up. Give a little extra stretch or tone in your arm and see if the leader responds. If they just pull you forward like they were planning on doing, it's likely they didn't hear you and you should either give more of a signal or use one of the alternative strategies below.

 

• Do your thing within the space! So now you've gotten the leader's attention and he's delaying the move he was planning to do to see what you've got. This is the fun part where you get to shine and have your moment, but... what should you do? Ah! Sometimes follows have no clue what they're supposed to do in this slightly more vulnerable position. You may be "on your own" without your leader guiding you and if you've never done improvisational moves or musicality before it can be a scary moment. First of all, thinking about what you want to do in advance is a huge help. If you learned a kick-ball-change or a mess around or something, you could say to yourself that the next time a break in the song happens you're going to signal the lead and do that move. Perfectly legitimate practice. But an even more advanced way to handle follower expression is to let the music move you. Let's say you hear a slow down or a freeze coming in the song, you know something cool's going to happen in the music, but you're not sure what it'll sound like. Signal the lead, listen to the notes and move your body in any way that looks to you what the sound sounds like. Complicated, huh? This will take practice and you should expect to feel funny the first few times, but you should place priority on having fun in that moment instead of looking stiff or getting everything perfectly right. Sometimes when I ask for space and the song riff is just crazy, I just jump up and down and shake all over! It's really fun, kind of looks like what the instrument was doing, and if I do it knowing I'm being super silly then I don't feel so self-conscious about my dancing. It also usually gets a smile from my leader and myself! So, think about something you might want to do to improvise, let the music move you if you're not sure, and you're always welcome to get ideas from watching other followers or Youtube videos. There are certain things in lindy and blues that are common to do including jazz steps or body isolations and forming a vocabulary of improvisational moves will give you even more options when you hit that big moment.

 

• After the expressive moment, return to following. So in a blink of an eye you did your cool thing and colored in the dancing picture. But, because you gave a signal to your leader to initiate the space to play, you should still be giving that signal throughout your space to maintain it. So if you stretched away and did a little shake, at the end you're still stretched away from your lead more than you normally would be. The key here then is to release the signal, return to your basic following level whether it be through tone or body positioning and allow your leader to keep going with his role. In a conversational way, it's like the leader typically says "Go here please" and the follower responds "Ok, I will." In the follower expression route the follower would say "Oh, wait a sec, I would like to do something, please" and the leader responds "Ok sure, give it a try" (aka giving space) Then the moment happens and the follwer says "Thank you very much, back to you" and the leader says "Ok, thanks." It sounds kind of silly, but it feels awkward when a follower does their little bit, returns the control back to a leader and then the leader stands there like a deer in the headlights! This may take practice for leaders who are new or who aren't as familiar with followers asking for space, but as a follower you should be very clear when you're done and ready to listen to the leader again.

 

• Tip for leaders: A) It's wonderful when you give us space when we don't ask for it. B) It's wonderful when you give us space when we DO ask for it. C) It's even more wonderful when you listen to us during the song and respond back. Remember that two-way conversation bit? Since leads are typically busy initiating moves and navigating the dance floor and trying to hear the music and so much more (whew!) they often could use a break. Allowing follower expression keeps you dancing while also getting feedback from your partner about what they're hearing in the song. Everybody hears music differently so two minds are better than one in this situation. While a leader might be listening to the drums or bass, the follower might really be digging that clarinet or guitar solo. If you give the space for your following to demonstrate what they're hearing in the song, it may inspire you to listen to that part as well and play off it. One of the best parts of follower expression is when a follower does an improvisational or musical move and then the leader starts copying it. Oh no, you mean the leader following the follow?! Never! But seriously, we can both listen to the other person and the best part of dancing is creating something new together each and every song. Jon & Carsie described this as a poker game with the leader setting a basic pattern and the follower following it. But then, the follow can say "Alright, I see that and I raise you" taking the simple movement and changing or adding one little (key, one and little!) thing to the movement. The leader can then either hold their ground and keep doing their basic movement or can join into the follower's variation. Then the dance can be like a continuous trading off where each partner matches what their partner is doing and then morphs it in a different direction.

 

• Troubleshooting tips. So in an ideal world this would have worked perfectly. The follower asked for space, got it, did something awesome, and returned to following. But what happens if there's a hiccup along any part of the path? First, if the follower doesn't ask for the space clearly or assertively enough, the leader won't know she wants or is capable of playing around. They may also feel that you want the leader to guide you through every little moment to so you're not in a vulnerable position. So, find out how you can give a clear signal and ask instructors if your signals aren't working the way you'd like. What happens if you ask for space with a clear signal that you know works on other leaders, but the one you're dancing with now is ignoring it? There is one trick for slightly stubborn or inattentive leaders, but if they simply don't know that they can/should give a follower space or that it's even a possibility in the dance, you may be out of luck. Very generally, a follower has to enter the leader's world in order to bring them into the follower's world where expression is possible. What does that mean? For example, if a leader is very tense, say a 10/10, your signal would have to be bone-crushingly obvious to break through that barrier of muscle tone. I highly suggest not doing that as it may hurt you or your partner. Instead, a follower can match their leader as much as possible and meet them at this incredibly tense state. This is a good idea anyway to avoid getting hurt. Then, when you've gotten into their world of tenseness, you can take a deep breath and release most of the tension out of your frame and return to a level where you call home. If your leader is even remotely paying attention, they should feel this drop. Then they can choose to relax with you and your opportunity for expression opens up. Awesome. As far as troubleshooting the improvisational moment, watching other followers or videos and trying things our for yourself are the best tips I can offer. Give yourself time and practice to feel comfortable with a new improvisation before writing it off and always have fun.

That's about all I have for now. Feel free to ask questions or share your own stories about follower expression. A final take-home message is to enjoy everything you do in dance whether it's straight-forward following or having your own voice and doing silly things. If you beat yourself up because your kick-ball-change was awkward, it may give you the impetus to get better at it, but it also may take the fun out of dancing and we want you to keep going with it. Have fun, play with space, and be expressive! Best of luck. <3

So, I love private dance lessons. I love taking them, I love providing them and I love the results that come after them. But it seems like there's this road bump that prevents a lot of people from seeking out a private lesson. I know, because I did the same thing before I took my first private lesson and to this day I don't take advantage of them as much as I could. So I wanted to write about why I love private lessons in hopes that it helps some people think about taking them or actually go ahead and pursue it in their dancing.

What bumps exist?

The main bumps that exist that prevent people from thinking or wanting to take private lessons are cost, time, instructor access, and the last thing I'll call a dancing self-esteem (but I'm not pleased with this term). I don't want to dwell on these issues and instead focus on the positives, but briefly private lessons do cost more than group lessons, it involves committing your time to the lesson, finding an instructor in your area or when you're traveling that is available to give you a private lesson and you need to be open and accepting to the idea of a private lesson, because it may be intimidating. Dancers may feel that private lessons will nit-pick their technique or put them in an uncomfortable situation or they may feel that they can't benefit from a private lesson for one reason or another. I'm here to tell you that everyone can learn something new or improve upon something in their dancing and private lessons are a great way to get individual attention tailored to your needs.

Why do people take private lessons?

Some people take private lessons when they're first starting to dance or have never danced before. This gives them some knowledge and ability to get comfortable with the dance before they go out into a social situation where "everybody" may be watching. It's also possible that people don't learn well in group settings. Maybe the class goes too fast for them or they're a slow learner, so if they take a private lesson it can go at their pace and they can grasp more of the material before the instructor moves on to something else.

One of my favorite reasons to take a private lesson is for intermediate or advanced dancers to work on technique. Things get taught in class and everybody learns to move differently, so after going social dancing a few times and getting comfortable with what the lessons go over every week, private lessons can then help you focus on specific concepts to make your dancing better overall. Things like stance, posture, connection, and pulsing take a lot of time to sink in and most people need to spend some time focusing on these to make them muscle memory. This means you can then do them everytime with every partner and frees your mind to think about something else, like the music, or having fun!

When I took my first private lesson, I thought I could dance pretty well already. I could go out and do cool moves and even had some of my own cute improvisations, but I had no idea what I might be missing. I went in thinking I'd ask if they could teach me one or two moves that I had seen and really liked, but would listen to their opinion if there was something else they saw as more of a priority. It was really wonderful and eye-opening to find out that several of my techniques could be strengthened and most of them were minor adjustments. Not slouching my shoulders, keeping my hips back, tightening and engaging my core, and having just the right balance of tension and flexibility in my arms. When these things weren't present in my everyday dancing I looked ok, but when I started to implement them in the lesson the look dramatically changed. I started to feel like a Lindy Hopper (or blues dancer)!

I know that several things in dance are open to personal style, so I'm not saying that one way of dancing is "right," but Lindy Hop and Blues were created with particular aesthetics and origins and if we mimick that style back to its original form, things start to make more sense and feel good. 

Everytime I have taken a private lesson, I have been given 2-3 suggestions (because I can choose to implement them in my social dancing or not) for improving my technique that are so subtle and minute that I didn't know if I could make them happen naturally. I had developed habits in the way I moved and it was like moving an ocean to get them to change. But, I focused my mental energy on one concept at a time, sometimes for months on end, and gradually I started doing it without thinking about it anymore. And I noticed significant improvements in my dancing and felt more confident because I knew I was doing things in a more stable, safe, and aesthetically pleasing way.

Tips for Taking Private Lessons

If you're thinking about taking a private lesson or on the fence about it for some reason, consider my story and even talk to the instructor to find out why they like giving private lessons and what they can offer you. If you're pretty sure you want to take a private lesson at some point or even soon, here are some suggestions (take them as you will):

• Find an instructor that inspires you and that you would like to resemble in your dancing. If they don't exist in your city, watch Youtube videos and see if you can go to an event where those people are teaching. Also, Youtube videos are great for inspiration, but are hardly a replacement for learning in an interactive environment with a trained instructor.
• Make a time and financial commitment to improve your dancing. Not everything comes cheap, but if it's worth it to you to be a great dancer, invest in yourself. If money's an issue, see about alternatives (like I always mention I'm happy to work with dancers if they have money issues). Also, making time in our busy lives may be difficult, but don't make the assumption that you'll only want a handfull or even just one private lesson in your life. After you take one, you'll wish you had done it earlier because it may help you avoid the hassle of figuring out something on your own or learning something the wrong way through friends.
• Act earlier rather than later. If you can get solid technique accomplished and out of the way first and then go on to learn complicated, fancy moves, you'll be in much better shape than if you jump the gun. Also, if you have strong technique, the harder moves will come easier to you than if you're forcing them to happen too quickly.
• Be flexible and trust your instructors to provide you with a good lesson. If you come in with an agenda that you want to accomplish, it doesn't give them the chance to evaluate and provide honest feedback. You're seeking them out for a reason and if they regularly teach then they've probably got a lot of tricks up their sleeve that they could share with you - if you let them.
• Leave the lesson with some goals for yourself. If you learned moves, make sure to practice them on the social floor or at home. If you left with technique changes, make a conscious effort to implement them for at least a full song or even a whole night. 
• Be patient with yourself. Rhythm and dancing can be hard at first. The longer you've been dancing the more likely it is that some bad habits have slipped in because it happens to all of us. The longer a habit has been happening, it will take equally as long or longer to reverse. That's why private lessons are best earlier rather than later in your dancing life to prevent things from slipping off-track.
• Come back for check-ups. If you think something feels weird or just want to double-check that your technique is still going well, ask an instructor you trust or have worked with for their opinion. I liked taking a private lesson 1-year after my initial one just to see if I was able to implement all the things they told me about previously. It feels good to hear that everything you're doing is technically sound and that the next steps from then on are minor, optional stuff.
• And finally, have fun!

I know, I take dancing too seriously and don't expect everyone to agree with everything I've said. But early on I decided I wanted to be a good dancer, maybe even a great dancer and who's to stop me from doing that? - Only me if I get in my own way. At the end of the day, dancing is fun and friendly and the quality of your dancing should come secondary to that. But if you can do both; have fun AND be a great dancer?.... Why not. :-)

So I have had several conversations with leads over the years and thought it was time to debunk some of the myths that especially newer leads have about their dancing. This is primarily from my follower's perspective, but I also have tried leading before and felt these exact same things when I first started doing it. It takes awhile, but eventually I was able to see that my leading wasn't totally awful and as long as I was having fun and communicating clearly with my follow, it would be a great dance. Please take this as my encouragement to try new things and not let your thoughts get in the way of asking any follow to dance.

Myth 1: I don't know enough moves for the follow to enjoy the dance. *Buzzer* As a follow, I prefer leads who may only know a few moves, but leads them clearly with almost every follow almost every time instead of knowing a million moves, but executing them poorly. Quality is better than quantity in this regard because even if you see other leads doing really awesome things and you feel embarrassed that you can't do that, it is possible that the really awesome moves are jerky, hurty, or even awkward to the follow. Getting a good solid technique down with your dancing means much more than knowing a bunch of moves. Once you have the technique and it becomes muscle memory, those "better" moves will be a ton easier for you.

Myth 2: The follower is going to be bored with my dancing. *Buzzer* This relates to Myth 1. The thing most leads don't think about is that we as followers do not know what you're going to do next. Whether that's a simple move or a basic step, we're not keeping a mental record of every move you do in the order you do it. Even if you always do a tuck-turn followed by a change of place turn (like I do all the time!), if you're actually leading us to do it then we have something to follow and work with. Our main schtick as followers is to not anticipate what will come next, but instead we're focusing on having fun and listening to your directions throughout the song. If that means you're clearly leading us to do a step-step-rockstep then we have something to work with. If you let those arms go limp and assume that because you're doing the basic step we'll just see you and do it too, then we struggle. Even though you've been thinking about doing a move for 30 seconds straight, when that move finally comes we're excited about it whereas you're then worried about what to do next.

Myth 3: If I just keep my follower moving she'll have a good time. *Buzzer* First, this can result in a lot of pushing and pulling with your follower. When I teach and prefer to say "lead", "guide", or "send her this way". If a lead is doing a lot of arm leading, I feel like I'm being ricocheted around in a pinball machine. It's always really tiring for the follow to be turning almost constantly during a dance. We want our breaks too, so constant movement isn't always our friend. Second, it can be awkward if the girl is moving around soooo much, but the lead is staying in the same place directing her every move and not doing even the basic step himself. That's almost like just one of us is dancing (guess who?) and the other is our puppet master. Take time to enjoy and finish each move before considering going into another. Work together and don't be afraid to take a few moves for yourself, leads!

Myth 4: I only do the same things every song. *Buzzer* Now, if you only know 3 moves, I can see how it would feel this way. I only knew a few things to do when I first started leading. The way the dance can feel different to you (because remember it's always different for the followers), is to really listen to the music. If one song is fast and upbeat and another is slow and smooth, you can do your same few moves with different attitudes. I love to take some blues songs when they get all "ballroomy-sounding" and do my own mock-waltzing. I let my arms go up into the air and glide along like we're in a vintage movie. Then when the song changs to a down-and-dirty rhythm, I get my body down as well and put that feel into it. As this relates to lindy, you can always play around with how much pulsing you're doing versus gliding, how circular your moves are versus square, and how tall you're standing versus sinking low. You can also make moves very small if the song is quiet, and very big when the song has those creschendo moments. Don't be afraid to freeze if the music stops or to speed up with the tempo. Again, you don't need to be dancing constantly and really hitting those breaks with the music will make us follows really eagar about when we'll jump back into dancing again. Musicality will make even your most boring moves interesting.

Myth 5: I'm not good enough to ask an instructor to dance. *Buzzer* ANY dancer should feel that they can ask any other person for a dance regardless of expertise, skill, or prominence. I have some of my best dances with people out for the first time and I never shy away from asking an instructor to dance (ok, once). I know I'm primarily a follow so when I ask someone to dance I'm almost at their mercy as far as what they're willing to offer me, but I don't think leads should avoid this opportunity just because their thoughts tell them "they're not good enough." If you follow these simple suggestions, your dancing will be great and any instructor would be happy to dance with you and enjoy it. The other reason to take these opportunities is because I find I am a better dancer when I challenge myself. I may be nervous about all the moves the lead might do that I'm not familiar with, but then it gives me something I might want to go and learn. We don't know what we don't know!

When I first started leading, I probably selfishly danced with primarily the better follows for a few reasons. One, I was friends with them already. Two, I knew they'd give me a break. And three, I knew that if I messed something up I could try it again with them or that they'd dance through it in a way that made my mistake look planned. When I danced with the newer follows I struggled to get them to listen to my signals and to just go with it. My leading was very light because I'm a lighter follow and I've had to focus on giving clearer messages to some dancers. The newer follows would look at me constantly to tell them what to dance and often wouldn't just take a move and fool around with it. This put a lot of pressure on me to do something all the time and I kept racking my brain for what moves I knew. Dancing with the better follows is easier for all leads and if you can get past the shyness and pressure, you may even become a better lead quicker than only dancing with newer follows.

Myth 6: The only legitimate moves are ones that people teach to dancers. *Buzzer* How do you think the moves were created in the first place? People playing around and seeing what happens. This is the genius behind Max & Annie's dancing especialy if you go back over the years and see all the things they have come up with. They played with the music, tried things out, and have made some really awesome things with it. I have a great friend from Pittsburgh who would always try stuff out on me. Sometimes this ended badly with me getting a little hurt or almost falling over, but we were comfortable enough with each other to accept that risk. And sometimes it made some really great, musical moves.

The other aspect of this stiff, structured mentality is that it's not ok to just be goofy. I love being goofy whether I'm following or leading. Mind you, it took me awhile to feel comfortable with my own dancing before I was willing to put myself out there and be silly, but it's not like we're dancing in middle school and someone's gona bully me for what I did. If it works, I get a laugh, and if it doesn't I try to do it different the next time. My favorite example of this was when I was blues dancing and a little tinkle sound happened in the song. I don't know how I first started doing this, but on the tinkle I would do a quick shimmy with my shoulders. It was so small that I didn't even notice I was doing it and definitely didn't think my lead would feel it, but every time and even today they look at me with a big smile and laugh. I also couldn't replicate this if I tried for several months later. It had to happen in the song and just naturally happen in my body because I was listening to the music. Now, I have the mental and muscle power to do it whenever I want, but I was surprised at how such a small move could be so much fun.

If you're listening to the music and attempting to make your body a representation of it, then awesome stuff, silly stuff, and fun stuff can happen. I remember leading and the band started playing a really loud riff on the guitar. I didn't know what else to do because it was just *Wah-Wah* over and over again. So I just held my follow with the one hand and started jumping up and down and shaking all over. She followed me despite the fact that I wasn't even giving her a signal to do anything, but when my body moved it traveled down my lead arm into hers and had the potential to move her body. I didn't even have to think about what I was doing or how I would need to lead her to do it, just by having fun and taking a risk we had a great moment.

I think that's all I got for now. Leading is a lot harder at first than following, but mostly because of the leaders' mentality. If you go into dancing wanting to have fun, to try new things, and to be goofy, the rest will naturally follow. Go out, be awesome and remember, you're only as good of a dancer as you think you are.

So I had a great conversation recently that reminded me of the awesomeness of jam circles. This seems especially relevant as our performance group is going to begin choreographing a jam circle and then doing the California routine as the big finish. I thought I would offer an explanation of a jam circle to anyone who hasn't seen it in person and some step-by-step suggestions for getting a jam circle to begin naturally at a social dance.

A Jam circle is when a very fast song is played at a social dance and several couples decide they don't want to dance the whole thing. Have you ever been at a dance and that kind of song comes up and everyone turns their heads away from the floor and begins conversations on the sidelines? Maybe one or two brave couples jump in and do some balboa or fast Lindy and get some applause afterwards for their exhaustion, but most people are not comfortable dancing that fast. They would prefer to dance many songs that are within their tempo range instead of killing themselves on just one.

The important point here is that the dancers as a community can decide to make something fun and connected with those fast, impossible songs instead of all missing out on it. Jam circles form when at least one person begins clapping to the song and making their way out on the floor somewhere. If other people pick up on what's going on, they would walk out and join the one person. It may take awhile, but if a minimum of 3 people are out there clapping then a Jam can begin. Two people can begin dancing with anyone else clapping along the side and then another couple can dance their way into the circle while the first couple exits. People can also go in to solo dance if they want or goof around. The point is to try and have someone in the center for most of the song. So how do we start this and keep it going so it has the maximum potential for awesomenes?

Step 1: Know what a Jam is. If everyone has never seen a jam circle or have some basic knowledge of its existence it's near impossible to start one. If you've read up this far then that's all the knowledge you need, but watching youtube videos can give you a good sense of what they look like.

Step 2: Begin a jam circle by clapping your hands and forming a circle that's at least as big as one couple to do a swingout in. The bigger the better so everyone can see and sneak their way in. If other people seem confused by your clapping, encourage them to come out with you and clap.

Step 3: Get one couple or one person to go into the center to dance. Often people try to show off their best moves or do aerials because they have a protected circle of space, but this isn't required. Even if you just know the basic swingout you can jump into a jam circle. Have fun with it and be patient with yourself if this is the first time you've tried going into a jam or dancing to a song that fast. I remember during my first jam all of my nice controlled swingout technique went out the window. With people watching, a very fast song playing, and the adrenaline rush of being in a jam, your dancing will be affected, but don't be discouraged. Jump into a jam as often as you can because the more you do it the more comfortable you'll feel being in the position and your dancing will get better because of it. A good rule of thumb for going into a jam is to find another person that you have danced with before and feel comfortable with and ask them if they want to go in. Sometimes it feels like everyone's got a designated partner that they go in with, but it doesn't mean you can't ask around. Worst thing that happens is they say no, but it's probably because they don't feel comfortable with the jam in general than with you as a partner.

Step 4: Changing couples. Often the best way to transition from one couple to the next is for a new couple to make their entrance into the center and begin dancing. This signals the former couple to begin to exit and there are often a few seconds where both couples are in the center at once. Dancers can avoid going in with 2 couples at a time if they look around the circle and see who's paired up. When you want to enter the jam, stand next to your partner, usually in closed position, and begin moving to the music. Sometimes when dancers are across each other in a circle they can make eye contact and begin to move out together for their entrance. When a new phrase of the song begins that's the best time to dance on out and begin your thing. It is possible for the first couple to leave when they're done dancing, but that's often the reason for the circle being empty and a solo person having to jump out. So try your best to stay in the circle until another couple starts to come out. Also, sometimes two couples can go into the circle together if they have some planned moves that they can do to mirror each other, but if both couples are doing completely different stuff then it's just confusing as to who everyone should watch.

Step 5: Keep the jam going and energy high. Even when there's no couple in the center, the people in the circle can be enthusiastic, jumping around, and contributing to the energy of the room. Often in jams you'll see the sideline people mimicking or moving in a way that accents what's going on in the circle. Get involved and be a good jam circle participant even if you aren't in the middle.

Step 6: Benefits of a jam. Jam circles have a huge impact on the level of community for a swing scene. Newer dancers coming in notice this (as well as Shim Shams and birthday dances) as something cool and they want to be in on the "secret" of what's going on. Jams contribute to the sense of community between dancers because you're all working together to make the really fast song awesome. Jams can benefit individual dancers by pushing them out of their comfort zone, getting them more familiar with faster tempos and being watched while they dance. For many people this may be inhibiting, but if you have the right attitude, good jam technique can be something you strive to be better at and develop different moves to use specifically for this time. 

Jams shouldn't be a one-time thing in a swing scene. If people like them and have fun doing them, anyone can start a jam with the instructions provided above. DJs can play a fast song and start the clapping themselves because they're easily reconizable as a dance "leader." Dancers on the sidelines can get pumped up when a fast song starts and not be afraid to look silly going out and clapping by yourself. If your city has even just a few people who know what jams are, then we won't leave you hanging in the middle by yourself. Get out and support your fellow dancers and create an awesome jam. The one way a jam cannot happen is by stopping the music, telling people we're going to do a jam, or setting up a circle before the song hasn't even started yet. I've never seen this happen, but it kills the mood and feels more planned than organic.

You can do jams as often as you want, but sometimes a dance can maximize its potential for a jam when only 3 or 4 couples actually dance in the middle. I've been at dances where we did 3 jams in 1 night and it started to be a little too much because all the same people went in. I would recommend 1 jam every 2 weeks or so, but it depends on the kind of music being played and who attends the dance to make it happen. The best way to create the potential for a jam is to play one fast song in a DJ set and see what people do with it. If they're not aware they can start a jam then playing several fast songs won't do the trick.

Let me know about some of your favorite jam experiences. How did you get your scene to begin doing jam circles? I know Walter took a jam training class with a group in Cincinnati and after that the 10-12 people who attended would begin and sustain jams over time. I think we're going to try to offer something like this in the upcoming months, but I wish our group of California performers a ton of fun as we delve into the making of jam circles and hope this can bring the jam circle of knowledge to at least a few dancers in our area.

          I have to give a big thank-you and shout out to our former instructors, Terry & Kandy Thompson-Cannon, and the awesome members of the Snapshots performance group in Cincinnati, OH. I would not be as excited about teaching choreographies today without such great early experiences.

            So I got roped into the Snapshots performance group when I moved to the Midwest probably because Walter was already a member and we were seriously short follows. But, I hope it was also because I was mentally and physically ready for the challenge. Being on the team meant driving an hour each way to practice, pushing ourselves as dancers to learn complicated moves, occasionally suffering a few injuries, and getting past those nervous butterflies to perform and compete against other teams. It had its ups and downs, but I loved every minute of it. So this reflection seems appropriate, as Walter and I will be doing our first practice of the California Routine this week, to explain to dancers how I benefitted from learning choreographies and being on a performance team.

            As I already mentioned, it can be a big commitment to be on a performance team. You feel responsible to be at every practice or at least to have a good excuse if you can’t make it. You have to be relatively comfortable with your basic swing moves because most choreographies are intermediate or advanced concepts. And you have to be in the mind-set to eventually perform what you learned. That’s probably the big thing we don’t always think about. Yea, I learned hard moves and it was challenging, but at the end of the day I think I love performing because it makes me more conscious of certain elements as a social dancer. For examples, often if we do a cool musical move in a social dance, we have a tendency to look down to draw attention to our awesome footwork. Well, in a performance you either have an audience or judges looking at you and those eyes have to be up and engaged with them with a big smile on your face. Facial expressions during both performances and social dances can make a huge difference in setting the tone for how others see you. Sometimes I make goofy faces when I’m playing around, but that didn’t even cross my mind until I started performing. We’re doing so much with our feet, arms, and body that we often forget about the intricate muscles and movements of our face. Case and point, the following faces are some of my favorite that really add character to each move (from CincyLX, thanks to Jenna Menchhofer).

          The most obvious reason to join a performance team is to learn something new. Whether it’s the actual choreography that’s new to you like the popular Shim Sham or California, or learning the new moves, it’s always fun. I tell people that any move during a choreography can be separated from the move before and after and added to your social dance, but it’s hard not to fall into the trap that if you only do that move in X sequence, you may not practice doing it in isolation. That’s why when I teach lindy, I prefer not to teach choreographies because I like to think of each move as a separate tool that can be used in other circumstances.

            Learning a sequence of moves for a choreography requires a lot of mental energy to remember what comes next. What I found most helpful is to play the song that we’ll be performing to in the car and think of what move happens at each part, mentally visualizing the routine. The only pitfall this can entail is that follows fall into a trap where they know what happens next and if the lead decides or accidentally missed a move, the follow may continue doing it by instinct. Once you can get over the hump of remembering the moves, most everything else is set. You can practice the individual moves all you want and will eventually get them, but if you can’t remember a sequence to save your life then routines will be difficult. I hope this doesn’t hold any dancer back from trying.

            The last thing that I’ll bring up about choreographies is how awesome it feels to be on a team. Whether you’re best friends with your teammates or only see them at practice, a bond forms because you all know the same thing and are working on it together. The most obvious way this comes into play is that often all or some couples will have to be synchronized as perfectly as possible to get the best effect. I remember we would videotape our routines before we were going to compete against our rivals and we would go frame-by-frame to see when the girls raised their hands, when the guys took that one step, and we often had several key moments that we wanted to hit together. Some routines like the Big Apple and Shim Sham do not need complete synchronization and actually look cooler when everyone’s doing their own variations, but after learning all the moves, the sequence, and the stylizing, the last few weeks before a performance usually consist of details to get every couple to look like they’re part of a team.

            So I hope many dancers will take a chance and try learning a routine of some kind in their dancing life. It may not be for everyone and there will be things that you struggle with, but I’ve found that if you stick it out and try your hardest you really do learn a lot of great stuff and it made me a better dancer in the end. I hope there will be interest in our region for choreographies for a long time, because I certainly love teaching them and want to share that love with everyone who wants to learn. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a team to go down to ILHC someday? :-)

            For a little extra fun, here’s some of my favorite team performances:

• The Fly Rights - Excellent use of space, transitions, and synchronization
• Ninjammerz - Amazing dancers with a super fun and challenging choreography
• SwingColumbus - Great friends and courteous rivals

 

          I would like to start out first by profusely thanking my dance partner and husband, Walter, for everything he does. For tolerating me when I am too excited and obsessed about dance for him to handle, for bearing with me when I really want to work on something and especially for being a supportive partner for the last 2.5 (almost 3) years.

            Having a regular dance partner can be a blessing and a curse. I often jest with my friends that Walter and I have never had any relationship or marital fights and the only things we ever get on each other’s nerves about is dance. It’s typically my whining, complaining, pointing fingers, and general dedication to dance that digs me into those types of holes. So how do dance couples manage and sustain their interest in dance without going overboard? This will focus on dance couples who are also dating or married, but I believe many of the concepts could be applied to friends or acquaintances whose role is primarily dancing together.

            First, I think one of the biggest maker-or-breaker characteristics of any dance relationship is the natural personalities of the individuals to begin with. I am so grateful that Walter has a cool and calm personality that will occasionally get on my nerves, but often is the reason why any fights get soothed quickly. I can imagine if your dance partner has a temper or is a “hot-head” then it could spell disaster when bringing up dance issues. Also, some people take dance more personally than others so if mentioning a dance issue is damaging to your dance partner’s self-esteem or confidence then that can be harder to get over and be productive about. A better outlook to have is that if you want to get better at dance you have to accept the good and bad comments that a trusted dance friend has to offer. But, if you just want to dance socially in that moment, It’s also important to set a limit with your partner that you don’t want any comments before, during, or after the dance because it can sometimes become a routine thing to do.

            That means your dance partner can’t ONLY be giving negative comments. That is my biggest pitfall because it’s easy to enjoy and sit back when the dance is going well, but not so common to speak up about those good things. I have tried to make it a priority of mine lately to say more positive things to others (whether dancers or not) than negative things. The psychologist in me would like to mention that one negative comment is stronger than three positive comments combined. So don’t be overly flattering or make things up just to say something nice, but if I haven’t said at least a couple of nice things to a dancer I will often hold back on stating that one negative thing. Sometimes it’s good to feel out whether your partner is willing to accept a comment at that moment. Preface it with: “I wanted to mention something to you about dance, but I didn’t know if you want to hear it right now.” If your partner isn’t attuned to you or is doing something else (like driving, cooking, dealing with a crisis, etc.) then it can be hard to absorb your comment and it may get left to the wayside.

            My second big point to maintaining a healthy dance relationship is to not take things too seriously. Dance is still extremely fun and social and unless it really is your professional job and you travel around the country or world to dance, sometimes we just need to let things go. And it doesn’t even need to be negative things about dance. I know my enthusiasm for dance is often higher than others and it’s great for stimulating new interest and creating a new performance group or planning ahead for a great event, but like everything else it needs to be in moderation. I am studying to be a social worker currently and we learn a lot about self-care. As it applies to dance, self-care could refer to stretching and eating healthy for your body, but I think it matters more to have a healthy mind. If dance is the #1 thing you think about on a daily basis and it even keeps you up at night because you can’t help thinking about everything you want to say in your upcoming lesson (ahem, me) then a little self-care is probably necessary. Trying to get involved in other activities that interest you as much as dance helps considerably. I know playing Frisbee, studying Spanish, reading books, and making jewelry have gotten my mind off the many dance things that excite me. Self-care could be an entire reflection itself, but I mention it here because if you take care of yourself it will help a ton with your interactions with your dance partner.

            Even if your dance partner is just a friend that you perform with, practice with, etc. it is still helpful to do some non-dance activities at times. If your relationship is too one-sided in terms of activities it can get straining. I have to push myself to talk about non-dance things to dance friends. There is a ton of things that happen in our lives besides dance and having a game night, going out to a movie or traveling to an amusement park together helps release some of that tension associated with always being around and interacting in a dance environment.

            My final note about maintaining a healthy relationship with dance and with your partner is to recognize their level of commitment and meet them in the middle. If they only want to practice once a month or less, or they only want to go out dancing 3 times a year then it won’t help either of you to force it upon them. I know I can often go until 3am on dance weekends and want to come home the next day and work on a routine. Well, sometimes my partner won’t want to do that and we try to find a mutually agreeable time to dance. Whether it’s a decision about how often to go to a social dance or whether and how often to practice at home, having discussions with your dance partner is crucial. Open communication can help you feel out where your level of commitment and excitement about dance is compared to your partner. And if you are very incompatible in terms of your dance goals, maybe a good conversation to have is whether they mind you going out that night or finding another (monogamous) dance partner that can help you meet that need. It’s not that your partner isn’t available to meet your needs, it’s more that you shouldn’t keep bugging them about something that doesn’t interest them. If you’re in a relationship with someone who seems obsessed with dance, try your hardest to be supportive. Don’t make them feel bad or guilty for going out and enjoying themselves (or hold a grudge when they get home) and if you have a personal reason for not going dancing discuss it. Sometimes, just taking a private lesson in dance can help you discover if you even want to pursue it socially. During your discussions (not arguments!), see if some alternative is available to help you maintain the parts of your relationship that you do enjoy while supporting their interest in dance. Distance can be a good thing; distance from thinking about dance, distance from dance itself or distance from your partner (temporarily) if that’s what it takes to come back to a nice healthy relationship afterwards.

 

          Whew! Last one of these gradient posts. It’s really gotten to the point of almost being a philosophy, but hopefully it’s really just my 3-step impressions and possibly suggestions for dancers and the community as a whole. Please review the other two posts if you haven’t yet so you’re caught up.

            So the gradient idea is really just a way of describing dancers without using such touchy and sometimes ambiguous terms as “novice, beginner, intermediate, advanced and master/expert.” But by using a gradient I am able to describe not necessarily your position on the gradient (oh, I could say, low, middle or high), but I am better able to describe your relationship and disparity with others. So I like to say I relate to “higher gradient dancers” because that includes anyone that I feel has the same or more skills than I and it always comes back to my relative position on the gradient. I can be the on the bottom low or the super high end and still have some dancers that may be on either side of me.

            These three reflections have attempted to use a gradient mentality to provide suggestions both in how I am trying to think about dancers and my attitude, but also how other dancers may choose to do so if they like what they read. Take some, leave some, hate it all, I don’t care what you do with this information because it’s really my mentality and attitude and others can have their own. So, to summarize:

            Step #1 – Higher gradient dancers should always have a positive, inviting, and supportive attitude towards those lower on the gradient. Whether this means someone who has been to 3 lessons helping someone out who is at their first, or an international instructor teaching a private to someone dancing a year or less. The higher gradient dancers can have a huge effect on the creativity, inspiration, and enjoyment of the lower gradient dancers and really sets the scene for these individuals to not only continue dancing, but to be motivated to learn more.

            Step #2 – The lower gradient dancers should not have unrealistic expectations or emotions about the expert/advanced/masters. This is not helpful for either party because the lower gradient dancers are highly likely to be intimidated by experts if they feel they are somehow the perfect representation of dance and everything they say is a commandment. It is also unhelpful for the higher gradient dancers because it may assume that because they are soooo good, that they are probably arrogant about it. They might really like to dance with you (because it’s hard to notice who’s new amongst all the veteran dancer faces) but not be able to because you won’t ask (and higher gradient dancers should make more of an effort to dance with maybe 1 new person a night). And so we get to our final point.

            Step #3 – Any dancer, regardless of ability, experience, connections or skill should never feel that anything in dance is unattainable. This reflection is going to heavily focus on hope and aspiration because nothing is impossible. When we see those really great dancers that we admire, we may be tempted to think that we will never be that good. But, everything is possible if you want it badly enough and let it happen. If you don’t already know, I am studying to be a Social Worker, so I’m sorry if this comes off a bit too much like empowerment, but I do want dancers to feel that they have control over their dancing “life,” what they do and where they go in dance. I don’t want to go into too much detail on how you can be the best dancer ever, but Shawn Hershey’s class on the Art of Learning is a great place to start: 

            The first big point I’d like to make is to not be afraid to be a beginner in dance. If you haven’t started yet, get out there and give it a try. If you already dance for a year, 6 years, or 10 years, don’t be afraid to put yourself in situations that are still new to you. Having your own comfortable venue that you dance in every week where you know what music they’re going to play and all your friends come to is absolutely great, but it may not help you advance as a dancer. If your goal is to be better at dance and you feel you’ve learned all there is about X style, try another. Being a beginner in a new style is very invigorating and even if you don’t actually want to do ballroom, tango, blues, belly dancing, etc. in your real dancing life, you’ll be surprised how many moves, ideas, concepts and even aesthetics of other dance activities can inspire you in something new at your primary dance. Also, put yourself in new dance situations within your style. It’s nerve-wracking, but if you ever have the opportunity to take progressive lessons, privates, and to compete and perform in dance you should take them (if you want to get better, that is). I have found that dancing in competitions and performance requires a different mindset than social dancing. I have to be more conscious not only on what the dance feels like between me and my partner, but what it looks like to the judges and audience. This doesn’t mean having the biggest, flashiest moves because judges can pick up on the subtle technique in smaller moves, but it means not looking at the floor (or your feet which have been right under you your whole life. hehe), smiling and other facial expressions to express your mood for that part of the song, and creating an interesting shape with your and your partner’s body. I also find that competitions add another element and for a long time I was always thinking too much about “looking good” that I started to disconnect with my partner and had less communication between us. Dance at its core is about communicating between the two partners and the music, so a dance with good communication is always going to look and feel better than a dance without it.

            My second major point is about taking the opportunities you can to dance with, learn from, and be inspired by higher gradient dancers. Maybe this is just me in dance, but I go into a new setting or city and pretty quickly form a “wish list” in my head of the few, several, or many dancers that I really want to get to within that night or weekend. Sometimes I try really hard to reach all them, almost stalking them around the floor waiting for my chance to pounce and sometimes I see them waiting on the sideline and I remember they looked good dancing earlier and I go and ask. Either way, the people that typically get on my wish list are either good friends that I haven’t seen in awhile, people I met at the workshops and had a fun conversation with so I want to have more than 30 seconds with them, or the higher gradient dancers that are typically the instructors or organizers. The higher up the gradient the are, the harder they may be to get a dance with because everyone wants to dance with them (I can’t wait until I’m one of those people). And, the higher up the gradient they are from me (the bigger disparity I feel there is between our level) the MORE I want to dance with them. Again, I’m not sure if this is true about everyone, but I go out thinking I definitely want to dance with X because they taught a great or challenging lesson. Some people do the exact opposite and for some reason decide that X is the person they definitely don’t want to dance with. They may not actively avoid the person and if asked to dance with them they may still say “yes,” but they won’t seek that really great dancer out on their own. As a consequence, they often miss out on some of the best dances both quality and socially. The intimidation factor is lowered considerably after just 1 dance with the person because you realize that they aren’t going to laugh you off the floor (see Gradient Reflection #2) and as long as you don’t hurt them or creep them out (two of my big no-no’s) then you both can have a lot of fun together.

            So moral of the story is: Don’t be afraid to be a beginner and to put yourself out there with the higher gradient dancers. You may feel like you don’t fit in up there (eg. Typically the better dancers hang out as close to the DJ and music as they can) and maybe you should dance more to your level, but unless you’ve found that dancing socially with a really great follow or lead is extremely difficult or embarrassing for you (either because your skill isn’t there yet or your anxiety messes with you), I think I’d still try it. The first time you try anything it feels awkward and different… and the second time… and the third, but eventually you get a sense of what that new thing is going to be like and can start to relax, think less in your head and more in your body, and have a great dance.

            I’m sorry if this post comes off as too much advice, but this is what my mentality has been for most if not all of my dancing career and I hope that if someone has similar ideas about wanting to be better they can draw from some or all of my suggestions. Take what you want and leave what you don’t. My final encouragement to every dancer is to always think of the word maybe. Maybe you’ll be better after you go to a lesson or two, maybe you should attend that event, maybe in 1, 5, or 10 years somehow I will attain that great dance style and excellence that I see in others and so badly want. Just maybe.

 

          So I hope you all enjoyed my last reflection about this idea of a gradient and having the right attitude about yourself as a dancer and as you relate to the other dancers you interact with. If you need a description of the gradient idea please see the last reflection before reading this one because I don’t need to repeat myself. The last reflection was about how higher gradient dancers or those who could be considered “advanced/experts/masters” can relate in a positive way to the lower gradient dancers to encourage, support, and stimulate the lower gradient dancers to feel good about themselves and keep trying and having fun. This reflection will be going in the opposite direction and how you as a lower gradient dancer (whether that’s brand new, novice, beginner, intermediate or even slightly advanced but not yet a “master”) can have a positive attitude about the higher gradient dancers and about your potential for greatness.

            Maybe it’s just my natural personality, but I have a lot of self-confidence. I try new things, meet new people and some might consider me the social butterfly at events. But I was still nervous about dancing. It was still new to me and took me several weeks, months, and even years before I felt comfortable with several aspects of dancing. So I always wonder what it’s like for someone who isn’t naturally social or friendly to completely leap, plummet, and crash out of their comfort zone onto the dance floor. A general observation about the dance community that Mike Leggett brings up on her blog is that swing/blues dancers are highly educated, smart, and even nerdy people. Instead of all being the artsy type who dances on stage for performing arts majors (there are many of them), a lot of us were majors in engineering, math, and science and it’s so interesting to see how that affects our culture. I don’t think I know of any swing/blues dancer that doesn’t have a college degree and many have their Master’s, Ph.D.’s, etc. So we’re smart and many of us are nerdy even if we try to ignore that part of ourselves. This smartness is often correlated with being shy, socially awkward, or inhibited especially for someone who has never even thought about dancing before or avoided it like the plague. Case and point, my husband Walter is not embarrassed to say that he started dancing because a friend and him decided that dancing (at a wedding or something) was their biggest social fear and they wanted to face it head on.

            So somehow we get our bodies and minds out there and we take a leap (or sometimes get dragged and thrown) onto the dance floor and try it out. Many people just go that one time and treat it like the Karoake bar down the street that they know exists, but don’t really have a desire to go again. But for many of you who are reading this, something about dance motivated you. It may have been learning people’s names during the beginner lesson, seeing the social groups interact throughout the night, or something about our culture that you didn’t quite understand, but thought was cool like a birthday jam or Shim Sham line dance (great for getting people interested in dance, by the way). Maybe you weren’t even motivated that first time, but you’re the kind of person that doesn’t like to give up so you wrestle and fight the idea, but you really have to go back to prove something to yourself. Either way you begin being a swing or blues dancer (or both).

            This relates back to the gradient idea because especially for new dancers, but even for some that have been coming for several weeks or months, you know that there are people out there that are better than you. Maybe you know all the same moves that they do because you’ve gone to all the lessons with them, but they look more comfortable with it, they can relax more than you can, and they seem to shine on the dance floor. The wrong attitude to have about this is that you’re not good enough. The right attitude, which I want to focus on, is that you want to be better. You don’t have to want to be “the best” or to win competitions or to even look showy to people on the sidelines, you just personally want to be better. This attitude is what really makes someone mentally an “advanced” dancer. Not what moves they know or how quickly they learned or even if they’re a teacher or winning awards. You become advanced by believing, hoping, and maybe even practicing and working on your dance because you want to get better. And if you ever stop wanting and trying to be better then you fall into the trap of either staying where you are or potentially getting worse because it’s much more likely to develop bad habits. Every dancer, especially the advanced/expert/masters continually work on their dancing whether it’s to learn a new style, tweak or modify an existing move or technique, or just to think about, read, and watch videos about dance. None of us are ever done learning, unless we choose to stop.

            So I personally, as a lower gradient dancer, want to relate to my higher gradient counterparts in a certain way. Especially after meeting several of them, I don’t want to think of them as these dance Gods or Goddesses, like they are infallible, perfect, absolutely stunning individuals with no faults because that would be a great disservice to them, but mainly a disservice to myself. I also don’t want to think about them like they were born with the dancing gift and that now that they’re national teachers they have figured out everything about dance and are “done” (see previous paragraph). It’s easy on a small scale to think that way about people - we do it all the time with movie celebrities or someone in the public eye (until they mess up). We just naturally assume that because they’re good, great, maybe even the “best” at something, whether it’s dance, acting, computers (think Bill Gates) that they must have a certain arrogant personality to match. If you ran into them on the street they’d probably blow you off and act like a dick, right? No! That’s what this reflection is mainly about. We need to make a more realistic impression about other dancers. Yes, there are some dancers that aren’t the most friendly or that make you feel uncomfortable about your dancing just from the vibe that they give off, but you can’t assume this about everyone. I have had the pleasure of meeting such great blues dancers as Damon Stone, Heidi Fite, Joe Demers, Shawn Hershey, Julie Brown, Mike Legett… I can go on and on because the list of amazingly friendly, fun, and un-intimidating dancers is much longer than the list of “advanced” dancers that make me a little uncomfortable.

            So how does my attitude affect my actions? I am at a dance and one of “those” people are there. They look so amazing, and everyone wants to dance with them, and I’m just a beginner or I’m just an intermediate dancer who pales in comparison to their greatness. Maybe it takes me a whole long time to get up the courage to dance with them because I’m scared of messing up or not knowing enough good moves to lead or because I KNOW that they’re not going to have a good time with me. All Bullshit! I’m sorry to curse, but this is NOT the right attitude to have about your dancing and about asking someone to dance. These reflections all focus on the positive, but I really can’t help but feel saddened and sympathetic towards those individuals who feel this way about themselves. The only way you’ll know if the dancer is an asshole, if they’re going to completely diss your moves or make you feel bad is to try. And just like diving into dance for the first time you have to take that leap and just see what happens. I’ll admit that it still takes a lot of courage for me to go ask that #1 dancer in my book for a dance and sometimes I just let them slip from my fingertips because I waited too long, but you may not get that chance again. Maybe they live halfway across the country from you and unless you spend $400 for an event and travel expenses you will have to wait over a year to see them again or longer. Take that chance, make a leap.

And it can be scary because the fear of being turned down or having your confidence broken is worse than just dancing with someone you’re comfortable with and knowing it will all be ok. Some psychology study showed that 1 negative comment was more powerful than 3 positive comments (so I try to always give more positive compliments than each thing I say a dancer can improve upon). In conclusion, we as dancers on any spot of the skill gradient need to create realistic impressions and thoughts about other dancers that are higher, lower, or the same skill as us. It is not beneficial to think too highly or too negatively about anyone because it is often not accurate. Try out for yourself (several times if possible) and I think you’ll see that the more you dance with someone the more they become like real people to you and hopefully even good friends. Thanks so much to the dancers at BluesShout 2011 for being so friendly and supportive to me, as well as spiking my creativity immensely. It really is helpful to break out of your comfort zone to start dancing and break out again and dance with the “best-of-the-best” because it gives you a glimpse into the types of things they do and those awesome feelings, moves, techniques, etc. can be transmitted to you and greatly improve your dancing. That’s my advice and you can take it or leave it for what it is, but I know this, gladly, from experience.

 

I really hate using the term Gradient, but it’s the best I can come up with. I feel it is slightly more representative than using a scale or ladder-type description because that would imply that you move one step up or down over time and I think it is more fluid than that. And by using a gradient it can adapt to different people thereby some people move slow and steady like a turtle on the gradient whereas others maybe have a burst of potential and go quickly through one “section” of the gradient like the footwork. At the end of the day this is just meant to give some structure to describe the newer, developing, and dancers that may be considered the masters, experts, or professionals, but as you will read it is more about mentally being “advanced” than actually what you do as a dancer or what moves you know.

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For those of you who have not been notified, Nick Birchak, an Albany swing dancer and great friend, passed away in his sleep Tuesday night (August 23rd, 2011). The announcement among the swing community was made public at our Wednesday dance, which Nick freqented and we took up a collection for a funeral arrangement. This is indeed a sad and tragic event, but as many of you know I have dedicated this journal to thinking about the positive things about dance and life. So despite how hard it seems, I will be trying to remember the good things about Nick and possibly give some suggestions to those in grief on how I am choosing to handle his passing. I hope they will be helpful to many others during this difficult time.

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