One of the great things about west coast swing is the sheer breadth of music available. But how do you discover great new music for dancing WCS? If you’re looking for new songs, the first place to check is what is actually being played by WCS DJs. Check out the following sites, which are updated… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Grab Bag
Dance With Beginners
If you are reading this site, it probably means that you’re fairly serious about west coast swing. That’s awesome! Because this is an activity that you care about, it’s important to think about how to strengthen the community. A stronger community means more dancers, more venues, and better social dancing. So, supporting the community not… Continue Reading
Neil Gaiman: Make Good Art
Neil Gaiman, the award-winning British author, was invited to deliver the 2012 commencement speech at The University of the Arts. Although there are obvious differences between the creative endeavors of writing and dancing, his reflections express many valuable truths about improving and dealing with failure, as well as working for the sake of the art.… Continue Reading
Using Video Effectively
There are few domains of performance in which video is not used. Football players go to the film room to prepare for their opponents. Track athletes use slow motion cameras to analyze the minutiae of their stride. Even teachers will record their classrooms when getting feedback from a mentor. As a dancer, you can take… Continue Reading
Robau and Buckwalter, “Spotlight”
This video features Mario Robau, Jr. and Samantha Buckwalter dancing to Jennifer Hudson’s song “Spotlight.” This dance is one of my favorites for demonstrating musicality in terms of natural pattern accents. This song doesn’t have a lot of “breaks,” so there aren’t many “crazy-pattern-to-a-pose” moments. Instead, the dancers take relatively ordinary patterns and use the… Continue Reading
Colacino and Boyle, “I Don’t Trust Myself”
This clip features Jason Colacino and Katie Boyle dancing to John Mayer’s “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You).” There are lots of cool things happening in this dance, but what stands out most for me is the way that they create contrast within relatively straightforward patterns. The speed changes seem effortless, and the length… Continue Reading
Posture and Willpower: A Surprising Connection
We know that posture is important for dancing well. Now, scientists have shown that focusing on your posture improves your willpower and self-control as well! In a remarkable study, social scientists asked college students to perform a variety of tasks—from writing down what they ate to thinking positive thoughts—in order to see if any activities… Continue Reading