Swivelicious! ...and other delicious dance tidbits.

I'm going to get right into it, because tonight, I'm starting with my favourite thing in the whole world (slight exaggeration, and probably a lie), SWIVELS!!!

So the swivel ban was finally lifted! YYYYYYaaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! Here are tonight's hints and tips just for the ladies (and any guys dancing follow, though with the deficit of men in ANY dance scene, I highly doubt there'd be many of them...):

• let it come from the hips -- think about moving them, and not your knees. Move them hips to the max!
• keep spotlighting your partner with that chest light! It'll really make the hips pop if your torso isn't moving.
• while you shouldn't be going to the end of the line, your 7 and 8 should still be searching for the beginnings of a stretch, so your 1 to 2 will be pulling in as a recoil from the stretch. Remember not to let your shoulders pop or your arms go!
• KEEP BOUNCING! The lead shouldn't be able to feel a difference between a swing out that you do without swivels and one with killer swivels. And that's what we want, right ladies? KILLER swivels.
• don't try to go around your lead on count 2 - keep coming at him! He'll move out of the way if he needs to. And if the move stuffs up, remember, it's his fault, anyway. ;)

Another tip is to work on not sticking your behind out too far behind, as I wrote a little while ago. If your hips are connected to your legs, your swivels are gonna knock 'em dead.

We also did some work/a variation on the rhythm circle, I think as an exercise to help us keep the bounce, not sure if it will be used in future. The footwork went from "step, step, triple step, step, step, triple step" to "step, step, triple step, and step, and step, and triple step". Lots more energy the boogie kind of feel make it virtually impossible to lose the bounce, which is super important when you think about the incredible speeds at which we'll be dancing.

And now that that's done... formations!!!

I've made this lovely diagram, explaining where each couple goes and when. Apologies for the size, I have resized it three times, and cannot be bothered to do it any more. It should be clearer with the link to the image on photobucket, but still smaller than it appears on my computer... Anyway, knock yourselves out with that.

Now, to make some changes to the choreography for Jailhouse Rock. In order for the formations to work, the choreography directions need changing, so after the swivelling circle, it goes a-something like this:

"step and" in one direction for 8 counts

"step and" in the opposite direction for 4 counts, CLOSE/BRING IT ALL IN ON 4

Slide trombone as before

"step and" back in the same direction as the first 8 counts but only for 5 counts

6 down

7 up (WITH SHOULDERS!)

8 down

kick behind (right then left)

shake head no, leads look for the follow's left hand, lead an inside free turn(?) -follows, just step, no need for triple steps!!- in front of them

6 is a tap step with the left for follows (right for leads) into the kick ball change/fall off the log variation

Circle

Toss out (less a jump than last time)

on 8, cross over, follows right leg comes in front of left leg, left in front of right for leads

slip slops to the inside, starting on the foot that just crossed over on 1, 3, 5 and 7

and 8 to shift weight to the outside foot

"skipping" step (on mange de la fondue step), really giving it some oomph on counts 1 and 5

For the Blue Suede Shoes choreography, after the flea hops, we basically do the crank spin and ball changes again, only instead of the shimmy, it's more a three sharp shoulder moves (like a super slow, super jerky shimmy) and instead of the Elvis knees, we do boogie forwards in the same rhythm as the Elvis knees of yester-beat. The rest is the same, up to the small non-slip-slop running man.

There will be more to come. It's gonna be super cool - a second performance for the Christmas show. ;)

This blog post has been all business, but I promise the troupe isn't all just hard work. We know how to have fun - dance! ;) No joke, tonight, we had some after-dance drinks, and then after the after-dance drinks, there was some after-drinks dancing - not by everyone, but we were probably all dancing on the inside!

Video times!!! ...okay, so for real, I normally have a video or two open in my browser, but none today, so I'm just going to look up any random teacher that I have had in the past and see what they have on youtube... here goes...

Okay, this is Noni Clarke in the purple top: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGgrw9hw8XE I took a workshop with her and Evan Hughes (the guy she's dancing with) for my birthday last year. Fun teachers and awesome, awesome dancers. I love the sequence they do from 1'36"-1'40"... it looks like it starts with a reverse tandem charleston (i­.e. with the follow behind instead of in front) and goes into something incredible and leaves you with your jaw on the ground. ;) Enjoy!!!

You push it and you push it and you cross over

Just a really quick one to say how I love how I get pushed in the troupe!

I love that when I'm not doing something right or if I could do something better, I get told. I love that I get told what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. I feel like I'm being pushed and I feel like I'm learning and I love that!

Also, I know I didn't update last week, but I did dance! We got told our partners and I'm pretty pleased with mine! =D

Anyway, here's a quick run down of the new aerial from last week - we started the around the world-ish aerial!!

So things to remember:

1. Honeymoon catch.
   - Don't lose the prep step in a bog of waiting.
   - Use your left arm for support!
   - Keep your legs straight
   - Crunch those abs
   - Try to hold that L shape
   
   
2. Around the world (beginning)
   - guy initiates with a crank to his left, so pull that right arm up to his left shoulder (you're gonna use it to help turn yourself)
   - while you're at the guy's side, try to make it so your belly is facing the ground
   - let go!
   ...this one needs a bit of practice in front of a mirror to get the feel for where you should be and how to get there.
   

I love that aerials look a lot harder than they are!

We also started work on the formations, but I would have trouble writing those out... Just trust me when I say that it looks awesome (which it does), 'kay? ;)

Finally, a video of the California Routine, performed to Jumpin' at the Woodside (which I have done fast lindy to in the past!!). That aerial at 1'13" looks easy and fun! And just as an aside, I randomly found this video, but do happen to know the guy that did that aerial. He is very tall, but you don't feel the height difference when you dance with him. I honestly don't know how he does it. If anyone figures it out, do tell!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YuF-xAp3og

Jailhouse Rock On!!!

Jailhouse Rock: added choreography! From the top.

Start facing audience

First count of 8, do nothing

on 5, rock step, prep step, V kick (on 1), ragdolls

Four count send out to the lead's left (no triples)

Skip step (not slip slops) for four counts

Swing out + fall off the log variation

Circle

8-beat tuck turn opening a further 90 degrees (instead of sending the follow back out towards the audience, the lead should send her to his left so they are "opened" to the audience).

Over the head on count 7

Both twist feet towards each other and bend down on count 8

Swivelling circle in pairs

On count 7, face the audience

"Step and" to the left for 8 counts

"Step and" to the right for 4 counts

Slide trombone (punch out with the right hand and turn the face towards the audience on counts 5 and 7)

"Step and" to the left for 5 counts

6 down

7 up

8 down

Kick behind (right then left)

Shake your head no (start to the left) for four counts; on 7, follows extend both hands into the air and out

Swing out from close with fall off the log variation (don't grab the hand until count 5!!!)
Circle

Send out jump (try to land on 7)

Points to remember:

1. BOUNCE!!!!!!! It's more important than any amount of capitalisation or exclamation marks could indicate. I think also, this routine calls for a lot of energy. I mean, I know that in general, routines demand high energy, but I just feel that this one requires still more. Also, this is a controlled bounce, not a bounce that's just crazy bouncing. Work those calves... feel the burn.
   
   
2. For the ragdolls, look for the connection with the front of your body.
   
   
3. For the V Kick

• Lift yourself equally with both hands
• Look for the connection with your left shoulder/underarm-ish area
• Ladies, keep that right hand close
• Squeeze the abs! (...feel the burn?)
• Be a ninja!
  
  

Added choreography for Blue Suede Shoes! We did it again tonight and I think I remembered it, although I'm not sure. I'm thinking of bringing a notepad so I can write stuff down asap. This ol' brain o' mine ain't what it used to be... Anyway, this is just what I tried to note last week, but couldn't.

Wait 4 counts

Point to the left

"step and" to the left for 8 counts

"step and" to the right for 8 counts

Kick back right, left, right, left

Pump kick four times (8 counts)

Kick ball change four times (8 counts)

Flea hop with tap back (left) and front (right), twice

I'm pretty excited, because the guys are gonna learn guy flips (see the aerial at this point of this clip) and then we're going to learn how to do the around the world, which looks something like this. Except I'm pretty sure there was more throwing the girl around when we got the demo today.

Finally, another video. It's specifically a moves video. I like them all, prefer the first and third, but if I had to choose, I'd say the top one is the first move. I love the arm catch. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xH4jS-5M0

Monday, Monday, so good to... dance!

We learned a funky move today!
It's the move this link will lead you to (with the crazy turns ending with a pop out).

Things to note:

• Don't get too far away from the guy. It isn't comfortable and it looks bad.
• Keep a downward connection on the guy's hand (he should also be pushing up) as he turns himself under your arm.
• Put your left arm up so you don't end up with T-Rex arms!
• Search for the connection with the guy's right arm on your right waist/back/hip area and don't stop stepping, so that when he sends you out it will really pop!

Then we added some more steps to the choreography for the jailhouse rock and changed some of it, so I'll start from the beginning.

Start leads facing audience

wait upbeat and three counts of 8

Four count pass by (no triples)

Skip step (not slip slops) for four counts

Swing out + fall off the log variation

Circle

8-beat tuck turn opening a further 90 degrees (instead of sending the follow back out towards the audience, the lead should send her to his left so they are "opened" to the audience).

Over the head on count 7

Both twist feet towards each other and bend down on count 8

Swivelling circle in pairs

On count 7, face the audience

"Step and" to the left for 8 counts

"Step and" to the right for 4 counts

Slide trombone

"Step and" to the left for 8 counts

Kick behind (right then left)

Shake your head no (start to the left) for four counts

We also added a few steps to the Blue Suede Shoes choreography

Wait 4 counts

Point to the left

"step and" for 8 counts

...and I don't remember the rest. And it just finished like two hours ago. Man, I must be tired.

I really have to invest in a camera!

No video tonight because I'm super tired. You can watch Max and Annie dance it out up top if you really want. ;)

Oh, and just as an aside, appartently Ardene is doing a 2 for $20 on swing-type sneakers with PERFECT dance soles - no need for duct tape! And I was thinking... there are four girls in the troupe, which is divisible by two... and if we found a nice style that we liked, that would mean that we'd only have to dish out $10 (plus taxes) to have matching shoes! I know, matching shoes are not normally cool, but in a troupe, it works. ;)

Only one tip from last night's class

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

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

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

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

Troupe-adore

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

"two for the show

bam bam" right, left pose

"now" left

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

"cat"

"go"
"but" left step on the spot

1 pump kick right

4 pump kick left

5-8 kick ball change scoot step

1-7 tap left foot

8 bring feet together, bring it up!

1-8 stepping with shoulders

1-7 tap with heel (left first)

8 crank to the right

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

at 4 left heel

ball change *2

ball change with shimmy

1, 4 Elvis knees

1, 3, 5, 7 Elvis knees

lead jive step

lead jive step with slide

step on the spot

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

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

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

A brief history of swivelicious

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

The A Frame

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Trocadero Team!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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