This is a very quick post about "Jack and Jill" competitions. As we will be holding one at our upcoming Grad Dance I thought I'd post some information about what you can expect.
For a J&J comp, you don't enter as a couple, you enter as an individual. Then you are matched with random partners who you will dance with at varying tempos. Usually, the first few rounds you are judged as an individual, and then in the final round you are judged as a couple.
J&J comps are great because you don't know who you'll be dancing with, what song it will be, and what you can come up with! Judges are looking for connection with your partner, musicality, energy and enthusiasm.
ANY LEVEL can enter, and it's really just about having a load of fun and meeting new people!
Because the next Grad Dance on July 7th is movie themed, there may be a few songs in there you wouldn't expect......you register when you arrive so make sure you're on time!
Here is a video of the mixed levels Jack and Jill comp at Swing Camp Oz 2011, you may recognise a few Swing Sesh faces in there, including yours truly dancing with David Walton (we placed 2nd...yee!).
Most of all, HAVE FUN!!!!
Here is another video of some professionals getting silly in a Jack and Jill...
Quite a bit of silliness can happen...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Stuff I need to work on and what I intend to do about it
It's time for my confessional....
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So I just got back from an amazing weekend of dancing at Melbourne Swing Festival, and like any time I throw myself into some hardcore workshops, I came away with a list of things I want to work on in my dancing. No matter what level your dancing is at, you always have something to learn...and boy do I have a lot!
So I thought I'd share with you guys two things I want to work on in my dancing and how I intend to do it!
1) Articulating my footwork
I tend to have a habit to have muffled footwork, especially at higher tempos. If you're body is a representation of the music, then I feel like sometimes my feet cause that annoying static you get on the radio! The one thing in common in all the top notch dancers that I love is that there footwork is super clear and not slippy or shuffly unless done out of necessity/styling. Sometimes my feet tend to slip around a bit, and when the music picks up, my footwork gets a little lazy, even though I don't cut out my steps.
In order to remedy this, I reckon I need to drill doing various footwork patterns around my place at different tempos, and playing around with the different levels of clarity you can get with your feet. I have also recently started taking tap classes, which I think might help, because you need clear footwork in tap to get the distinct sounds. This also ties in to the next thing I want to work on....
2) Rythym changes
We did an amazing workshop with Nina Gilkenson and Mike Faltesek that was all about different footwork rythyms, and playing around with rythym styles taken from the music and put into our feet. Man, I found this class HARD. I can change my footwork around, but usually my stylings will keep a swung rythym. We were working on stuff outside of that rythym, and although I got it in the end it made me realise I need to work on this stuff!
I think tap classes will help a WHOLE bunch with this. Even the basic steps in tap have lots of fun footwork rythyms that I think could work great in Lindy Hop. The sounds also help me feel like I'm a part of the band too, which is an awesome feeling. I also intend to play around with rythym concepts more in my practicing.
These are just the two new things I have recently added to my long list, which includes responding quicker to frame changes, allowing hips to create rotation instead of shoulders, swivelling as bad-ass as Nina Gilkenson, aerials, and so on....
Lindy Hop is a bottomless rabbit hole of awesome technique to work on. I love it!
So I just got back from an amazing weekend of dancing at Melbourne Swing Festival, and like any time I throw myself into some hardcore workshops, I came away with a list of things I want to work on in my dancing. No matter what level your dancing is at, you always have something to learn...and boy do I have a lot!
So I thought I'd share with you guys two things I want to work on in my dancing and how I intend to do it!
1) Articulating my footwork
I tend to have a habit to have muffled footwork, especially at higher tempos. If you're body is a representation of the music, then I feel like sometimes my feet cause that annoying static you get on the radio! The one thing in common in all the top notch dancers that I love is that there footwork is super clear and not slippy or shuffly unless done out of necessity/styling. Sometimes my feet tend to slip around a bit, and when the music picks up, my footwork gets a little lazy, even though I don't cut out my steps.
In order to remedy this, I reckon I need to drill doing various footwork patterns around my place at different tempos, and playing around with the different levels of clarity you can get with your feet. I have also recently started taking tap classes, which I think might help, because you need clear footwork in tap to get the distinct sounds. This also ties in to the next thing I want to work on....
2) Rythym changes
We did an amazing workshop with Nina Gilkenson and Mike Faltesek that was all about different footwork rythyms, and playing around with rythym styles taken from the music and put into our feet. Man, I found this class HARD. I can change my footwork around, but usually my stylings will keep a swung rythym. We were working on stuff outside of that rythym, and although I got it in the end it made me realise I need to work on this stuff!
I think tap classes will help a WHOLE bunch with this. Even the basic steps in tap have lots of fun footwork rythyms that I think could work great in Lindy Hop. The sounds also help me feel like I'm a part of the band too, which is an awesome feeling. I also intend to play around with rythym concepts more in my practicing.
These are just the two new things I have recently added to my long list, which includes responding quicker to frame changes, allowing hips to create rotation instead of shoulders, swivelling as bad-ass as Nina Gilkenson, aerials, and so on....
Lindy Hop is a bottomless rabbit hole of awesome technique to work on. I love it!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Lindy 2 June 7th - Hand to hand charleston
This week we started learning an important aspect of Lindy Hop - Lindy Charleston.
Hand to hand charleston is awesome fun and has loads of potential for variations and fun bits. Here is a great video with some hand to hand and tandem (which we'll be learning next week!).
See you next week!
Hand to hand charleston is awesome fun and has loads of potential for variations and fun bits. Here is a great video with some hand to hand and tandem (which we'll be learning next week!).
See you next week!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Frankie moves and Suzie-Qs: Lindy 2, 31st May 2011
In Lindy 2 this week we learnt some classic Frankie moves, following on from the Frankie Fling, as well as beginning to incorporate solo jazz moves into your dancing. This week was the Suzie Q!
There are many great videos on YouTube that show Frankie demonstrating classic moves, such as...
This is a good collection by Kenny Nelson and Tiffany Wine, including the "Round the World", which we learnt in class.
And here is a vintage clip of Al Minns and Leon James demonstarting how NOT to do the Suzie Q, as well as how to it should be done!
Hope you enjoyed the class folks! Remember, we are always after your feedback, so if you have some, good or bad, we'd love to hear it in our feedback form here.
There are many great videos on YouTube that show Frankie demonstrating classic moves, such as...
This is a good collection by Kenny Nelson and Tiffany Wine, including the "Round the World", which we learnt in class.
And here is a vintage clip of Al Minns and Leon James demonstarting how NOT to do the Suzie Q, as well as how to it should be done!
Hope you enjoyed the class folks! Remember, we are always after your feedback, so if you have some, good or bad, we'd love to hear it in our feedback form here.
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