Dance Masters

As an aging but not Over-the-Hill-Yet Lindy Hop dancer, I've watched plenty of dance competitions. In most of them the average age of the competitors was somewhere around 25-35 which is not surprising since Lindy Hop is a very athletic dance and proving your skills and prowess at top speeds is a given. Even though in my fantasies I longed to get out there and dance to "Jumpin' at the Woodside" I knew that I would pay a heavy price, in body if not in ego. Secretly, I wanted some organizer to realize that there are plenty of dancers like me who are still vital and engaged in their dancing and want to celebrate Lindy diversity by showcasing them in a contest and most definitely NOT an intergenerational contest. I've been in several of those and it felt like being an oddity in a zoo (Oh, look at the old people dancing! How cute!) or in a popularity contest when the winner was chosen by applause. I wanted a real contest limited to an older age group with real judges and maybe even prizes because, why not, everyone else gets them. I eventually ran the idea by a few organizers and the response I got was, "We already have an Intergenrational contest" or "I don't think anyone would be interested". Hhhmmmm.
The idea was then put away in some back corner in the attic of my brain.

David Blood runs the Lindy Hop classes at City College here in San Francisco and I have the privilege of teaching with him. The college has been under the gun financially and any extras have been stripped away and that included funding for production classes, help with costuming, etc., for the swing classes. If we wanted to keep those important components alive we were going to have to raise the money ourselves. Since both of our birthdays fall in the month of January we decided to hold a benefit dance and joint birthday party. As I went about putting the event together, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to hold a Masters Jack and Jill myself-but would anyone actually enter it? I asked a few friends and got a positive response so I went about finding judges and asking the different organizers if they would donate prizes. I was thinking if I got five couples I would be very happy and call it a success.

I began to realize that the contest wasn't just a fun idea for Bay Area dancers over 50, but a way to showcase the more "seasoned" dancers, dancers fun to dance with but sometimes overlooked by the younger population. Some of the contestants were also dancers who were instrumental in the return of Lindy Hop to the Bay Area during the resurgence of the dance. There are a whole host of new dancers who don't know who those people are and the role they played in reestablishing the dance they love here. History is important, people. This was a way for those dancers to be seen and celebrated. The night before the event I printed out sheets for the judges and made numbers for the contestants. I had no idea how many dancers would participate but I settled randomly on the number 16 and made sets of 16 numbers for the followers and 16 for the leaders and made a sign up sheet with 16 spots for each.

To my great surprise, exactly 16 leaders and 16 followers signed up! Here they are, filling the dance floor!

Dancers had come from all over the Bay Area to participate-from San Francisco and the East Bay and from as far away as Sacramento and San Jose-and many of them, for all of their years of dancing, had NEVER entered a contest before.

Here is the first song:



You could feel the energy and support from the audience right through to the end of the fourth song. I don't believe in my wildest dreams I thought it would be that magical. Here are the names of the winners:

First Place Ken Watanabe and Cheryl McBride
Second Place Matt Horrigan and Linda Lau
Third Place Jeremy Sutton and Irene Kalwa Nute
Lindy Spirit Award Chuck Dee and Sharon Crocker

It was a very special night for me. I was surrounded by a loving and supportive Lindy Community who not only came to celebrate with David and me but who came to help the swing program at City College and to cheer on those awesome dancers!

I have to give special thanks to Nathan Dias who volunteered his time to DJ the contest, to the judges, Iris Dolowitz Tarou, Kylie Woodard, Kirk Tarou and Gilles Bouvier for also volunteering their talents and to the organizers of Epic Swing, Swingin' at the Savoy, the 9:20 Special and SF Swing Jam for donating the prizes.

The moral of the story? If you want something done, sometimes you have to do it yourself. But more importantly, if you want a thriving dance community it's important to honor not only the young, up and coming dancers on the scene, but to recognize the dancers with a few more miles on the speedometer in a real and meaningful way.

Oh, and this awesomeness happened too. This performance by Mike Daniele (72) and Corie Van Theil (75) had the audience on their feet!




The photograph at the top of the blog is of Frankie Manning and Cynthia Millman

T'ain't What Ya Do, It's the Way that Ya Do it

"How can I make myself look good as a dancer?" It's a question I've been getting from students lately. They have gotten themselves to a level where they feel comfortable on the dance floor as a social dancer but they want to improve the quality of their movement. All of us move in a way that is unique to ourselves but there are some things you can do as a dancer to make your movement smoother and more stylish-and more "you".

When your mother told you to stand up straight she was doing you a favor. As dancers, we can only work with the body we've grown into and if we have created bad habits in posture along the way, we'll need to break those first. Pay attention to how you move as you sit, stand and walk. Ideally we should be creating a straight back by engaging our core (the area around the middle of your body, especially the abdominal muscles) dropping our shoulders and pulling our shoulder blades down toward the floor and stacking our neck and head directly over that. As children we did that naturally.

You can do that sitting there now as you read this. If you consciously practice good posture during the day it will stop feeling awkward and start feeling GOOD. Your body will thank you! Get a buddy to remind you when you head back to your old habits.

Stretch! Once we pass our 30's it's a cruel truth that we start to loose our natural strength and flexibility. Take a yoga class, a Pilates class, a dance strengthening class or a ballet class. All of those classes will work on your core too. And, do sit-ups. Yeah I know, I hate them too.

Work on balance (see classes above) You can also do simple balance exercises at home. Stand on one foot with the other foot slightly raised for 10 seconds, then change feet and do the same. Do it 10 times. Do that but bend the standing knee as well. Do that but raise a bent knee even with your hips. Now, do all of that with your eyes closed. You will find that if you engage your core it will be easier and if you are barefoot you will get a good sense of how you distribute your weight. Knowing where you are shifting your weight as you dance makes your dancing look smoother and allows for more precise leading and following.

Work on endurance. When you are in better aerobic shape you will feel less winded and look more energetic as you dance. You'll also be able to dance more dances.

Have someone take video of you when you are dancing. We all hate watching ourselves dancing but try doing this exercise as you watch the video. Look at yourself as just another dancer on the floor. Find two or three things about that dancer that looks good to you (examples might be: they are engaged with their partner, they added some fun footwork at one point, they have a nice bounce in that Charleston) Now find one or two things that could be better (they are pulling themselves toward their partner in the swing out, they look at the floor too much) Those are your dance goals for now. Wait a while and then ask to be videoed again and check on those goals. Change them as you improve.

As you watch the videos you'll start to recognize a certain style or way of moving that comes naturally to you. Look at dancers on YouTube and try to find people who match your style. Watch them and copy them. All art is derivative. If you go to any major art museum you will find students sketching and, if allowed, painting what the Masters before them have created. Just be aware that to be a carbon copy of someone is not the goal. You are learning from them in order to be a better dancer who dances like you.

Stephan and Bethany dance differently than...



Juan and Sharon, who dance differently than...



Kevin and Jo



Variety is the spice of life! By the way, those dancers didn't just jump onto the dance floor right out of the gate looking like that. They worked hard to develop their style and work hard to keep evolving.

Loosen up! When you go out social dancing people are going to watch you and sometimes they will watch you intently and YOU WON'T EVEN KNOW IT! If that fact freaks you out you might as well go back to dancing to Abba in your bedroom. Dance time=playtime...otherwise why would you add an extra chore to your life? Put yourself in a dance bubble with your partner and make them the only other person in the room. Smile more, laugh if something funny happens, cheer your partner on, encourage play in your dancing and you will discover more about your dancing style. As an exercise, join the Ministry of Silly Walks.



Well, you don't have to be that silly if you don't want to, but when you have a distance to walk try to vary how you walk every block. Dance in slow motion, dance like you are underwater, or on fire or weightless. Think of an animal and dance like it might if it stood on two legs. You might just come up with something awesome. Someone came up with the Camel Walk, right? Do it in front of a mirror and try to repent the moves you like the best. Video yourself doing it.


Above all, to thine own self be true-dance like YOU.