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 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 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 readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , leading and following , same sex dancing , teaching dance
A New Year’s Eve dance included a brief dance lesson for people who didn’t know how to do a basic waltz step. The instructor kept making a big deal about how the men should be leading even though he gave no instruction in how to lead, or follow for that matter. “Who’s the boss on […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , cutting in , dance videos , inspirational dancing , leading and following , Lindy Hop , performance dance , same sex dancing , social dancing , teaching dance , west coast swing
The wonderful video at the end of this post from 1995 inspired me to write about these dancers because they were both a huge influence in my early dancing years. Sylvia Sykes was my teacher for the first six years I studied Lindy Hop and she, along with her partner Jonathan Bixby, also introduced […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , dance videos , fusion , leading and following , social dancing , west coast swing
In my first article about fusion dance I wrote about hip hop and swing. In the second, I wrote about Lindy and Tap. This one is about Tango and Swing. Unlike Tap and Hip Hop, which can be used to embellish or change the style of Swing, Swango is literally a combination on […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , Dance History , dance videos , leading and following , Lindy Hop , performance dance , social dancing , tap dance
In my last post about fusion dance I wrote about hip hop and swing. A friend of mine just posted a video of a fusion between Swing and Tap, so I wanted to comment on that as well as on the Swango phenomenon that I’ll address in another post. Lindy Hop has its roots in […]
Continue readingdance videos , leading and following , Lindy Hop , music for dance , performance dance , same sex dancing , west coast swing
The term fusion is used to mean a mix of music as well as dance. In this post I’m focusing on dance fusion. By that I mean two different dances or dance styles fused into one dance. This is a surprisingly controversial thing to do, given that it pretty much mostly happens with street dances […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , dance videos , dancing with physical challenges , inspirational dancing , leading and following , performance dance
As many of you know, I have had the pleasure of teaching people with various disabilities to dance, having come to dance from a martial arts background where I taught self defense to people with disabilities. I’ve never taught dance to anyone in a wheelchair, but it’s a fascinating challenge. Just like anyone else, a […]
Continue readingdance videos , inspirational dancing , leading and following , performance dance , social dancing
Well, if it’s a good dancer we’re talking about, almost everyone. For many people the obvious answer is well, duh, what does weight have to do with dance skill? But for a lot of people there is a huge prejudice against even a few extra pounds on a dancer. Even today where fat people are hardly […]
Continue readingleading and following , social dancing
I know a dance teacher who feels strongly that the whole concept of leading and following is sexist. She is trying to teach Lindy Hop as an equal partnership where no one is in charge of the dance. It’s an interesting subject, and I have very strong feelings on the subject as well. It is […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , cutting in , leading and following
Stealing is the art of slipping gracefully into someone else’s dance and stealing their partner. Ideally, you do this so artfully that the stollen partner hardly knows how it happened and the former partner can’t figure out why they are suddenly alone. It’s a version of cutting in, but more playful and requires considerable […]
Continue reading