Mr. Jonathan’s World

Longfellow Club’s Myke Farricker lost his bother to ALS about 10 years ago. He and his friends have been running a bike ride fund raiser to raise money to help fight this terrible desease. The ride starts out at the Longfellow Club in Wayland and extends for 5,10, and 20 miles. To ride you do have to make a donation. If anyone wants to take part in the ride please let me know and I will get you the information. I am DJing the event as you can see from this video (which you do not need Facebook to view: MY ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE VIDEO For every like, comment, and share I will donate $1 worth of DJ to this awesome event. Here is what is happening this weekend!  Friday  (Pizza Party) $10 Lesson 7:30-8:15  Dance 8:15-? DNE School of Dance 78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, 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!

This weekend there is a country/WCS event in Newton and as a result there is no other dancing happening so no dance Friday at DNE, Saturday at Longfellows, or Sunday at Longfellows. Here is a link with information about the event:

New England Dance Festival

One last thing:

I am in a blogging contest on the radio show. If you have 10 extra seconds please go to this link and vote me up because I am getting creamed!

The Blog Off

See you all in

In 2 weeks:

Friday  (Pizza Party)

$10

Lesson 7:30-8:15 

Dance 8:15-?

DNE School of Dance

78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, 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! 

The title of this post is borrowed from the title of a book that I am reading that is opening my eyes when it comes to managing the people who work for me. I was reading this week and a line stood out to me as extremely useful as a tool for teaching dance.

“People (leaders and followers) primarily respond, not to what we do but, to how we are being”

Sometimes quotes come across so deep that we miss what is right in front of us. To me its about the difference between two realities…What “should” be happening and what “is” happening. To put this in dance context I want you to think for a moment how you approach leading or following. At first they both seem like something that you should be “doing”, but according to the quote if leading or following are something that we are “doing” we can’t get a prime response from our partner. Simply put, if you set out to lead or follow someone through a pattern you are making the pattern the thing of value rather than the person and the relationship you have with them. People who are the most effective leaders and followers do not put their focus on the patterns themselves, rather they focus on their relationship with the person on the other end of their connection.

When leaders and followers set out to lead or follow a pattern, they learned in class, they are responding to what “Should” be happening in the pattern. They can’t help but questioning  them self, their partner, and wind up disregarding the energy that they aught to be sharing. There is no room in that partnership for musicality, playfulness, or give and take. In this example the dance becomes a very sterile environment where it can be extremely scary to take chances because there is no relationship to rely on if something goes wrong.

As we learn and grow in dance our attention should be shifting from what “should” be happening, which implies a right and a wrong way of doing things, to what “is” happening in real time. My theory is that if we are responding to what “Is” happening we are dancing in the now with our partner. It is then that we put the most value on the relationship we have with him or her. There is give and take, balance, and even room for the song to play a role in that dance. There is no right or wrong and there is no concept of “fault”. You are taking everything as it comes and should you take a risk, your partner has your back because they are also tuned in to what “Is” happening in real time. 

This week we are exploring what “is” happening on Friday down stairs in the Cafe and then on Saturday upstairs in the main ballroom. My lovely and talented wife will be co-coaching the West Coast Swing class with me so you are all in for a treat!

This Friday  (Pizza Party)
$10
Lesson 7:30-8:15 
Dance 8:15-?
DNE School of Dance
78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, Ma

This Saturday
$15 Dance and Lesson
Lesson 7-8:00pm
Dance 9-11
DNE School of Dance
78 Princeton St. Chelmsford, 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! 

That is right…I am back and boy have I missed swing! It would be nice if I could say that I am well rested but I can’t, in fact I am quite tired, Jet lagged, and a little dehydrated (they are not kidding when they talk about that dry heat). I got up yesterday at 7 am worked the trade show floor, then broke down our booth, then flew the red eye over night, and I let my two employees go home to get some rest while I worked all day in the store. Its 9pm and I am writing to remind everyone that we have a lessona nd dance tomorrow night (Friday). While I was at dinner I heard (of all things) a couple of new swing songs that I can’t wait to share with you all!

This Friday  (Pizza Party)

$10

Lesson 7:30-8:15 

Dance 8:15-?

DNE School of Dance

78 Princeton St.

Chelmsford, 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!

Its been 6 months since I told everyone about the Grampy Challenge. Make someone smile every single day!

When anyone passes the best parts of them are elevated and the worst parts are forgotten because that is how our brains are wired to deal with the grief caused by losing a loved one. So after weeks of trying to think of just one part of my grandfather that I didn’t care for I am happy to report that my brain is dealing with my grief normally. There isn’t one thing that I regret about my time with him.

His love for good music, dancing, and making people smile helped to mold me into the man I am today and I hope that I am passing that love on to my students, friends, and family that may or may not not have been so lucky as to have met my Grampy. Although nothing can make the pain of missing him go away completely, I do find solace in the fact that I try to be more like him every chance I get.

This week I will be in Las Vegas buying cigars (one of his favorite passions) partially because its my job and partially because cigars bring smiles to people who smoke them and I can facilitate many smiles by bringing the right cigars into Two Guys Smoke Shop. Since I can’t be in two places at once there will be no class at DNE this Friday and Donna Shea will be covering my classes at Longfellow (Cha-Cha and Night Club 2-Step) this Sunday night. She and her partner Mike will bring smiles to your faces so I am covered double!