Better West Coast Swing Dancers Dance More

 

Why do Better West Coast Swing Dancers Dance More? I was exchanging emails with a swing friend and at the same time responding to one of the Swing discussion chat pages on facebook and the same topic came up in both “Better dancers don’t dance with us beginner dancers.” This is one of those age old arguments that gets stirred up with each batch of newer dancers.

Who is to blame?

If you are sitting out dance after dance the blame falls solely on your own shoulders. If you finish one dance and make it off the floor without asking someone else to dance perhaps you have the wrong expectations. Humans live their lives on a risk/reward system that works a lot like the songs I play when I DJ. No matter how good a song performed one time, it can’t replace the song that works for me every time. There are just a handful of tunes that I will play every time I see them on a list. Every dancer has 3-5 partners that they have shared enough dances with to not let them walk off the floor if they are in close enough proximity.

What to do

As a newer dancer (and I mean rank beginner wishing to be as good as the leaders with two left feet) I almost never left the floor. When I asked someone to dance I explained that I was a beginner and let them know that they could leave the dance floor half way through if I was being a burden. My focus was on developing my basics into second nature by dancing with dancers that were better than I was because they had so much to offer me.

At the time I had very little to offer those more advanced dancers or so I thought. It turns out that once I had my basics down cold I was able to add a value to my partners dancing that most of the leaders above my level (not counting the pros) could not…The added value was play time! Good solid basics have lots of room for playing with the music. Leaders and followers, it turns out, do not mind “dancing down” a level or two especially when it means they have the opportunity to embellish their dancing with a little play time.

The morals of this article are:

If you want to dance more, dance more

Your job is to value your dancing enough to want to dance up a level or two

Give your partner a good dance by knowing your basics

Try not to leave the floor without asking someone else to dance right away

New England Dance Festival

New England Dance Festival

This year New Englands only Country, Ballroom, and WCS event, New England Dance Festival, turns 10! Follow the link for details on who is doing what and when. The one party you have to check out in the Thursday night opening bash with Dean Garish. Dean and I share the same philosophical approach to music. We both listen to a song and ask “Does this song make me want to dance?” first then “Which dance can be done to it?” Lots of DJs jam boring songs down your throat because the meet the technical requirements for a particular dance. With Dean at the helm we will dance ALL night long!

Debby Monk Returns to Longfellows in September!

Keep your calendar open for September 8th as my wife and I will be splitting the duties of the night. She has a bad ass figure to teach and I just found some new music that we have on repeat in our home as we dance through the day.

Saturday, September 8th

$20
8pm WCS Lesson W/DebbyMonk
9pm-? WCS Dance W/DJ Mr. Jonathan
Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Boston Post Rd
Wayland, MA

 

 

Sunday August 11th
$15
California Mix Dance
6:30pm Night Club Two-Step Mr. Jonathan
7:00pm  WCS Mr. Jonathan
7:30-11ish DJs Mr. Jonathan

Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Boston Post Rd
Wayland, MA

Take Time To Take Time

Take Time to Take Time

Independence Day means a lot to many people, myself included. One of the things it means is that I get to spend time with one of my favorite people…My younger brother. We grill together, we enjoy cigars together, and we ride our dirt bikes together. Its always fun and we have amassed quite the collection of memories over the years.

This year I started a new tradition quite by accident. I locked my phone in my car for the entire visit at first it was so I wouldn’t loose it on the trails. Later it was that my car was too far away to justify breaking the conversation. By the end of our 4pm lunch I had enjoyed not being beholden to the devise so much that I left it were it was.

On one hand I could make the argument that my phone doubles as my camera and I could be documenting the afternoon with pictures and videos. The flip side is that it also has too much other stuff (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) that may tempt me away from such a special time. By days end I had interacted so much more with those around me that my brother let me know that for some reason this 4th of July seemed different in such a good way.

July has 3 or so weeks left and I plan to make the most of them and my interactions with those around me. The phone is staying in the car as much as it can while I am busy living.

Is anyone down to try this experiment with me? Don’t tell anyone that you are doing it. Leave the phone behind/in the car. Take an active roll in conversations, make eye contact, and experience the life that is around you…In other words Take Time to Take the Time! See if anyone notices that the experience has been enriched.

Leveraging and Compressing Your Partnership

Deb and I are very excited to be teaching this Saturday and Sunday at Longfellows. West Coast Swing has two basic energies. One is leverage or leaning away from each other and the other is compression or leaning toward each other. They each have their importance in the dance.

Leverage gets us started on nearly every pattern. Without leverage you are line dancing next to or in front of your partner while holding their hand. This “away” energy often referred to as “V-frame,” can only be accomplished if both partners are on the same page. Saturday at 7pm Deb and I will get you on that page!

Compression, in WCS, happens less often but in a much more dynamic way than Leverage. It too relies on you and your partner being on the same page but it also requires more commitment and trust to really hit maximum power effectively. This “Toward” or “A-Frame” is what gives this dance its flair. Get Dynamic with Deb and I at 8pm.

Friday Night May 11th
WCS With Tessa Antolini
$10
Beginner WCS 7:45pm
Intermediate WCS 8:30pm
Social Dancing 9:30pm
Forte Dance
123 Muller Rd.
Burlington, Ma

Saturday May 12th

WCS With Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan (Debby Monk)
7-8pm All Levels Leveraging Your Partnership ($20 Both lessons and dance)
8-9 Intermediate Compressing  Your Partnership ($15 this lesson and dance)
9-12am $10 DJ Mr. J
Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Boston Post Rd
Wayland, MA
Sunday May 13th
$20
California Mixer
6:00pm Two-Step Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan
6:45pm  WCS Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan
7:30-11ish DJs Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan

Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Boston Post Rd
Wayland, MA

Tessa, Larry, and Mr. Jonathan Oh My!

Friday, Sept 8th, 2017 (tonight)

Its the  Mr. Jonathan Show at Tessa’s Forte Friday Fun Night. She has come down with a high fever and does not want to infect the dance community. She will be home resting while we swing our butts off! I have a new 32 count pattern cycle that is easy and fun to dance. Plus over these last few years a great new partner passing WCS game, centered around the very patterns you will learn, has surfaced…Be prepared to be dancing (and possibly rolling) in the isles after this one of a kind experience!

$10

Beginner WCS 7:45pm
Intermediate WCS 8:30pm
Social Dancing 9:30pm
Forte Dance
123 Muller Rd.
Burlington, Ma
Saturday, Sept 9th, 2017

$10
8pm Intermediate Lesson W/Larry Mongeau
9pm -12ish General Dancing DJ Larry Mongeau
Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Boston Post Rd
Wayland, MA
Sunday Sept 10th, 2017

6:30 – 7:00 PM Intermediate 2 Step with Mr. J

7:00 -7:30 PM Intermediate WCS with Mr. J

7:30 – 10:30 or 11PM Country Mix Dance with Mr. Jonathan

(Music will be a mix of Country, Ballroom, and WCS until we run out of people!)

$15 any lesson (s) includes dance
$15 Dance only