Category: WCS General

The dance is perceived as too hard

Dancing in and of it self is not a hard thing to do. The next time you are around a three year old, put on something with a good beat and watch them move and groove. Their pristine little hard drives have not yet been corrupted by self doubt, self pity, or self consciousness. The only thing that little kid knows how do is move and groove to the beat that is playing. Even though we are secretly jealous that they can dance judgment free and we can’t, we still smile and tell them they are doing great…right? 

Competition can be such a good thing. It can drive us to new heights, help us to push the envelope, and winning helps to build confidence. I am not talking about formal Swing competition i am talking about the drive inside us that pushes a leader to be better than the leaders to his left and right or causes a follower to go for that extra spin when spinning isn’t in her wheel house. 

I would argue that the biggest hurdle I ever faced as a dancer was being able to look at my dancing and be proud of my self. Sure there is a “metric shit ton” (its a technical WCS term) of better dancers in the world than little old me. Each and everyone of them had to go through the same process though. No one can love your dancing if you don’t love it first. You can’t love your own dancing if you have not done at least something everyday to make it better. You can not be the best you can be without first putting in the time and practicing.

That’s right I just went full circle and brought it all back to practice. Although practice can’t really produce a perfect product because we are all human, it can produce the seed for justification of something that we all need in order to cross over that looming great divide into “elite” status….Pride in our own accomplishment!   

What makes this dance so difficult is that it requires more time than other dances to “feel” proficient. The “feel” part is different for everyone because everyone feels the need to practice for different amounts of time. If you can put in 5 solid, uninterrupted minutes of solo practice, per day, you will find this dance to be much more manageable!

 

Here is what is happening this weekend:

 Friday Night (beginner night…lots of basics and drills to take you to the next level)

$10

7:30 – 8:15pm Lesson

8:15 – ? Social Dance Practice

DNE School of Dance
78 Princeton St
N. Chelmsford, MA

Saturday November 8th

2 West Coast Swing Workshops

with

Kirsten Obermiller

7:00 – 8:00 All level –  Clear, comfortable, and connected: the secret to closed dance position for all levels

  

8:00 – 9:00 Slick syncopation and timing tricks: musicality prep for intermediate and above – Intermediate West Coast Swing

  

Intermediate Workshops $30/2, $15/1 includes dance

8:00 – 9:00 Beginner West Coast Swing Lesson with Mr Jonathan

  

9:00 – 12:30  West Coast Swing Dance with DJ Mr Jonathan

  

Beginner Lesson $10 includes dance

Dance only $10

Kirsten is one of my favorite followers to dance with…she is so worth taking lessons from that I am hiring her next month to teach for me at DNE! 

 

To reiterate, for this article only, an Elite dancer is someone who can recognize a patten quickly and be proficient at said pattern in a very short amount of time. Think back to your high school or college years when you took that first foreign language class. There were the kids that were good at remembering the information from that “cram session” the night before, and then there were the kids that learned how to think in the foreign language (when I was in high school spanish these were the dudes who impressed the spanish ladies on our class trip to Spain). Is learning a new dance so different from learning how to converse in a foreign language? 

The only way  to be proficient in anything you must to be able to think in that activity. The only way you can “think in swing”  is to put in your time by your self and master your footwork. Larry Bird once nailed 30 3pt shoots in a row at a shoot off in the late 80’s. He was the first Celtic on the court before practice and the last to leave after practice. Nobody worked harder off the competition court than he did and no one could make it look as easy as he did until Michael Jordan came along…the only man willing to work harder than Bird.

There are two ways to transition into that “elite” status “pay to play” or “blood, sweat, and tears.” I see people in the chat rooms talking about how if you want to get good you hire top pros and pay them for private lessons. That is certainly one way to go about it. The other way is to study your self dancing in the mirror. Be you own critic. Record your self dancing and analyze what you like and what you don’t. Watch YouTube videos of pros you think look like the dancer that you see your self becoming. Think about your dancing while you are on your lunch break. Listen to music that makes you want to dance…Live it…Breath it…and Be it! 

As a side bar if you pick the “blood, sweat, and tears” route you will never enjoy dance more than you will on your journey. Notice I didn’t say you will never enjoy it more once you arrive. There is no arrive! Its a journey you will be on for the rest of your life. However, nothing in your life will give you the same high as a great dance, to a great song, with a great partner…Nothing!

Coming soon to my news letter will be the “real” story behind what happened to swing music, why “Top 40” is being pushed back out, and when swing will see its resurgence…Stay tuned!

 

Here is what is happening this weekend:

 Friday Night

$10

7:30 – 8:15pm Lesson
8:15 – ? Social Dance Practice
DNE School of Dance
78 Princeton St
N. Chelmsford, MA

As I travel from venue to venue teaching, DJing, and dancing just for fun, I have notice that we are turning over an awful lot of dancers. Even at my own dances the faces seam to change all too quickly and it has given me pause to think about why that is. These next couple of weeks I am going to touch on some topics that most people on the “inside” are not comfortable discussing. They need to be talked about and so I am going to bring them up. If you disagree with my thoughts or have thoughts of your own, I welcome yours. Simply reply and I would love to hear from you.

There is no dance this week as I will be traveling with the Radio Show. Next week we will pick up where we left off and I hear through the grape vine that some old friends will be joining us on Friday the 24th…I for one can’t wait!

Sunday Night 

$10

6-6:45 2-Step lesson w/Mike and Donna

6:45-7:30pm WCS w/Mike and Donna

7:30-? California Mixer w/Steel

Longfellow’s Club JoEllen

524 Minuteman Dr off of Boston Post RD

(Rt 20) Wayland, MA

Leadership is the manipulation of energy. 

Following is the embodiment of energy.

Connection is the tie that binds the two together.

Mr. Jonathan

www.MrJonathanIsMyDJ.com

603 475 1391  

Dance on! 

This weekend I got some advanced notice that a couple of my favorite swing friends are going to be in the area on Friday night and they plan on swinging by to get their dance on! Also I am DJing this Sunday night at Longfellow’s Club JoEllen…So basically my entire weekend will be filled with Joy, Music, and of course Dance!

Here is What the Weekend Looks like:

Friday  

$10

Lesson 7:30-8:15 

Dance 8:15-?

DNE School of Dance

78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, Ma

If you are looking for a place to dance on Saturday night Longfellow’s is hosting a World Champion Instructor:

Saturday October 11th

2 West Coast Swing Workshops

with

World Champion

Reisa Alexander! 

7:00 – 8:00 All level – Improving Your WCS With Connection

  

8:00 – 9:00 Snazzy Patterns & Styling – Intermediate West Coast Swing

  

Intermediate Workshops $30/2, $15/1 Both lessons includes admission into the dance

8:00 – 9:00 Beginner West Coast Swing Lesson with Steele Shane

  

9:00 – 12:30  West Coast Swing Dance

  

Beginner Lesson $10 includes dance

Dance only $10