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Snap your Fingers Off the Beat


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Tea for Three

The Rantings of a Lindy Hopper + The No Account Count

Here's a link to Alice P's Lindy-centric blog: The Rantings of a Lindy Hopper. Alice has been one of my assistants in class for the last several months.

We had a lot of new students in class last week. We took it back to basics, did a few leading and following exercises. It seemed mostly that people needed to iron out the swingout more than anything else. I admit that the class feels like it is taught by committee. Alice, Charlotte and I have pretty distinct points of view. Alice and Charlotte have both been recently excited by a recent workshop with Dax and Sarah. I'm typically skeptical.

After class Charlotte and I had a brief conversation about counting the basic. When she was learning from Dax several years ago, he did not use any counting, but rather the scat-rhythms like those that were popularized by Stephen Mitchell and others during the 90s. So rather than "one two three&four five six seven&eight" teachers might use a rhythm like this "boop doo doop-dah-doo, boop doo doop-dah-doo" or some such. Charlotte suggested that she would love to compare a theoretical Lindy Hop culture that never learned counting to another that learned from the numbers.

The thought of removing the numbers doesn't really bother me, but it does remind me of this sort of hostility toward math that many folks have. I tend to blame this sentiment more on teachers than anything else. I certainly agree that learning numbers changes the way one thinks (in the dance and in the world), however, I also believe that one can learn one paradigm and then transcend it. You can learn how to count and then learn to abandon the count. You can always keep the numbers in mind for a rainy day.

So I put it up for debate: what are the strengths of beginners counting and of beginners not counting? What is to be gained by either approach? Is one way superior to the other? Can't we all just get along?

By the way, I don't mean to criticize Dax & Sarah or Charlotte at all. I'm mostly hoping to open up and interesting conversation.

This week I plan to teach a class about balance. Feel free to click on the balance tag and see the previous posts on the subject.

Camp Hollywood footage

Here's the final from the amateur Lindy division held last night at Camp Hollywood. If I find more I will post it here. Congratulations to the competitors this weekend, whether they won trophies or not. The winners of the amateur division were Aubri Siebert and Gabe Cashman (third couple).

Also, you should buy Camp Hollywood DVDs.


The One2Swing Jitterbugs - All the Cats Join in


The One2Swing California Rolls - Love Me or Leave Me


The Underground Jitterbug Championship - Dax and Max vs. Tiffiny and Kenny
edited to add:

Here are the results to all of the contests:
Amateur Lindy
1st – Gabriel Cashman & Aubri Siebert
2nd – Will Ayces & Jenny Knox
3rd – Jason Vaughan & Tunde Hrotko
4th – Dean Curtis & Ali Bevilacqua
5th – Daniel & Tomoko Young



Shag
1st – Johnny Lee & Rebecca Williams
2nd – David Frutos & Kim Clever
3rd – Marcus Koch & Baerbl Kaufer
4th – Morgan Day & Karen Vizzard
5th – Joe McGlynn & Heidi Rosenau

Amateur Jack and Jill Leaders
1st – Dean Curtis
2nd – Morgan Day
3rd – Matt Richey
4th – Sam Chan
5th – Douglas Van Sant

Amateur Jack and Jill Followers
1st – Yon Richner
2nd – Sharlene Choy
3rd – Jenny Knox
4th – Tomoko Young
5th – Mariko Ozawa

Advanced Jack and Jill Leaders
1st – Dax Hock
2nd – Marcus Koch
3rd – Tip West
4th – Bromley Palamountain
5th – Shesha Marvin

Advanced Jack and Jill Followers
1st – Moe Sakan
2nd – Sarah Breck
3rd – Laura Keat
4th – Sara Deckard
5th – Casey Schneider

Team
1st – One2Swing Jitterbugs
2nd – One2Swing Jitterbugs’ The California Rolls
3rd – The Fly Rites



Balboa
1st – Zack Richard & Maryse Lebeau
2nd – Chris & Beth Grover
3rd – Steve Garrett & Heidi Salerno
4th – Marcus Koch & Baerbl Kaufer
5th – Jacob Wigger & Jen Scricco



Pro Lindy
1st – David Frutos & Kim Clever
2nd – Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau
3rd – Shesha Marvin & Sarah Breck
4th – Mike Pedroza & Nikki Marvin
5th – Kenny Nelson & Tiffiny Wine



Showcase
1st – Zack Richard & Maryse Lebeau
2nd – Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau
3rd – Kevin St Laurent & Jo Hoffberg
4th – Mike Pedroza & Nikki Marvin
5th – Andrew Hsi & Sarah Breck