Aris' intermediate WCS classes in Colorado - through early fall '23

 I've settled on a pretty clear values system for teaching group classes here in Colorado. 

  • I don't think that an intermediate class with a fairly wide skill discrepancy is the place for higher concept material. "Easy wins" is the name of the game, sharing elements that are easy for attendees to implement on the social floor right after class, if they so choose. I love the deeper more cerebral stuff, but that's for private lessons or maybe a small group intensive with a specific focus that lasts 2-3 hours rather than just 1. 

  • On a similar note, it's easy to get caught up in sharing the details that we ourselves like to think about as dancers, while instructing; and that simply isn't the most helpful thing for casual social attendees. So -- very minimal and direct cues, simple explanations of the material. I've talked more about that here and here as well as in this video. They don't need 8 different things to think about at a time; though by the end of the class it does all accumulate to a sometimes surprising degree. 

  • The interaction between students (which builds the community) is priority #1. I see myself as more of a guide or an arbiter for the class. In these group lessons, the partner in front of you is the one who matters. I encourage people to talk to each other and (politely!) give feedback based on the last piece of info that I taught, and we rotate extremely often. If you don't have a partner, this situation won't last longer than a minute or so at a time.


Connection and spacing, frame and pitch



Push and tuck


Turns and preps



Compression whip


Folds and rolls


In addition to these, I also taught a whip focused class a second time up in Boulder. That time I was able to streamline the material and get to a cutoff whip as well, using the subject of how connection works in closed position as a segue to this variant. There was also a class in Denver about the starter step/basic throwout and finding "checkpoints" to discover how your current partner dances; I'll probably do a separate blog about that one in the near future. 


Feel free to reach out to me on with any questions! 
arisdemarco@gmail.com
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As always, love your dance and be good to each other. 

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