I had a blast at Dancing4Fun's Latin Dance Classic. I took several classes that I think will help me as a dancer overall. I also got interviews with all of the instructors about technique, etiquette, lead/follow, etc.
The one thing I couldn't seem to nail down, which was a brand new dance for me, was kizomba. It's not that I'm a slow learner, but that kizomba is a frickin' hard dance!
If you're curious about what kizomba is, I honestly wouldn't tell you to look it up on Youtube, at least not without explaining a few things. First and foremost, kizomba is not a presentational dance. By that, I mean it's absolutely NOT meant to be performed or judged or critiqued in the way that other dancer are (though I'm sure it doesn't stop people from doing so). You can't really do very elaborate styling and tricks that you could in other dances. Secondly, if you're a dancer and you watch it, you will probably think, "Oh, that's easy...what's the big deal? These people aren't even really doing anything. Why do people even want to learn this? I bet I can learn it in five minutes."
Good luck with that because I've gotten to a point where I pick up dances pretty quickly and after a *THREE HOUR* workshop, I'm still clueless and so is everyone else that was in the very same workshop.
The point of kizomba seems to be more about being close with someone and feeling the music. Because you're so close with someone, it's actually hard to do the dance because it's tough not to step on each other.
So, we shall see what kizomba looks like in the US. I really hope it doesn't get hijacked by overzealous performers that want to make a show out of everything....but we'll see.
Keep checking out my blog because I'm going to have some really cool pieces very soon that feature various dance instructors' advice and opinions and you won't want to miss that.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
OH EM GEE! 2nd Annual Atlanta Latin Dance Classic July 27-29
I know, I already posted an article I wrote about the LDC, but I wanted to share my personal excitement about it!
So....there are a bunch of really talented couples coming from all over the US to teach really cool stuff, but the two most interesting things happening, in my opinion, are:
Jorge Elizondo's Bachata Choreography Class
Ivan & Isa....period.
I've taken classes from Jorge Elizondo before. He's pretty strict to be honest, but he gets down to the nuts and bolts, which is good. Too many salseros are actually...well...shitty dancers. There, I said it. They might know interesting tricks and they might be able to find people that can lead/follow them, but most of them have no real fundamental basis of dance in general. My personal opinion is that it's because many of them don't take actual lessons and kind of learn on the street/in the club where they're only dancing with other people who learned on the street/in the club. It can be hard for the blind to lead or follow the blind....unfortunately, this is the status of salsa.
Jorge Elizondo does get to those very basic things that even some "advanced" salsa dancers are lacking. He talks really specifically about leading, following, connection, rhythm, isolations, and what seem like minute details about movement, but are really quite important. To have this guy teaching an actual number is pretty great! I'm admittedly a bit intimidated, but I think it will be awesome....or if it's not I can go take something else.
The other thing this Ivan and Isa. They're coming all the way from Spain to tiny little Gwinnett County, GA. That is pretty dang cool by itself. The other thing that will be awesome is that they will be teaching a lot of kizomba. Just my personal opinion, but I think kizomba is going to be the next big standard addition to social Latin dance. It used to just be salsa and merengue. Then, bachata kind of came out of nowhere and now it's salsa, bachata, merengue. Well, kizomba keeps creeping in, but it's not that popular in the US...YET!
According to the guy who runs this event, whose name is Sean Christopher, kizomba is BIG in Europe, which is why he brought a couple from Europe in to teach it. Currently, it seems like a footnote in Latin dance gatherings and congresses...there might be two classes for a whole weekend-long event...but it's going to be pretty heavily featured at the LDC. There will be *FIVE* FRIGGIN HOURS of kizomba classes at the LDC and it's going to be a part of the daily dance socials as well.
...which could be very embarrassing for me, but I'm going to try anyway!
Honestly, anything that expands salseros' minds is a good thing. Not to get anybody's panties in a wad, but salseros are pretty narrow minded when it comes to dancing. They only like their own little dance world. They're not really interested in learning other dances. The only way to get them to open their minds is to sneak other dances in to events that are majority salsa.The same might be true of other dance types, but every other dance type I've tried to learn, it seemed the people were much more diversified (and better leaders).
So, I'm super-stoked to see kizomba being thrown in to the mix and I wonder what the next thing will be. I'll be posting a totally informal, opinionated review here and will, of course, do a professional article for Examiner.com.
BTW, here's the link to the LDC site where you can get tix, schedule, instructor bios, blablabla: http://latindanceclassic.com/
Lead me on the dance floor, but follow me on twitter @danceinfotainme.
So....there are a bunch of really talented couples coming from all over the US to teach really cool stuff, but the two most interesting things happening, in my opinion, are:
Jorge Elizondo's Bachata Choreography Class
Ivan & Isa....period.
I've taken classes from Jorge Elizondo before. He's pretty strict to be honest, but he gets down to the nuts and bolts, which is good. Too many salseros are actually...well...shitty dancers. There, I said it. They might know interesting tricks and they might be able to find people that can lead/follow them, but most of them have no real fundamental basis of dance in general. My personal opinion is that it's because many of them don't take actual lessons and kind of learn on the street/in the club where they're only dancing with other people who learned on the street/in the club. It can be hard for the blind to lead or follow the blind....unfortunately, this is the status of salsa.
Jorge Elizondo does get to those very basic things that even some "advanced" salsa dancers are lacking. He talks really specifically about leading, following, connection, rhythm, isolations, and what seem like minute details about movement, but are really quite important. To have this guy teaching an actual number is pretty great! I'm admittedly a bit intimidated, but I think it will be awesome....or if it's not I can go take something else.
The other thing this Ivan and Isa. They're coming all the way from Spain to tiny little Gwinnett County, GA. That is pretty dang cool by itself. The other thing that will be awesome is that they will be teaching a lot of kizomba. Just my personal opinion, but I think kizomba is going to be the next big standard addition to social Latin dance. It used to just be salsa and merengue. Then, bachata kind of came out of nowhere and now it's salsa, bachata, merengue. Well, kizomba keeps creeping in, but it's not that popular in the US...YET!
According to the guy who runs this event, whose name is Sean Christopher, kizomba is BIG in Europe, which is why he brought a couple from Europe in to teach it. Currently, it seems like a footnote in Latin dance gatherings and congresses...there might be two classes for a whole weekend-long event...but it's going to be pretty heavily featured at the LDC. There will be *FIVE* FRIGGIN HOURS of kizomba classes at the LDC and it's going to be a part of the daily dance socials as well.
...which could be very embarrassing for me, but I'm going to try anyway!
Honestly, anything that expands salseros' minds is a good thing. Not to get anybody's panties in a wad, but salseros are pretty narrow minded when it comes to dancing. They only like their own little dance world. They're not really interested in learning other dances. The only way to get them to open their minds is to sneak other dances in to events that are majority salsa.The same might be true of other dance types, but every other dance type I've tried to learn, it seemed the people were much more diversified (and better leaders).
So, I'm super-stoked to see kizomba being thrown in to the mix and I wonder what the next thing will be. I'll be posting a totally informal, opinionated review here and will, of course, do a professional article for Examiner.com.
BTW, here's the link to the LDC site where you can get tix, schedule, instructor bios, blablabla: http://latindanceclassic.com/
Lead me on the dance floor, but follow me on twitter @danceinfotainme.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Dance travesties
These happened....and we all stood by idly and let them happen! We are all guilty:
The Roger Rabbit
The Macarena
The Achy Brakey Heart
The Sprinkler
The Electric Slide
Cotton Eye Joe
The ChaCha Slide
The Cupid Shuffle
The Robot
And the mother of all terrible dances.....
THEWHYYYYYYY M C A Y-M-C-A!
How sad is it that after what, 40 years, people still screw up the letter formations every time?!
Yes, I understand the necessities of these dances. People who are shy and afraid of looking like asses on the dance floor are guaranteed to be surrounded by other people looking like asses on the dance floor. Assery in numbers reduces the individual risk of ego damage by 77.3%.
Whatever it takes to get people on the dance floor should be seen as a positive thing. However, these dances are merely self-fulfilling prophecies. People who dance these dances are usually not going to learn other dances. What is the likelihood that, even if you are super awesome dancer #1, that someone will approach you and say, "Wow! You are so amazing at The Macarena. Where did you learn to dance like that? You must be a dance teacher. Where can I take lessons?"
In other words, as much as we wish these were gateway substances that lead folks to the highly addictive drug of dance, they're just gateways to Facebook-tagged party footage that will prevent you from running for office within the next 100 years.
....all that said, if I ever get married, I'll probably play every damn one of 'em at my wedding. -sigh- On a brighter note, if I ever get married, THERE WILL BE AN OPEN BAR, as there should be at every wedding.
The Roger Rabbit
The Macarena
The Achy Brakey Heart
The Sprinkler
The Electric Slide
Cotton Eye Joe
The ChaCha Slide
The Cupid Shuffle
The Robot
And the mother of all terrible dances.....
THE
How sad is it that after what, 40 years, people still screw up the letter formations every time?!
Yes, I understand the necessities of these dances. People who are shy and afraid of looking like asses on the dance floor are guaranteed to be surrounded by other people looking like asses on the dance floor. Assery in numbers reduces the individual risk of ego damage by 77.3%.
Whatever it takes to get people on the dance floor should be seen as a positive thing. However, these dances are merely self-fulfilling prophecies. People who dance these dances are usually not going to learn other dances. What is the likelihood that, even if you are super awesome dancer #1, that someone will approach you and say, "Wow! You are so amazing at The Macarena. Where did you learn to dance like that? You must be a dance teacher. Where can I take lessons?"
In other words, as much as we wish these were gateway substances that lead folks to the highly addictive drug of dance, they're just gateways to Facebook-tagged party footage that will prevent you from running for office within the next 100 years.
....all that said, if I ever get married, I'll probably play every damn one of 'em at my wedding. -sigh- On a brighter note, if I ever get married, THERE WILL BE AN OPEN BAR, as there should be at every wedding.
We should all be so cute when making asses of ourselves.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
2nd Annual Latin Dance Classic July 27-29
The Gwinnett based Dancing4Fun is gearing up for it's 11th anniversary and its second annual Latin Dance Classic,
which will take place July 27 – 29, and will feature nine instructors
and over 20 hours of workshops and 15 hours of social dancing and
showcases.
“The Latin Dance Classic came about because I looked at the calendar and I thought, 'Dude, we've been in business for 10 years already!' It was a pretty big milestone, so I wanted to do something bigger than what I normally do,” explains Dancing4Fun owner Sean Christopher.
Read more...
“The Latin Dance Classic came about because I looked at the calendar and I thought, 'Dude, we've been in business for 10 years already!' It was a pretty big milestone, so I wanted to do something bigger than what I normally do,” explains Dancing4Fun owner Sean Christopher.
Read more...
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