As I travel, take workshops and meet all these great instructors in the dance scene, I started to realize that they have persevered through many of the challenges we face as growing dancers. We all focus to get us to that next level/tier/awesomeness we forget about what keeps us inspired beyond the moves and techniques we learn. So here I ask, to those we look up to what words/advice do you have for us dancers to keep us inspired, or really what do you want to say to all dancers.

At some point, I may refine upon the ideas, but here is what I have collected thus far.

Lastly, thank you to those whom have participated so far: Virginie Jensen, Steven Mitchell, Peter Strom, Naomi Uyama, Nina Gilkenson, Todd Yannacone, Andrew Thigpen, and Karen Turman.

At TUX (the best small but big lindy hop event in Toronto, amiright), there were two competitions – a newcomer jack and jill and an open jack and jill. I was honored to be asked to judge the open jack and jill though I have a sneaking suspicion that I was only asked to keep me from drunkenly smashing into other dancers during the competition (the first step is admittance). One of the judging criteria for both competitions was “spirit” or the essence of lindy hop. The question of the day during my bus ride home – given all things are equal from a competitor skill level point of view, how does one even judge “spirit”?

Is it like this?

But obviously not everyone is going to be as awesome as the Harlem Hotshots…

With the lack of any Lindy dancing this summer, it was great to enjoy 5 hours of hot dances to some hot jazz…on concrete. You could not get any better than being able to dance under the sun on the streets with one of the swingiest bands in Vancouver, the Company B jazz band. It was so hot, I literally danced out of my pants. Thanks Cara (and thanks for Bedo being close by). :P

As for myself, I have never attended any past Lindy Bouts so I am PUMPED for tomorrow as it is the start of Lindy Bout 4! While I will not be participating in the competitions this year (I wish I could!), I will be there taking shots and recording the action this weekend. Once again thanks to Kane, a Vancouver dancer and organizer.

As you may remember, Kane gave me the opportunity to shoot for a day during Rhythm City Mess Around using his equipment, a Nikon D70, an older but still reliable workhorse.

I am also glad to say that there will be two Torontoians at the event; Stephanie Taylor, a transplant in Toronto from Vancouver (also a key organizer for Lindy Bout) and Alcina Chiu who flew out for the weekend to dance and compete. Cheer her on and stay tuned! I will hopefully get some photos out as the weekend commences.

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Note: Perhaps I sound like a jerk in this article. Admittedly I am judgmental and sometimes have an inflated ego, but I hope that tough love and constructive criticism is a good thing.

Every dancer will reach plateaus, where some fault or choice they make in their dancing limits them from further progression and stifles their dancing in some way. The trick is dancing self-awareness and constant inquiry into one’s limits or seeking of feedback from others to break free of these technique plateaus. Spending time at these plateau levels can help with confidence and move repertoire on the dance floor, but I don’t think that it will make your dancing feel any better and I don’t think that it makes you a much better dancer.

It bothers me when people stay at these plateaus for so long, that they forget that they are only a tiny way up the mountain (terrible metaphor, sorry folks, and no refunds). I don’t like it when dancers who stopped trying to push their dance technique forward feel entitled/cocky/superior based solely on the amount of time they have been dancing for or the amount of moves they can do. I find that these people can be too quick to correct others, unwilling to learn new things, annoying to work with in dance classes, and not great at teaching others the dance.

Am I saying that I hate dancers who aren’t good? No! I prefer dancing with an eager beginner than with a cocky mediocre dancer. I have a little personal saying “I like intermediate dancers, but hate mediocre dancers”. But Kevin, you say, what is the difference between intermediate and mediocre dancers? Intermediate dancers are going somewhere, they are so called in reference to other levels (i.e. beginner and advanced). It is another way of saying “somewhere in the middle of the journey” to being good. But if you aren’t going anywhere, if you have no destination in mind, you aren’t intermediate, just mediocre.

The Moral of the Story: You shouldn’t expect others to put up with your consistent bad dance habits because you are cocky or unmotivated, but conversely if you are trying your best to learn the dance and be a good social dance partner, don’t let the quality of your dancing make you self-conscious. There’s probably some parable about the tortoise and the hare or the little engine that could that best illustrates this.

The Moral of the Story Part Two: Dancers, examine your own dancing, try to improve yourselves, ask yourself what the great dancers are doing that you aren’t. Don’t rest on your laurels just because you are better than the beginners. People get better at dancing through effort passion and (sometimes) sacrifice.

- Your (Somewhat) Friendly Neighbourhood Kevin Temple

NOTE: Kevin is not a particularly good dancer, but he tries.

 Tyler Yarema and company’s set was wonderful. They could throw down some great traditional jazz (and he does a mean Fats Waller) but they had a great deal of depth on the edges, exploring blues, slower jazz ballads, boogie woogie and soul while keeping it danceable and inspiring. It was one of the most versatile band nights I have seen. Some bands are great but more one-dimensional, which means that it doesn’t stay fresh after the first hour or two and the DJ sets are a welcome break in between. Tyler’s band played long sets, took short breaks (about 15 minutes or thereabouts) and I was still wanting more. It made me ashamed that I don’t take the time to catch Tyler Yarema playing when I am in Toronto. He has the skills to pay the bills.

Tyler seemed legitimately impressed with the dancers, he was really feeding off their energy. He also mentioned that it was refreshing for him to be asked for faster tunes instead of being told to play slower music (uh-oh Toronto, you just got called out).

The dancing was great too. I had a ton of fun dances, got to dance with some friends that I don’t get to see nearly often enough and I got to raise the roof on numerous occasions. I really got to engage my fun-loving side in the dancing and there were some dances where I was actually laughing so hard that I could barely continue. At one point after a little bit of creativity gone awry I yelled out “Awkward!” and promptly cracked up.

There was a crowd of dancers from Montreal out, (somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15-20 by my estimation that came in just for the dancing) and a huge crowd of Ottawa dancers. Honorable mention to Lawrence and Chelsea for driving up for Toronto just for the dance. Dishonorable mention to all the other Toronto dancers and to the Kingstonians for not showing up.

There were some top-notch dancers out there and the level of dancing was fairly high generally. I felt like I could be ambitious with my dancing, and didn’t have to shy away from the faster music. It can be frustrating to hear a great fast tune, then look around the dance floor and realize that 97% of the follows in the room have communication break-downs with faster music.  It was nice (but selfish, I am apparently a terrible person) to have to worry about being the crappy member of the partnership and I think it helped me to push myself.

Final verdict: great evening! I hope to see more of Tyler Yarema in the future, and hope I can make time to get out dancing in Ottawa and Montreal a little bit more.

             From your (somewhat) friendly neighbourhood Kevin Temple

Ahh another weekend, another dance event. This time, I perform with Kathleen!

Wham Performance at Swing Out to Victory from Hamfats.ca on Vimeo.

Pictures

Sadly, I did not really get the opportunity to take too many pictures at the event :(