You Spin Me Right Round, Baby!

PROMO COPY

Let's get Spinny! Neil Figuracion is back and teaming up with Heather-Grace Bach for a class on turns, spins, rotations and all kinds of centripetal looniness!

Day 1 - You Spin Me Right Round,  Baby

Monday, December 2, 8PM

Learn how to lead and follow free spins, tuck turns and pop turns! 

Day 2 - Music Box Dancer 

Monday, December 9, 8PM 

Let's explore Turn Technique! Turning in place? Turning in motion? To Spot or Not to Spot? Maybe a move or something?

Day 3 - Turn Off The Dark

Monday, December 16, 8PM

Let's slam it all together! We'll take time to bend the rules, experiment and workshop turns and variations!

So if you've got a taste for getting whirly, feel like challenging your equilibrium or want to get in touch with your inner dizz, then this is the class for you!

***

HEATHER-GRACE BACH is a dancer whose roots are in Musical Theatre. She first learned to swing dance at age 10 and has been swinging on and off ever since. She’s thrilled to bring her dance background to this turn technique series! 

Heather-Grace is a proud mother of her cat, Ziegfeld! 

NEIL FIGURACION (any pronouns) is an East Los Angeleno who has been teaching Lindy Hop and other swing dances since the Turn of the Century. Neil dabbled in modern, jazz, hip hop and ballet before learning from the legends of the world of Vernacular Jazz. 

However, the secret origin of this class was a rough time in the Gravitron at a local festival as a teenager.

***

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby! Day One Summary and Homework

Hey

Thanks for joining Heather-Grace and me for the first week of “You Spin Me Right Round, Baby!” The full syllabus should be attached to this email, though there are a few topics we glossed over or skipped last night due to time, and we’ll see how much room there is for all of the content we had planned for the next two weeks. Our plan is to get in as much content as the class is able to handle.

Last night we played with some very basic principles, some of which were verbalized. After each part of the summary, I’ll do my best to add clarity to some of the challenges we noticed the class was having last night. And my hope is that after our warm-up next week we’ll add some exercises to really nail the clarity. Of course we have a whole lesson plan for next week, so we’ll get in as much as we can fit.

We started with this principle - USE YOUR ROCKSTEP TO CONNECT. I cannot reiterate this enough. Rocksteps are meant to facilitate connection. 

The second principle was that of PATTERN RECOGNITION. For someone dancing as a follow especially this means that given no physical contact from a lead that the only way to know how which rhythm to continue with is the one which has already been established. For instance if you’re led with a six-count “step step, triple-step, triple-step” it’s a safe bet that you have six counts to continue. 

The first two moves we played with were a ROCKSTEP FREESPIN and a ROCKSTEP TUCK TURN. The moves are pretty simple in and of themselves, but here are some clarifications:

WHEN DANCING IN EITHER ROLE - ENGAGEMENT - As much as possible, engage from the shoulder blade through your arm into your partner’s connection, which hopefully continues through their arm into their shoulder blade. If you notice that your elbow has bent back past your torso, then you aren’t engaging. 

WHEN DANCING THE FOLLOW ROLE - PLEASE FOLLOW - keep moving in the direction you’re led. In the case of a counterclockwise free spin or a clockwise tuck turn, you must treat both of them as counterclockwise free spins until you physically feel a TUCK. The temptation to execute what the instructors show is strong, but without a physical sensation from your partner's palm through your fist into your shoulder blade, you haven’t been led. This is the quantum uncertainty of following and for me at least, it’s half the fun - not knowing!

WHEN DANCING THE LEAD ROLE - ROTATIONAL ROCKSTEP in order to lead your follower to rotate, it is preferable to guide them in that rotation. In the case of the moves last night, that means a rotational rockstep. If you remember us mentioning the S-curve last night, the connection from your shoulder, through your wrist and palm, to your followers fingers, through their forearm, bicep and tricep into their shoulder, then picture leading the rockstep along that curve. Additionally, TUCK TURNS ARE BOUNCES, not throws. If you are moving your wrist from the middle of the S-curve then you’re wasting energy. Let your forearm react as the springboard reacts to the diver. 

The third move we did, after a side-pass, was a BEHIND THE BACK TUCK TURN. All the notes from above apply. Something we did not try was a BEHIND THE BACK FREESPIN. It’s very similar to the tuck turn we learned, only without the tuck. 

Finally, we ended with an exercise of EXPLORING THE EFFORTS that our partners are exerting. We did a rockstep into a tuck and froze there to put some attention to where our partners were engaging in their bodies.  Is our partner engaging their shoulder-blade or their pec? Is the effort happening in their wrist or their bicep and tricep? How loose or tight is their connection? You might be surprised to find how much you can tell about your partner simply from how they are holding themselves against you.

Next week we will briefly address the notes above before diving into what happens in our own bodies while we are turning, and the techniques it takes to turn more easily, without dizziness, etc. 

As always, please feel free to respond to this email with any topical questions or ideas that arise. Your homework is below the sig. Hopefully we’ll see you soon on the dance floor!

Sincerely, 

Neil Figuracion

Fad23

****

HOMEWORK - 

The first part of your assignment is to put the ideas to the test on the social dance floor. Hopefully you had a chance last night to explore some of these things, but now after having the clarifications above, how do you practice this? If you don’t have a partner handy, it can be helpful to practice tucking off of a stationary object, a doorknob or such. If you have more opportunities to hit the social dance floor, then do it there!

The second part of your assignment is this watching this playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqLKBNesVXgjgvpNf7g4jYoKII9ifoupf&si=oR-AECOQqjKRWX3n

These videos include:

Laura Glaess on the subject of Tuck Turns

Evita Arce practicing turns and spins

Sharon Davis and Tony Jackson reviewing Pop Turns (we didn’t cover pop turns in class)

Michael Jagger with turn exercise

How to do a Michael Jackson spin

Simply watching the videos might take about twenty minutes. However since these videos are instructional please consider taking time and floor space to try some exercises!

***

You Spin Me Right Round Baby! Week Two - MUSIC BOX DANCER - Summary and Homework

Thank you for joining Heather-Grace and I for part of the journey! There is a wide range of students in the class, and we hope that we included material to scratch an itch that you have personally. Attached you will find the syllabus for the entire three weeks. If you have questions about material you missed, you’re welcome to respond to this email!

Here’s tonight’s summary: After our warmup, we did a very brief review of last week’s material, in the hopes of nailing the notes I mentioned in the previous email: Leading with rotation, engaging shoulders, how little action is necessary to lead a tuck turn.

We shifted gears to proper turn technique, and specifically SPOTTING. Our first exercise placed everyone in front of the mirror to work on one fundamental spotting skill - keeping eye contact with ourselves as we slowly rotated below the neck, and only turning our head once our neck reached the limit, and then finding our eye contact as soon as we’re able. 

Then we went across the floor with a series of turns down a line, first with single steps down the line, and then with triple steps down the length of the room. During the longer go-around, Heather-Grace and I became the points of focus for each of you. 

After the spotting exercises, we did some side pass free spins. Then we asked the leads to add a little more oomph to the lead to see if we could get more rotation for the follows.

Then we showed a lead free spin. Those were the moves we had time for!

For those of you who are new to the spotting skill, it takes a lot of practice. If you felt overwhelmed, that’s a valid feeling to have. I encourage you to find a level of practice that works for you. If you’re not sure how to do that, please reach out!

Next week, we’ll do some recapping, but also we’re gonna explore some creative challenges. As always feel free to respond directly to this message with questions, thoughts, and the like.

Your homework is below the sig. Some from me and some from Heather-Grace. 

Sincerely,

Neil Figuracion

Fad23

lindygroovetechnique.blogspot.com

***

HOMEWORK PART 1 - 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqLKBNesVXgiyi1HCMPt1mOm9OEm4CRjE&si=CAkVeh9KcqksNlXK

How to Dance Turn

100 Fun Dance Turns

How to do a Chaine Turn

Broadway Melody of 1936

The first three videos feature instruction from the dance world outside of swing dancing, ie ballet and jazz. The Broadway Melody video features tap dancer Eleanor Powell in an incredible finale. Her spots are pretty gorgeous, highly skilled. If that’s something that excites you then you probably have a lot of work to do to get there!

HOMEWORK PART 2 - 

Heather-Grace adds: 

I want you to analyze what (mostly) the Turnee is doing. Compare what you see with what we’ve gone over in class. These are all short videos, so watch them a few times after reading my blurb to really catch everything. 

Some questions to help your analytics:

Is the Turner super raised on the balls of their feet, flat footed, slightly raised in the balls of their feet, somewhere in between? 

Are they spotting, if so is it a hard spot or a soft spot? Are they looking into their turn? If they are not spotting, what are they doing? 

What is their arm position? Body position? Is their body in alignment (think plumb line)? 

Are they taking a step-step or a triple-step? How does that affect their turn and speed? 

Think about the momentum and what is happens when it continues/what’s happening to stop it. How is their body positioning affected by the momentum continuation/halt? 

Are they turning in place or traveling? Can you see what the Turner is doing to lead that? 

The first two videos are on YouTube, the second two are on Instagram. You can access all 4 videos by clicking the link provided even if you don’t have social media.

Gaby Cook and Andy Reid (included on youtube playlist)

https://youtube.com/shorts/luYn-sourNU?si=vlgarCZnPucqGKUH

Jo Hoffberg and Kevin St. Laurent (included on youtube playlist)

 https://youtu.be/e4oymSsULNo

Laura Glaess and Nathan Bugh

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDPWQQQuRoU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Laura Glaess and Brian Lawton

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjiHHmoAlxh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

***

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby! Week 3 - Turn Off the Dark! - Summary and Homework

Tonight Heather-Grace and I closed up our series on TURN TECHNIQUE. We started with a very brief spine-roll warmup, continued to do a few shoulder rolls in both directions.

We started this evening’s session by asking the class what things they recognized that they’ve been using from the last two weeks of instruction. Students remembered that the continuity of motion for a dancer in the follow role is very important. There was mention of Newton’s Laws, which go, as Heather-Grace put it “a follow in motion stays in motion.”

Tamar mentioned the engagement of the shoulder blades, which we’ve mentioned each night of the class. I can’t overstate how important that shoulder blade engagement is, and I hope you’ll find a safe and fun range of movement for yourself.

We then quickly reviewed the rockstep free-spin and the rockstep tuck turn, each time emphasizing the rotational initiation of the dancer leading, and followed in turn by their partner. Afterward taught a simple variation of the pop turn, starting in side-by-side position, with the dancer in the lead role initiating both forward momentum for their partner and a counter-clockwise rotation.

In the final chunk of class, we broke into pods. Each pod was given at first a brief prompt:

1. Partners start facing each other

2. Partners change positional orientation to each other (for instance trading places and still facing the other or lead pulling follow past and not facing, but not limited to those)

3. Something happens!

4. Turns get included somewhere in the sequence

We let each pod approach that with some level of collaboration, with a potential ideal of doing a short pattern in sequence.

Then we played some music and let each pod show off what they made!

A second prompt

1. Start however you want

2. End however you want

3. At some point, both partners should be turning at once.

And then we did a mellow jam to show off what we made!

As we closed class, Heather-Grace and I shared our hopes that your time with us was at the very least fun, but also that you got some vocabulary and ideas to help you on your dance journey. We acknowledged that this three weeks only scratched the surface. In any case we send you off with best wishes!

As usual any questions, ideas or dance-related emotional venting can be sent to me directly. Feel free to respond to this email.

As usual your homework is beneath the sig. Since this was the end of class, you have the rest of your life to explore!

Sincerely,

Neil Figuracion

Fad23

lindygroovetechnique.blogspot.com

***

Homework PART 1 - Keep exploring these ideas and techniques on the social dance floor. If you’re the kind of person who likes to verbally describe things, find words and phrases to describe how this works for you. On the other hand, if you’re a dancer who gets stuck in your head, focus on the physical sensations and look for what feels good!

Homework PART 2 - Learn this phrase: “I like when you did that thing…” Two places to use this phrase - a) when watching another dancer do something that entertains or inspires you, approach that dancer and tell them how their dancing affected you. b) When your partner does something that excites or inspires you, tell them verbally “ooh, that was fun!” 

And since we’re focusing on turns and spins in this class, look our for people doing fun things with turns and spins.

Homework PART 3 - Videos!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqLKBNesVXgiYLFpUyFW9CQW3fll1WQsh&si=Om7cOuDzUzAobw3K

This playlist includes

A short promotional video from Kevin St Laurent, in which he and Jo Hoffberg demonstrate a bunch of turns

Steve Garrett & Heidi Salerno attempting to beat the world record for most spins in a minute

Marcus Koch and Baerbl Kaufer doing a Rock & Roll/Boogie Woogie demo

And then more classic footage to mine for inspiration:

Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers - All God’s Children Got Rhythm (A Day at the Races)

Al Minns and Leon James party footage

Twice Blessed swing dancing scenes

Show Me Something!

Yesterday, I finished the trial run of a class called Show Me Something! This was a class designed for young dancers to get their feet wet in the pool of showing off in dance jams and gearing up for dance competition. I had been pitching this class for many years, definitely remember pitching this way before the advent of Covid-19. It was a program developed based on some of the ideas I had for a class on game show competition. 

The name of the class comes from something our bunch in Los Angeles used to yell at each other during jams and competitions. The sentiment is shared with love. 

In any case, I put the class on its feet this June and I'm so glad at the response. Students got some ideas about setting goals, facing challenges, how to deal with the anxiety of preparation, and how to work together to honor your own values and your partners. At least that's what I hoped they'd get. 

Below are drafts of a few of the emails I sent to the class. I'll also share some of the homework and bonus items I gave them along the way. 

*** 

Thanks for being part of the Show Me Something experience! Today we did a very brief jam and then played with a head-to-head competition format, with two couples facing off against each other. Some of the observers volunteered to look for and give positive feedback, either dance feedback or NON-dance feedback. I gave feedback for some things to work on to each group. 

After that we looked at some sample Relative Placement sheets so that students could have an idea how to interpret that information. 

I finally was able to shoot some footage of the Fizz jam so I’ll be sharing that here. However I must be firm with a piece of advice, especially if you have never watched yourself dancing before - PLEASE BE KIND TO YOURSELF! Certainly you can and should use your footage to give direction to your dancing, however if you notice that the self-criticism gets rough then I urge you to take a breath. If you have strong feelings about watching yourself dance, feel free to reach out to me privately. I’ve added a video from Ira Glass that echoes a lot of the advice I would give you, so maybe check that out as well!

NEXT WEEK On Monday I’m gonna give you a chance to try a phrase battle, my hope is that everyone will jump in and do 8 eight-counts of a song, most similar to the format of the ULHS video in the playlist. I’ll assign partners and probably give you time to come up with a plan of attack, and then we’ll go! (If you’re not sure what you’d want to do with 8 eight-counts, my first advice is to watch some videos and steal liberally, at least in class you won’t get busted for it.) 

Before we finish next Monday, I’d love to hear your questions about exploring partnerships, how to manage your emotions as a competitor, etc. Anyway, as always please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, feedback, etc. Hope you’re well and see you soon! 

*** 

Hey y’all, Here’s another check-in email. This one has stuff I’d like you to play with and potentially prepare before class on Monday. The first chunk is about the format we’re trying out. Then a note about cameras. Finally a reminder of your homework! 

PREPARE TO BATTLE! I mentioned in my last email that we’d be working on the phrase/spotlight battle format, with eight 8-counts each turn. Here’s a video of contest in that format, from Camp Hollywood in 2019. The phrase battle starts about a minute and a half in. 

If you’re curious about the narrative shape of a phrase battle, here’s one way to look at it in terms of story beats (like acts of a play, or the moments of a wrestling match): 

Beat 0: JOCKEY! 

Beat 1: Make your entrance, make yourself known 

Beat 2: Find the pattern, break the pattern 

Beat 3: Heighten and explore 

Beat 4: Surprise! 

Beat 5: Hold the attention as you leave the spotlight 

With this perspective on a phrase/spotlight battle, Beats 1-4 would be your proper assigned eight sets of 8-counts. Beat 0 is just before you enter and Beat 5 is after the eight-eights. I have thoughts about how this is applied by various couples in the CH 2019 video, to varying degrees of success. I’m gonna let you @ me on that, because maybe you should determine what’s fun for you and start looking at how this works in context of a whole set of competitors. And if any of you want to meet up and play with the format together, I’m not against that at all! 

PHONES! Aside from the Phrase Battle, I realized that we’re not getting a lot of footage in class, so please also bring a tripod or other camera stabilizer, if you own one, so each of us has more time and access to their videos in class. We’re gonna do a few phrase battles, with the hope that you watch yourself after our first attempt before we do a second. If you don’t own a proper phone stabilizer, bring something like a bag to prop your phone up against. I’m planning to bring maybe a few tripods myself, depending on what I can carry. 

HOMEWORK The homework is listed again below the sig, so I hope you can spend some time on it! Please let me know if you have any questions and all that. Have a great week! 

Sincerely, 

Neil Figuracion 

Fad23 

*** 

Hey there! 

Thank you for joining me for Show Me Something! I've been pitching this class for so many years and I'm glad it finally got a chance to breathe. I appreciate you being there so much! Last night's class was one that many students anticipated with anxiety, but I also believe it was a bit of a threshold for everyone to cross, we did phrase battles! 

Well, first we spent a few minutes doing a warmup dance, thanks to Desiree Roffers for helping me know what the issue was with the sound last week. If I had my druthers, I'd lead a half hour warmup, and really get everyone moving, but sadly there's never the time here. 

We checked in about the homework. A few folks really found Alive & Kicking to be inspirational! I'm not going to unpack all of the comments about the shorter videos (I didn't take notes) but it was great to see new ideas about how others were soaking that in. 

Next we started our phrase battles! I assigned partnerships and gave everyone the basic format. Initially folks were were worried about counting out 8 counts of eight. So we did that together as a group, and we noted that if the music is well chosen for the format, then the lead-in should be intuitive. 

So we created a lineup order, and everyone got a chance to do a phrase of 8 eight counts, to Minor Swing, by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappeli. 

This was followed by 10 minutes of collaboration with the same partner, about what we might do with 8 eight-counts in the imminent future. I set up tripods during this time, so I wasn't able to interact with pairings. My advice today is that choreo might or might not serve each of you. Maybe the plan could include some level of Improvisation, Musicality or Self-expression. The main point is that each partner could consider their own values, priorities, etc and play together to find an approach that touches on those! 

After 10 minutes of prep time, we got a second phrase battle.

A lot of the students expressed some level of anxiety, but in the end it seemed like folks were glad to have taken the leap! 

We had three cameras rolling, so we split up into groups so everyone could get a look during class. I reminded everyone that we use our footage as a tool to learn what you'd like to improve rather than a hammer to hit yourself in the head with. It seemed to me that folks came away with the beginnings of a plan! Teaching this class has been an honor. I hope that it is just the next step in your development, and that you have a long and inspiring journey ahead! 

If you would like to send a testimonial about your experience learning with me, which I might use for promotion, I'd really appreciate it. And as usual, if you have further questions, concerns, ideas, etc. please feel free to reach out to me! 

Sincerely, 

Neil Figuracion 

Fad23 

*** 

HOMEWORK 

Week 1 

Relative Placement 

Optional - Lance Shermoen on Relative Placement

Jo HoffbergInstagram post: 

BONUS - Laura Glaess Drill for Fast Dancing Drill for Fast Dancing

Week 2 

Competition Footage (Watch One Clip a Day!) - 

Documentary - Alive and Kicking 

Jo Hoffberg Instagram post

Develop questions about how to partner Prepare for next week's phrase battle! Watch competitive video and rank dancers. Compare to actual ranking 

Ira Glass onthe Creative Process

Fizz JamJune 17, 2024

BE KIND TO YOURSELF! 

Week 3 

Swungover video 

More Jo HoffbergInstagram

Even More Jo Hoffberg Instagram

Still More Jo Hoffberg Instagram

Yet Again Extra Jo Hoffberg Instagram

BONUS This video showed up in my Facebook feed from like 20 years ago. LA LindyBinge 2002

And speaking of other old stuff, this was a contest with me from 2001, the Hal Bal

Flashback to 2001!

 

Sailor Mike Mizgalski sent me these pics of flyers from some of my first dance improv classes back in 2001. I'm pretty sure I first taught Adventures in the Groove a little before this, at one of Melinda Comeau's Nevada bus trips. However, these flyers were my first attempt at promoting the class, which I had been developing for a few years at that point. 

Maybe I'm misremembering, because now that I think back to 2001, and remember September 11 it makes me think this might have been the trial run for the class I taught in Nevada. I guess memories are triggering other memories. 

These pics bring back a few memories, like watching someone else's improv for Lindy Hoppers class and noting what was missing. And messy attempts to unlock related ideas that I tried on the road, at workshops at Skidmore and Carnegie Mellon. 

Anyway, Tip and Mike were kind enough to let me give the class a shot at the Swing Pit - the original spot at Domenico's in Pasadena. Guess I'm just gonna flash back for a bit.

Bobby Mcgee's & Southern California Swing Legends

My old friend Kasey Buharie recently gave me permission to share her video archive to YouTube. It's kind of a process to get all the details and info up.  I'm planning to release them over time. All the released videos will go up in this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqLKBNesVXgh2mLcaWnP2DkYWvErZ5Eg4

So far a few clips from Bobby McGee's including our Southern California legends and some of the "kids." I'm hoping to get more onto the list soon so please keep looking out.

Thanks to Jackie Kimmel, Andrew Selzer and Maricela Fajardo for their help with the project.