Emerald City Solo Jam 2018

Emerald City Solo Jam.

It. Was. Awesome.

I ended up having a last minute opportunity to attend the event, which made me super excited. When I went last year, it was my first dance event ever, so it definitely holds a special place in my heart because of that. Plus is hosted by Eastside Stomp, now part of the Syncopation Foundation, and is a weekend filled with solo dancing, something I've been working more on lately.

Because I didn't know I was going until last minute (like a couple days before the event) I had to work both Saturday and Sunday mornings which meant not only was I dancing all weekend, but on my feet at work as well. Even with all the work and dancing I held up pretty well, thanks to lots of cal/mag tablets, arnica gel, and tacos.

The instructors where the same as last year: Nathan Bugh and Gaby Cook. I'm not sure how it's possible, but they were even better than last year.

Friday night was the kickoff dance at Eastside Stomp. The Jen Hodge All-Stars were playing and the lineup was fabulous:
Jen Hodge - bass and vocals
Jonathan Doyle - reeds
Sky Lambourne - trombone and vocals 
Josh Roberts - guitar 
Julian MacDonough - drums

I did a little solo stuff, but mostly lindy hop that night and really enjoyed myself. During the first band break we had a performance from the Syncopators, who rocked it like they always do. Then Nathan and Gaby did an instructors demo and oh. my. goodness. Watching those two do their thing is so incredibly amazing and inspiring. Seeing that kind of skill and talent in person is something you can't really describe, you just have to be there to fully get it. Ahhhh, it's was all just soooooo good!

Since I had to work early the next morning, I headed out the door about 10:45pm, so I missed the prelims for the competition. The next morning after work I dashed off to Crescendo for classes. Classes started at 1pm, though I wasn't able to get there until 2pm each day. I was in the beginner track which I worked out well as there were only 10 of us compared to the advanced track that had around 40 students.

Our first half of classes were with Gaby where we learned a routine. This was probably my favorite routine of the weekend, as I really liked the choreography and was actually able to remember most of it. It had some fun kicks, fall of the log, and charleston.

After a break, we got to start our classes with Nathan. The first half he taught us a combination that he had just taught to the advanced class. It was slower and bluesy and he really broke down the complected turn. That's something I love about how Nathan teaches: he breaks everything down into tiny pieces that you completely understand what's happening, even if you're having trouble getting your body to cooperate.

The second half we did different jazz moves and put them into a combination. We worked on Susie Q's, jump charleston, Charleston with a drag, and eagle slides. My Susie Q's to the left are pretty decent, but even after all this time doing them to the right is still so challenging! The charleston moves we did were good as I "knew" them, but breaking them down and knowing the timing makes a big difference. The jump charleston he taught us was a bit tricking on the timing for me and definitely something to work on. The eagle slides were my favorite that day. I never knew the prep for them and now having that with the timing it all makes a lot more sense.

I got to the dance venue a bit early so I could change into my outfit for the evening. The Syncopators were practicing for their performance later that evening which was fun to watch, especially since I had to leave before seeing them perform it for real. I also went over some of the content we'd learned in classes. Before I knew it, the band was starting! We got to dance to Jonathan Doyle's Swingtet all night. Doesn't get much better than that! The thing about that venue, though, is that the floors are super slippery. It's the same ballroom where the advanced track was and I'm not sure how they took classes for two days in that room; it was super slick!

The band line up:
Jonathan Doyle - reeds Chris Davis - trumpet Dave Loomis - trombone Jen Hodge - bass Josh Roberts: - guitar Julian MacDonough - drums



After the first band break was the contest finals. The finalists were Samantha Nguyen, Nika Jin, Damian Cade, Christina Nourmiev, Elaine Buchignani, and Bailey McCully. So much crazy skill on the floor that night! Watching everyone giving it their all was so exciting and inspiring. Plus the energy in the room was crazy high with lots of cheering and excitement from everyone watching. That's probably the best part about watching competitions in person.

Since I had to be up at work the next morning, I headed home right after the finals. I was sad to leave early, but I definitely needed the sleep.

Sunday's classes started with Nathan. Since I was late I missed the first hour which apparently they went over basic music theory for dancers which I was sad to miss out on. But the second half we broke down more jazz moves and created a new combination. This time we worked on Shorty George, apple jacks, and fall off the log. I really enjoyed the breakdown for apple jacks and it definitely helped me improve them. Once again we put them into a little combo.

Our last couple hours with Gaby were super fun. All of the classes during the weekend were fun, but the this was on the next level. We went over boogie forwards and all did 8 counts of boogie forwards then 8 counts of shortie George as a group, or gang of dancers as Gaby said. She was in the front the first time and was pretty much begging others to come and "lead" the pack, saying how powerful she felt. lol! It was great! We also did knee slaps and spank the baby. While going over the boogie forwards we ended up with some James Bond inside jokes that you just had to be there for.

After we did a thing that I can't remember what it's called, but where everyone stands in two lines and one person from each side at the top go down the middle and show off their best stuff. I'm gonna be honest and say that I was really nervous at first, but I ended up having so much fun and letting the nervousness just melt away. Besides, who wouldn't be happy dancing to Boogie Shoes?

The last hour was spent doing another routine. By this point my brain was melted and the choreography definitely wasn't sticking, but I stuck with it. I ended up learning some good tips on my turns, which I really appreciated as that's a place where my technique is really bad.

And that was the end of Emerald City Solo Jam 2018! It was such an incredible weekend filed with lots of solo awesome-ness, the best live music, amazing classes, getting to know people better, and making new friends. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Emerald City Solo Jam 2017

This past weekend was Emerald City Solo Jam and guys, it was fabulous. 

Friday night was the kickoff dance at Eastside Stomp which included live music from Casey MacGill, teacher demos by Nathan Bugh and Gaby Cook, and the preliminaries for the Emerald City Solo Jam competition. Saturday was classes that didn't start till 1pm (Thank you for having late classes!) followed by another dance featuring the Rex Quartet and the contest finals. Sunday was more classes and the option to go to Century afterwards, but since I was so beat and that dance didn't start till four hours after classes ended, I went home and got some rest.

So Friday night was fabulous, even if for a large part of the night I was in a bit of a dance funk for some reason. I was having the hardest time keeping beat and following feel kinda rough, but I still managed to have a few really good dances. There were a couple in particular that I felt really good about and one went really well and I just feel like I hit all the timing right (a miracle that night!) and made me feel like I've made some improvement over the last few months.

Watching the prelims was awesome. I ended up watching from the front row, dead center, and watching everyone show of there best stuff was really fun. There were some really skilled dancers that were just a joy to watch. By the end my hands stung from clapping and applauding so much that I had "clap rash". Basically my arm starts looking rash-like from my wrist down after a lot of clapping. Does that happen to anyone else?

Saturday morning, after a rough night of sleep, I made my way to the ballroom for classes. When I arrived I found Ben outside of the venue waiting for the guy with the keys. 15 minutes before classes were supposed to start. But despite that and all of the last minute things that happened (judges being sick, bridge closures, etc) it all turned out great. So back to the ballroom, we finally get in and it's freezing, so I was happy when we finally started class and got the blood flowing! 

So each day we worked with both instructors for two hours which meant us beginners started with Nathan and finished with Gaby. So we started our first class with Nathan and followed him with some basic moves to warm up. Durring that he realized we weren't good at fishtails, so he decided to teach us how to do them. I definitely improved on them, but I still need to practice the twisting and then moving the feet, as it feels really unnatural to me right now. Shorty George and boogie forward were next, both moves I "knew" but learned a lot on how to refine them and do them properly. 

Next we moved on to charleston, where he asked us what the oddest kind of charleston is and proceeded to tell us how it's weird that most lindy hoppers learn side by side early on when it's not even the real way that charleston is done. It was also at this point that Nathan pulled me over to demonstrate the different types of swing charleston (which turned into a trend that weekend).

So we refined our charleston form, as we all pretty much knew it and used it to go into a break with a pause and some foot tapping. We also went over the scarecrow which included Nathan telling us that when performing it to make it a sudden surprise to the audience, but that it should almost surprise ourselves as well. Then we learned a turn that used a step-kick-ball change before crossing the legs and turning. That's one I have the concept down for, but need to practice the turning part a lot as I keep putting my weight on the wrong leg. And that was the end of our first class with Nathan!

There was a half hour between classes with each instructor and on the first day it was definitely needed as they decided to switch venues for the beginner and intermediate/advanced classes as the larger advanced class was in the smaller studio. Remember how I said it was freezing in the ballroom? Well we got to trade that for a warm studio.

We started warming up with Gaby and then we went through the whole shim sham with some stylization on certain steps. I've known the shim sham for a while, but just the very basic version, so I'm excited to have some style to add to it on Friday nights when we do it. One of the new moves I really like is the part on the break when you toe tap with your left foot then jump left, jump right, then apart then together (I have no idea if it has a name). After that we did some partnering where one person would do 16 counts of something and then the other would have to do something that contrasted it. That kinda stuff always makes me nervous, as I'm especially bad at anything improv related, but being pushed out of my comfort zone.

That was the end of classes on day one. There were three hours to kill between the end of class and the beginning of the dance and since some of us were hungry we went and ate together. Ben had mentioned that the Mexican place in the shopping center where the ballroom was had good food, so that's where we went. I got the chicken tacos, which were fabulous! Thank you Ben for the recommendation! After that there was still a bit of time, so I went to Safeway and Trader Joe's and bought some snacks, as I was starving the night prior after dancing all night and didn't want to do that again.

The dance went really well. We had more live music, the competition finals, a performance from the advanced class, and an encore that turned into a jam circle. I got to bed a quarter after 1am and I slept way better Saturday night, though I guess it was already Sunday at that point. Ha! 

The first day of classes were great, but Sunday's classes were even better. The first couple hours with Nathan went by way to fast. he was inspired by the sound of the floor and small room to we started off with some tap. He had us form a circle and showed us all the different ways to use our feet to make tap sounds Then we went into a tap combo, which was one of my favorite parts, even though I'm still struggling a part of it. It was funny because he took a slow song and made it even slooowwwer, so we could get the pattern down, which was good because I'm not sure if I could do it any faster, but seriously. It was so slow! Ha! 

Afterwards we partnered up and did a mirroring exercise in which Nathan used me to demonstrate again which was fun. We did the exercise with several different people and I have to say it was pretty fun! Then he showed us a couple more common moves and their names before we spent the rest of the time working on our Susie Q's. We went over all the nitty gritty of the move and I'm fairly comfortable with them now at slower speeds. And then I was really sad because our time with Nathan was already over.

After downing a Cliff Protein Bar and some granola on break we started our class with Gaby. She decided to show us the first part of The Big Apple, which made me really excited I've been wanting to learn it especially after watching a lot of videos of it recently! We started from the beginning and made it through the jump charleston and transition steps. There were a lot of moves that we did that I really liked, one of those being apple jacks. Doing the kick prep and then the move makes me feel really fancy and like I know what I'm doing. The jump charleston was also another favorite. 

After that there wasn't a whole lot of time left, so Gaby answered some questions, Gaby had me help demonstrate as she answered one of those questions (She said my Little Mermaid shirt spoke to her) and went over a couple little combos. Like I said earlier, I skipped going to Century in place of sleep, but I did stop for some more tacos before leaving. And that is the end of Emerald City Solo Jam 2017.

I'd watched many video of Nathan and Gaby performing on YouTube, but seeing that much skill in person brings a whole new element of appreciation. Plus it's just way more fun. I could just sit and watch Nathan dance forever; every little movement is just memorizing. His teaching style was my favorite as I liked the way he broke down every little bit and had us repeat it many times. That combined combined with his personality makes for a great time in class. Then there's Gaby with her inspiring style of movement that makes me wanna dance better. Every movement was like a work of art. Also her clothing choices are adorable and she has the best jackets. I kinda want her wardrobe now...

And to end off this post I'd like to give a big thank you to Ben and everyone that helped him put on this fabulous event. You're all awesome.