Before I share these clips, I'd like to mention an anecdote. I was working with one of my students a few weeks back on his swingout. He was having that normal frustration with body leads that happens before you figure out how to do it. He huffed "this is like spelling!" and explained that you had to have all the pieces in the right place. It made sense to me. It's often said that dance is a language. Even if we only count the communication between lead and follow, shouldn't it matter we take care to communicate clearly?
I've been working through The Artist's Way for a few weeks now. The author mentions that Spelling is one of the main reasons that some writers choose to give up on their art. Whatever frustrating thing comes up in the dance, the choice seems to be either to give up or to climb past the challenge. I think the most interesting folks are the ones who choose the latter!
I propose a toast: Here's to more challenges!
As an aside, I should note that this student has made some enormous strides in the past few weeks. He is starting to put it together really nicely.
From last weekend at the US Open, here are Dave Frutos and Kim Clever competing in and winning the Sophisticated Swing division. Sophisticated is an age range competition, which essentially means that both performers are between the ages of 35 and I'm guessing 50. Dave and Kim are the first ever Lindy Hoppers to win that division, so kudos to them for not only winning, but for making history!
Also making us proud were the One2Swing California Rolls. This is the routine that brought down the house twice this weekend! Congratulations to the whole team.
As far as I'm concerned, the hand dancers won the weekend. See the previous post for a little more about that. I'm gonna have to go back to the videos I picked up a few years ago.
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