Bradley University Lindy Exchange (BULX) happened in Nov 19, 2016 weekend. The university is located in Peoria, IL, which is ~ 1.5 hour drive from Champaign. When I signed up to go, I hoped that someone else from my swing club could come with me. The event was not expensive ($30), and one could volunteer to reduce the cost. Perhaps due to Thanksgiving break, I still drove on my own to this LX. I felt a bit sad, since I hoped our new members could value how dance trips helped their learning of swing culture.
To make up of going to the LX alone, I had a backup plan of getting more involved in an event. I volunteered to guard the entrance. I asked to be a DJ. I also competed for fun. This report will focus on my personal views on volunteering and competing.
Volunteering
Since my first dance volunteering in KissMe Ann Arbor, and then Whistle Stop, and then BULX, I find volunteering for a dance event valuable in many ways. Aside from getting reimbursed, helping out allowed me to see parts of the operations of dance events. When sitting at the reception table, it is not only about collecting someone's money or checking someone's wristbands, but also interacting with various dancers that I know or not. In addition, I cannot dance for the full night without feeling drained. Volunteering is a great opportunity to take a dance break. Volunteering is especially nice when you can still sit while listening to the music and watching people dance. Besides guarding the reception table, I had worked on preparing snack food and resetting a room after the event. I enjoyed these non-dance moments with people. Thus, volunteering is a double win for me -- saving some money while feeling of making good use of time in a dance event.
Besides volunteering, it was my first time to volunteer to be a DJ in a LX. Not every LX provides such opportunity, and seeing that I would like to experience playing music outside of my dance scene, I signed up for it. This was one of the reasons that I went to BULX for its entirety. At first, I had some irrational concern whether my set would fit the culture of the dance scene, but when I listened to the set before me, I was confident that my set would be fine. The music in this LX mostly respected the culture of vintage swing, and my set was designed to respect that. People were dancing on my set, so I was happy with it.
(As a side note: I should talk about my observations on training new swing DJs. I feel that the confusion of a variety of "swing" cultures in the US results in an incorrect perception that one can swing to any music. This was something that I had been wrong before. I corrected myself, and I hoped I could minimize this incorrect perception to the new generation of swing DJs. There are several bottom lines that I hold firmly for a swing scene, and the requirement of playing music that swing is one of them. This is a topic that I may write about in the future.)
Competing
I have a mix feeling on competing, even for now. Naturally, if one does not feel bored of dancing and quit, one will want to improve. Competing is a milestone that one can dance well. Although whether somebody gets the first place or second place do not necessarily mean that the first place dancer(s) is/are better than the second place, just knowing that you have entered the final round or placed before can still feel like a great accomplishment.
However, a few years of staying between social and competitive ballroom dancing make me realize that the fun of social dancing may not translate into competitive dancing. It takes months of practice, perhaps with frustration, to make myself more competitive. I feel that the time spent on being competitive is not worth it, since I have something called a Ph.D. to work on. I hope that dancing is just a recreational activity that makes me feel less stressful in life.
When I stopped doing ballroom and turned into swing, I thought swing is a very fun dance and easy to learn, but did not realize the difference between ballroom and vintage swing. The dance scene also began to be more competitive. I would like to catch up, but I was frustrated with the techniques that are different from ballroom. I already talked about this in "Why did I swing away", and the result was I stopped swing dancing for two years.
When I came back to swing, I was still cautious in competing. I did not know if my bad habit in swing dancing went away. If I know I still have major technical issues to fix in my dance, why bother competing? Moreover, I came back to swing in the hope that the swing scene can be more beginner friendly. If I compete, I may show myself as a better dancer, and make beginner more scared to me, making myself less approachable. Of course, this statement is a slippery slope that makes it false, but that was what I thought in the past. I wanted myself to be seen as friendly, and removing myself from being perceived as an elite was one of them. Thus, in the last year's BULX, even though Evan encouraged me to compete, I decided not to. I would consider competing if I could place not at the lowest level in a workshop audition. Competing costs money, and I would like to make sure that I have a chance to do well first.
So, I did pass an audition in Swing IN 2016. By that time, I also felt that being a better dancer or not do not decide whether a dancer is approachable or not, perhaps because I thought more positively when I came back to swing. Thus, I will try to compete, but make sure that competing will not result me from disliking my dancing. Moreover, I would only do Jack and Jill and not Strictly or Solo. The reason is Jack and Jill competition make you dance with several random partners, which tests lead-and-follow skills. I currently feel that Strictly and Solo are more prone to routines.
I tried novice Jack and Jill at Whistle Stop. It was fun, but I also felt some psychological stress. Although I did not get into the final, one of the follows that I danced to did get into the final. Later, she was also placed. I was happy about that.
Then, I did Jack and Jill at BULX again. These competitions made me recall the times before I left swing, when the swing classes covered how competitions were done in swing scene. In the heat round of Jack and Jill, a dancer will dance with 3-4 random dancers with different swing music. In the final round, a dancer is randomly matched with another dancer. There is an All-skate stage, when every competitors are dancing. Then, there is a Spotlight stage, where each pair dances a certain length of music alone, followed by another pair with the same segment length of the same song. The Spotlight stage will eventually change back to All-skate stage for the same song to conclude the dance.
After the heat stage, it was my time to guard the reception table. I sat there checking marks on people's hands, and did not want to think about the competition at all. I did not want my underlying competitive spirit to ruin my original purpose of dancing - to have fun.
However, when the MC announced the finalist, I was the first person to be called out. What should I do? It was my first time to be in a final.
After a random rotation, I met my partner of the final. "Hi. My name is Wangki". "Lance," he said. I met him in the Whistle Stop workshop before. He was also a follow at that time. (FYI, swing community is very active in making the dance gender-neutral. Either male or female can be a lead or follow. Even when I stopped doing swing and changed to salsa for that two years, I tried to bring the idea that "male can follow" in the salsa community. Some of my salsa friends were willing to try it.)
All-skate is fine, but I was a bit stressed out at the Spotlight stage. Lance and I were the first pair to get in. I need to device a way to dance into the center, dance for 16 bars of music, and device another way to dance out of the center. How to do it? I did not really plan, since I adapted myself to social dancing rather than competing. I also asked Lance to confirm the procedure of the competition, just making sure we were doing things right.
I think we had a lot of fun. I tried to show off as much as I could, while maintaining my fundamental connection right, especially relaxing my arms. Evan, one of my swing club's instructors, was one of the judges. I hoped there would not be any conflict of interest, so I did not talk to him throughout the competition. However, I asked him more questions about the competition when we met in Champaign after the competition. I was curious on how judges decided who performed better in the competition. What are the metrics?
In the end, Lance and I were placed second! After a lot of hand shaking, perhaps hugging, and a long bow, we discussed what prize we would get. Usually, the prizes are free entry to a certain workshop or lindy exchange. The first place picks first, and then second and third. It was so tempting to attend any of them, but I knew my time in the US was short. I could only pick the St Louis's blues workshop because it happened in February. Later, I found that I got a job in Hong Kong, and I had to go back in January to start working. Too bad that I could not take any one of the prizes!
I hope that I could do Jack and Jill again!
Friday, December 23, 2016
Monday, December 5, 2016
Out-of-town Dancing Report: Whistle Stop 2016 (Vintage Swing)
November 2016 was another surge of dance trips for me. The first is Whistle Stop. The second is BULX. Whistle Stop is an annual workshop organized by Purdue Night Train, the swing club of Purdue University. Weeks before this workshop, I hope there could be more people from the Illini Swing Society (ISS, the swing club of U of I) to come to this workshop. It was inexpensive when comparing to other workshops ($49), and the cast was strong (Michael and Evita, as well as Peter Strom, are well-known professional swing instructors, from my knowledge before this workshop; Michael Gamble is a famous swing band). Moreover, poor students could apply for financial assistance or volunteer to reduce the cost of the workshop.
In the end, only the people in the know went. I guess aside from money, time also determines whether one will go to a workshop. When I organized one-day weekend dance trip, there was one or even two cars going to these events. However, full-weekend trips were harder to sell. I think this is because most club members, who are undergrads, want to finish assignments on Sunday. Still, I wish a few newer ISS members can attend these workshop at least once. The greatness of a workshop should be passed on in the ISS.
The Reunion, As Usual
After traveling for swing dances several times, I have seen some familiar faces for several times. I know who drove from the east, and who drove from the west. Some of them are the Purdue locals. I may have interacted and/or danced them in the previous dance trip(s). There are also a few people that would stick to my mind.
First, there are the instructors that I met in the previous dances. Many of them are welcomed to dance with the students. I usually asked them to dance once so that I can see how great dancers dance. My courage to ask previous instructors to dance traced back to my very first traveling workshop experience, which was a WCS workshop in Chicago. My WCS instructors introduced me to the professional instructors, and encouraged me to dance with one of them. At first, I felt uneasy because I was just a newbie, and the professional would be bored. After the dance, however, I think the asking an instructor to dance was just like asking any other people to dance. Instructors are fine with being asked to dance, even if you are a baby dancer! Since then, I would try to ask at least one instructor for a dance in partner dance workshop of any kind.
Then, there are some other dancers that I hope I could dance more with. I would always try to dance with people that I met before (unless they reject dances repeatedly). That is whether they are a baby dancer or a professional. I also tried to ask several people that I have never met before to dance with. I considered this a good training for myself to test if I can tell a person is a beginner or advanced dancer based just on an initial connection, and if I can make the dance fun in either case. The moves that I give to beginner and advanced are different.
However, there is someone that I feel like I really want to be friend with. I am a bit concerned, for I began to think about this person too much.
When I first met her, I was just asking a new person to dance with. After the dance, it was just a regular "thank you for the dance" interaction. I did not even know her name. Some weeks later, I was learned from my fellow dancer that she raised the issue of creepiness on some dance floors (or, what happened about the dance. I learned her name and where I met her before during this conversation. (As a side note, I wondered how come I heard the creepiness of guys so often in the US? I seldom heard this when I was in Hong Kong. Are Hong Kong people: 1) more conservative in terms of sex, or 2) are less likely to report sexual abuse, so we heard about sexual abuse in Hong Kong much less often?) I added her as a FB friend because I would like to read some of her comments. My feeling for this is: while I mostly agree on making the dance floor safe, it may raise another issue that I would not like to see. So, I become a lurker for dance related topics...
However, the more I read, the more I agree with her wholeheartedly. Her FB is a blog itself. In the summer, I met her again in another lindy exchange. I sheepishly asked her to dance because: 1) she must be a good dancer, but I do not know if she is too good to accept me for the dance; 2) I lurk for information on FB. On the other hand, I felt that she was alone most of the time, and I hoped that she could be more involved on the dance floor.
So I danced with her. My partner connection report about her was amazing. It reminded me long time ago that some people in ballroom complimented that the instructor was "so easy to be led", and "flow so elegantly". Except, this is lindy, and it has a pulse that I usually do not resemble it as a "smooth" dance. The conclusion was that "her follow ability is beyond my level to be able to harness her potential". I am also happy to ask her to dance again, if time permits, since she is actually a nice person.
Moreover, I felt she seemed to look through me at times. I hoped that she was just watching other people dancing, but her line of sight seemed to be kept at me for a long time across the floor. I had to look away. I had a bad feeling about falling into this sinkhole of thought.
(Blogger's note: I think the original of next two previous paragraphs need some editing. These two paragraphs say something that I feel in the past about any dance scene in general, not just swing. However, the way it was written does seem that I write about the specific person. This person, however, is a counter-example of what I have written. In fact, she makes me feel the hope of the growth of the swing dance scene. Thus, I rearrange the text, and add new and important paragraph below that I should have said. Texts that have modified or added are underlined.)
Why do I think about this person too much? Perhaps it is because I care a lot about the health of a dance scene. She is certainly an advanced dancer, and she has great opinions. More importantly, I see hopes that she can be a great person to make a dance scene grow.
In my previous experiences, I am a bit concerned that some advanced follows sometimes scare away the baby leads, since such leads do not know how much force (tiny) and what part of body (at least not just legs) should be used to lead, and the follows automatically perceive this as dangerous leads. Creepy and/or forceful leads do exist, but the forceful baby leads may not know what they are doing. Such can be nuisances to advanced follows, and may deter them to dance with baby dancers. However, if the great dancers only care about peers at similar dance level and forget about the baby dancers, the baby dancers will leave, and the dance scene will not grow. For most of the people, dance is a recreational activity. If they do not find the fun of it, they will leave. Great dancers do not necessarily lead to great scene.
However, I think I will no doubt introduce her to my baby dancer friends to dance with her. She seems friendly. When I recall my first dance workshop experience, when my instructor introduced me to dance with a professional, I feel like I should do the same, i.e. to introduce the baby dancers to dance with the experienced dancers. Based on my few experiences on her friendliness, she is no doubt safe to the baby dancers. If she is shy to ask, I will try to do the job as a middle person, since I doubt that baby dancers dare to ask, too.
I got two chances to dance with her in this workshop, and I still felt happy to dance with her. My time in the US is short, and probably I will less likely see her again. However, if I have a chance to meet her again, and some ISS newbies go with me, I will certainly tell them to try to dance with her. But first, when will our baby dancers travel?
The Tricky Audition
On Saturday morning before the workshop classes, there was an audition to place dancers at different classes. There were 3 levels. This time, everyone danced for many songs, and partnered were switched many times. From my self-reflection, I could aim for the middle level. However, I kept dancing for long, but I still did not get a band.
I knew that some dancers were good, and she got a wrist band early (the color of a wrist band tells what level a person is in). Then, I kept dancing for 5-6 partners, needed to take off my clothes, came back to dance, went to drink water, and came back. However, I did not get a band.
It was strange that at some point, I could tell that some follows need refinement in swingouts. However, they were the ones who got the wrist bands. What is wrong with my swingouts?
After a long 30-minute dance, the audition was finally over. I once again became the remains. The remains are usually in the lowest level.
However, this assumption did not make sense. I knew several people who were placed in the novice Jack & Jill competitions stayed in the same class as me. When dancing with most of the people in this class, their follow skills were solid. The new hypothesis, therefore, is that those who got the first set of wrist bands are the more advanced dancer. Those who got the second set of wrist bands are the ones who need refinement of the dance. The remains are in the middle.
To test this hypothesis, I used the break time to watch the dances in the other two rooms. My observations support the hypothesis.
I bet the audition was done this way to discourage people from arguing that they are placed at the wrong level, since they thought they should be at, presumably, the lowest level. However, they were not. However, as some of my friends pointed out, asking everyone (>100) for audition tired people out.
Rebuilding a Scene
One of the highlights of this workshop was a class about building a dance scene. The class was taught by a club building expert. Zack and I were very excited for this, since we would like to listen to some more new ideas. When I came back to swing 1.5 years ago, most of the great dancers were gone, leaving a club with only ~ 20 people left. Now, the ISS is recovering, with ~ 50 people staying.
It turned out that most of the stuff that we heard were what we are doing now.
Once again, great dancers do not necessarily lead to great dance scene. Baby dancers join and stay because they find friends to stay with and find fun in learning new moves. This year, we have a great PR chair and a great pair of beginner instructors. I believe they kept many people staying after the dance classes. Having fun first, being technical second.
Most of the presentation was about how to recruit new members and retain them. However, I had at least two questions that I would like to get answers from. One of them was asked on that day. The other one was not.
The one that I asked was related to experienced dancers forming their own group, making the baby dancers feel isolated and leave. That happened at the time before I came back to the Illini Swing Society. Experienced dancers were so focused to their techniques that forgot about the beginner dancers that would like to get fun out of the dance. It seemed that some other club scene also experienced such problem, but Purdue appeared not. What had they done? Many of their dancers were still pretty good! That is also the time that I wondered the importance of a permanent figure in a dance scene. Unlike college students who mostly have 4-year lifespan, permanent figures have experience in managing the direction of a club.
The other question that I felt not asking at a good time relates specifically to the nature of swing. Do any swing club experienced competitions with the other forms of swing? The swing that we are doing relates to the swing jazz music, which has an uneven triple step feeling. However, how can you deal with another club who teaches ballroom, with a part called swing, that dances to the current music with an even triple step feel? How about people who do WCS or country swing that also dance to current music? How about those who find pretzel fun and feel that swing can be danced to any music? The U of I has another club that does east coast swing only. They dance to any music (no swing syncopation), especially fast songs. They teach moves that the vintage swing people will laugh at. Nevertheless, they attract a good number of people because the music is closer to their culture. Besides, I do not think their ideas of swing are not necessarily wrong, since they are not doing vintage swing. How should we explain our swing culture to those who are in another swing culture, without being too defensive on our view?
I feel that the last 2 questions are unresolved, and the speaker may not know the struggles between the advanced and the beginners, and among the other groups that call themselves "swing", but not vintage swing.
Office Hour and Classes
Another highlight of the workshop was the instructor office hour. People waited in line to get a chip that corresponds to an instructor of their choice. Each person with the chip could meet with the instructor for 5 minutes, and asked questions that he/she wanted. In other words, it was 5-minute private lessons.
Some instructors were popular. If I got the chip late, I might have to wait for an hour before my turn. Fortunately, I went there early, and got a chance to meet with one of the popular instructor (Evita Arce), and another one (Peter Strom).
My question was the same to both: what part of swingout I should improve on? Then, I got two different answers that I found very useful.
I know that Evita was quality assured. I met Peter for the first time, and I liked him talking about replacing basic steps with various solo jazz steps. I did not actually got into his solo jazz class, but I felt that if I met him again in another workshop, I would like his teaching.
Michael and Evita, as teaching partner, are still great and fun to watch, as usual. I found that another pair, Jenny and Dan, are also excellent instructors. In their class, they talked about variations of basic lindy movements, and my favorite part, replacing triple steps with ball drop or kick step. The latter is one kind of replacing basics with jazz steps. I wish I could see them teach again.
For Bobby and Katie's class, they talked about a dancing topic that could be contemplated for a bit. How could I keep the beginner happy if they do not proper lead/ follow something? Can I try to dance well if my partner is not helping? This is important in the social dance floor because advanced dancers also want to have fun, but it is easy to perceive having less fun with a beginner dancer. It is possible to have ways for an advanced dancer to challenge him/herself while dancing with a beginner. If the advanced dancer find such way, he/she would be more willing to dance with beginners. Having more advanced dancers to dance with the beginners will help the dance scene to grow.
In the end, only the people in the know went. I guess aside from money, time also determines whether one will go to a workshop. When I organized one-day weekend dance trip, there was one or even two cars going to these events. However, full-weekend trips were harder to sell. I think this is because most club members, who are undergrads, want to finish assignments on Sunday. Still, I wish a few newer ISS members can attend these workshop at least once. The greatness of a workshop should be passed on in the ISS.
The Reunion, As Usual
After traveling for swing dances several times, I have seen some familiar faces for several times. I know who drove from the east, and who drove from the west. Some of them are the Purdue locals. I may have interacted and/or danced them in the previous dance trip(s). There are also a few people that would stick to my mind.
First, there are the instructors that I met in the previous dances. Many of them are welcomed to dance with the students. I usually asked them to dance once so that I can see how great dancers dance. My courage to ask previous instructors to dance traced back to my very first traveling workshop experience, which was a WCS workshop in Chicago. My WCS instructors introduced me to the professional instructors, and encouraged me to dance with one of them. At first, I felt uneasy because I was just a newbie, and the professional would be bored. After the dance, however, I think the asking an instructor to dance was just like asking any other people to dance. Instructors are fine with being asked to dance, even if you are a baby dancer! Since then, I would try to ask at least one instructor for a dance in partner dance workshop of any kind.
Then, there are some other dancers that I hope I could dance more with. I would always try to dance with people that I met before (unless they reject dances repeatedly). That is whether they are a baby dancer or a professional. I also tried to ask several people that I have never met before to dance with. I considered this a good training for myself to test if I can tell a person is a beginner or advanced dancer based just on an initial connection, and if I can make the dance fun in either case. The moves that I give to beginner and advanced are different.
However, there is someone that I feel like I really want to be friend with. I am a bit concerned, for I began to think about this person too much.
When I first met her, I was just asking a new person to dance with. After the dance, it was just a regular "thank you for the dance" interaction. I did not even know her name. Some weeks later, I was learned from my fellow dancer that she raised the issue of creepiness on some dance floors (or, what happened about the dance. I learned her name and where I met her before during this conversation. (As a side note, I wondered how come I heard the creepiness of guys so often in the US? I seldom heard this when I was in Hong Kong. Are Hong Kong people: 1) more conservative in terms of sex, or 2) are less likely to report sexual abuse, so we heard about sexual abuse in Hong Kong much less often?) I added her as a FB friend because I would like to read some of her comments. My feeling for this is: while I mostly agree on making the dance floor safe, it may raise another issue that I would not like to see. So, I become a lurker for dance related topics...
However, the more I read, the more I agree with her wholeheartedly. Her FB is a blog itself. In the summer, I met her again in another lindy exchange. I sheepishly asked her to dance because: 1) she must be a good dancer, but I do not know if she is too good to accept me for the dance; 2) I lurk for information on FB. On the other hand, I felt that she was alone most of the time, and I hoped that she could be more involved on the dance floor.
So I danced with her. My partner connection report about her was amazing. It reminded me long time ago that some people in ballroom complimented that the instructor was "so easy to be led", and "flow so elegantly". Except, this is lindy, and it has a pulse that I usually do not resemble it as a "smooth" dance. The conclusion was that "her follow ability is beyond my level to be able to harness her potential". I am also happy to ask her to dance again, if time permits, since she is actually a nice person.
Moreover, I felt she seemed to look through me at times. I hoped that she was just watching other people dancing, but her line of sight seemed to be kept at me for a long time across the floor. I had to look away. I had a bad feeling about falling into this sinkhole of thought.
(Blogger's note: I think the original of next two previous paragraphs need some editing. These two paragraphs say something that I feel in the past about any dance scene in general, not just swing. However, the way it was written does seem that I write about the specific person. This person, however, is a counter-example of what I have written. In fact, she makes me feel the hope of the growth of the swing dance scene. Thus, I rearrange the text, and add new and important paragraph below that I should have said. Texts that have modified or added are underlined.)
Why do I think about this person too much? Perhaps it is because I care a lot about the health of a dance scene. She is certainly an advanced dancer, and she has great opinions. More importantly, I see hopes that she can be a great person to make a dance scene grow.
In my previous experiences, I am a bit concerned that some advanced follows sometimes scare away the baby leads, since such leads do not know how much force (tiny) and what part of body (at least not just legs) should be used to lead, and the follows automatically perceive this as dangerous leads. Creepy and/or forceful leads do exist, but the forceful baby leads may not know what they are doing. Such can be nuisances to advanced follows, and may deter them to dance with baby dancers. However, if the great dancers only care about peers at similar dance level and forget about the baby dancers, the baby dancers will leave, and the dance scene will not grow. For most of the people, dance is a recreational activity. If they do not find the fun of it, they will leave. Great dancers do not necessarily lead to great scene.
However, I think I will no doubt introduce her to my baby dancer friends to dance with her. She seems friendly. When I recall my first dance workshop experience, when my instructor introduced me to dance with a professional, I feel like I should do the same, i.e. to introduce the baby dancers to dance with the experienced dancers. Based on my few experiences on her friendliness, she is no doubt safe to the baby dancers. If she is shy to ask, I will try to do the job as a middle person, since I doubt that baby dancers dare to ask, too.
I got two chances to dance with her in this workshop, and I still felt happy to dance with her. My time in the US is short, and probably I will less likely see her again. However, if I have a chance to meet her again, and some ISS newbies go with me, I will certainly tell them to try to dance with her. But first, when will our baby dancers travel?
The Tricky Audition
On Saturday morning before the workshop classes, there was an audition to place dancers at different classes. There were 3 levels. This time, everyone danced for many songs, and partnered were switched many times. From my self-reflection, I could aim for the middle level. However, I kept dancing for long, but I still did not get a band.
I knew that some dancers were good, and she got a wrist band early (the color of a wrist band tells what level a person is in). Then, I kept dancing for 5-6 partners, needed to take off my clothes, came back to dance, went to drink water, and came back. However, I did not get a band.
It was strange that at some point, I could tell that some follows need refinement in swingouts. However, they were the ones who got the wrist bands. What is wrong with my swingouts?
After a long 30-minute dance, the audition was finally over. I once again became the remains. The remains are usually in the lowest level.
However, this assumption did not make sense. I knew several people who were placed in the novice Jack & Jill competitions stayed in the same class as me. When dancing with most of the people in this class, their follow skills were solid. The new hypothesis, therefore, is that those who got the first set of wrist bands are the more advanced dancer. Those who got the second set of wrist bands are the ones who need refinement of the dance. The remains are in the middle.
To test this hypothesis, I used the break time to watch the dances in the other two rooms. My observations support the hypothesis.
I bet the audition was done this way to discourage people from arguing that they are placed at the wrong level, since they thought they should be at, presumably, the lowest level. However, they were not. However, as some of my friends pointed out, asking everyone (>100) for audition tired people out.
Rebuilding a Scene
One of the highlights of this workshop was a class about building a dance scene. The class was taught by a club building expert. Zack and I were very excited for this, since we would like to listen to some more new ideas. When I came back to swing 1.5 years ago, most of the great dancers were gone, leaving a club with only ~ 20 people left. Now, the ISS is recovering, with ~ 50 people staying.
It turned out that most of the stuff that we heard were what we are doing now.
Once again, great dancers do not necessarily lead to great dance scene. Baby dancers join and stay because they find friends to stay with and find fun in learning new moves. This year, we have a great PR chair and a great pair of beginner instructors. I believe they kept many people staying after the dance classes. Having fun first, being technical second.
Most of the presentation was about how to recruit new members and retain them. However, I had at least two questions that I would like to get answers from. One of them was asked on that day. The other one was not.
The one that I asked was related to experienced dancers forming their own group, making the baby dancers feel isolated and leave. That happened at the time before I came back to the Illini Swing Society. Experienced dancers were so focused to their techniques that forgot about the beginner dancers that would like to get fun out of the dance. It seemed that some other club scene also experienced such problem, but Purdue appeared not. What had they done? Many of their dancers were still pretty good! That is also the time that I wondered the importance of a permanent figure in a dance scene. Unlike college students who mostly have 4-year lifespan, permanent figures have experience in managing the direction of a club.
The other question that I felt not asking at a good time relates specifically to the nature of swing. Do any swing club experienced competitions with the other forms of swing? The swing that we are doing relates to the swing jazz music, which has an uneven triple step feeling. However, how can you deal with another club who teaches ballroom, with a part called swing, that dances to the current music with an even triple step feel? How about people who do WCS or country swing that also dance to current music? How about those who find pretzel fun and feel that swing can be danced to any music? The U of I has another club that does east coast swing only. They dance to any music (no swing syncopation), especially fast songs. They teach moves that the vintage swing people will laugh at. Nevertheless, they attract a good number of people because the music is closer to their culture. Besides, I do not think their ideas of swing are not necessarily wrong, since they are not doing vintage swing. How should we explain our swing culture to those who are in another swing culture, without being too defensive on our view?
I feel that the last 2 questions are unresolved, and the speaker may not know the struggles between the advanced and the beginners, and among the other groups that call themselves "swing", but not vintage swing.
Office Hour and Classes
Another highlight of the workshop was the instructor office hour. People waited in line to get a chip that corresponds to an instructor of their choice. Each person with the chip could meet with the instructor for 5 minutes, and asked questions that he/she wanted. In other words, it was 5-minute private lessons.
Some instructors were popular. If I got the chip late, I might have to wait for an hour before my turn. Fortunately, I went there early, and got a chance to meet with one of the popular instructor (Evita Arce), and another one (Peter Strom).
My question was the same to both: what part of swingout I should improve on? Then, I got two different answers that I found very useful.
I know that Evita was quality assured. I met Peter for the first time, and I liked him talking about replacing basic steps with various solo jazz steps. I did not actually got into his solo jazz class, but I felt that if I met him again in another workshop, I would like his teaching.
Michael and Evita, as teaching partner, are still great and fun to watch, as usual. I found that another pair, Jenny and Dan, are also excellent instructors. In their class, they talked about variations of basic lindy movements, and my favorite part, replacing triple steps with ball drop or kick step. The latter is one kind of replacing basics with jazz steps. I wish I could see them teach again.
For Bobby and Katie's class, they talked about a dancing topic that could be contemplated for a bit. How could I keep the beginner happy if they do not proper lead/ follow something? Can I try to dance well if my partner is not helping? This is important in the social dance floor because advanced dancers also want to have fun, but it is easy to perceive having less fun with a beginner dancer. It is possible to have ways for an advanced dancer to challenge him/herself while dancing with a beginner. If the advanced dancer find such way, he/she would be more willing to dance with beginners. Having more advanced dancers to dance with the beginners will help the dance scene to grow.
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