"Swing Essentials" class

[chimerically]

I'll be teaching a seven-week "Swing Essentials" class at Stanford this July and August (a reprise of "Swing Essentials" classes I've taught over the years for UCBD). Feel free to join! It's a beginning class but I hope to cover a lot of ground. You'll learn the basics of East Coast Swing, Jitterbug, (ballroom) Jive, Lindy Hop, and West Coast Swing, and how to use the same concepts and moves in all the styles. The cost is $30/students, $60/nonstudents for all seven weeks (a steal!). No partner or experience is necessary! You can preregister online, or come to one of the first two weeks of class to register at the door (come early!).

I'm teaching with my colleague Simon, a great blues and lindy dancer, who has been very involved with Friday Night Blues in San Francisco. He brings a very different perspective to dancing and teaching. While most of my training has been formal and competitive, his training has been on the social dance floor (though he's also done swing performances) and he's a very "intuitive" dancer. He has a lot of teaching experience too, so I think we'll make a great team (even if we don't always agree :~)).

As part of the class, I highly encourage students to attend outings to local swing clubs. The best (if not only) way to really learn swing (and all dance, in fact) is to get out there and do it. These outings will also serve as an introduction to the local swing community and to other swing resources. I'll coordinate the details of these outings through the class mailing list. (If you're in the class but not on the mailing list, email me and I'll add you: ljswingmorganyaorg.) Note that most of the optional outings are to Swing Central. This event draws a big crowd, and repeated visits give everyone a chance to get to know a particular swing community. But going every week, and also visiting other swing clubs in the area, may be too much of a time commitment for some students, so I've prioritized the outings into official ones and optional ones. I'll also show up 30 minutes before classes 2-7 to answer questions and review steps from last week, and recommend that students attend, since we don't have time for much review in class.

In the true spirit of collaborative learning, I'm "open-sourcing" my proposed syllabus, which I also hand out to students at the beginning of the class (and again in revised form at the end, based on what we did cover). I do want to focus on teaching the technique and the "feel" of swing dancing more than the memorization of specific moves (but I also want to keep everyone moving during class!). I'll revise this post as the syllabus changes.

SBDT Swing Essentials
Wednesdays, 7-8, July 5 to Aug. 16, 2006
Bechtel International Center, Stanford Univ.
Teachers: me, Simon
http://www.sbdt.org/classes
TENTATIVE SYLLABUS

Meet in front of the gym half an hour early each week for practice, review, and questions.

Weeks 1 and 2 (7/5-12): East Coast Swing
Concepts: timing, hold, lead/follow, balance

• Jitterbug or one-step
• East Coast Swing or triple-step
• Outside turn
• Inside turn
• Inside turn, switching places

• Stop-and-go
• Back-hand pass
• Cuddle/Sweetheart
  • Roll off the arm ending

Outing 1: 7/11, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Optional Outing: 7/18, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Week 3 (7/19): Ballroom Jive/Jitterbug
Concepts: tension/compression, musicality

• Review: Outside/inside turns
• Review: Stop-and-go
• Review: Cuddle
  • Improvisation from cuddle position
• American Spin
  • Right-to-right ending
  • Left-to-right ending
• Butterfly to hand-to-hand (ECS step)

Outing 2: 7/19, 9-12, Stompy Jones at Steppin' Out ($10)

Optional Outing: 7/25, 9-11:30, Tin Cup Serenade at Swing Central ($15)

Weeks 4 and 5 (7/26-8/2): Lindy Hop
Concepts: connection, pull, centripetal force, improvisation

• Basic rhythm in ECS style
• Throwout from closed position
• Eight-count basic ("whip")
• Lindy circle (back to closed)

• Charleston kicks

Optional Outing: 7/29, 9-12:30, Doghouse ($10)

Optional Outing: 8/1, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Outing 3: 8/2, 9-12, Steve Lucky and the Rumba Bums at Steppin' Out ($10 $5 with a coworker)

Optional Outing: 8/8, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Week 6 (8/9): West Coast Swing
Concepts: improvisation, musicality, "attitude"

• Prep step (modified ECS basic)
• WCS basic or "sugarpush"
• Outside turn or "sugartuck"
• Right-side (under-arm) pass (w/ optional extra spin)

Optional Outing: 8/15, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Optional Outing: 8/16, 9-12, 9-12, Stompy Jones at Steppin' Out ($10)

Week 7 (8/16): Catch-up, review, and technique

Outing 4: 8/21, 9-12, West Coast Swing at Steppin' Out ($10)

Outing 5: 8/22, 9-11:30, Swing Central ($6)

Selected swing clubs and resources:

• Swing Central (Redwood City): Tuesdays 9-11:30, lessons before. http://redwoodcityswing.com
• Steppin' Out Productions (Sunnyvale): Lindy Wednesdays 9-12, WCS Mondays 9-12, lessons before. Live bands 2x/month. http://steppinoutproductions.com and http://trevorandmegan.com/events
• The Doghouse (351 Shotwell in SF): Saturdays 9-12:30, three rooms, lessons before. http://doghouseswing.com
• 9:20 Special (2460 Sutter in SF): Thursdays 9:20-12:30, lessons before. http://920special.com
• Lindy in the Park (Golden Gate Park in SF): Sunday afternoons, outside. http://lindyinthepark.com
• Bay Area Lindy List: http://lindylist.com
• SF Swing: http://sanfranciscoswing.com
• Bay Area WCS: http://jennykevin.com/swing.html

Comments

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

Hey, after you teach, you should come hang out with the juggling club (which happens to meet at Stanford Wednesday evenings from ~7:30-11:00, often followed by food). Our summer location is a little uncertain at this point; we normally meet in a dining hall building which is closed for the summer. We'll be meeting somewhere, though.

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

Could do! Does the fact that I don't know how to juggle matter, though? Hmm, how about this: I'll learn to juggle if you learn to swing dance ...

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

Sounds fair. :-) I don't know if taking your class would be feasible for me, though. I'd be happy to exchange private lessons. (I'd be getting by far the better end of the deal, of course, at least until you got to the club-passing stage; teaching beginning dance requires a lot more expertise than teaching beginning juggling.)

I've actually learned the very basics of west coast swing on at least two occasions (when, as you might guess, I was dating people who danced), but never really used it or went further.

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

Gah, still haven't made it out ... I want to, really! I'm usually just so tired after teaching. Maybe next week or the week after ...

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

I'm back in town, and should be at juggling this week. Feel free to just say hi and watch for a bit if you're tired.

I'm also of course happy to come by some other time for a juggling/dance lesson swap.

[andromedagal.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun! I especially like the encouragement of outings. Do you think an absolute beginner could jump in on the second week? I might be able to train him up a bit if he's keen, but we'll be away the first week.

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

Sure! I can even give a quick catch-up lesson, either just before the main lesson or at Swing Central the night before.

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

My invitation to hang out with jugglegeeks afterwards (see above) of course applies to you, too. You should at least stop by and laugh at us when we say things like "wait a minute, if you turn those multiplexes into simuls, it turns into a three-person inverted Moose!"

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

I'll be outside the building half an hour early for review, if you want to come next week. They're taking new students next week too, but I don't think they will be after that. Be forewarned, it was very crowded last week, but we still had a lot of fun and most students seemed to be catching on very well.

[threadwalker.livejournal.com]

Hope I can get Topher to this!

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

Yay! That'd be fun! There will be more during the year, too ...

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

I'll be driving from Yahoo! Mission College to the lesson, if he wants to carpool. We'll leave at or shortly before 6 each week. He can sign up next week, too, though be forewarned that the class is pretty crowded (but we were short leaders last Wednesday). I can tell you more on Saturday.

[darcydodo]

Gosh, I don't really think that commuting to South Bay for this would be entirely feasible... also, I'll be Ruddygore-ing for some of it. Oh well, I'll learn eventually. (She says.)

[lbchewie.livejournal.com]

I don't think I can make the lessons, but some of the SF- and East Bay-based outings sound nice. I'm sorely out of practice, though I loved the programmes you've put together in the past. Even if I'm unable to make it out to your events, I'm sure they'll be a roaring success!

[composerjk.livejournal.com]

The syllabus looks fabulous. I especially love the planned outings. I'll try to show up, though likely a little late, as I mentioned. I don't yet know about the salsa classes, especially since I may want to end up back at Steppin' Out for Lindy. Now to figure out how to fit dinner in there. ;)

I'll be at Swing Central tomorrow. I hope some folk from your class make it, too.

Swing is Great!

[laxtony.livejournal.com]

Swing is great. I hope to see you at one of those events. Also, thank you for posting all the dates. It was very helpful.


Tony N.
http://www.top10crimes.com/back%20to%20school%20safety%20programs.htm

From Leo in Seattle

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Morgan, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm a ballroom dancer in Seattle. I think you used to dance with Jonathan Crawford? Anyway, just wanted to say hello and give you my contact info if you ever want to chat. I'd love to hear how you're doing. I saw some of your dance pics and they look great (I like the dresses too). I'm still dancing, competiting in champ standard. Hope to talk or see you soon.

Leo

leobossa@earthlink.net

Thank you.

[laxtonyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I appreciate your blog.
Internet, Directory, Book Marketing (http://www.the-internet-directory.org)

wedding dance

[jasonsml11.livejournal.com]

Hello,
I just wanted to ask someone who is keen at dances how long will it take for a reagular man of 28 to learn how to dance tango like I saw in "Scence of a woman". Here it is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBHhSVJ_S6A&eurl=

Is this true that a lady doesn't have to know how to dance tango and it totally depends on a man?
I'm going to marry this summer and would like this dance to be my first dance with the my future wife. But i'd like to keep this in secret from everyone ))) I know that she likes this movie and we dreamed that one day we'd be able to dance like this couple from the movie.

Jason (gym-class-heroes-as-cruel-as-school-children-bonustrack.info)