Down Home Blues! (farewell RA Blues)

Yet another reason why I should have a digital camera.

I went to a Blues Dance workshop this weekend to expand my knowledge of the vintage art form and, hopefully, get a little exercise so I can fit into my brand new jeans a lil' more comfortably.

Although I was not disappointed by ANY means, I couldn't help but feel a bit, how should I say this, frustrated? Stifled?....Stagnant!

Anyhow, they were amazing classes taught by some of the most amazing teachers from around the nation.

I was thrilled to be taking classes from our local(and nationally recognized) blues expert Damon Stone. He taught styles that I had been dying to learn after months of seeing folks such as Dexter, Mihai and Damon himself do them on the local scene.

However, after seeing the manner in which we were asked to register, I should have realized what I was in for partner-wise.

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced.
Seems pretty simple right?
Never done it before, or done it a few times and what to get more involved: Beginner.
Done it pretty regularly for a while and want to get more involved:Intermediate.
Done it for year and may even be teaching it but want to get more intensive: Advanced.

So, when do you know when you've gone from want to get more involved, to want to get more intensive?

When do you get to learn the cool shit? Or, when do you know enough cool shit to get to the REALLY cool shit?

I'll tell you when, when all of the leads in the classes keep asking the same fundamentally mundane questions over and over and continue arguing with the instructors about socially esoteric bullshit(because, lets face it, the reason why men social dance is to meet chicks) so that the whole class is derailed for a half an hour.

They should teach a class on the social etiquette of partner dancing just to cover all of that stuff in an allotted amount of time and leave the rest of the classes to actual dancing.

What really kills me is when leads (or follows for that matter) don't get a concept like "you are responsible for your follow and knowing where her feet are and her weight is at all times." And keep asking questions like "Why doesn't the follow go where I tell her to?" or "She keeps stepping on my feet, why is she doing that?"

I PROMISE you that most follows, even baby-fresh beginners, do NOT want to be standing on your feet all dance long. It's probably what you're telling her to do. How about this, how about you learn how to dance before you ask her to connect with your groin?

One of my three favorite classes of the weekend was a teachers forum that was held over lunch. I figured, since I had been asked to teach a small class at RA blues in Mountain View and had a blast despite the fact that I had NO idea how to teach blues, I needed to know how the experts did it. How do you teach something so complex and subtle? How do you teach French without a textbook or audio Cd's?

It was fantastic. The questions and comments flung about in the forum actually helped me grasp the technicality of the dance better. The teachers were just as exploratory about the concept as I was as a fledgling dancer.
How refreshing! We weren't so far removed that we didn't ask the same questions.

Which brings me to one specific question that brought about the above question "When do you know when you've gone from want to get more involved, to want to get more intensive?"

Thanks be to the lords that my dance partner is a loud mouth. "How do you layer your classes so that you don't lose your intermediates?"

To which the whole group concurred with intakes of breath "oohs" and "Ahhs" and "good one!"s

Damon Stone obliged from his throne at the front and center of the room with "That is a fantastic question that I will answer this way;" (or roughly how I remember it, wish I had a tape-recorder)

"Most intermediates think they are advanced. You can never know enough fundamentals. There is ALWAYS something to learn from beginning classes. If you have a dancer that will skip out on the fundamentals classes and only come to the advanced classes, he/she is an intermediate dancer despite his/her depth of vocabulary. If you have a dancer that comes to all of the beginner classes despite his or her depth of vocabulary, you have an advanced dancer."

Is it me or does this seem like a catch 22?

He then illustrated his point with a great story about the Boston Scene. He moved to Boston for a period and observed that most all of the "Advanced dancers" were actually "intermediate" dancers that didn't feel the need to continue learning forward. Damon then proceded to demonstrate this to the crowd by turning the beginning dancers into advanced dancers in four weeks.

Brilliant.

So, I say again, "How do you know when you get to progress to the cool shit?"

I take all of the beginning classes offered in my area 2x a week. There are NO classes taught locally that progress except for his classes in SF. The only times I am able to get to the more advanced classes are during forums like this where they are offered.

I PROMISE I will continue to take the fundamentals classes. But can I PLEEEAAASE learn something in an environment that is like-minded?

Because of this I have decided to forego my usual Monday night haunt in Mountain View to attend Damon and Heidi's classes at Roots in SF. Although I will miss my fantastic partners at RA Blues, I need to know more!!

Back to how I wish I had a camera......

I had some AMAZING dances with some AMAZING people and I wish I had pictures.

I could post said pictures on web pages like myspace and my blog---->Family and friends would marvel at my fabulous, fullfilling life, my wonderful friends, my travels, my amazingly hot lovers(dances)---->bliss.