Dances have always been either Lindy Hop events or West Coast Swing events. There have always only been 2 events that cater to both and also feature a “Crossover Room” The Boston Tea Party (which is at the end of this month) and Swinging New England (November). “Crossing over” simply means that both Lindy Hop Dancers and WCS dancers can dance to the music at the same time. The music is on the faster side for WCS and the slower side for Lindy Hop. Maybe 8 years ago I was hanging out with John Festa in the crossover room dancing my ass off with anyone that said yes. This meant Lindy Hoppers, West Coast Swingers, Beginners, Advanced…it didn’t matter because I wasn’t there because of who I was dancing with. I was there for what I was dancing to…Swing Music!
The faster music drew better dancers as the evening wore on and I got to see John Festa dance with Blake Hobby live for the first time. She was light on her feet and elegant…any man that feasts his eyes on Blake has to admit that she is the “Jessica Rabbit” of West Coast Swing. As beautiful as she was with her Elvira Dress slit up to her hip, I was not watching her dance…nope…I was watching John Festa’s feet drive the two of them through a brisket Wilson Picket tune. His feet were splitting the beat in half, quarters, eighths, and yet still were landing in time with the song. In my life, to that point, I had never seen anything like it and I wanted what he had!
As with most Dance events I went to the launch party on Thursday night and danced till 3 am, then Friday night (the night in question) I was out until 4am trying to figure out how to do what John had done just hours prior, so by Saturday I was so sleep deprived that taking every mirror off the walls of my home seemed like a great way to be able to watched my feet in real time as I tried to duplicate what I saw. Thank god that not every mirror was pointed at my feet because what I discovered was if I could make my HIPS move like his my feet followed along…There was no way to get my feet to do it on their own!
During John’s 4 classes this weekend he is going to systematically give you the tools you need to do what he does. There are lots of Pros out there that are pretty amazing to watch but they take/have taken lessons from John or one of his students. Think what you will about my dancing but if you think I have anything going on at all, I owe it to Mr. Festa and his fancy feet!
Saturday Night
$30/2 Classes and the dance 7-8pm
$20/1 Class and the Dance 8-9pm
$10 Just the dance feat. DJ John Festa 9-12:30ish
Longfellow’s Club JoEllen
524 Minuteman Dr off of Boston Post RD
(Rt 20) Wayland, MA
Sunday Night
$20 (both classes)6-6:45 Level 1 WCS lesson w/John Festa
$10 (just this class and the dance) 6:45-7:30pm Level 2 WCS w/John Festa
7:30-? California Mixer w/Mr. J
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!