children dancing , dance videos , inspirational dancing
I know, I know, I promised no more Evian dance blogs, but they’re just so beautifully done! When a company features dance as the ultimate expression of joy, they deserve to by honored in a dance blog. This one isn’t as much fun as the dancing babies, but it’s still beautifully animated and a ton […]
Continue readingDance History , dance videos , dancing in the golden years , dancing in the streets , inspirational dancing
How fun to see my StepsOnToes dancing vision statement in action again. When you start looking for things, they sometimes start happening. I have a rare blood type so I’m constantly being called upon to give it up every other month or so, which I’m happy to do. Today the sound system was tuned […]
Continue readingI’ve mentioned before that one of the most challenging things about being a leader on the dance floor is remembering your repertoire. Unless you have a photographic memory, you probably don’t remember everything you’ve learned as you add more and more new steps. Advanced dancers tend to retire some of their moves to make room […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , leading and following , same sex dancing
Leading and following are very different skills and most people are either natural leaders or natural followers. Not unlike the rest of life, you have about a 50/50 chance of falling into the category society has assigned to your gender. If you’re heterosexual, you won’t have much opportunity to dance if you choose the non-traditional […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , leading and following , teaching dance
Back leading is a term for the habit of some follows to lead themselves through dance moves the leader has nothing to do with. If the leader has any skill, this is the kind of behavior that causes him to mark that follower off his list for future dances, or hire a dance teacher for […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , dance videos , dancing in the streets
If you’ve been to my home page, you know that I have a dance vision of the future that has people dancing spontaneously in public places. Every once in awhile I see people embodying this idea in their own unique and creative way. Few people have more fun with the concept than the wonderful […]
Continue readingUnless you’re a dance DJ, you might say this is a no brainer. Of course everyone prefers live music to dance to. It’s not always the case, however. I’ve been to dances where the live music was either awful or just inappropriate for the dance. The floor was empty during the sets and packed for […]
Continue readingAfter writing a blog about not using air steps before you are proficient in dance, I was reminded of an exception to that rule when I came across a video of a first dance by a couple who had the good fortune to learn their first dance from my ever delightful and talented colleague Meeshi […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , Outdoor Dancing
Last week I blogged about New York’s wonderful Midsummer Night Swing rivaling our own Lindy in the Park in SF. Now I’m writing about Seattle’s Dancing ‘Til Dusk. Like NY, it encompasses many different styles of dance, and takes place over a specific time frame. It’s longer than New York’s event, which is every […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , dancing in the streets
Here in San Francisco we are about to celebrate our 17th year of dancing outdoors in Golden Gate Park on Sunday mornings. New Yorkers have us beat though. They are celebrating 25 years of Midsummer Night Swing, a 3 week annual tradition of nightly dancing to live music on a portable wooden dance floor. Despite […]
Continue readingdance videos , inspirational dancing
Whenever I get a new dance student, they often say “Swing, that’s the dance where they swing you up in the air, right?” The reason people equate air steps with swing dancing is because that’s what they see in the movies. Air steps are fun to watch, so any movie with swing dance scenes will […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , dance videos , teaching dance
I teach a lot of freestyle dance because it’s the one kind of dancing you need as a basic social skill. It will never go out of fashion because it requires no skill except the very rare and useful attribute of not caring what other people think of the way you dance. The people who […]
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