Swing Dancing/Swing Sundaes
From Tractatus
Moten Swing
Septermber 14th. Nathan & Emily.
The class was multi level, one of the leaders had never danced swing before. Surprisingly he was not overwhelmed. I was impressed.
Basic
First we went over the 6-count basic. I thought this would be useless. But, there was a gem in there. The gem was that the leader when doing six count basics should let the follower take rock steps in opposing directions. That is, after a rock step, let the follower's motion come forward, and turn her 180 degrees so that her next rock step captures that momentum, and redirects it back the other way.
At the end, Nathan led me in this, and wow, so much smoother.
Tuck turn, kicking out on the rock step
The music chosen was Moten Swing (Count Basie, Atomic Swing). The start of the choreography is right after the intro. We started by doing a basic (six counts), into a tuck turn (6 counts), hitting the whoosh on beat 12 by kicking out that rock step. The lead is trivial... just give a little kick to that rock step lead.
Side Pass
Exit the rock step with a front side pass. That is, lead her to your current position, and travel facing her to her position.
Double Rock Step
Backward
OK, this is way cool. During a rock step, keep the weight on the right foot, and just hitch the left leg. The lead is done by stopping the follower's motion before she put her leg down. It is slightly easier if you pick up the off hand. But, you can totally lead it one handed. Rad. You can do this like 10 times in a row.... But, if you just do it once, you convert a 6 count into an 8. neat.
This helps us start to work around the count.
After one of these we move to the follower, and close up. You are now facing in the direction you started out in.
Forward
A little later, we will need some more delay, so after the rock step, take a rock step forward, then backward.
This adds another four counts of delay. Stay tuned.
Follower Kick
This is not quite charleston, but it is realted. basically, as the leader, you pretend that you are leading charleston startign from teh rock step, but instead of replacing your left foot normally, you turn to face the follower. Then, you swing her out as she goes onto her right foot. Pow. Nice kick. Leadable on novice dancers.
Step Hop Around
Now is the moment for us to add those four counts of delay using an additional forward and backward rock step.
Now, step forward, opening up and then go down on the right, and jump onto the left foot. Stop! Be thinking about how much you want to stop in midair, and like magic your foot will slide around and the follower will be facing you.
Tips
I was complaining about the pointlessness of 'practicing' the called out Step Up to Suzie Q sequence.
He suggested practicing the Suzie Q's by doing it straight off a rock step. The key to the lead is to do a rock step replacing the right foot to the left. This has the effect of creating space, and leading the follower into that space as you come forward. Fun.
Splanky
Splanky by Count Basie. This was one of the slow tempo recordings. After the intro there is a nice little conversation in the melody. So, we used this conversation as a play back and forth. First the leader moved the first two beats, and the follower replied on the three beat response. then the leader, then the follower with the leader joining the follower for the last two beats of the long phrase. This repeats for the next verse.
Then we came together with a rock step hitting the first big moment, and then Bam stepped forward and froze. Then we walked forward together shimmying. (This required the leader to take a triple step on the rock step to match feet with the follower. Then the leader brought the follower in front to hit the next big moment. A slide to the right for two counts, and then right into a swingout. mess around for a little, then lead the follower in shoulder to shoulder. By placing your shoulder behind hers, lead a nice slow circle. Walk out the circle, come together and then giddy-up to the right. Slow quick-slow quick-slow. Done.
Back Stop
Neat swingout variation. Go into a swingout, but instead of picking the follower up in a tuck, place your right arm over the follower's. As she comes around, you will start to lead her into an outside turn, but let your right hand slide around her arm so that your hand is on her bicep, and your forearm is up against her back. This will stop her rotation. Then, use that to spin her back the other way. It is a really nice syncopated moment to stop on if you can prep it.
Notes
After playing with this a lot I generally do this as a straight elbow catch instead, because it is less disturbing to the follow.
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
It starts almost right away. First, rock step the follower back, and lead her behind you with a turn stepping forward and to your right, basically the entrance to a catapult. lead the follower forward, through a half turn and step step with her into an elbow catch. Now, do a tuck turn off the elbow catch sending her back the way she came. Face away, catching her on her rock step. Bringing her back with an inside turn in front of you. Hello! Now, kill eight beats by kicking or Tacky Annie or something (she swivels). Then, rock step and hit the 'sings...' with a slide to the right. Tuck turn out to open, then inside turn back to closed. DO a skip up. After the skip up, rock step and then jump to a tight closed position. Now, Mess ARound, for the "Why..." big... bump bump bump. How sweet it is.
Later we were listening to a ton of Charlie Barnet stuff. It rocked. The Count's Idea, The Duke's Idea, The Wrong Idea, The Right Idea. I think the album was Sweat and Swing. Must search.
Breakdown
I am trying to decide how to record this stuff so that it makes sense to me later. I know it won't... but I think that whwat I can record are some of the pieces of the puzzle.
Follower behind, leader right
Start in handshake travel the follower by your right side, turning her so she ends behind you, facing you. while this is going on step forward and then right. Leave your left hand palm up extended in front to give her a hand to take. Give her the rock step by extending your right hand back. Really help her.
Lead the follower into an elbow hold
Travel her forward, and turn her taking her left elbow with right hand. Right on the bone seems best. Don't crush her wrist. A tuck turn can be executed by rotating her into her rock step, and then tucking using her elbow as the tuck. Free spin.
Turn away, inside turn
Instead of turning to face her, turn away, picking up her right hand with your left as you go. rock step. now lead her to travel in front of you. Turn her to face you.
(Then we killed 8 beats... swivels, and kicks).
Slide to the right
Bring her in, go forward crouching. Pick her up and take her into a nice long slide to the right. 4 counts! Long slide. The sliding foot goes right into a rock step. Fun.
(Then we did a tuck turn out and back, followed by a skip up. We then took a rock step/hop and planted).
Mess around
OK, so in this crouched position, the leader can kick his hips out, and with good frame, the follower will do the messaround in the same way. The effect is awesome. A pelvic thrust which kicks the followers hips out, and then you can bring it around slowly. Great fun.
Swingouts
Nathan did not feel that the music was loud enough for a routine, so instead he asked what people would like help with.
Swingouts were requested.
Basic
I liked the comment about making the first step straight back, and clearing with the second step. I really got the follower moving way more smoothly.
Over rotating
The neat part about the over rotation is that although you are aiming for a 270 degree rotation, you really send her out at about 225 degrees, then because you are moving your connection she will triple step around the rest of the way. It makes it a lot less effort to get to full rotation.
Under rotating
Under rotating requires you to not get into as pressured a closed position. So that you can just let go and sort of guide her out. Calming.
Inside Turn
The key to the inside turn is making her step forward with you on 5. She will turn naturally with the travel. If you are stepping at the same time, the turn will work, otherwise your arm will get jammed.
Outside Turn
The outside turn was identical in that you want to lead the travel first, but you are also opening up off the line of travel so that the follower naturally turns the other way.
Follow with a rock step
Once you lead an outside turn, you really need to follow it with a rock step, because the natural rotation opposes that of the swivel.
To give a rock step you need to be ready to come forward a little to have the slack available to push away from her so you can both take a rock step.
Follow with a side by side
You could open up, and go side by side with her.
Follow with a swingout
So, if you want to do a swingout next, you need to speed it up and bounce her hips by over-rotating her. That will cause her rotation to bounce off her hip position, and come forward ready for a swingout. There is a subtle difference between this and a quick stop.
Step exercises
MASSACHUSETTS
Balboa Intro
We started with a Balboa intro. This one was different in that it emphasized the Box step. nathan was not at all concerned with keeping it small, for reasons which showed up later. I think I'd like to try to do the box step huge to force myself to get into the groove of it.
Routine
We start off with a swingout, of the single step/push right variety to really emphasize the massachusetts in the lyric. Then we pulse left with the beat 3 times, as it's spelled, then switch to the left, and use this to get extension for a tuck turn in place. Rock step her straight back off the tuck turn, and go past her low, shimmying. Step around on the 'for you' offering your hand. She can take it right on the beat of 'massachusetts'. Then a swingout to a come around.... using a big box left to fix the motion, and place the follower's weight over.
Notes
Weight transfer for the followers
Nathan mentioned this and the way he said it was nice. You might think that as a follower you want to have your weight evenly divided, so that you can go in either direction. That actually violates the contract between lead and follow. The lead needs the follower's weight to be on one foot, so that he can lead something appropriate.
For Dancers Only
Jimmy Lunceford. This was a pretty fast paced routine, really trying to emphasize those breaks on 1.
Routine
Swingout from closed to open, ending with a lean to the right. Hold. Give the follower swivels on the da-dah-da-dah-da-dah, and smoothly going into a circle. On the 7 of the circle, lead the follower up and then down into a lunge for that eight. Slow walk forward on 3, pecking. At the end of the phrase, give a rock step backback for the follow, cut in front and swingout. Hit the end of the circle by a circle slide. Now, unwind using the da-dah-da-dah-da-dah. Circle to closed, and just take a lunge yourself on 8. Give a double rock step, and then lead an inside roll. The follower will embellish the turn by doing a step-behind twist step instead of a normal turn. This hits that break nicely. (Nathan asserted this was leadable, but no time to explain the lead). leader kick-steps right-left-right to let the follower balance. Then give a rock step into two paddle turns, then shift to the right and do a rock step entering charleston. Small step forward. Big Kick forward, big kick back, rock step. step forward, step forward facing each other, twist into a small semi-dip. Yeah!
Notes
Wailing Interval
(Duke Ellington?) We returned to this music again and again. The idea was to take the pulse, the riotous joy, and infuse it into each little simple thing.
6-Count Basic
After watching us 'dance' Nthan decided that we should really learn how to dance. He started off by talking about the basic. He demonstrated the naive basic where you just sort of shuffle in place. THen he demoed one where you are on time, but you don't do anything with it. Then he demoed one which was freestyle. So good.
Box
First he wanted us to move. So, he asked us to move while doing these things, and demonstrated how to move clockwise (line of dance). The leader just steps across, and back, and then gives the rock step. Natural It does not have to be vigorous, just continuous... part of the motion.
I made the mistake of stepping a lot. Some of that was because of not having follower frame (which required compensation). But I was def doing it. Must fix.
Counter-Clockwise Box
To go the other way, the leader stays back on the rock step, and then switches the follower in front, and steps forward, and then gives the rock step. The key is to step straight toward her. No fear! you will not ever run into her... and doing it with confidence really really works.
Note
One way to think about this is as an allegory to he goes she goes. Since in the clockwise case it is he goes she goes, and counterclockwise is she goes he goes.
Dance!
Now we took an interlude, and Nathan tried to get us to really really move! High steps motion, pleasure. It was really cool. I was paired with someone who had never danced before so I had to quickly change plans/decide what to do. I should have just Danced, but I was starting to get tense.
Lollies
Now we went through a modification to the basic where you do a set of lollies. Fun. The idea was to keep the frame, and lead from the left hand. In future I'd like to make sure I can lead lollies left only.
Alternating Box?
Note to self: I want to play more with moving around. I think the mechanics lesson is that motion comes from the rock step, and that determines the rest. Staying back will result in counter-clockwise. Forward is more a step across.
Dancing Swingout
Next we learned what I am going to call a dancing swingout. It makes me cry. Purity! The idea was to do a quick-step step quick-step step rythynm, and in the middle have the leader go under the arm. You can end it in well, andy direction provided you have maintained connection. usually it ends up going left from the leaders position (right after the turn)... because the leader has moved to the lef to the line so that it is clear.
Rythym & Dance
Thunderbird
Nathan started off by asking if there were any problems people had dancing. Someone complained about shoulder pain. So, before the routine he decided to talk about Frame. I suspect that the reason for the shoulder pain was because leaders were wrenching the particular follower's shoulder.
Frame Exercises
Two methods for finding the correct body position. First was holding arms out from the sides palms up, and lowering them until the neck muscles are neutral. Second method was to start with the arms extended over the head. Tense the shoulder muscles. Focus on how the shoulder muscles are being used to support the shoulder. Lower the arms until they are neutral, and the shelf of the back supports the shoulders instead. This also locates the distance the elbows should have from the torso.
Routine
Knee slap variant
Step forward, clap. Knee up, slap. [repeat] Hold, and ball-change to get out. walk for four steps, and enter a standard Charleston. The first right kick should be jazzy. Rock step. High Kick. Skip up. Exit the skip up with a spin off the high kick(whee!). Rock step kick.
Notes
Shim Sham, and a Move
Go there late. They were talking about the shim sham. So, nathan did 10 minute shim sham. so we did that (yikes!), then we did a move. Since when does Nathan teach a move?
Shim-sham
Move
Awesome move. The base is a swingout with a stop on 5. You start a swingout, and on 5, you use a hip-stop, and simultaneously kick with the right foot. you use this to power a turn, stepping on 7, step through on 8. This is all fo the sake of a traveling turn. The follower can embellish the turn by using a jump-syncopation.
Leader kick-spin
First part. Swingout. When you get to 5, instead of stepping back, keep your motion coming forward by kicking with your right foot across your body. Simultaneously stop the follower on her left foot by catching her hip. This generates an enormous amount o torque. Use this to power a spin on your left foot. Transfer weight onto your right foot, take the follower's hand and step through to the right on eight.
Count: 1-2 Come together 3-4 Enter the tuck part of a swingout 5 Kick 6 Spin 7 Transfer weight to right foot 8 Step through 1-2 Travel with a triple step to the right, giving the follower a flip turn. 3-4 Rock step.
The idea is to get through the spin in one count, so that the follower does not have time to think about what is going on. The hip stop will firmly plant her right foot, so stepping through with you on 8 will be very natural.
If you can't get through the turn in time it is ok. Lots of places to soak up the time.
Follower embellishment
Triple step replacement strikes again. In any triple step the first step can be used to start a jump. the time in the air will cause the landing to be a syncopation: jump (pause) land-land.
Alright, Okay, You Win
Joe Williams singing in front of Count Basie. Does it get better than this?
Choreography
3 jockeys, followed by two Camel steps scooting forward. Rock step back, rock step forward(hit it!), rock step back rock step forward(hit it!). Circular rock step into a double tuck turn to open with a kick on the tuck(left), and a double kick kick on the turns (right). Now, prepare, and then perform a big slide step to the right, coming into side by side. Exit with a slow walk forward, getting ready to hit the next phrase. For 'Alright, okay....' we are going to do a circle. rock step left, and then across in front of the follower starting the circle. Quick-quick slow, step step triple step (optional triple). Rock step, rising on the step, falling forward into a lunge. Now, peck forward for 4 counts. peck peck peck peck. 1-2 slide back upright... continuing back into a rock step 3-4. Tuck turn (single this time) to open , preparing for a jump to the left. Execute the left jump, and then hit that "You and Me" with ... something... like two right hip thrusts. Smokin' . Rock step left, picking up both hands, rock step right(coming together), then lead a rock kick left, step kick right(jig walk). Rock step, and do something flashy with that cymbal crash at the end of the phrase.
Wow! A whole verse!
Notes on different spots follow, but the point is not the chunks in the soup, it's the spices, and the flavor.
Jockey
The basic step of swing? Maybe it is according to Frankie. It is how you get your tempo.
Anyway, the jockey is not simply rocking back and forth. Oh, no. The jockey is about getting into the mood of the song. What I noticed with this one was that in his jockey Nathan did a little kick-step on each half of the jockey to accentuate that extra bounce. sweet.
Camel Step
This is a little style-step. You step forward with a straight leg and then push from the back to put a bend in. It is sort of a forward hitch.
Double kicking tuck turn
This was slick. A kick with the left foot on the tuck sets up the kicking motif. Then two right kicks on the two turns the follower takes. Kick, bang---bang.
A key notion for the leaders on this one is to hold your ground. don't let the follower carry you off your spot, and she'll stay close. You must keep her on that close spot on the floor.
Slide step right
Coming off that tuck turn into open, we did a big slide step to the right. The key is the preparation after the rock step. We hold ourselves out of balance, and then take that big step right.
At the end of the slide step there is a lot of momentum travelling to the right. You have to redirect this momentum, and there are a few ways to do this.
Exit walking forward
If there is not that much momentum then you can catch is and roll it around and simply step forward. This leads to a nice smooth motion. Sliiiide step step step.
Exit with a rock step
If you put more into the slide, then it is really comfortable to punctuate the motion with a rock step, bouncing off your outside foot. Sliiide. Step Step Step.
If you had even more energy coming in then (thinks) maybe a double spin rolling off and reconnecting?
Jump Left
Inspiration and Improvisation
Nathan started off by asking if there were any dancing problems. I keep forgetting that I need to come prepared with an answer for this one. I just hate asking for help with 'Really cryptic issue' in a general class like this.
Three people spoke up. Not sure what do do next; I do the same five things; Improvisation. Nathan decided to address these issue with a favorite teaching sequence for him, and a favorite song.
The song is 'Lavender Coffin' the sequence is described below.
Sequence
Tuck turn. Inside turn. Two Swingouts. Circle to side by side. Exit by doing a spin for leader and/or follower.
Transitions
Nathan uses this sequence because he wants to help show how momentum flows. After a tuck turn, the rotation makes it unnatural to lead a swingout. So, you do an inside pass. Coming off the inside pass, the follower can encourage a swingout by delaying the unraveling of the inside turn. The leader correspondingly can encourage or discourage this delay by changing the degree to which he unwinds the turn. This encouragement has the net effect of causing the next action to be a swingout. Going from one swingout into another is natural, but when some new motion is desired, a useful transition is a circle, because this lets youc hange the linear motion to a different linear motion (side by side), or a rotional motion (side by side, but exiting to single or mutual turns).
Improvisation
Nathan talked about how Zacharias and Frida have a different notion of a swingout. They use this different notion to produce more room for improvisation. I know this as a delayed swingout. For some reason this time itjust clicked for me way more than the last time I tried one. (Nathan: 'That is a mean looking swingout you have there' good thing)
NOTE
Fix your triple step it is Long-quick/quick (Daaa-tata) not quick-quick long. (Nathan: 'Scary' bad thing)
Basically to do this style of swingout, you reduce the motion to just during the middle 3-4-5-6: "turn, then back up". This lets you remain stationary for 4 beats. Naturally you use this freedom for improvisation. The lead is that you have to pull the follower in on 2.5/3 ... and both parties have to travel to the center and pass each other... and then the leader has to back up on the 5-6 so you don't wander over the floor
Replace the rock step with a bounce-bounce
The first part in retraining was to replace the rock step with a bounce bounce. The idea is to expose problems, like the leader automatically leading in, or the follower running in.
Replace the rock step with a rock step in place
Now that you have gotten the feel for it, put the rock step back in. But instead of leading back, keep it foward and in-place.
Replace the in place rock step with style
Use the two beats for something, remembering that on 3 you have to be ready to enter a swingout, so if you wrong foot yourself, then get ready for some quick triple-step replacements.
hop-Rock hop-Step
This is a rock-step replacement. You do it by replaceing each step with a tiny hop in the opposite direction from the step you subsequently do. So instead of "step back, step forward" it is "hop-forward step back, hop-back step forward." Fun. the hop is really a sort of skip. tiny! Cute.
Away and Back
So awesome, here you replace the rock step with abig rotating step away and then back. instead of Stepping back and to your left with your left foot, you swing it all the way around and put it back and to your right, rotating your hips around. The tension built up in the connection lets you swing immediately back around with your right foot. Due to the hip rotation this is the mirror of the motion you just did. Sweet.
Everything is better in eight
We started out doing an eight count pattern. Step-Step--Step-and-change--Step-Step--Step-and-change. We used this pattern throughout the sequence, until we decided to open the sequence up.
This Step-Step-Triple-Step-Step-Triple eight count pattern will be abbreviated as 'eight-count' below... but keep in mind that substitutions are possible(encouraged).
Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Chick Webb
Send-out
The sequence was to the song So-Dee-O-Dee by Chick Webb. We started out in closed and immediately did a 'warm up' eight count in place. It seemed to work best when the initial two beats were actually led as a rock-step. Then, we did an eight-count send out. This is just like a six count send out, except you use the end of the triple on 4 to send the follower out, she naturally takes a step-step, and then you end with a triple.
Lead around
We followed that with a lead-in sending the follower clockwise around the leader, so that she ends up on the right of the leader. The leaders right keeps the followers right hand on his hip, the left hand reaches across and shakes the followers left hand. This is still in eight: the follower steps forward 1-2, and past 3-4. and around 5-6, and to the leaders left 7-8.
Send-out, tandem free spin
This position with the follower on your left is surprisingly comfortable... the connection is firm, and clear. Cozy. But, time to do something else. We do another send out, still in eight, which means a rock step, followed by a triple exiting forward, then, because you are now in a left handshake position, you 'unroll the follower' sending her into a nice clockwise spin. Your hand naturally heads left, and you take a counter-clockwise spin (Newton's Second Law). Reconnect with a handshake position.
Tuck, double free spin for her
Big flourish in the music coming up. From the right handshake position you are in, give a rock step, and a firm tuck(she will naturally kick here if your lead is right). You are leading the follower into a double spin, so it has to be decisive. While she is spinning, hit the three bumps in the music with a n
Steal a triple to side-by-side, rock-step stomp
From the right handshake position you now find yourself in, flick the follower in to your right side. The key is to make sure that she cannot triple step, by ensuring the weight is fully shifted to the outside. Your right arm is over her shoulders. Step back, and Stomp stomp forward to hit the accent in the music.
Notes
This sequence is actually really carefully constructed. You can do the entire sequence as 6 count steps. But, by inserting the extra two beat sections in each step you open up the possibilities for footwork variations, and triple step rearrangements and replacements.
Awkward moment
There was a really awkward moment where an older gentleman made a statement like "I have been doing this for only 6-7 years, and the way I know is Step-Step-Triple step-Triple Step, not this way you are doing." Really painful. But, Nathan handled it well by just saying that this was the variation he was doing, and then moving on. Painful though.
Afterward
So, after the class danced a bunch which was fun. Then Erin made me do a Kip. I bailed out of the first two, but then landed one. That led to some discussion, see below. After that we talked about the California Routine which was highly confusing, be cause there was a timing difference on the drop. I'll have to double check.
Kip
OK, so we did three Kips, two where I bailed for different reasons, and then one where we landed it. nathan started out by getting Erin to change a few things about the entrance.
Getting High
First he had her get her shoulder/body weight over the platform provided by her right hand when she jumped, then push down to get more altitude while being careful not to lock the right elbow. Wow. Big improvement. Then he got me to lift ala superman with the right hand. Yowza. Erin's feet were basically over my head level. Exciting.
There is a grip change which he does, which is to switch to a Balboa-style hand grip at the start of the lift. This enables better leverage as the lift goes up.
Timing
Next nathan started asking questions about the prep. We were using a rock step prep (although i think switching to a ba-dum prep is a better idea). The idea is to really get on the same time. Interestingly, after one of the practice lifts Erin jumped... and he suggested to her that she not jump unless it is clearly a jump, because the point is to have the sensitivity to know when it is lead, because otherwise it is scripted.
California Routine
Lavender Coffin
Warmup
WArmup was a classic Nathan warmup: Do a variety of Jazz inspired movements focusing on shape, not precision. Fun!
Choreography
Jockey
We started off with a jockey, specifically the beefed up super Jockey with Nathan learned from Frankie Manning. What is really nice about this Jockey is that it totally digs into the music. Plus, you burn eight counts per jockey, and the double back kick gives a ton of styling possibilities. Sweet!
We did four of these, getting ready for the start of the song. On the fourth one there is this 'Oh, yeah' in the music that we did a big slide back into a rock step.
Dance a little
... but the song does not start at this point. There is a little bit of preaching. During this breaching we did a little bit of dancing switching off. Give her eight. Take eight. Give her eight. Just be ready for a nice rock step into "All I want is a Lavender Coffin."
Tuck Turn, hit it
Off that rock step, we did a tuck turn (6 count), with a hand switch, and then led the follower into the skater position. Hit the down beat by taking the rock step into a forward step, and then repeating the rock step. Fun.
Back and forth in skater, hit it
From the skater position we lead the follow from the right side to the left, and back, using six counts each way. Then, we hit the end with a step forward, just as we did before.
Speed difference
There is a significant speed difference when the follower moves left to right and right to left. The reason has to do with the triples. When the triple step is on the right foot, it's hard for the follower to move left quickly. So, the follower will move slowly on the first two counts, and then fast on the second going left to right. Going the other direction, everything is reversed.
Keep the footwork steady
There is a big gotcha when in the left side skater position, which is that is is tempting to (incorrectly) rock step with the outside foot, instead of the (correct) normal footwork. This can result in 'fixed', but oincorrect footwork. Stay sharp.
Eight count tuck from skater
Now, we lead an eight count tuck from the skater. The tuck is led tucking against the right hand and forearm against the followers back. by thinking 'lead around' the turn requires no cranking. Very natural. One turn only. the extra two beats appear because of the need to travel
How does she know it is an eight count turn?
One of the students asked, "How does the follower know it is an eight-count turn." Nathan paused. There are two answers. The whole answer, which you will not be able to use for many years is that if you lead the follower along her body, then her movement will cause her feet to 'crash', resulting in a triple step, and thus a six count. You lead the eight count by leading rotation around the center, which forces a step-step.
The other answer is that it doesn't matter. You can 'fix' and issue which arises by rearranging the triple step: rock-step, triple, triple, step-step. Or you can just force it to be an eight count because you know from the choreography it has to be.
Mini-dip with extended dancing
Now, we did a mini-dip. First, two students showed the one they knew, which was a mini dip followed by an up-snap. Instead what we did was a mini-dip followed by both dancers circling around then rejoining after 8 counts, clapping on the even beats.
The Clap is important
The clap is important! It tells your partner that you are wasting yet another two beats and you are not yet ready to reconnect. When you decide to reconnect, stop clapping. Sweet.
Putting together what you have broken apart
Since the leader broke this apart, it's the leaders responsibility to put it back together. If the follow wants to go off and dance on her own, that is her call.
Shiny Stockings
In honor of Frankie Manning.
...Crap... completely forgot to take notes....
Le Jazz Hot
Jimmy Lunceford
We did a really nice sequence.
Boogie forward Kick ball-cahnge back (repeat) Boogie Back. Swingout on the 7.
Swingout with kick back. Swingout with a freezing on 1.
Sneak around behind the partner