I’ve always thought that majority of hip hop classes that I’ve taken were not actually directly applicable to why I like dancing – people. Most commercial hip hop and jazz (not jass) classes are really about one thing – learning how to learn choreography. The problem is, I’m never going to bust out a sequence that I learned on the dance floor. That is of course, unless the exact same song is spun from the DJ at a club then I’m cursing myself for not paying more attention.

I do believe that learning how to learn choreography is a valuable and unappreciated skill in my dance scene(s) because social partnered dancing’s emphasis on innovation over imitation (and rightly so). However, sometimes I’ve used that way of thinking as a cop out to actually focusing on one style or movement and getting it down really well.

“Groovin’” by Eric Malapad at Harbour Dance Centre was by far my favorite regular class I’ve taken this year. It is probably the only one hour drop-in class that I have ever taken that after the first session I could say to myself that, “I am a better dancer”. The reason why Eric’s class felt so great was because of the simplicity of the class. There were no complex twenty-four count isolation step sequence, quarter-beat hits, and the class was not micro-choreographed to a specific song. Most of the movements were done to a bass-cymbal beat but it was the variety and quality of movement that were being emphasized. No choreography, no set moves, just continual changing movement to rhythm. There were elements of funk, krump, popping, african, and house – depending on what song was playing. If you didn’t get the movement the first time, no worries, we were gonna do it twenty more times.

There was another reason that “Groovin’” was my favorite class and that I can only really compare to the workshop from Shabba-Doo that I took in New York – dancing is better when done as a community. Throughout the hour, you are encouraged to support your fellow dancers so that you yourself can get better. There always seemed to be perfect equilibrium of making yourself look stupid in order to make it look great. Yes, I support a culture of high-fives.

This is what I envision a class I would love to teach one day. A class that would be getting dancers and non-dancers moving to music so that they can go out to the clubs and parties with their friends and just JAM. A class that makes you look good AND feel good.

(Thanks Kevin Sue for the picture. Note: this picture is not a picture from the lindy hop class).

Tomorrow will be the last class I will be filling in for Bees Knees beginner lindy hop class on Monday nights. Kathleen and I were temporarily filling in for May/June this summer and usually after the class we go through a post-mortem analysis of what happened and what we could do better. One of the key discoveries that we found was that the students who come to these beginner lindy hop classes were already excited about learning the dance. They didn’t need convincing. In fact, most likely they are looking for any reason to continue taking the dance class so that they can tell their friends to join in as well. When we figured this out, it made teaching the class flow more naturally and more importantly, we could just be ourselves. The pressure was off our shoulders to try to continue to get students for future classes and we could instead focus on providing a valuable lesson.

When you love the dance so much that it comes out of your pores, you do not need to convince students this is an awesome dance for x/y/z reasons. They will see it and feel it from you. Then, they will tell their friends ;-).

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The more I teach, the more I recognize that compared to great teachers in Toronto like Mandi and Arthur, I flat out suck at it. I over analyze movement and often go a bit overboard on my explanations. I’m working on it though. :-)

Randy is gonna be teaching in the Toronto area this month!

Note: the above image was not taken in Ontario. Here is a quick view of where I will be teaching and DJ’ing in March:

• March 12 – Dovercourt – Blues
• March 13 – OWO (London, Ontario) – Lindy Hop Workshop
• March 26 – Dovercourt – Blues

(1) This friday at Dovercourt there is the “Friday Night Live Band Swing & Blues”, March 12, featuring the Tyler Yarema Trio (vocals, keyboards, drums, upright bass)!

I will be teaching a beginner blues slow drag class at 8pm. The dance starts at 9:10pm to 1am and I’ll be DJ’ing the band breaks.

Dovercourt House, top floor Dance $13, $15 with one class, $18 with both. $3 off for full-time students

(2) On Saturday March 13, I’ll be teaching a lindy hop mini-workshop with Alcina Chiu at UWO. I have a soft spot for university swing clubs (having learned from one myself) so I’m really AMPED to be teaching for them.

The workshop is from 2-5pm and the social dance from 6-10pm .

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=342866544252

(3) On Friday March 26, I’m teaching at “Friday Night Live Band Swing & Blues” again. This time I will be teaching a beginner juke joint blues class at 8pm. The band playing this night is the “Johnny Max Band!” and they sound pretty awesome. As before, I will be DJ’ing when the band is not playing.

Dovercourt House, top floor Dance $13, $15 with one class, $18 with both. $3 off for full-time students

(4) As always, every Monday night I teach BEGINNER blues with Kathleen Molto at the Yonge & Bloor Studio for Bees Knees Dance (just in case I didn’t spam it enough times).

Remember when I said that there were plans in motion to (re)build the blues dance scene in Toronto? Well let me tell you all about it…

Things are getting exciting here in Toronto. And I’m not talking just about the Reservoir Lounge comment fest from my last blog post (although very interesting). There are dances specifically for blues dances that are going to take place in our city as well as various opportunities to learn to dance to blues music.

Third Friday Swing & Blues Dance Party (Dovercourt House)

The first event I should mention is the one that will be put on by Simon (Swing Toronto) at the Dovercourt House (“DCH”). According to Simon, the plan is to have a monthly blues dance at DCH every third friday of the month. This will be a band based event and the band this month will feature the excellent Tyler Yarema Trio. Tyler actually participated in the blues “musicality” workshop a while back when Steven and Virginie came to Toronto to teach. It was by far my favourite class of the weekend and it definitely helped me understand just *that* much more about the music and dancing.

When: Friday December 18
Who: Swing Toronto

The lesson will also be taught by Waterloo’s own, Jeff Benoit, and he will be teaching two classes, “The Essence of Blues Dance” (@7pm) and “Let the Music Move You(@8pm).

Make sure you come take those classes because Jeff has really keen insights about blues connection and feeling. One of the first weekends I was in Toronto, I jumped on over to Waterloo, for their blues exchange, and was very impressed with Jeff’s foundation classes.

Yonge & Bloor Blues (Dirt Cheap!)

The second event that I want to mention to you guys is the one that will start up in 2010 called “Yonge & Bloor Blues”. If you have not been to the Yonge and Bloor studio (“The Ultimate Lindy Hop Studio”), check it out at:

765B Yonge Street – upstairs from Starbucks, the door is nestled between the Starbucks and Tim Horton’s on the East side of Yonge Street, just North of Bloor. Steps from Yonge & Bloor subway station.

Not only does BEES KNEES DANCE bases its Toronto dance lessons there, the studio is also owned by Toronto local lindy hoppers Kevin and NaYoung. They are great people and even though they not intend to start up a dance studio when they opened up their business, it is the best studio for our community in all of Toronto.

Where/Who: Yonge & Bloor Blues Facebook Group Page

The first dance is set for January 29, 2010 so it’s still a bit away.

Bees Knees Monday Night Blues Classes

Speaking of Bees Knees Dance, Mandi is hosting blues dance classes in Toronto with Randy (yep, that’s me) and Kathleen. The will be every Monday night from 8:30pm-9:30pm, directly after my friends’ Shannon and Jasper’s beginner swing classes. Check out http://www.beeskneesdance.com for more information.

I am really pumped up about these classes because it will be the first time, at least in my knowledge, that a regular weekly blues dance class will be offered in Toronto (correct me if I am wrong). It’s exciting to think of all the potential blues dance babies that can come out of it.

When: Every Monday Night 8:30-9:30pm, starting January 4th.
Who: Bees Knees Dance; Randy and Kathleen
Where: 765B Yonge Street

Workshop w. Shannon

Last Saturday, in conjunction with the University of Toronto Swing Club, Shannon and I taught a blues mini-workshop. We wanted to keep it a bit low key. Truthfully, it was a bit low key just in case we did not get the turn out we wanted. However, we were BLOWN AWAY by the reception and we actually filled out all the available spots for the workshop and even had extras coming in on the day of.

There were a few first workshop jitters admittedly but once Shannon and I settled in, it was amazing to see students go from not knowing anything about blues dancing to actually respecting their dance partners and moving around comfortably. Shannon is a phenomenal teacher and the university swing babies are very lucky to have her as one of the primary teachers.

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Well that’s it, those are the updates in regards to the development of blues dancing in Toronto. Stay tuned in the new year for more info :)