I’d like to credit Blues dance for strengthening my general swing skills more than any number of weekly classes ever will.
But perhaps it was really the workshop environment that I should thank, virtual hothouse that it was. Hothouse in a literal sense too, so we all discovered during Blues Before Sunrise over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, all covered in sticky films of exertion. Mmm, sticky films of exertion.
I wore something thick and longer-sleeved on the first day, thinking, “It’s cold, and yeah, blues, it’s all slow-moving, easy stuff. No effort required.”
But by the end of it, I’d focussed so hard on my core and every nuance of movement that I soon trickled to the floor in my own puddle of exertive film.
4.30 pm found both Penny and I crumpled on the ballroom floor at Forever Dance, gawking at each other like two exhausted camels, tongues hanging out, ready to go home for a hosing-down and a bag of feed. And, in my case, quite prepared to take the rest of class in my nudie rudies.
It was, after all, 12 hours of workshops; virtually 8 to 12 weeks of classes condensed into 2 days. Not to mention the 24 hours of social dancing every night, between Friday and Monday, for those who wanted a virtual petri dish to test their new knowledge in.
I’d therefore have reason to worry if I didn’t notice some semblance of improvement in my dancing. Which I did. As did friends who I danced with afterwards.
Some things I took away from the weekend:
- You can dance the same move with 10 different leads, and every one of them has his or her own way of executing it.
- Likewise, you can lead the same move on 10 different follows, and each brings its own results.
- Maintain control of core, and almost everything else will follow: balance, frame etc.
- I have to learn to watch my lead like a hawk. I love watching follows on the social floor who made it look so easy that they were virtually doing it with their eyes closed. Naive me didn’t realise that they were actually switched on 110%, and that a lot of effort went into making it look effortless and playful.
- The technical class before Sunday night’s Viva Cabaret social made the frame-matching penny drop. It taught me that communicating back to my lead that didn’t always stem from physical contact initiated by him. It wasn’t all about just feeling it through the body. I had to remember to watch his body and basically monkey-see, monkey-do. Bloody basic and obvious, come to think of it, but it’s taken this long for the heavens to open and shine the swing light down upon me because I’ve always approached social dancing with terror, which means EYES CLOSED.
- Leads respond a lot better to this mimicking as well. Well, most do. It puts my body in the same position as theirs, and therefore better prepared to follow the next move. Not to mention the cool factor of Dave getting a kick out of me copying his little shimmies and Sai looking delighted that I too was a fan of his ‘Monkey Blues’, low-hanging arms and all.
- Communication, communication, communication. I remember why I love swing so much. I love that it’s just another form of conversation. Sometimes you ask the right questions and the other person’s personality shines forth in their response. And everyone has a different, interesting story to tell; half the fun is extricating that story in a pleasurable manner for the both parties.
