Opposition Opposition everywhere!

So, for those of you who haven’t seen Jordan and Tatyana’s Follower 101 DVD i highly recommend it.

Even for Leaders, it’s fascinating to learn about. There are principles that will improve your leading. There is also awareness of how and why a follower moves the way she does, and how We as leaders influence those.

More importantly, we see basic principles of following. How to style within his basic, how to move your feet, how to make your styling more prominent, how to spin, how to do a proper duck (something that’s becoming quite popular recently)

 

But one thing struck me as really awesome–Styling through Opposition.

The DVD doesn’t go into all the extravagant examples of opposition, but it’s a term that i’ve heard nearly a hundred times since i learned about it in an Arjay Centeno Workshop.

Once you start to play with Opposition, it feels sooo good. It is addictive to play with, and as a lead, we can initiate it, as a follow, you can play off of it.

Arjay taught it in a Progressive Tuck Turn, and used opposition to bounce off the anchor into a smooth transition. (in the form of a left side pass variant)

Jordan and Tat taught it in a form of a lunge into an under arm turn as a form of styling using that opposition.
I’ll post more details in my next post about Opposition

The Swing Lead’s Dilemma (Patterns, Patterns, Everywhere!)

As a leader in WCS, there has always been pressure to impress my follower with patterns. PATTERNS! While! Every workshop i attend, both big and small, emphasize the basics. Pros, Judges, experienced teachers, all condemn the use of complicated patterns. Rather, complicated patterns sometimes take over the dance completely, setting both an unenjoyable pace and leaving little room to breathe.

But then what is the solution? How do we get better?

Then there was the Invitation. Give the lady a chance to show off, strut her stuff, work the slot, etc. etc.

Now here is the revelation. The dance is a conversation. It is organic and it breathes. Fancy patterns are awesome, but in moderation. Invitations are awesome, but in moderation. As a Lead, our job is to set her up, and if we can do it in a fancy way, she’ll probably smile and do something awesome when we give her that invitation right after to let HER breathe and let the DANCE breathe.

I have this simple system of judging whether i’m doing a good job when i dance.

1. She Smiles that genuine smile after an awesome move, a silly move, synchronized styling, etc.
2. She Smiles, genuinely (and probably will ask my name after the dance)
3. She Smiles and glows =].

This dance should be fun, and should inspire and promote fun, and often times, when we’re having fun, we look good. So LEADS, learn fancy, complicated patterns, but use them sparingly and when the moment calls for it! Lead Invitations, mix up your dance, appreciate the basics and spiff them up, make the dance live! and have fun.

West Coast Swing!

Hello,

My name is Sean. And for the longest time, i’ve looked on the internet for resources for West Coast Swing and have found mixed results and a slew of Youtube Videos. My goal is to document my journey and share my epiphanies as a West Coast Swing dancer with other dancers who could not find those resources online.

I’m just a regular college student (age 20) who has fallen in love with this dance we call West Coast Swing. I started seriously considering Swing Dance during Boston Tea Party in 2010. This dance has already accumulated such a history in it’s [relatively] short existence when compared to some of the other dances out there, but it is by far my favorite. Just the sheer intensity, the passion, and the influence-ability of the improv style of WCS has got me hooked. I truly believe in such statements as–

“I’ve been dancing WCS for 30 years and i’ve Never. Been. Bored” -Sarah Van Drake (at BTP during a workshop)

I’ve only begun teaching WCS at the college i currently reside at, and competing on the circuit, but my goal is not to become a professional in terms of points, but rather to have the most fun in this dance that is so infectiously fun and spread my knowledge of it as much as possible to contribute to the evolution of this dance. I hope you will find this blog useful in improving your own dance.

~SwingLead