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At some point in your dance journey, it’s not enough just to be fed routines, to go to workshops, and to hang out with friends. You’ll want to start reading about the history and the context that created the dance….
Continue readingIf my life were ever to flash before my eyes, the montage would be filled with an awful lot of memories from running different teams throughout the years. As you can imagine each year is filled with some lessons from…
Continue readingAnyone who has been on a team can attest to the fact that more than half of the fun of teams is the bonding that goes on outside the studio. With my team, I try to hold movie night once…
Continue readingThe Trankey Doo. Not just one of the best routines for punning about (Trankey did it, etc) it’s also one of the richest choreographies for movement and technique. The story goes that it was originally choreographed to Tuxedo Junction, though…
Continue readingIn this post, I’d like to take a break from talking about the routines and move toward talking about how I approach organizing a team. While there is no right or wrong way, I’ll share a few anecdotes and approaches…
Continue readingIn the last 4 installments, we’ve talked about some big, flashy routines, where we develop our extension, our vocabulary, and our stage usage. There are other sides to dancing that we should be working on as well… namely control, accuracy,…
Continue readingIn our next installment, I’d like to talk about the California Routine. So named because it was invented at the time Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers were in California, this has been one of the most learned and performed Lindy Hop routines…
Continue readingIn this installment, I’d like to do two things. First, I’d like to introduce a bit of solid, simple choreography done by Frankie Manning, known as the “Lindy Chorus”, and second I’d like to introduce some of the key concepts…
Continue readingFor the next installment of my series on running a swing dance team, I’d like to cover The Big Apple. The Big Apple is a standard among Lindy Hop dancers world-wide and is another routine choreographed by Frankie Manning. Although…
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