Floortime

 I've written a bit about how to work on stuff , how to choose and keep track of what you're working on , and a bit about playing with variables to make partner practice more productive .  Partner practice outside of social dances can certainly just be 'more useful floor time', time spent with a partner with whom you don't feel like you'll develop odd habits dancing with, or a safe space to social dance but try things that you might not have when surrounded by other people on a crowded floor.  But, adding a bit of structure can be useful.  I've been advising this rough outline since about 2017 and I think that it's still a great place to start. It's primarily designed for two people to practice together, but works in a small group setting as well.  You'll start with whatever personal warmup you need to feel present in your body, aware of your partner and ready to have a productive practice. This might be joint mobility exercises and some stretchi...

Dan John, one of my mentors in the strength and conditioning world, often uses the ‘Park Bench/Bus Bench’ theory of setting up fitness programs.  The concept is really useful for anything else you might be working on–a skill or hobby, self improvement, mental health, or… your dance.  Here’s the basic idea.  If you were sitting on a bench waiting for a bus, you expect the bus to get there at a certain time. You have somewhere to be, and want to operate on a schedule. If the bus doesn’t show up or you miss it, you’d likely be frustrated.  On the other hand, if you were going for a walk in the park and sat on a bench there, you might not have anywhere to be for a while. You’re enjoying the day, and the amount of time you’re sitting there isn’t contingent on a strict schedule or plan.  A lot of workout plans are more of the former; and this isn’t a bad thing but often makes them unsustainable in the long term. You might also burn out if you took this approach to lot...

 "Did you just come back from an event?" I asked. I hadn't seen or danced with this friend in several weeks, but she felt tuned in--well connected and balanced.  She was surprised that the difference was that noticeable! If you've gone to many events you're probably familiar with the post event high and then crash, in terms of how good your dancing feels. But our dance can also fluctuate a decent amount week to week or even day to day.  Being more consistent in your own dance is a great goal to have, I wrote about it a little bit here .  We can also be aware that every day is going to exist somewhere on a spectrum of ability, comfort, thinking about one element vs another, and so forth. While becoming more consistent ourselves; we can also strive to become more adaptable to our partners.  ***** The best WCS dancers--social, competitive, of any level--are the ones who can maintain their own dance while still adjusting to their partners.  If you became the be...

 First off, the title is something of a misnomer. This is the name of a workshop series that is being revived -- this was the second time back -- and in fact, neither covered whips or dips! But it's a fun name and we might keep it.   Here's the basic idea. This is mainly the brainchild of my friend Nick.    1. The workshop series will focus on building the community with three pillars:       -Social and emotional wellness      -Positive gameplay      -Financial accessibility    2. High quality of instruction, with the allstar (or higher) tier instructors on board with the guidelines for teaching and interacting in the group   3. A fund/other means for scholarships and community opportunities built using proceeds from the workshop series.    In essence, this is a safe and fun place to learn. Passive aggressive commentary, tearing other people down (from workshop attendees, or instruct...

I've been dating dancers since 2011. And, accompanying that, practicing with romantic or at least non-platonic partners for the same length of time. It's only natural that we become interested in people who share our hobbies, passion projects, and way of life. It's also very natural to want to practice and get better with these same people. It just makes sense, right? You want to improve, you support their improvement, maybe you even live together.... And it doesn't have to be unhealthy. It can be constructive!  Twelve-ish years (more than eight of them, now, doing west coast swing) have included a fair share of ups and downs, healthy and unhealthy interactions with partners.  It's also included plenty of purely platonic practice partners, and range of different levels of success and productivity there, too.  Maybe due to this experience, and a lot of thought (and therapy, and discussion with uninvolved friends, and working with my own teachers and coaches) I've...

 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...

I’ve been doing west coast swing for eight years. Other than about two months early in 2020, I haven’t stopped dancing at least a few times each week since June 2015. During that time, I’ve lived in three different cities, and tried to grow and give back to each of these local communities. I’ve learned from the very best in the world, traveled to learn and teach and practice, and spent some time on the competition floor, too. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs in my dance – in practice, in comps, in my partnerships, and just in raw skill development.   This is the longest I’ve done anything in my life without stopping or wavering. I didn’t start when I was a little kid or anything, but I did recently pass the 1/4 mark of my life… which was sobering. I turned 30 just about the same time that I’d been dancing for seven and a half years. My first novice final!  Here are some lessons that have been valuable to me. 1.         Don’t keep doing it if you hate ...

I. Toxic dance culture, competitions, and connecting Feel free to skip this section if you just want the useful content without the ramblings Being a westie, I'm going to start from our perspective first.  I think that people who dance wcs tend to have a weird resentment toward dancers who come in from other dances and seem to progress really quickly. Part of this is due to a cultural issue in how we teach and share wcs--the 'you need to stick with it for 6 months,' there's a high barrier for entry, don't expect to have fun right away mindset. Apart from hampering the growth of our dance, it brings a potential bitterness when westies see someone skipping the initial struggle step that they've been brought up to believe is mandatory.  This reveals itself in local communities, classes/lessons, etc. as well. Someone coming from fairly serious lindy doesn't have to go to a beginner lesson and learn to count in 6 or 8 or triple step. Sure, it's a different da...