8 Bit Lindy

Camp Hollywood was a blast. The most common questions that I was asked was "why aren't you at Comic Con" and "why aren't you competing?" More on either of those questions will not be read here.

Meanwhile:



I love these guys. Thank you Morgan Day and Emily Wigger for earning my favorite Golden Budgie to date!

Props to the Funky Monkey!

One of my first students was a kid named Ryan Hitchin. When we met, he was still in high school and really just starting to get it together in the neo-swing scene. I remember one day giving him an assignment to help him find his core and that by the next time I saw him he told me that he walked miles from school to home by the rules of the exercise. He grew tons.

Obviously, he learned a lot from other folks as the years went on, competing with teams like Supercalilindylicious and working on stuff with friends.


Supercalilindicious


Here's Ryan competing with Bella Viramontes.

Anyway, Ryan recently moved away from Los Angeles to become a dance instructor in Austin. I have to give this guy props. Hard work always pays off!

Go Funky Monkey!

A bit on Viewpoints

I took a workshop with Eric Hunnicutt during the Los Angeles Improv Festival a week ago and really enjoyed it. He taught a shotgun class about Viewpoints which really seemed to mesh with the things that I understood about movement.

What's the essence of this Viewpoints thing? From my two-hour exposure, I'd say it's a technique for teaching students different ways of describing, seeing and interacting with the world around them, broken down into chunks like "Space," "Shape" and "Time."

This technique seems like the kind of thing I could learn to apply in my dance classes. It's a really cool set of techniques that I'd like to learn more about.

Also posted on: Glow-in-the-Dark Thoughts

LindyGroove in the news

Ballroom Bootcamp

There was a short-lived reality series on TLC a few years ago that I really dug called Ballroom Bootcamp. Admittedly I'm not a fan of the ballroom dance world, but I found the show to be compelling in the way that watching someone learn something new and important usually is.

Anyway, I picked up a DVD collection of the show and watched it all in one sitting.

Here's a sampling:


Not a fan of Jive either, but I still find this completely fascinating.

Here's a report from one of the participants on the show. Sibylla Nash

I just dig this.

Clip-tomania

Here's some stuff I'm eager to watch. Not Lindy Hop specifically, but all pretty cool. There's a common thread to these films. Two are more obvious than the third. They bring to mind Jimmy Valentine.


Wheelchair Dance Competition


En Tus Brazos


Love 'N Dancing - Trailer
I just picked this up on DVD. It looks like you can watch in YouTube for $3.99. Fun stuff.

Bonus:


Don't know who these folks are, but fun stuff and actual lindy hop.

Music : Dancers = Light : Painters

Here's a reaction to Rebecca Brightly's post at Dance World Takeover: Musicality is Overrated

To me teaching an appreciation of music to dancers is as vital as teaching an appreciation of light to painters.

I remember a night at Denny’s many years ago when a young dancer asked me what he needed to improve. “your moves are nice,” I said “but you need to listen to the music.” Since then he has gone on to be a world-famous instructor and has been lauded for his musicality. To this students I didn’t need to say much. Others need more.

I don’t feel that the phrases “musicality” and “creative vision” are mutually exclusive, though I can imagine some students and teachers approaching these counter-productively. As well I can see the opportunity for synergy in the exploration of both. To sum that up, it may be possible to learn to appreciate music and to dance creatively in a way that fosters something even more powerful.

I’ve seen a musicality class that I could have summed up in one sentence: “don’t use your limbs like percussive instruments.” That’s really not much of a lesson in my opinion. Another musicality class taught musical structures, which I think is more important, especially at the beginning phases of study. The best experience I had as a student was in a hip hop class when the teacher stopped us and forced us to pull the music apart before allowing us to dance again.

Those are just some examples. More are coming.

By the way, I think Dance World Takeover is a really fun blog and am recommending that you read it now.

What are your thoughts on the subject?