"How do I become a professional lindy hopper?"

I am often asked this question when I teach at events in the US, and it’s often by the people who I would least expect.

I really enjoy being asked this question, but I don’t really know how to field it. I can recount my experience about how I started, what I spent my time doing, and skills I wish I had picked up along the way, but I don’t know that if someone had the same experience that it would mean they could become a professional lindy hopper.

Whatever. This is what I tend to say; the content is serious, but it's said semi-sarcastically (as most of the things I say are):

- LEARN as much technique ASAP so that when practicing, you are building “good” muscle memory vs. “not as good” muscle memory

- SOCIAL DANCE a lot

- TRAVEL to dance. I cannot stress that enough - if want want to go pro, you need to travel. There is so much great dancing going on and you should be there in the thick of it. Get out there!! (Don't forget to enroll in a Frequent Flyer Program - I like Skyteam, but have membership with United Airlines as well. If you want to go pro, assume you're globe trotting on a regular basis)

- TECHNIQUE - keep working on your basics. Technique, technique, technique!!!

- CREATE - choreography. Learn to choreograph quickly and work with your strengths. This helps if you want to do a showcase or classic, or are putting jam material together.

- COMPETE - people/judges need to familiarize themselves with you by seeing you. Familiarity breeds attraction, so get familiar!!

- CROSS-TRAIN - protect your tool (your body). Just dancing every day isn't going to keep you in shape the way cross training will. Lift weights, run on an elliptical, stretch, do pilates, P90x (and look like this), or whatever, but do something other than lindy, charleston, and aerials to keep your body in shape.

- GO VIRAL and get your stuff on Youtube. It’s a fabulous tool to get you and your name out there. And make sure you label your videos properly; if you have the greatest clip in the universe but people can’t find it, it won’t matter much.

- POSSE - get a group together so you travel in a pack. Show up places together and throw down!

- COSTUMES - find something you (and your posse) can wear that will represent you. Find you signature style (i.e. Ninjammerz - all black, white shoes, white tie, white belt)

- acquire a NOVEL SKILL - if you and that group of friends of yours decided you want to put on a show, you’ll need “Spacer Skills”. This is a skill that (hopefully) requires less energy, can be done in a variety of costumes, and creates a breather for the audience. A perfect example: Fatima from the Harlem Hot Shots, creating rhythms while brushing her teeth.

- BODY MOVEMENT - is uber important! Take other dance classes, check yourself in a mirror, dance solo, learn to point your toes, do whatever, but do it!

- TEACH - people will most likely want to learn from you, so figure out what you are doing, and start teaching. Learn to teach, and then people can fly you out places so that you can influence and inspire their scene.

- COMPUTER SKILLS - having web skills will greatly help you out. Get a website together (or blog), keep it current, post videos, learn to edit music, etc

- DANCE - dance with people, lots of people, and have fun!!!!

So yeah, I say something along those lines when I am asked. So all you out there who want to go pro, look at the list every day, then go practice, buy some keds to dance in, and rock it Jack Black Style.

ILHC 2008 - Showcase - Kevin and me

Here you go!!!

Highlights of ILHC

This was the most well run event I have ever attended. The people at the registration desk were very quick, efficient, and nice, as well at the people over seeing the competition side of things (thank you Tony and Aurelie). When there was an issue, things were resolved there on the spot, instead of having to deal with more people than necessary. There was no bullshit. It was lovely.

Competitions ran on time. I think there was one competition we ran a tad behind on, but only by 10 minutes or so. It was amazing - I've never seen lindy hoppers be so punctual! The dance floor was great, the hotel rooms were nice, and there was lots of food within a 3 minute walk from the hotel. Fucking sweet. And let's not forget the music: it was great all weekend long and the sound was nice and full. I applaud everyone who made that event as wonderful as it was.

Ok, now to the juicy stuff, and in no particular order:

The Junior Division
I cried. I totally cried. The first couple came out and I lost it when Derrick did the first move. While watching Derrick and Sioban, it finally struck me why children are truly such little treasures: they mean the future. There is a possibility that if a child learns something, then that "something" has a chance to be past down. Derrick and Sioban mean there is a future for lindy hop. I think everyone shed a tear while they were dancing; I don't know if it was for the same reasons, but nonetheless, we were all moved by them. Here they are:



The Solo Charleston Division

One name, two words: Marty Klempner.
One color, and a five piece outfit: a red zoot suit.
One dance, twelve dancers: the Big Apple.
Now watch:



One word: Truckin'.


I have to give props to Max and Annie as well. I give them "The Best Use of Props in a Showcase" award, hands down. Dax threw Max a hat in the middle of the routine, then Annie does the Flying Lotus and takes the hat from Max, whereby placing it on her head, and then Max steals it back. All done in one shot. They didn't even need a back-up plan! Check it out:



Finally, I must give mad props to Stefan and Bethany. They are such an inspiration and they thrown down. They never compromise their style, and the just DANCE. They are my movement heros (and will appropriately be at Inspiration Weekend this Labor Day): Just watch them:



Otherwise, I am super proud of me and Kev doing two brand new routines in about 2 weeks. We've never done that before, so it's a first for us. At some point we are hoping to see our showcase, so if you see it first, send me a link to it! Oh yeah, and I took 2nd in the Charleston contest and I have been out of the solo dancing loop for some time now. I give myself 2 pats on the back.

ILHC Competition Results

Champions Lindy:
1 - Nick Williams & Carla Heiney
2 - Max Pitruzezlla & Annie Trudeau
3 - Jeremy Otth & Laura Keat

Open Lindy Strictly:
1 - Juan Villafane & Sharon Davis
2 - Jamie Cameron & Crista Seipp
3 - Carl Nelson & Joanna Lucero

Showcase:
1 - Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau
2 - Nick William s& Laura Keat
3 - Kevin St. Laurent & Emily Hoffberg
4 - Stefan and Bethany

Classic:
1 - Zack Richard & Carla Heiney
2 - Dax Hock & Alice Mei
3 - Kevin St. Laurent & Emily Hoffberg

Invitational J&J:
1 - Max Pitruzzella & Bethany Powell
2 - Todd Yannacone & Annie Trudeau
3 - Dax Hock & Marie Mattsson

Advanced J&J:
1 - Stephen Jean & Laura Glaess
2 - Jamie Cameron & Crista Seipp
3 - Mike Roberts & Kate Hedin

Team:
1 - Northern Lights
2 - Team Canada
3 - Hot Mess

Solo Charleston:
1 - Hurley (from FL)
2 - Emily Hoffberg
3 - Juan Villafane

Pro-Am:
1 - Lee Tucker & Kelly Arsenault
2 - Andrew Thigpen & Emily Hoffberg
3 - Abigail Browning & Nick Williams

Juniors:
1 - Ian Herrick & Ellie Hanus
2 - Derrick Summerville & Sioban Tompkins
3 - Catalino Lopez & Sasha Cross

Cabaret:
1 - Kelly Arsenault
2 - Rockstep Brothers (Kevin St. Laurent & Juan Villafane)
3 - Lady with the Fan (Sharon Davis)

Preparing for ILHC

OMG OMG OMG! There is sooooooooooooo much to do!!!!

Kev and I are trying to finish our Classic Routine and just started on our Showcase Routine. This is super stressful because we need to finish both, and polish them by this weekend, and I don't know if we can get all the work done that we'd like to have done.

We've been doing 2 hours on and 2 hours off at our dance studio. In the 2 hours off, Juan and Sharon are polishing their Classic and finishing their Showcase. OMG, there is so much going on in the house too. So so so.... in our "down time" we are still coming up with ideas so when we have the space, we can actually dance it.

There is not enough time in the day to choreograph 2 routines, watch the Olympics, prepare material for classes, teach group classes, and privates. And spend time with your significant other. Oh my word.

Well, that's the rant for the day. More after ILHC. I am sure we are going to pull something together.

Cheers.

Wicked Lindy

The Drzewiczewski 's throw two awesome events each year - the first is Boston Tea Party and the second is Wicked Lindy. Check out the highlight reel:



And yes, if you were wondering what some of the was, it was a 1998 Neo-swing swing jam!!!! The instructors had their J&J and then Steve (I presume it was his idea) made sure it was a jam that would always be remembered.

I danced with Peter Strom in the instructional J&J and had an awesome time. During the all-skate at the end, he tried to poke my eye out, but luckily I blinked so hard I caught his finger before it could do any damage. But we had a make-up moment when Prince came on and I got to kiss his cheek. AND THEN we jammed like swing dancers from '98!!!
But truly, the highlight of the Instructors J&J was Marty and Alice. Marty did some awesome trucking and Alice followed right along. If the clip gets posted, I'll link it, but otherwise, start looking for it!!!

It was an awesome weekend of fun and games. Here are some of the bloopers:



And Marty did get his knickers taken off of him.

Driving to and from Wicked Lindy....

.....was somewhat stressful and terribly time consuming.

We rented a Chrysler 300 for the drive so that Juan, Sharon, Kevin and I had enough space for us, our luggage, and some food for the weekend. It was rather roomy, but apparently had no pick up. Kev and Sharon were the drivers for the weekend, so Juan and I got to take it easy sleeping in the back.

The drive from Pittsburgh to New York took us six hours. We stopped through NY so we could get our hair done at Laicale, Kevin's sister's salon. The next morning, we didn't get up at 8am, like we were supposed to, so we were running late (about 3 hours). We wanted to be out the door at 9am, but we got up at 10ish, had breakfast at a darling cafe downstairs, stopped by a photo shoot for Kev's sister's new clothing line, and then headed off. By leaving around 12:30pm we got stuck in traffic an hour outside of Boston. Traffic sucks. A lot. And it also started to rain. Rain and traffic together really sucks. To top that off, we were running late and were most likely going to miss our class. And what really did us in was the fender-bender we got into. The people in front of us were driving along at a slow pace of 20mph and then all of a sudden slammed on their brakes. We would have stopped in time had we not hydroplaned into the car in front of us, and that car into the one in front of them.
After dealing with insurance companies and the lot of them, we decided to stop somewhere and get some real food. We were hungry and tired, so it seemed like a great idea. We pulled off at the next rest stop and looked around for food. We saw a Subway, but wanted something more substantial. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot in the area and were about to give up until we saw a chinese food restaurant. We assumed it would be good food because it was in a nice neighborhood and was most likely a good hole-in-the-wall sort of place. We were so very, very wrong. The food was super nasty and super greasy. What a mistake.

In total it took us 14 hours to get from PIT to BOS over the two days. Luckily, we only had a 10 hour drive on our way home, so we felt like we got off easy. Let me say, don't plan to do that much driving unless you are well rested, and really like a road trip. I was fun to be in a renal car, but otherwise, I could have totally skipped on the experience.

Ciao

Camp Hollywood

What an awesome time in LA we had being at Camp Hollywood. The weather was lovely, Hillary (the organizer) took great care of us, and the students were amazing!

We taught some new Flash & Trash, Charleston Challenge, fast lindy, aerials, and Jam Routines and the classes were packed! There were about 150-200 people in our two largest classes (OMG). And everyone was so nice. Not to toot our own horns, but Kev and I were given an impressive amount of positive feedback about our material and our teaching style - it was really nice.

On the competition side of things, Kev and I, along with our buddies Juan and Sharon, cleaned house!

1st place - Advance J&J - Lead - Juan
1st place - Advance J&J - Follow - Sharon
1st place - Showcase - Kevin and Juan
3rd place - Showcase - Kevin and Jo
2nd place - Pro Lindy - Kev and Jo
5th place - Pro Lindy - Juan and Sharon

We had so many trophies that we couldn't take all of them home, especially with the new excess baggage fees.

And a special shout out to Nick Williams and Laura Keat for their showcase piece. It was lovely, innovative, musical, and well performed!

Beantown Camp

This week Kevin and I are at Beantown Swing Camp outside of Boston, MA. We arrived on Thursday, taught a class on rhythms and syncopations, and then had a teacher's meeting where we were fed fresh fruit, ruhgahlas, and nuts and had beer and wine. Nice! That night we hung out with Bobby and Kate and had the BEST time exchanging stories about dancing. We completely lost track of time, and at about 3:30am (whoops) we packed it up and headed back to our dormitory.

On Friday we got up around lunch time, had a great meal and taught tracks 4 and 3. In both T4 and T3 we worked on technique and by the end of the class, people looked like lindy hoppers, instead of good wedding dancers. The highlight of Friday was in T4. There was a student who felt like what we were doing was sooooo elementary and wondered if we were every going to move on. Well, he left class after I corrected (for the 3rd time) how he was (not) leading a triple step and complained to Tony (one of the organizers of Beantown) that we were terrible teachers and that the class was awful. Tony came and told Kevin that we had some complaints and that we needed to do a better job. T4 was a great class and people really enjoyed the material, just as the people in T3 did (and I say this because a number of the students came up and gave us positive feedback). At dinner, Tony came over and apologized for saying anything, and that we were given rave reviews and that people loved our class.
Having a student leave and complain that we are the worst teachers and that the material we were doing was elementary (when they themselves couldn't do it), and then later getting rave reviews from a number of other students is very satisfying. He had the opportunity to improve his dancing and work on his technique and he wasn't ready for it.

After dinner, Kev and I taught T5a some lazy fast and it went over well. Some people were doing exactly what we were looking for, and others were close. After class, we choreographed our routine for T5b (the best of the bunch) in one of the dorm rooms (i.e. tight space) but had a blast doing it. We are doing it to Mainstem by Duke Ellington. After choreographing, Kev went to dance and I went to bed because I was exhausted and was feeling like I was going to start getting sick.

Just as my first night, I didn't get a good night's sleep last night. It has been too cold for me to stay asleep and I have been having weird dreams. Not sure what's up there. But tonight I am going to use Kev's sleeping bag, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Still battling not getting sick; hopefully my efforts will be fruitful.
After Breakfast Kev had a private and then we taught T5b and they rocked it! I am jumping the gun here, but I think that was my favorite class of the weekend.

Oh, and on a general note, Kev and I have been off the hook this weekend. We have been playing off each other seamlessly and the class (i.e. audience) was laughing and playing back. OMG, it's been awesome. We love the campers at Beantown, yes we do.

More later.

New Videos

Greatest DUI, ever



and

The YES dance:

May 6 - We're in Italy!!!

I can hardly put my Italy Experience into words, but what I can say is that I have arrived.

Let’s back up. I woke up at 4:45am and started packing. Kev woke up a little after 5 and after he finished packing, we headed down for breakfast, which was more impressive than dinner. There were pastries, breads, bagels, and cakes; fruit, yogurt, and fresh squeezed juice; waffles, French toast, veal sausage, and eggs; lox, meat, and cheese section. It was the best breakfast I have ever eaten. Bloody amazing. Perhaps we ate more than was necessary, but every bite was out-of-this-world.

After our morning feast we headed over to the airport and checked our luggage in. We were off to Munich and then to Genova. Sweet!!!! This whole situation couldn’t have worked out any better. The flights were easy, security was a piece of cake, and there was internet. Life was looking good.

While we were taking the bus from the plane to the terminal, in Genova, we saw a darling, old couple who turned out to be from the Bay Area. The Missus and I chatted about her and her husband’s adventures and then our luggage showed up. I caught myself looking at the luggage sign; part of it was in English and the other was in Italian. Holy shit Batman, I am in Italy. I am really here!!!
I verbally exploded onto Kevin about how excited I was to be here but had to cool my jets once we exited baggage claim because I didn’t want to startle our new host, Silvia and Bruno. She has dark brown hair that is cut at neck length and is about my height and curvy, and Bruno looks like an Italian Rock-a-billy. They are darling!
Bruno must go back to work so Silvia takes us to her place so we can drop her stuff. Once we arrive, her three dogs happily greet us. They have a 12 y.o. husky, a short haired golden lab, and a new puppy that looks like a mastiff. We eventually get inside after lots of wiggling and petting and the view from her “villa” is amazing! Jaunted green hills stick out for miles and they are peppered with villa with orange-tiled roofs. Just lovely. It’s just as I was hoping it would be.
After dropping of our stuff and doing a quick change, we headed to lunch. Many windy road later we arrived at a place that didn’t look open; however it was overlooking a cliff that had a spectacular view. Here is me and Kevo: (coming soon)

Kev had a salad, some of the best pesto gnocchi ever made and some ice cream. I had a salad, handmade lasagna strips with pesto and Crème Brule, and Silvia has penne with pesto. Apparently everything is handmade there, and pesto is very popular in the region (go figure!) :-D
Ooh, we also talked about government and the Italian government sounds worse than ours! They have a president they compare to Bush (note: this is not a pro-Bush author), and their vice president is a huge racist! He doesn’t like Muslims, Blacks, Jews, Homosexuals, and other minority groups. Apparently they government is trying to do away with abortion and there are no gay rights. Appalling, just appalling. And and and, it’s so expensive to raise children there that there is now a negative population growth. The reason it’s so expensive there is that most things are now privatized meaning there is no help from the government (i.e. no tax breaks or free education). Everything needs to be paid out of pocket: primary school, middle and high school, and a college education cost about what ours does. AND to top it off, most college graduates can’t find work so they learn a trade afterwards. They are most likely going to do some form of manual labor. Wow. Oh, and they are trying to privatize health care too. OMG!! Well, other than all of those details, I’d still love to live in Italy, ride a Vespa, and say “Ciao” while my scarf is blowing in the wind.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the house for a nap. After a few hours of rest, we got up and then went for drinks and tapas. OMG, there is so much food! And people are drinking! Not that that is a problem for me at all, but it seems like alcohol is appropriate to have at lunch, before dinner, at dinner, and then again as a digestive. Wow. But nobody seems to be an alcoholic here. Hmm…..makes me think about American Society….shame we can’t drink responsibly. Note: I am not saying drinking that much (above) every day is responsible; I am purely noting that people in the US seem to either drink like Frat Boys or not drink at all.
After drinking and eating, we headed to go teach class. And what a surprise, we taught people how to lead and follow again. I am kind of feeling like there is a trend here…people are not learning to lead and follow when they learn to dance; however, people are still dancing and having fun, which is “most excellent”. After class, we headed to a pizza joint, and I had the best pizza, ever. OMG, food is insanely good here. Italians really do Italian food!!!! I can’t describe it other than saying that think of the best pizza you’ve had, and it was better than that (unless of course you ate it in Italy). Kevo and I had beers, and I only made it about half way through before I was heavily buzzed.

We are now home and Kevin is watching the first season of Weeds, and I am organizing my Itunes. I have soooooooooo many songs: 38.4 days of music. Wow. That’s completely unnecessary, especially since I listen to the same 4 hours worth of stuff regularly. It’s about 4:15am so it’s time for bed.

Playing Dress up in Kiev

Swinglandia 2008 Theme Party - Traditional



Swinglandia 2007 Theme Party - Africa

May 5 – travel day

Today has been a surprisingly great day.

We found out yesterday that we are flying into the wrong city. Our hosts are in Genoa but we are flying into Bologna. That's a three hour drive from one city to the other. But no problem, we can catch a train. It will take us four hours and cost us 65 euros, but that is a relatively inexpensive solution to our big problem. So that incident could have dampened our spirits, but it didn't.

We left for the Kiev airport via taxi and the drive was easy. There were few people at the airport so going through security was a breeze. We were fed sausage, bratwurst, and mashed potatoes on the plane and they were delicious! Then we arrived in Vienna and it was rather grey and cold out, but the airport had some great places we could do some window shopping at. After we got to our gate, Kev went off in search of food and found that there was free wireless. Sweet!!! And then it started to rain.
It didn’t just rain, it poured. They were big fat drops coming down in sheets. It was incredible. I haven’t seen rain like that in years. And then it thundered. And then there was lightning. It was a beautiful display of Mother Nature flexing her powers.
And then our flight was canceled. Apparently there was a malfunction with some of the wiring on the plane, or something of the sort, so we would be re-booked on the next available flight. Many people were not pleased; however, this potentially provided us with a chance to get rerouted to Genoa without an additional cost to us. A stewardess lead the pack of nixed-passengers to the departure which required us to leave the airport and then reenter it.
I somehow managed to stay at the front of the cue of people so Kevo and I were helped out first. And life just got better and better. Not only were we going to be rerouted the following day to Genoa (albeit we’ll now have a transfer in Munich), but they were going to put us in a hotel, get our luggage for it, and give us food vouchers! Yeah!!! Oh yeah, and the hotel was across the street – 50 feet across the street!! And to top it off, it was a very, very lovely hotel. The bathroom is in my Top 10 List of all time great Hotel Bathrooms, ever.

I watched the news and took and nap while Kev indulged himself by taking a bath. After a wee bit, we headed back to the airport to pick up our luggage and to get free wifi. After about 30 minutes, we headed back to the hotel, got our workout gear on, and headed down to the Wellness Center (i.e. that is code for gym). We did some light cardio and some stretching. Life was good.
But then things took a turn for the worse. My luggage was damp. No, not damp, wet. I would say that 90% of my clothes were wet in some way or another. The bottom and the entire left side of my luggage must have been sitting in a puddle. How depressing. Kev and I were cheery customers and were flexible….why was I thanked with wet luggage? Yes, it was raining cats and dogs, but come on. Sigh. I spent the next half hour hanging up my clothes (t-shirts, performance outfits, pants, and all my socks) around the room. Some of them were over lamp shades, near the tub, and on hangers in the closet or the bathroom. The only hope was that everything would be dry by morning.
We had to move on from this unfortunate moment, so we headed downstairs to eat dinner. OMG, it was lovely. There were three platforms of food: salad bar and mini fixings, hot food, and dessert. Kevin made himself a monumental salad and I grabbed bits and pieces here and there. Highlights: lasagna, grilled vegetables, a breaded tomato thing, pesto-crème vegetables, chocolate pudding, and the satisfaction that I was able to order drinks in German with a flawless accent (the downside of that, of course, is then I was presumed to speak German and then when I was further questioned about something or rather, I couldn’t answer). I felt like I was making progress towards my goal of being a secret agent who, naturally, spoke six languages fluently. Note: I don’t speak any languages fluently….English pending. :-D

Then it was off to bed. We’ll be getting up in less than 5 hours. I will need to repack my luggage, eat, and check my luggage in.

Kiev, Ukraine - Highlights

Many people were taking pictures of us constantly, even when we weren’t doing anything. Kevin and I could be standing talking, or eating, or wiggling, or anything, and a few people would take our picture. I am so grateful I am not famous on a Hollywood level because I am sure it would suck having every move recorded by strangers. It’s weird feeling like any of the small things you do are worth documenting, but that’s exactly what was happening, all weekend long.

The room we stayed in was WAY nicer than the previous one. However, this means that we were royally shafted last year. We also had heat this year (yet we sacrificed our hot water….it’s luke warm at best).

People were sneaking into our classes all weekend long. Perhaps it was because we are foreigners, or hopefully it was because people couldn’t get enough of our material. We would like to assume it’s the latter, but we’ll accept “both” as an answer.

People were totally digging the technique, and we knew this because all the classes were focused the whole time on the material. It was awesome to see people improve so much by the end of a class. In some cases it was night and day. That feeling is what keeps me teaching; I love feeling helpful!

I learned the Slip Slop Shim Sham along with the students and was still able to teach it. And it was tough. I was challenged mentally and physically. I dig it.

We recognize a number of the campers from last year and more of them speak English. I certainly enjoy that because I feel that they have a chance to improve more as Lindy Hoppers because LH is primarily taught in English (I am sure someone could challenge this statement).

Breakfast on Day Three was awesome. Those biscuit/English muffin things rocked my world! I was in such a great mood that day.

Kevin and I got to work on our routine and did some working out. We are pleased that we made time for our routine and to work out this weekend (even though we are working many hours and are very tired).

Kiev, Ukraine – Day Three

We barely got our asses up for breakfast this morning, but I was sooooooooo happy we did. I had an awesome breakfast here last year that was jam with a soft biscuit/crumpet/big English muffin thing and we had it this morning. We ate with Olivia and Natasha and talked about politics while trying to guess which country belonged to which flag on the side of the cereal box.

We taught 2 classes, had lunch, and then worked with the Advance plus group again. We messed their stuff up again!

After class, it was nap time for both me and Kevin. I also decided to skip dinner, because I'd rather sleep, but I ended up still nibbling. Immediately after dinner we taught our taster class.

The taster class was enormous. I had no idea we were going to have that many people. I continue to wonder whether it’s the material we are teaching or that we are foreigners (or that we are so darn funny and personable) that brings people in hordes to our classes. We taught the ballroom lift, the loop-de-loo, and the Jeremy. We would demo the move, give the class some pointers on what to look for, and then let them go. Everybody took what they needed from that class; the lower levels were able to absorb what we gave them while the advance dancer only needed the little we gave because they saw what the move took. Nice. I compared that class to a Disney film: there is content for children and the adults that must take them. The layers; the layers!!

After class we headed back to the room and watched some Talladega Nights and slowly got ready. At about 9:45pm we headed down to office and were give Ukrainian costumes to put on. Kev and I were going to open the show along with a few others. We had to sing a Ukrainian song, and truthfully, it was a little bit of a disaster, but it was fun. After that, we rushed backstage, changed back into our performance clothes, and then we immediately got back on stage and did Swingin’ at the Cotton Club. It went well as usual.
And then for the next hour and half we got to enjoy the show. For me, the highlights of the show were the fillers in between each number. There were four characters: wife, Ukrainian man, priest, and a Muscovite. There were drinking games, kissing games, card games, confusion, the YMCA, a baby mix-up, and so on. The four of them were quite the quadruplets!

Instead of going to bed after the performances like I should have, I ended up chatting in the little Ukrainian room with Olivia & Natasha, Terrance, Kevin, and Katia We chatted about holidays, family differences, public transportation, and military. The conversations I have had with this group have been some of the best in a while; very enlightening.

Kevin and I dragged ourselves back to our rooms by about 2:15am or so. Detective Kevin investigated whether or not we had hot water, and low and behold, we did. He showered and announced the water was hot and therefore I should shower while there was hot water. Even though I was in bed with the lights off, I dragged my booty to the shower for a warm rinse, and washed out my performance clothes. That was such a great shower.

Bed time.

Kiev, Ukraine – Day Two

We skipped breakfast and decided to sleep in because we were beat. Our dance day started with the Advance-plus class and it took us about 45 minutes to break them. What I mean is that it took that amount of time to help them realize that they weren’t really leading, following, and/or balancing on their own. It was an awesome moment when the students realized what it took to actually move a follow and what it took to stay balanced. Fabulous!
By the end of class I was starving so we rushed up to lunch. We had chicken of some sort over rice and some beet salad (as in, just beets). We left lunch early so we could work on our routine a bit more and then hustled back for our advance class. But it was in vain because the teacher before us went over about 17 minutes (but who’s counting anyways?). I was not very pleased because that ate into our time with the advance dancers. Grrrrrrrrrr. Perhaps what perturbed me the most was the fact that the instructor didn’t acknowledge that Kevin and I were there for about 15 minutes, waiting. He didn’t look at us, say hi, say he was almost done…nothing. Not cool.
We ran the advance class 15 minutes into the next time slot and then did the same for the intermediate level too. I was really antsy until we started our final class because I don’t like running classes that late. I feel bad about making people wait that long because it’s rude. Now, that said, I myself and not a terribly punctual person, but 15 minutes without a heads up is inconsiderate. I am done sitting on my high horse. :-D
We ate dinner and headed back to the room for a quick nap. At 8pm we taught our Slides Taster and it was the most work I’ve ever done in a class. We taught the Slip Slop Shim Sham which means Kevin danced it and I put words/mnemonics to it so people could do it. At the beginning we had a bunch of students, but as the class progressed, we started losing people. We still had a fair number at then end (started at 75, ended at 50) and they were all drenched! It was awesome. Hopefully a video of it will be posted and then I’ll link it.
After class we came back to our darling little room, I showered and did laundry while Kev watched a movie, and then it was nap time. We needed to judge J&J prelims and finals which were going to start around 1am again.
At 12:30am people came to knock on our door to wake us up. We were already awake, but it was helpful. Many of the campers were dressed as witches, fairies, goblins, or other such fanciful characters while Kevo and I were in all black. We were also told that we missed out on all of the shows that were put on. Sigh – you can’t win them all.

The J&J was fun to watch and all the judges’ scores were very similar. A jam soon after broke out and Kevin did some handstand stuff….the pictures are sure to be great. I found some butter in the kitchen to put on some bread which made me a happy camper. And now we are off to bed.

Goodnight.

Kiev, Ukraine – Day One

Oxana made us breakfast this morning; what a great way to wake up! We had some combo of bread and butter/jam/honey, tea, and a sampling of meat and cheese. Our ride came to pick us up on time and of course we weren’t quite ready. Andrei enjoyed some tea while Kev and I wolfed down our food. Andrei had a perfect British accent, but was Ukrainian.
As we grabbed our luggage, I realized the handle on my suitcase wouldn’t open all the way. Man!! That sucks. Actually, it will suck when I have to roll it around the airport. Moving along. We stuffed our luggage into the trunk of his 1985 Lada (which looked like a 1960’s Fiat) and then stuffed ourselves into the backseat. It was somewhat roomy, which was a pleasant change from last year. Previously, six of us were crammed into at 5-seater Volvo AND we had all of our luggage on our laps. ALL of our luggage.
We stopped at a grocery store so we could grab snacks and water for our trip and then we were off. Or so we thought. We picked up another person and their luggage. Kevin and I thought we were going to have a comfortable ride to camp, which we did more so than the previous year; however, there were five people in the car, a few bags, and a sound system. Wow.
A video of part of the ride:

About 30 minutes later we arrive at camp and it was exactly as it was last year, except there were more dogs around and the weather was warmer. We got our room key at the reception and then dragged ourselves (and luggage) upstairs three flights and then slowly opened the door. We didn’t really know what to expect because last year the room could have been compared to “camping indoors”, but perhaps this year would be different. We walked in the room and sun was shinning through the new door/window combo. It was double pained and it was lovely. And warm! The heat was on this time (last year they didn’t turn the heat on until it started snowing)!!
The beds were a bit nicer, we had a TV and refrigerator, and the bathroom had a mirror (last year I have been stolen from the room) and a toilet seat! OMG, it was fabulous! As time went we realized how badly we had been shafted last year.

We taught three classes today and chose who would be in the advance plus class. We taught technique under the guise of dancing, as per usual, and the lower levels were awesome! They were so ready to learn because they were still in the place of “I don’t know very much, but I am here to learn” whereas the higher levels think they know a lot , which they do, but they aren’t actually leading or following movement, just patterns.
On top of that, we also worked on our new routine for two hours, got dressed up in traditional Ukrainian garb and did a skit for the camp and then judged the J&J prelims which started at 1am. Holy tired teachers Batman! Here is a clip of Kevin and I doing our “Dress Up and Dance in Costume’s in Ukraine” clip:

(here is a link to last years silliness)

Euro Invasion

A happy, go-lucky time suddenly turned into a monstrous disaster.

Sunday night and Monday

Sunday night all the instructors were taken out to dinner to a pasta restaurant and the food was lovely. After the feeding we headed to the last bit of the dance. It was clearing by the time we got there, but there were a bunch of people for us to chit chat with. I got a bunch of social dancing in, which was nice and somewhat unusual for me. The highlight of the night for me was when Kevin and I did a pseudo-neo-swing performance. I asked Kevin to dance and he begrudgingly agreed, but decided to spice things up a bit. More people wanted to watch our old-school moves than dance, so it became a performance.

We headed home and I showered and washed out my clothes. Kev watched a movie while I played on the internet, but I didn't get to bed until 2:30am or so because I just wasn't tired.

Well, this morning we were awaken at 11am by a Swede. We said we thought check out was at noon, and he said that would be fine. Jane picked us up, took us to her place, offered to help us with our laundry, and then we headed to rehearsal. Kev needed to eat so we stopped by a nice place near the studio. We then needed time to digest so the first hour of rehearsal was spent reading Wired Magazine. Then we did calisthenics. It was much easier than our Friday practice, but we were still huffing and puffing at the end. We then did some ab work and then worked on the roll at the beginning of the routine. Janne (our current host) came to pick us up and then we headed back to his place. Dax and Alice stayed with him over the weekend and managed to leave a number of their belongings at the house. I assume they packed immediately before they left.

No surprise: Kevin and I hopped on the internet and did some emails (or tried) and then looked around on the internet for new dance clips. After a few hours we headed down the street and got some pizza with banana and curry....yum yum! We happened to eat enough to send us into food coma, so we laid down for naps but didn't manage to get up until about 1am. It's almost 3 am now.

Saturday night and Sunday classes

We decided to perform our Swinging at the Cotton Club routine this evening and the performance went amazingly. I think it was our best performance ever. The energy was unreal - it fucking rocked. Even though the room was long and had very high ceilings adorned with large chandeliers, the audience packed themselves in tightly. We had a nice welcome out, and after the first few swing outs, the room erupted with claps. And the audience was on beat too! I was right under one of the sizable chandelier when we threw the lotus (and the back flip) so that added the dynamic of death to the whole thing. And we got the double applause: once at the bow, and then again after the flying vice. It was awesome. And then the audience kept clapping until we came back out and did a second bow (triple applause, I guess). It was so.... gratifying. And not only that, but afterwards we got some AMAZING feedback. People gushed about how great the dancing was and the performance, and the aerials. Even though many had seen the routine on Youtube, they said it was so much better in person (naturally).

Those 3 minutes of the evening are what I live for.

Ok, enough tooting of our horns.

After that we got home around 2:30am and probably got to bed around 3am. Kev and I woke up this morning exhausted but had to push on. Classes went well today. We had level 5 and level 2 after lunch. At lunch Kevin and I talked to Love & Ulrika (some local instructors) and they were really cool. He was very laid back and has a rather laissez-faire attitude (his name is pronounce Loo-veh) and she was bubbly. I think we made some new Swedish friends - nice!
Level 2 was an awesome last group to have. Even though it was after lunch and most of them were ready to take a nap, we did a bunch of 20's charleston stuff with them and they loved it! And people were laughing at our jokes as well (a nice pat to our egos). They were either better cross-cultural jokes, or the group knew each other better than the larger groups and felt more comfortable with us sooner. We also taught then some flash&trash and the ate it up. Sweet. Definitely one of the best class and group of people we have taught in a while.

All the instructors then had a goodbye meeting with the students. They thanked us and then said we were going to dance one more time for them, which I didn't know we were going to do, but we ended up jamming (not by choice). They put on Jumping at the Woodside and then we had to perform. Kev and I were happy with the stuff we did and fucking rocked the pancake (with my glasses on, I might add). We finished off the song with the California Routine and the students enjoyed it.

There was a quick run home, a nap, dinner at a restaurant, and then dancing. More on that story tomorrow.