‘Dance’ Category

  1. The Art Of Dance: It’s incredible how things can change

    November 5, 2015 by Joo-Lee

    Ailsa Victoria Miller, a talented artist and Lindy Jazz dancer, captures the vivid colours of nature beautifully in her work. I’ve been incredibly moved by her dance story and am really excited to share her guest blog with you.

    12191823_1492025141100076_8045022223495444504_n

    I feel so lucky to have turned my life around and have more reasons than most to Keep Dancing!

    I discovered Lindy Jazz when I joined Whey Aye WI, a group aimed at younger women. I went to make new friends and found a new passion, swing dancing! Joo-Lee came to show us the Charleston and I was instantly hooked! A friend agreed to go with me to the Gosforth class and offered to drive. After the first lesson she said it was wasn’t for her and I realised I would have to go on my own. This meant I’d have to overcome some major challenges.

    I’d suffered with stress and anxiety for many years and was unable to do normal everyday tasks like driving and going out on my own. I had been living in a stressful environment with my parents and sister who is bedridden (and has been for many years) with a severe case of M.E. There were other contributing factors too as I’d found out I had arthritis when I was in my twenties. This was an ongoing problem, which meant I had to be on strong medication. To get back into a working environment I volunteered in a Marie Curie charity shop where I dressed the window. This increased my confidence and reawakened my creative side.

    After counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy I was able to do most things again. Driving in busy areas like Gosforth was still something I avoided. I’d found something I really wanted to do and was determined not to let anything stop me, the end result was far too valuable, to be able to swing dance and make some lovely new friends.

    Dancing has completely transformed my life, I’m amazed that now I go out on my own and dance for hours! When I started the class I didn’t know if I’d physically be able to do it. Being on strong medication and needing to be regularly monitored at the hospital. On top of this I often needed to have my knee drained and regular steroid injections. When it was bad I could hardly walk and struggled to get around the house.

    I gained the confidence to use both legs equally (pretty essential in dancing!) and got stronger and stronger. I realised I’d been fine since I started dancing and had not needed any steroid injections etc. I told this to my specialist last October, he said I could try coming off the medication and see how I was. He said I should definitely continue dancing as it could be controlling my arthritis. I’ve now been off all medication for a year and am so happy! I cannot believe the dancing I love to do has actually made me better.

    My confidence has grown massively and I’ve now started my own business as an artist with the encouragement and support of my amazing husband. I’ve always loved colour and it’s therapeutic effect. I’m so uplifted by the vibrant colours of nature and this has been my inspiration. I photograph whatever inspires me and then create pastel drawings capturing the vivid colour and feeling of the subject. My background is in art and design and as I recovered I began drawing again and the glowing colours made me feel better.

    Other people kept commenting on how my artwork had a positive emotional effect on them. This was a revelation and I was amazed that I could make people feel better through my colourful artwork. This encouraged me to want to share my artwork, which is effective both visually and emotionally. I now regularly attend art markets through LoveArtNorthEast who have been very supportive and are an absolute pleasure to work with. I’ve even been part of a Festive Fair at The Biscuit Factory which was a charity event for Children North East. I really enjoy these events and am meeting lots of lovely people all the time. I’ve had some fantastic opportunities and have just been featured in an art journal Sachet Mixte Edition 7.

    It’s incredible how things can change and I appreciate everything! I feel so lucky to have turned my life around and have more reasons than most to Keep Dancing!

    Check out Ailsa’s beautiful art work on her website or Facebook page. The art journal she has been featured in is now available on Amazon – how cool is that!

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | 3 Comments

  2. Push & Shove: How Lindy Hop video clips can be a blessing and a curse

    September 27, 2015 by Joo-Lee

    When watching amazingly fast and energetic Lindy Hop clips on Youtube, it’s easy to assume a number of things. For example, it can look as if the dancers with their ultra fast swingouts are forcibly whirling their partners round then pushing them out, using a lot of arm tension and strength to achieve the impressive results that often inspire us when watching these clips.

    This is all an illusion – in fact, it’s the opposite of what’s really happening. It’s the followers’ momentum and energy that is powering the move and the leader is simply using that momentum, redirecting it. It’s this collaborative effort that makes the move feel and look impressive.

    So if we don’t understand this basic concept of relaxing our muscles, stretching ourselves and releasing our partners at key moments, we can end up pushing and shoving each other. Pushing and shoving is exhausting compared with stretching and releasing. So how do we unlearn the ‘Push and Shove’ habits and discover the exciting possibilities of the ‘Stretch and Release’ techniques that so many of the top dancers use?

    Learn your basics as well as possible. The skills are easier to learn than they look. If you do it by the right path and you practise it well, you will prevent rigidity from setting in. When a dancer dances with stiff, rigid and forceful movements, it can cause their partner to feel the same as we all try to match each other in our connection. Before we know it, we start developing habits that prevent us from dancing fast and limit our improvement.

    Where do we get this idea of pushing and shoving in the first place? When we watch amazing top dancers on YouTube, we feel inspired by them and try to imitate what they do. However, we can make the wrong assumptions that to achieve that impressive move these dancers are using a lot of tension in their arms and body when in fact the opposite is true. They are relaxed most of the time, stretched at times and yes, strong and with some tension when needed, but to use muscle tension all the time throughout a dance will limit our range of movement, and it will block our connection with our partners. By being relaxed and using the right techniques, top dancers are able to lead and follow with instantaneous creativity, focus on the music and enjoy the playfulness of the dance.

    If we want to look impressive like those dancers in those incredible clips, we need to start with the basics, and learn about the mechanics of what’s going on with our own body, and the effect our movements will have on our partners.

    Learning and revisiting basics are key to improving our technique and maximising our enjoyment of the dance. That’s why we encourage everyone regardless of our dance experience to continue seeking out opportunities to practise all the little things that seem simple but will make our dancing much easier and more enjoyable.

    Look out for ideas on how to ‘Stretch & Release’ in my next post.

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  3. A Lindy Life

    August 12, 2015 by Joo-Lee

    Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 17.43.40

    “If I didn’t know you I would have bought a caravan”

    Like many swing dancers, I spend a lot of my time, energy and money on dancing weekends. I am always looking out for the next opportunity to dance.

    Recently a dance friend and I were on a long journey to the Hen Do of, yes you guessed it, another dance friend, when she simply said, “if I didn’t know you I would have bought a caravan”. This got me to thinking, what did I do before I got into dancing? And what would I be doing now if I hadn’t got into dancing?

    So, what did I do? I was a school teacher, so apart from working on weekdays and marking books & writing reports at the weekends, I used to play in musical ensembles and orchestras. I even did some housework and DIY!

    I couldn’t wait for the school holidays, so I could learn to dance and meet like-minded people. In the early 1990s, before there were so many swing camps in the UK or local classes, I used to travel regularly to Edinburgh, London and Sweden to dance.

    And what would I be doing now if I didn’t dance? Perhaps going to fitness classes? There again, would I have become interested in fitness if it wasn’t for dancing? Maybe I would do more D.I.Y, try some martial arts classes or go to the pub.  If I hadn’t got into dancing perhaps I would sit on the sofa every night and watch TV, who knows?

    I cannot imagine a life without dancing. I have met so many wonderful people, been to so many wonderful events, become a lot more aware of keeping healthy and enjoyed so much good music. Sure my social life is a little out of control, my house is not as tidy as I’d like it to be and sometimes I long to have a weekend off… but I wouldn’t change a thing.

    So how about you? What would you be doing now if you hadn’t got into dancing? Email events@lindy-jazz.co.uk and let us know!

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  4. Measuring happiness

    May 13, 2015 by Joo-Lee

    Screen Shot 2015-05-13 at 16.30.55

    Have you ever tried to measure happiness? Is this even possible?

    In 2010, I was given the opportunity to take part in an NHS project called, ‘Arts into Wellbeing’, which required me to do exactly that!

    This fantastic new project enabled target groups to participate in a variety of arts activities, such as dance, music, drama and drawing, for 6 weeks for free. So, I took a leap of faith, put together a proposal and presented it in front of a panel of people from the NHS.

    Dancing makes me happy so the focus of my project was on how swing dancing in a sociable atmosphere can help to make us healthier and happier people. I was over the moon when I received a letter telling me that Lindy Jazz was one of the groups selected to take part!

    I had different groups of people to work with, from carers and parents with children under the age of 5 to anyone with mild health conditions, and each participant had to fill in a questionnaire to assess their level of happiness before and after the 6-week course I’d provided.

    I taught mainly easy jazz steps with some groups taking part in partner dancing. I was able to share the joy of swing music and of dancing to so many people who wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to try it; it was such a great project to take part in.

    When the project ended 18 months later, nearly everyone claimed they felt healthier (although ironically when I was interviewed on BBC Look North about the project I had a bad cough and cold) and happier, with two groups of ladies deciding that they’d like to continue! And so began SwingFitness…

    The ladies were aged between 55 and 75, enjoyed swing music, doing some movement and meeting up with like-minded people for a cup of tea. They found that learning to dance ticked all these boxes and increasing their fitness & flexibility whilst making friends had a positive impact on their lives – now that’s how you measure happiness!

    Five years on there are three SwingFitness groups a week, each lasting one-hour. During this hour we dance through about 18 routines without stopping and although there’s some tuition on movement skills, the main focus is on enjoying the music & dancing. The ladies simply follow my hand signals and silly facial expressions.

    If you’d like to find out more about SwingFitness simply visit our website or check out this short video of one of the Friday morning classes.

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  5. Flattening your fear – Why it’s okay to have two left feet!

    April 17, 2015 by Joo-Lee

     

    Chorophobia

    How do you feel about trying something new? Like dancing?

    Every week new people come along to Lindy Jazz and for many it will be their first experience of trying a dance class.

    It’s often assumed that you need to be a naturally good dancer, have a special talent or previous dance experience to learn to dance as an adult, but this simply isn’t true. Anyone can learn to dance!

    One of the things I love doing most is to teach people who feel they cannot dance. If you’re new to dancing and wondering where to start take a look at my top four fear flattening tips! Hopefully they’ll remove some of the fear and mystique around dance and help get you started.

    1. Gather information

    Ask questions. This may seem obvious but we can waste a lot of time anticipating every possible answer to that question we’re desperate to ask! By contacting the organiser you can get a better idea of what to expect plus lots of other helpful information like what clothes & shoes to wear. Being prepared can make ‘the new’ feel much less daunting.

    2. Start with your comfort zone

    Make it easy! Make it manageable! It’s easy to be put off something new if we “bite off more than we can chew” in the first place. Look out for classes that are for total beginners or beginner-friendly and build up from there. See, I didn’t say stay in your comfort zone I said ‘start’ with it!

    3. Move to the music you love

    It’s harder to dance to music you don’t know or don’t like. So look out for a class that plays music you can connect with, whether it’s pop, latin, jazz or blues. Once you’re more familiar with dancing come out of your comfort zone and try other types of music or styles of dancing, have an open mind, you may find a new love!

    4. Two’s company, three’s definitely not a crowd!

    And in this case the more the merrier! See if a friend will go with you, even if it’s just to the first class, as this may help you to feel more confident. Better still, go with a group of friends & make it a fun and sociable occasion. You don’t need a partner for most dance classes, even if it is a partner dance, but things are often less scary with a comrade.

    From Monday 20 April I’ll be teaching the first regular weekly classes in Lindy Hop & SwingFitness at Dance City and I’m so excited! If swing or jazz is your type of music, you love all things vintage or just fancy a taste of the cheeky Charleston, come and give it a go! Let’s try something new together.

    Find out more about Lindy Hop & SwingFitness at Dance City.

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | 2 Comments

  6. The ‘Dance Clinic’

    December 11, 2014 by Joo-Lee

    Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 12.14.10

    When I was training to be a musician at Birmingham Conservatoire each student was given one-to-one lessons with a specific tutor. Josef Weingarten was well known for being a strict yet transformational teacher and although he was not the tutor assigned to me, his name is one I remember in particular…

    I was curious about the way Josef Weingarten taught his lessons. When he taught his students on a one-to-one basis he issued an open invitation for other students to come and observe… just imagine your peers being invited to watch your private lesson, it was terrifying! These so-called private lessons did have various advantages, aside from encouraging the students to practice.

    Sometimes we can be so focused on ‘doing’ the task that we don’t have time to step back and ‘look’ at it. These students were given the chance to stand back and watch someone else undergo a lesson, which allowed them to identify any corrections that were relevant to their progress and draw lessons for their own improvement.

    In 2015 the Dance Doctor will be offering a series of dance clinics, which will be open to small groups of 6 dancers. The ‘Dance Clinic’ will be an opportunity for you to ‘look’ at your dancing using the mirrored studio provided, learn how the dance should ‘feel’, receive direct feedback from the Dance Doctor, listen to feedback given to other group members and perfect your technique.

    Without feedback our self-awareness is limited and without self-awareness, we can’t begin to improve. Sometimes we don’t need oodles of information, we need a simple awareness session that reveals just one area of improvement. Identifying that one little thing allows us to make an adjustment and could make a big difference to our dancing!

    “I feel that my aim is to become a good swing dancer and to get there I think the only way is to have your technique fine-tuned” Jonny Howe – Dance Doctor client

    So what are you waiting for? Email joolee@lindy-jazz.co.uk for more information and to book your appointment at the ‘Dance Clinic’.

     

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  7. A Balanced Diet

    November 26, 2014 by Joo-Lee

    Jonny

    “I feel that my aim is to become a good swing dancer and to get there I think the only way is to have your technique fine-tuned”

    Jonny Howe has been dancing for around 15-years, attends swing dance classes and workshops regularly and has been taking fantastic photos of Lindy Jazz events and its dancers for as long as we can remember! In June Jonny talked to Joo-Lee about his photography, dancing and… a balanced diet, read on to find out more.

    Photography

    Jonny has always had an interest in photography, saying he frequently takes pictures at family events and is often asked to help out at family weddings. He tries to take his camera with him wherever he goes, just in case “the shot” appears. Being a dancer helps his photography as it allows him to follow the music and movement of the dancers with ease.

    According to Jonny capturing the essence of a dance on camera comes down to patience, knowing the music and taking plenty of shots! “I think by watching the dancers you get used to the movement of them, of how they come together and then go out again and so you know that sometimes they’ll move around and it’s really just waiting for them to”.

    Dancing

    Jonny started dancing Modern Jive, with a hint of Salsa and West Coast Swing along the way, and travelled to out of town venues to learn. When Lindy Jazz started swing dance lessons in Durham he saw this as a good opportunity to dance locally.

    Initially he found changing dance and music styles a bit “frustrating” and “tricky” because of the difference in technique, music and resulting musicality, “when you move into a new dance, you don’t know quite how to move your body and how to move your partner, you can’t quite fully express yourself and you feel you’re not totally dancing to the music”.

    Despite this Jonny now feels he can transfer the skills he’s learnt, particularly in lead & follow where he says “you realise that you can lead your partner with a lot less energy and a lot less force, it’s more straightforward”. He also says swing dancing “seems to be a more relaxed style of dancing”, where you give your partner more freedom.

    Jonny has spent many a Saturday and Sunday at dance weekenders, including DJam, dancing with people from different areas of the country and even world. He says this has inspired him to try new things and not to be scared, “you see that you can be more extrovert and just let the music take you in a different direction”.

    Private Lessons

    Although he attends lessons and weekenders regularly, Jonny began to get frustrated with his progress and so embraced the help of the Dance Doctor. He says this has been a great way to perfect, amongst other things, his swing out technique and connection, “you get a better feeling for the dance with your partner. You can feel the transfer of energy between yourself and your partner as you’re dancing”.

    How does Jonny feel about receiving feedback from the Dance Doctor? He says it’s is all part of the learning process. It’s given him the confidence to dance with other advanced dancers, helped him to feel more comfortable ‘free styling’ throughout a full song and not be conscious of dancing incorrectly, as he can adjust his technique.

    A Balanced Diet

    Jonny feels that private lessons are great as a starting point and alongside regular classes. He says private lessons have given him “insight into the technique and the correct feel of the dance” and the class environment provides time to learn variations, practice, glean inspiration, and generally relax and enjoy being around other dancers.

    Jonny says there’s “not a magic formula and it does take time to sink in before your body starts remembering how to move”. His winning formula seems to be a combination of regular classes, private lessons and weekenders, or a balanced diet!

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  8. “You don’t have to hide in the car texting” – Sarah & John Aitchison

    October 10, 2014 by Joo-Lee

    Sarah and John run Shieldhall, a guesthouse near Wallington Hall. Set on 10 acres of beautiful Northumberland countryside, they live there with their 2 daughters, 12 chickens, 2 dogs and a cat. Sarah and John came to the Dance Doctor with 4 left feet (2 each) and were kind enough to share their experience of learning to swing dance with us.

    boiler2014-1505 copy

    Sarah…

    “Definitely do it, honestly, because nobody could be more nervous or shaky about it than I was. Even if you just try one lesson, you’ve got nothing to lose but so much to gain”

    Sarah grew up in Shieldhall (which became a guesthouse when people kept calling in to ask if they did B&B) and until recently it was home to 4 generations of “fiery redheads”; Sarah’s grandmother, mother, herself and her 2 daughters. She says the last thing she wanted to do was run it but then she “got old” (she’s anything but), married, had children and decided it would be nice! She and John took over about 6 years ago.

    As a child Sarah did Ballet and Scottish Country dancing but was made to feel like she couldn’t dance. The feeling of wanting to dance never really went away and now in her 30’s (I told you she wasn’t old), Sarah has decided to start learning again. Her aim is for herself and John to enjoy social dancing and be able to put music on and just dance.

    It was quite simply a love of Swing dancing and music that drew Sarah to Lindy Jazz but on the first night she came to class, she hid in the car park and didn’t come in! That same night, she sent Joo-Lee a text and after one private lesson she was hooked, “it was like you had a little taste of what you could achieve. It made me think, maybe I’ve got the potential to learn to dance when all those years I thought I couldn’t”

    Sarah’s fond of the funny memories, in particular John’s interpretation of the ‘Mess Around’! However, her best memory is dancing with Joo-Lee and “thinking, I got around the room, that feeling that I’m dancing. Sometimes it all goes to pot because suddenly you think, oh, I’m dancing! But it’s that feeling, they’re definitely the happiest memories”.

    The most unexpected thing for Sarah has been the emotional side of learning to dance. She expected it to be a physical experience but at times has been in fits of giggles or tears, and felt both incredibly happy and sad. “It kind of affects all of you. It’s been revealing about myself, my personality, my confidence, my weaknesses and my strengths”.

    After being told she had no rhythm as a child (I know, how mean is that), Sarah thought it was something she couldn’t learn, that people had natural rhythm and could just dance, or not dance. Now she thinks it’s about self-belief and that, with patience and a good teacher you can find your own rhythm and enjoy dancing. “You don’t have to hide in the car texting… I would say definitely go for it”.

    Sarah is most proud of the fact that dancing has become a way of life for her, that it’s something she and John can do together and that she can now say ‘I go dancing’. She says it’s part of her routine and that if she is away for any length of time she misses it.

    We talked a lot about Sarah’s fears of not belonging and standing out, “often what stops me from dancing is what I think. It’s not my feet, it’s my own fears and anxieties”. Despite it often being overwhelming and difficult, Sarah now feels she has “accepted the fear” and can “choose to override it” and enjoy herself. If you can get through the door it’s not as bad as you think it’s going to be”

     Screen Shot 2014-10-10 at 11.45.04

    John…

    “The advantage of Lindy Jazz is the fact that once you master a few dance moves what you can do is you can mix those moves together in tune with the music that’s been played and you can do it yourself”

    John has worked as a Police Officer for 28 years. During this time he spent 7-years as a mounted policeman, learning to ride specifically for this reason. He finds his job rewarding but is looking forward to ‘retiring’ next year so he can focus on his other full time job, running Shieldhall with Sarah. John enjoys anything to do with the outdoors including cycling, walking and fishing.

    As a couple, Sarah and John were looking for something they could do together. After considering a number of options they agreed on dancing and they’ve never looked back! John says they both enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Their aim is to feel confident and comfortable enough to dance the night away at this year’s ‘Snowball’.

    John says Sarah identified Joo-Lee and Lindy Jazz as a possibility and the reason they’ve stuck with the ‘Dance Doctor’ is because she offered private lessons. At the time they didn’t feel comfortable joining a class but now, with the individual tuition they’ve received, their confidence is growing and they’re feeling happy and relaxed!

    John’s favourite memory comes from when Joo-Lee was demonstrating how Sarah could pick up on signals and subtle movements from her lead, allowing her to dance without a set routine. He was fascinated to find he and Sarah could do this too, “We were literally dancing in synchrony. It was wonderful. We were dancing, I didn’t think we could but we were”. 

    The most unexpected thing for John has been the “beneficial effect beyond just doing the dancing”. John says doing something that they share and enjoy together is “very positive and constructive” and has brought he and Sarah closer together, strengthening their relationship.

    To John Swing Dancing isn’t as structured or restrictive as other forms of dance, “it’s more fluid and it’s certainly, I think, potentially more gratifying”. Although not easy, he says that by mastering a couple of basic steps you can really begin to enjoy dancing. Private lessons have helped to build his confidence and he would encourage others to try it.

    John says he’s most proud that he and Sarah have found something they can share. He says, “life being life, you don’t necessarily have exactly the same interests so the biggest achievement for me, was finding something that we both genuinely enjoy and do together and that for me, that’s great, that’s it”.

    The biggest challenge for John was, “fitting in dancing”. Although he says with the nature of their jobs they’re lucky enough to occasionally find time to themselves in the afternoon, between John’s shifts, Sarah’s guesthouse duties and the school run – where there’s a will there’s a way!

    Do you have a problem with 2 left feet? Why not make an appointment with the Dance Doctor and see what she can prescribe for you! Visit the website for more information.

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  9. Mirror, mirror on the wall…

    September 17, 2014 by Joo-Lee

    Last month we held our third ‘Brush Up’ workshop in a mirrored fitness studio at Healthlands Gym – it was time to take a good look at ourselves and reflect upon our dancing!

    Fourteen dancers signed up to smooth out their dance technique and polish their moves with the hope of achieving a shinier finish… okay, okay, enough of the wordplay.

    In July we talked a lot about feedback and encouraged everyone to ask for feedback and also to carry out ‘self-feedback’. When our ‘Brush Up’ group first entered the studio, what we found interesting was that some people were trying to find a hiding place away from the mirrors! In my opinion there are two thinking habits responsible for this:

     

    Thinking Habit No.1

    “I don’t want to see what I look like.”

     

    Why not?

     

    Cue Thinking Habit No. 2

    “I don’t want to make mistakes.”

    Why not? I believe that we need to change these thinking habits. If we don’t look at ourselves whilst we dance how do we know what looks good, what doesn’t look good or what we’d like to change? If we try to avoid mistakes or are afraid of making them how do we learn from them and improve?

    Mirrors are so useful! Instead of imagining what you look like when you dance just take a look in the mirror and see for yourself. I can guarantee you won’t look as bad as you think and it’s a great way to improve your dancing. If your posture looks bad, for example, then a tweak here and there could make all the difference.

    So, take a look to see what areas you need to “Brush Up” and come along to the next workshop at the Globe, Newcastle.

     

    http://www.theglobenewcastle.co.uk/

     

    http://www.lindy-jazz.co.uk/dance_home/whats_on/workshops.htm

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  10. Progressing with Lindy Levels

    September 11, 2014 by Joo-Lee

    From October 2014 we’re introducing dance levels at Lindy Jazz Club, mainly in Lindy Hop. The reason behind this is so that people can feel clearer about where they are with their own dancing and where they would like to progress to.

    All sorts of things affect our progress when we learn anything, especially with dancing. Recently I read a book called “The Inner Game of Music” where the author talks about a formula called: “Performance equals potential minus interference”.

    We all have a huge amount of potential to be great dancers. Sometimes we go to more workshops in order to increase our level of performance when actually one of the things we can look at is our interference or barriers, things that stop us from learning, such as, time; self-belief; fear and health.

    We’re not judging people’s dance ability from a competitive or performance perspective. We don’t want our dancers to ‘prove’ they’re good at dancing; we just want them to develop an awareness of their own ability, which is the reason we’re bringing in this idea of levels.

    Here are Andy’s thoughts on levels.

    “Every workshop we do helps us with some essential skills, taking us another little step along the way. It’s very easy to think that you can go to a workshop and suddenly go from say a Level B to a Level C but we can’t expect to come out of the workshop elevated in our dancing, or at least permanently elevated, no matter how the workshop has changed us in the short term.

    The thing with advancing in Lindy or any other dance form, I believe, is that it takes solid practice. Most of us have busy lives and we don’t have the time to devote to practicing day in day out, so our progress is actually quite slow. With nicely defined class levels people can have a degree of confidence in knowing where they are in terms of progress”

    As the community grows we need to meet the expectations of different types of dancers. In a partner dance class you are dancing in the rotation, so what’s important to us is that every dancer develops their own clear awareness of where they are, so as not to hold themselves or their partner back.

    If you are, for example, a Level C dancer, you may expect everyone in the Intermediate class to be able to swing-out with a Texas Tommy variation and be expecting to learn further variations. If the teacher then has to explain the swing-out from scratch it could take another hour, by which time there is no time for any variation.

    There is no perfect system. Lindy Hop was a street dance people taught to each other and was never designed as a dance form to be taught in classes. This idea is not designed to make people feel that they are being labelled a ‘good dancer’ or otherwise, it’s about being able to identify where we are with our skill level and then aiming to improve that level and reach our potential.

    So, take a look at the ‘Lindy Jazz Levels’ and see if you can identify all the skills that you already have, the skills you wish to review or any new techniques that will take you to the next level.

    Register your interest in the workshops by emailing info@lindy-jazz.co.uk to be the first to hear about upcoming dates.

    Category Dance | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

Older Entries
Newer Entries