dancing with physical challenges , inspirational dancing , leading and following , performance dance , social dancing
Last week I wrote a post about dancing blind, but it really was about dancing temporarily blind. This one is about dancers who are always blind. I’ve written in the past about deaf dancers, dancers in wheel chairs, and dancers with other physical limitations. I’ve never written about blind dancers but they’re out there! […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , social dancing
I heard this statement and I realized that in my experience it’s true. For 8 years I spent 4 weeks every summer at an international dance camp in Sweden with dancers from over 50 different countries. All we had in common was our love of dance. Most of the other students spoke enough […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , Dance History , dance videos , fusion , Lindy Hop , Miscellaneous , music for dance , social dancing
Of all the fusion dances, Bal/Lindy is probably the most natural. Almost everyone who knows both dances has done them together on occasion if not regularly. Pure balboa is done in a close hold that never breaks, but almost everyone does Bal-swing and calls it Balboa. This isn’t fusion, but rather a street dance that […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , dance videos , dancing with physical challenges , inspirational dancing , leading and following , performance dance , social dancing , teaching dance , west coast swing
When my dance students are learning the skill of following, I often suggest they close their eyes. Closing your eyes takes away a lot of the urge to back lead, and it brings forward the senses you use to feel the lead. Even when social dancing, I often close my eyes because it’s relaxing and […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , social dancing , teaching dance
What’s the most romantic thing you can do on this day of romance? Well, yeah, go dancing of course! And if you don’t know how to dance? Well, if you’re a guy who’s with a woman who loves to dance, then take her out for a romantic dinner and give her a gift certificate for […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , Dance History , dance videos , leading and following , Lindy Hop , same sex dancing , social dancing , teaching dance
Switching the Lead and Follow in Partner Dance When both partners know how to lead as well as follow, dancers can switch roles during a dance. This is truly the ideal solution for people who are worried about sexism in the roles of lead and follow, but not everyone wants to learn both parts. Yes, […]
Continue readingdance videos , fusion , inspirational dancing , performance dance
Before I was a dancer, I was an artist. When I was in art school, I took a trip to Hollywood to see the Art and Technology show. Famous artists of the day like Claus Oldenburg and Andy Warhol teamed up with tech companies like Hewlett Packard to create works of art that utilized the […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially
In my last post I talked about being kind on the dance floor even when you are feeling offended. Today I wanted to give an illustration of how powerful your offhand words can be. When I was regularly attending the Herrang dance camp in Sweden, I used to take a detour during the third […]
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