Week One

Hello Dancers,

Each week I will post the highlights of what we covered in class. This is not meant to be a dance manual or a substitute for attending class. Instead, it is here to help you remember what we worked on between classes.

We started with our risk statements, policies, and paperwork. I briefly discussed my experience dancing and competing as well as my approach to teaching dance.

The warm up is the most important part of any dance class – it is the time when dancers learn to use their bodies in new ways. In addition to promoting greater leg and back strength, general flexibility, and avoidance of injuries, we will develop numerous isolations and greater coordination.

Dance classes in other genres of dance – Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, African – all begin with a comprehensive warm up. Partner dancing (ballroom dancing) is another dance discipline equally as involved as those I just mentioned, yet a warm up is frequently missing from many ballroom dance classes. In the ballroom classes and workshops I have taken over the years, participants get through more material more quickly and with greater satisfaction in those classes that began with a comprehensive warm up.

I believe in teaching people how to dance, not just teaching how to reproduce steps, patterns, and figures. It takes a little bit of time to lay this foundation, but it is time well spent. People can learn to be good leads and good follows. Both are skills that people can develop.

The lead’s role is to define space. The follow’s role is to decide how and when to occupy space. Partner dancing is a dialogue between two people – each person voluntarily participating in the activity, dancing together. The lead does not tell the follow what to do!

We worked on what I called the “friction connection” – not too hard, not too soft, just right – and that each person is responsible for building and maintaining the connection.

We used the friction connection to begin moving around the room – simply at first and then adding turns. Leads turn their own bodies by creating space under the contact point and moving their bodies through the space. Follows turn when the leads create space that goes in a circle.

We began to describe the three socially acceptable regions of contact – I referred to them as “arm level”, “shoulder level”, and “waist level”.

By the end of the class, we began dancing the “box” pattern to Waltz music. We built the box from simple movement principles – moving forward or backward, moving sideways, and bringing our feet together – changing weight from one foot to the other with each movement.

The leads were actually leading. The follows were actually following. Learning to lead and follow from the very beginning of learning to dance, I believe, promotes greater understanding of dancing and ultimately allows you to dance creatively and expressively.

I end each class session with a review, in the form of a question. “What is something useful or interesting you learned today?” Everyone gets a chance to answer, because sometimes the best observations and really good insights can come from your fellow classmates.

Week Two

We have a small summertime class that will allow for a lot of individual attention. However, please talk to me (or email me) early in the semester if there is something about class that you would like me to address.

We reviewed the material from last week, including the friction connection, using parallel feet (vs turned-out or turned-in), creating a good frame, and moving/moving into space.

In the warm up, we also began to work on balance challenging movements that we will soon use in all of the Smooth dances. (Scroll farther down this page to the “Comments” section for a brief definition of “Smooth”.)

Building on the box from last week, we developed enough figures (aka moves, steps, or patterns) to travel around the room.

We had a Left Turning Box (someone’s left foot moves forward on the first beat of the measure), a Right Turning Box (someone’s right foot moves forward on the first beat of the measure), and a Progressive Basic (which consists of a series of forward moving or backward moving box fragments).

We will use these components, along with others, to create even more figures and to learn more dances in the weeks ahead.

Week Three

Today we welcomed a new participant in the class. We reviewed everything we worked on in the last two weeks.

Still, we added new material. We learned to separate from a Closed dance position to an Open dance position and how to do a Two-Way Under Arm Turn. All of this involves good timing and good use of space. That is, we need to initiate the various elements involved at just the right time in order to lead this figure well. Follows need to be confident that the Leads know what to do and when to do it, thus the Leads need to actually know what to do and when to do it.

Leads and Follows create more space between each other by mutually separating from their contact point, and conversely reduce the space by mutually closing the distance between their contact point.

We ended with an important notion – that it is still possible to lead/follow a box even when in and Open dance position.

Week Four

The warm up today involved the balance and control “step-point” exercise (done to “Fever”). Mastering that exercise is important for doing a number of different movements and turns.

After reviewing what we know in Waltz, we converted those figures to the Fox Trot. Instead of “1-2-3″, it is “Slow-ly-Quick-Quick” (or half-note quarter quarter for the musicians).

We worked on the lead holding a solid and readable frame (but not rigid or tense) so that the follow can expand into the space the lead is defining. The hand on the follow’s back is for the follow to use. The follow expands (not leans or pulls) into the lead’s hand, thus completely filling the space. Being able to do this means your dance moves can happen more confidently.

To end the class (and to answer the request for learning an improvisational dance), we began to work on Argentine Tango. Argentine Tango is an improvisational dance that consists of walking and turning. Sounds pretty straight forward, but learning the mutual partner awareness is the tricky part.

We worked on “Two-Track” and “Four-Track” (aka “Outside Partner Dance Position”), as well as a “Forward Ocho”. More importantly, we were learning to distinguish weight-changing movements from turning movements, or simply “weight change, rotate, weight change, rotate”, or even more simply “step, turn, step, turn”.

Being able to clearly lead these two types of actions separately means follows will be able to move confidently (either turning in response to rotation, or changing weight to the other foot – or not changing weight at all).

We are half way through the summer session now. We will continue to build on the concepts and figures we have already started developing.

On Friday, 17 July 2009 we will be attending (as a class) the social dance organized by the college ballroom dance association. See the website for UWMBDA for event details, cost, and location.

Week Five

The moves that we learn in class are designed so that leads and follows recognize important aspects of partner dancing. Anyone can “do the steps” – it takes a dancer to be able to lead/follow.

Today we learned the Front-to-Front and Back-to-Back. It was the move that quite elegantly moves down the dance floor. It requires using an Open Dance Position as well as leading and following a clear indication as to which direction to face and to travel.

We also introduced Side Hesitations (the move that takes one step to the side – either side – and hold for the remainder of the measure) and the Promenade Dance Position. I described it like opening a hard cover book without breaking the binding. The leads must rotate a little bit and give more space in order for the follows to feel the transition from Closed Dance Position to Promenade Dance Position.

The Twinkle happens from Promenade Dance Position – the lead and the follow more the inside feet and drift back to closed dance position.

We worked on how to follow with greater power and control. The follow creates the friction connection not only with the hands that connect, but also with the follow’s shoulder blade into the lead’s right hand. The follow gets to use the lead’s hand. The lead clearly defines the space, and the follow fills the entire space.

It is possible to create ballroom wrestling by over doing this connection. Remember, we need a friction connection, not a Crazy-Glue connection.

Week Six

Instead of working exclusively with Waltz, we danced most of our class today to Fox Trot.

The music is distinctly different – Waltz is in three-four time and Fox Trot is in four-four time, but the figures we worked on are exactly the same. It is the timing that is different.

In Fox Trot, we count “Slow-ly Quick Quick”. For the musicians in class, the Slow-ly count happens during the first half of the measure (the 1-2), and the Quick Quick happens during the second half (the 3 4).

We reviewed the Front-to-Front and Back-to-Back as well as how to finish that move (drift to Promenade Dance Position and finish with a Twinkle).

At the end of class, we came back to Argentine Tango. I would like to devote more time in the next two classes to this fantastic dance.

Week Seven

So far in class, we have worked on a lot of fundamentals – how to lead and follow, left and right boxes, progressive basics, twinkles, hesitations.

Today we developed a practice sequence that used many of our fundamental moves. We also started deliberately travelling around the dance floor (the Line of Dance).

We worked heavily on the Right-Turning Box and how to transition between the Progressive Basic and the Right-Turning Box.

Week Eight

Can you believe that this is our last class. The summer has gone so fast.

In addition to reviewing our practice pattern from the previous week – doing it in both Waltz and Fox Trot – we worked on making the Progressive Basic more accurate. We focused even more energy on the Right Turning Box.

We also began exploring the other basic pattern in Fox Trot (S S Q Q). We did the Zig Zag or W-Step, as well as a Rock Turn to the Left.

As a final sampler, we learned the Nightclub Two Step (which is different from the Country Two Step, which uses figures that more closely resemble Fox Trot).

The Nightclub Two Step is a slow-to-moderate-tempo dance that uses figures from Salsa and Waltz.

I hope everyone had a great time in our summer class. I know I did. I look forward to seeing everyone at social dances (and maybe even competitions).