This past Friday was the Eastside Stomp annual Holiday Ball. Everyone's invited to dress up, there's a photobooth (which I totally forgot to get a photo in... I'm sad about that.), and live music like usual. This week we had Casey MacGill, one of my personal favorites, who rocked it like usual. I was particularly fond of the song about egg nog. It was fab, especially since the only lyrics were "egg nog" and "yum". That made me happy. XD
Before hand they had a little vintage hair workshop, where we learned two different styles: a classic victory roll updo and a poodle updo. That was my first time setting my hair in pin curls in quite a while; I forgot how much I love my hair when I do that. And let's just say my victory hair rolling technique isn't that good yet. It's a good thing Taylor (our hair instructor, along with my balboa instructor) was there to make it look pretty. And like I said, I forgot to get a photo. Sometimes I fail at basic things guys. But hey, I was fitting in lots of dancing!
For some reason between the hair workshop and the dance starting my feet got insanely cold. Like numb and stiff and took four dances before they started to thaw out. So that was an adventure for sure. I felt like my dancing was kinda blah, but dancing tends to be like that; one week you feel like the best dancer ever (even though you know you're not) and other weeks you're like, what am I even doing. But fairly early on we ended up with a jam circle, which is always a blast to watch. And one day I'll actually get video of one... but it hasn't happened yet. Also, I've signed up for my last level one Lindy class next month, Lindy Charleston. Since it's something I've been wanting to know for a while, I'm really excited to finally learn it!
Tuesday night Eastside Stomp had their last Tuesday Night Stomp at Kirkland Dance Center, the location where they started at all. Until this week I had never been dancing on Tuesday night, but this was the location where I took my very first lindy hop class years ago (and promptly forgot) and the first place I ever social danced. Plus it was where I took the slow drag workshop I went to in October.
All night the floor was filled with dancers and at the peak pretty crowded. A good opportunity to really practice floorcraft for sure! Even with being supper aware since there were so many people, there were still quite a few moments of bumping into people. At one point after being asked to dance, the guy who asked started counting down and we darted into the middle of the floor, surprisingly not running into anyone. He said it was like magic and was only possible because I'm so tiny. XD
I got a small clip from near the end of the night, right before we left. The band featured the Greg Ruby Quintet, which were fabulous as usual. I wish I got some footage of the jam circle that happened, as it was awesome. The shim sham also happened, which is pretty much and Eastside Stomp tradition.
In Friday night's lindy class we spent most of the time learning a new turn. I have no idea what it's called, but it would start like I was turning towards my left, but turned into a direction change and I actually turn to the right. We practiced feeling a good connection with our leads to really feel that direction change and a lot of focus on engaging the core. Right now it's one of those things that I really have to focus on to remember to do it, but when I do engage those muscles it sure makes a world of a difference! I'm also realizing that I really need to keep an eye on my feet, as since starting balboa I'm putting too much of my weight on the balls of my feet when doing lindy now. Not a good habit to have.
Friday was week 3 of classes since there were only two of us in the class, we completed the normal four weeks worth of class material in just over two weeks. Bonus of having a small class! So we spent a little time reviewing everything we'd learn to date, plus the basics of outs and ins, which they don't normally teach in the level one class. The whole concept of outs and ins is pretty simple, but I have trouble doing it more than a couple times or to a faster tempo without my feet getting all flustered. Plus I have a little bit of trouble focusing on my upper body since the footwork isn't quite natural yet. Whenever I have a moment and I remember I'm practicing the footwork at home and at work; gotta make it a natural habit! As far as social dancing I was able to stay a couple hours which I was excited for. I had a good time and had some good dances. One guy and I were doing lindy and decided to go into bal, which I was able to do decently considering I didn't see it coming at all.
For lindy hop I've been wearing my Keds knock-offs ('cause I have trouble spending a lot of money on shoes) from Payless called the "Women's Classic Bal Sneaker" which retail for $19.99, but you can usually get them on sale and/or BOGO as well. Straight out of the box they're not to bad; I can turn decently and don't have too much resistance on swivels. But it could be better, hence sueding them.
Soles 2 Dance sells these awesome sheets of suede that have industrial-strength adhesive on one side. You simply trace the outline of your shoe, cut it out, and stick it onto the bottoms of your shoes. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! You can purchase suede sheets directly from Soles 2 Dance or on Amazon.
I'm pretty boring with my shoes, as I almost always get them in a neutral color (black, white, or grey) so that they match with everything. So I purchased black suede for my black shoes, but they have several different fun colors to choose from. And I have to say, I'm kinda tempted to get the red suede next time.
I've only been social dancing once since applying the suede, but so far I'm really impressed; it stays on the shoes really well and my turns are so much smoother now. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend DIY-ing your favorite pair of sneakers. The soles before:
I have to say, I was mostly planning on just surviving Friday night's classes as I ended up with a schedule change at work that had me working on Friday (and since I'm in retail I'm on my feet the whole day). The plan was to make it through both classes and not social dance, but not only did I pull through both lindy and bal classes, I was actually doing pretty well and ended up saying for an hour of dancing afterwards, despite the fact that I had to be up at 5:30am the following morning. But ya know, swing dancing is worth it and glad I did. The Lindy class went really well. We've been working a lot on refining our technique in regards to pulsing, connection, etc. And for me I'm still trying to remember to take small steps *facepalm* It's a never ending struggle people. After that we learned some faux-Charleston and some variations on it.
However balboa was really the highlight of classes for me last night. First off, the other girl from last week didn't show, so it was just me and one other guy. So lots of one on one feedback which is awesome. We started off by practicing material from last week and getting more comfortable: some basics, come arounds, lolly kicks, and turns. Honestly I was surprised how natural it was starting to feel after just two weeks of class. Definitely still in the have-to-think-about-whats-happening-after-every-single-movement phase, but actually starting to flow. After that we worked on a few different turn variations before moving on to crab walks. Dun, dun, dunnnnn. Yeah, my crab walks are anything but good at this point. We started off doing them to the (followers) right. That wasn't to bad, other than the fact that you're only moving forward/backward one step before switching directions kinda throws me off. Then we decided to reverse the direction of the crab walks and that was definitely more challenging, especially since you A) can't do a full basic before, which confuses my brain at this moment in my Bal life. And B) switching what foot's going up and down vs across feels so unnatural! Then they decided to have us do a basic, 8 counts of crab walks, basic, then 8 counts of crab walks in the opposite direction. It was that point in class when my brain pretty much exploded. But hey, I tried, and after a few attempts I had definitely improved, though it was nothing close to proper. After that I debated staying for the dance and staying obviously won. My feet definitely hurt, but they actually weren't any worse than the week before, which was surprising since I had already spent all day on my feet. The dancing started and I think I ended up dancing every song, which isn't hard to do. Highlights were definitely the first song; I just felt like I was following really well and I felt like my swing outs and turns were really good. Then there was the one dance I did balboa and it actually went really well. I had a couple small fumbles, as to be expected, but I was able to keep up well.
The best part is that I'm finally starting to feel confident on the dance floor. Until recently I've always felt a bit timid when social dancing, but now I'm feeling comfortable which makes it even more enjoyable.
Last night the November classes started, and I'm taking two of them; Lindy 102: 6 and 8 Count Transitions along with Balboa 101.
Lindy is going pretty well; we worked on promenades, which went pretty well. My biggest issue, and this relates to almost all parts of lindy for me, is taking too big of steps. My instructor is always getting after me for this one! I really have to focus and remember to take small steps; when I do it makes a world of a difference, it's just been challenging to build that habit. We also worked on our pulsing and getting the timing perfect with the music.
Right after lindy I have balboa. There are only three of us students, so there's a lot of one on one time with the instructors. We started of with close position and the basic footwork. And then the footwork that you use before going into open position and lolly kicks. There's something really fun about saying "lolly kicks". I'm not sure what it is, but I think I like saying it more that actually doing them. Ha! After my first ever bal class I have come to the conclusion that:
A) Dancing in heels is going to take a lot of conditioning before my feet don't hurt. I don't wear heels normally at all, so my feet were in a decent amount of pain after the hour class. Slowly but surely I'll be building up my heel stamina.
B) That I'll be practicing the foot work every waking moment that I happen to be standing. My co-workers are going to be so confused at first, but hey, gotta get that step-step-hold-step pattern cemented in my brain as soon as possible!
My feet are forever grateful that there is a half hour between when the Balboa class ends and social dancing starts. Not sure if I would have survived past midnight otherwise!
Social dancing went really well. I'm finally starting to get comfortable with my swing outs (*cough*smaller steps*cough*) and since I'm getting more comfortable with those, I'm finally starting to remember to throw those swivels in. Slowly but surely. But I definitely feel like I'm starting to improve a lot with my lindy.
So there were a few times when I'm off casually to the side practicing that bal footwork on my own, you know, gotta get that pattern suck in my brain. Apparently doing that declares to the room that you wanna dance balboa, as I kept getting asked to dance that. Though that definitly wasn't my intention, getting to practice it on the social floor several times was good practice, even though I kept fumbling as I barely knew what I was doing!
Another awesome part of the night was that I got to witness my first jam circle which was so much fun to watch! I can only imagine how crazy those are at big events; watching a bunch of our local dancers show off there best stuff was pretty fabulous!
Last Saturday was an exciting day as I got to participate in my first dance workshop! I got to spend four hours learning Slow Drag from Peter Flahiff and Lauren Smith and it was amazing. Like floating on a cloud of happiness afterwards amazing. It was so much fun and I learned a lot. For those not familiar, slow drag is a type of dancing done to slower swing music and is similar to blues dancing. Here's a video of Peter and Lauren doing a demo at Treasure State Slow Drag earlier this year:
Being that I had no experience on how to do slower dances on the social floor, I was pretty excited when I heard about the workshop. And I was even more happy when I realized I already had the day off from work. Whoop whoop! Since this was an complete beginner course, we started at the very beginning with close embrace. From there we went on to footwork, which is actually pretty simple as you move forward or backwards on either every beat or every other beat. From there we learned pivots, drags, and a couple different follow styling, one of which I can do pretty decently, the other I'm going to need to practice the footwork on before it becomes natural.
It was crazy how soon the four hours were over. Peter and Lauren's teaching is very easy to follow and to the point, plus they're quite the entertaining pair, so the time just flew by. I'm excited to put some of my new skills to the test on the social floor. Maybe I can look like I know what I'm doing on those slow songs now. That would be a plus. ;)
I have to say though, this workshop has me so incredibly excited to go to some dance events next year. Since I haven't been to one yet, days filled with classes, competitions, and dances sounds like a total blast. So far I'm planning on Camp Jitterbug and Jitterbug Weekend; we'll just have to see what else my dance future holds.
Swing dancing is something that I've dreamed of advancing in for many many years now, but it wasn't until this past summer that I finally was able to start turning my dancing dreams into a reality. Since August I've been taking classes and social as much a possible and enjoying it oh-so-much.
Though I keep a dance journal that I'm filling with technique, I thought having a blog would be a good place to keep track of all the experiences I have through swing. You know; social dancing, workshops, classes, events, etc. All that fun stuff.
Let's give a little history on my dance experience and get you all up to speed:
My every first experience with swing dancing was back in high school. It was my sophomore year and some of the parents at the homeschool co-op my family went to put on this awesome 1940s themed dance dubbed the Winter Swing Fling. There was lots of patriotic decor, WWII propaganda posters, hot dogs and soda at the "soda fountain", and a huge group of high schoolers dressed in their best vintage inspired outfits. Right before the event kicked of, they had a quick beginners lesson where we learned the single step and a few turns before turning us out to the dance floor. And that my friends is where I first learned to swing dance and fell in love with it. That evening I was floating on a cloud pretty much much the whole night; it was like a dream! Even though I had pretty much no idea what I was doing on the dance floor, that night remains on of my favorite high school memories.
Dancing at the Winter Swing Fling
From there out, my opportunities to swing dance were few and far between. There were a few more dances in high school and the year after I graduated I actually took a four-week class on Lindy Hop, but because I wasn't able to go out social dancing regularly at the time I never completely got it down. That never stopped my lack of enthusiasm for the dance or dream of one day being able to lindy really well.
Fast forward to 2016 and I ran across Camp Jitterbug again on the internet. I remember discovering it many years prior, wishing that somehow I'd be able to go some day, but never seeing it as a reality. But then I though about and realized, why am I not dancing?! I finally had the time and the resources, so in August of 2016 I started getting back into the groove with a month long Intro to Swing class in the area and started social dancing weekly and it's snowballed from there!
Since then I've taken many lindy hop classes, done lots of solo jazz, learned some balboa, and started learning shag. I've also been able to attend several events, one of the higlights being Camp Jitterbug here in Seattle. My home base is Eastside Stomp and the people there are like family. I'm also a part of a dance team that just started up.
And that's my story, folks. A bit of history behind the dancer. I hope you'll join me on the exploration of the world of swing dance. It's a wonderful thing.
