about LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , leading and following , Learning dance , social dancing , teaching dance
An easy way to improve your lead The other day a young man asked me to dance. I could tell immediately that he was either a beginner or had never learned to lead because he was a yanker. I have an old shoulder injury that I need to protect, so I told him to […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , dancing for joy , inspirational dancing , performance dance , social dancing
On my way to a dance last week in bumper to bumper traffic, I stopped to let a car change lanes in front of me. It was stuck in a left turn lane and evidently had been having considerable trouble getting anyone to let it in. As the car moved into my lane, a flurry […]
Continue readingThank Rocky Jones for this delightful cartoon. And I also thank my friend and fellow dancer Shala Marie for bringing it to my attention. This is the best explanation of clapping on the 2 and 4 I’ve ever seen. The info about the snare drum was news to me. Dancers for the most part […]
Continue readingConnecting Socially , dancing for joy
This favorite media personality of mine uses the term “give the world a reason to dance” as a metaphor for expressing joy and having fun. Not only does he equate dance with joy, in and of itself a reason for me to like him, but he also shows us how to change the world so […]
Continue readingMy father died this week at 91 so naturally my thoughts are with my parents. My mother died several years ago, and he’s the last of that generation in my family. Neither of my parents were dancers, so I didn’t get it from them, but my father’s brother and my mother’s sister were. And my […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , Learning dance , music for dance , rhythm , teaching dance
I teach a lot of first dance lessons for weddings. Usually my students have a song picked out or they have several they are considering. Often they’ll say something like this to me: “I don’t know if this will work. It’s kind of fast.” “The music changes part way through. It’s slow at the […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Dance History , dance videos , music for dance , rhythm , social dancing
I’ve written previous posts on White Man’s Clapping Syndrome, but even if you can clap to the beat, do you know on which beat to clap? Jazz dancers clap on the upbeat I’ve heard it said that black people clap on the upbeat and white people clap on the downbeat. Or that jazz dancers of […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Learning dance , performance dance , teaching dance , wedding dance
In a perfect world, dance lessons would be ten minutes long. You’d go home and practice and then come back to learn the next step after you’ve mastered what came first. In the real world, you work on the first thing until you’re doing it right most of the time and understand it well enough […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , Connecting Socially , leading and following , Learning dance , social dancing , teaching dance
At a recent outdoor dance event I was approached by a couple wanting to know if this event was open to anyone. I chatted with them briefly and after learning that they didn’t know anything about dance, told them that there would be a lesson in about half an hour. Then they asked if I would […]
Continue readingClassical Dance , Dance History , dance videos , fusion , Hip Hop , inspirational dancing , Lindy Hop , performance dance
I’ve written before about partner dancers combining styles, but performance dancers do it too. Some years ago I spent 8 Julys in Sweden studying the European partner jazz dance Boogie Woogie My favorite teacher, Christer Isberg, was the best all around dancer I’d ever seen. It seemed he could do anything. His background included classical […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , competitive dance , Dance History , leading and following , same sex dancing
I’m not a fan of competitive dance, particularly Ballroom, but I have no objection to it’s existence. Many people love it and more power to them. When I write about it, it’s because something in that world has captured my attention. Same sex dancers still strike fear into some I’m having a hard time […]
Continue readingcompetitive dance , dance videos , dancing in the golden years , gymnastics , inspirational dancing , music for dance , performance dance , sport dancing
Controversial dance This surprising controversy in the dance community popped up when this video started going viral: [embedplusvideo height=”390″ width=”640″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1oaNfNp” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/XAh9zYWfJiY?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=XAh9zYWfJiY&width=640&height=390&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep7038″ /] But is it really dance? Some people commented that is isn’t really dance because it’s really just a bunch of aerials and really qualifies as acrobatics rather than dance. If […]
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