Mr. Jonathan’s World

Friday Night was an awesome see of white under the black lighting. This weekend is action packed as well. We are digging deeper into last week’s pattern…Don’t worry, if you missed last week you will still be able to handle this class no problem. If you were there last week you will certainly be able to add to your level of proficiency when it comes to this week’s pattern…I for one can’t wait!

Saturday is the West Coast Swing Kick off party for the year at Longfellow’s Club JoEllen. This is their second biggest swing dance for the whole year so come early and stay late! Yours truly is both the instructor and the DJ so there will be no rush to leave (last year we rocked out till 1:30am). 

Sunday night I am also pulling double duty as instructor and DJ. I have heard from lots of students and this will also be a rather large turn out. Everybody dances with everybody so don’t worry if your partner bails on you…there are lots more to chose from!

What is happening this weekend:
 

Friday  

$10

Lesson 7:30-8:15 

Dance 8:15-?

DNE School of Dance

78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, Ma

Saturday Night WCS Kick Off Dance

$10

8-9pm WCS

9-? WCS Dance

Longfellow’s Club JoEllen

524 Minuteman Dr off of Boston Post RD

(Rt 20) Wayland, MA

Sunday Night 

$10

6-6:45 2-Step lesson

6:45-7:30pm WCS

7:30-? California Mixer

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! 

Last week we talked briefly about how scary it can be to let the music “in”. We dance for the pattern so much that it almost doesn’t matter what song is playing. Sure a hot jam will get more people to walk the ten feet to the floor with their partner , but once the “dancing” starts the eyes drop to our partner’s feet and the focus shifts to the last thing that matters to the top 10 couples in WCS…The Pattern!

Thats right…The very people who make their living traveling the world teaching patterns almost never have one in mind on count “1”. The fact is most of what you see on Youtube is a surprise to the people that are dancing. Of course they have their “default” patterns for when the music or the partner isn’t ready for something big to happen, but not one of them is thinking about how they are going to work in that “cool guy” or “hot chic” move they taught in the workshop. What they ARE doing is having a conversation with each other through leveraging and compressing energy in time with the music so that they can relay what they think the song is saying both to each other and to their audience. Here is a video that opened my eyes to the possibilities of lead and follow dancing.

I don’t know about you but I for one, was scared to death to let the music “in”. Pattern after pattern I chased this crazy dream that if I could just get 30 or so “wow” moves I could move up the ranks in WCS and be the next John Festa. Have you ever watched John dance? If not either click HERE or search him out on youtube and check out some of his Jack and Jill footage from the late 90’s and early 2000’s. You will find that he is a complete slave to the beat! His patterns are barely above intermediate and yet you will also find that it is hard to take your eyes off of his dancing (unless he is dancing with Blake Hobby in which case you will be able to pry away the eye for a moment at a time). He doesn’t dance to the pattern, he doesn’t dance to his partner, and he certainly doesn’t dance to the audience…he dances to the song that is playing…the hotter it is the hotter he dances period!

This is “reverse psychology” week here at Mr. Jonathan Is My DJ dot com so instead of doing another musicality class I am going to preach one thing and teach another in hopes of tricking you into focusing on the music. This week’s pattern is the “finger spin” and it as dirty as it sounds…no not really…The leaders will learn to prep a spin (not a turn) for the follower. The follower’s will learn how to take their spinning skills from once around to twice, twice to thrice, and so on…oh and by the way, all while staying on one foot! No matter who you are, you can learn how to double your skills in this area with little to no real effort. There is a definite method to this whole thing so please don’t miss out! 

Tonight

Youth Storm Fund Raiser

Captain’s Lady III

$20 7-10pm

54R Merrimack St.

Newburyport, Ma