Lindy Leap Year - Sunday

What an extraordinary way to end a workshop. Today was a day like no other.

We started our teaching day with the warm-up we normally do at home. We run around in a circle, then kick our heels up, kick our knees up, do the elephant, and then crab walks. As we were running, students started to join in (we love those sorts of students). As we cycled through, finally we got to crab walks - this is where you look like table top; hand and feet are touching the floor, and you are looking - and all of a sudden, a Crab War broke out! Kev scuttled around the floor as if he was a crustacean! He knocked my feet out from underneath me and then continued to attack the other students. One by one they all went down. However, a few students got their crab legs underneath them and went 2-on-1 with King Crab Kevin. One went for the legs while the other went for his hands. Kevin pulled out his best Sammy Davis Jr (check the end of the clip), avoided the take down, and then ATTACKED again! It was a momentous occasion.

Round 2 - Lunch Special:


Our first two Charleston classes went really well. We taught the yo-yo, a syncopated yo-yo, Charleston Jumps, and then trucks (or skates). Next we had two aerial classes (more of a tricks, then an aerial) where we did a climbing exercise I like to call "the Monkey and her Tree", a Frog (where we explained prep, jump, and landing technique), the Lu-Kang (a trip that turns into a throw; named after a Mortal Combat character), and then we did the Fly (a favorite of ours). Finally, we finished off with a Blues Class.

Highlights of the day:

• Crab Wars
• Randomly singing "The Good Ship Lollipop" and then having Kevin turn it into being attacked by pirates, which I then turned to our favorite pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow. Oh Johnny Depp.
• Telling the students they could only have the doors open for a few minutes, and after a bit I said that the window had to be closed now....and it was. I wondered if my "wishing" powers would extend beyond closing doors, and so I wished for Johnny Depp. Unfortunately he was a no-show.
• After aerials, we did a cool down and then some of the boys started to work out. At one point, they were all standing on their heads (on a towel). Sommer sees this and joined the fun. She was standing on her head and moving her legs about. She is a total yoga star and the boys had NOTHING on her.
• After aerials, I thought we were done. I was wrong.
• Kevin on his soap box: He told the room that girls like to dance and learn how to move their bodies at a young age. Boys learn how to throw, hit, kick, and catch (stereotypically). Girls dance and they want boys to dance. Not only that, but they want them to lead as well. Boys don't always know how to control their bodies, but they need to learn to control theirs in order to control someone else. It. Was. Awesome.

What a wonderful way to end the weekend. The students were stellar and came ready to learn. Wow-e-wow-wow.

Lindy Leap Year - Saturday

What a stellar day of classes!!

We started the day off with 2 beginning classes, and they were packed! I think there was something like 120 students in each of them. It was incredible. And they all learned something, which was even more incredible. We worked on connecting to your partner from open and closed position, how to change weight across the body, how to lead rock steps from open and close, and how to lead triple steps. There were more nuances in there, but that is a general overview.

The class was very receptive to our humor and that really revved us up. Nothing gets us going more than having a group of enthusiastic students who want to learn, are receptive to the information, and are ready to laugh with us.

We then moved to The Great Hall, and it was just beautiful. And on a side note, the John Hopkins Campus is just divine! There is red brick and green grass and street lights, and little paths leading off yonder.....uh! Just great! Anyways....the Great Hall has a Great Window and a very slick floor. It wasn't as big as the room we were in for the beginner classes, but still sizable. Our third class of the day was Flash & Trash (named after our DVDs), followed by a routines class.

Highlights of the day:

• During the beginner class, while trying to explain what to visualize while leading a triple step, we did the motions and asked the class what it looked like. Normally we get something along the lines of a "W"; however, this time someone shouted out that it looked like a lowercase omega. Kevin and I were so surprised by the brilliance of the answer (notice I didn't say it was right or wrong), that Kevin conceded and then moved on.
  
• During Flash & Trash, I received more questions that I have ever gotten during a workshop. I took the first couple and then Kevin tried to step in, but the question was for me!!!!! This is huge, because most often the girls don't ask a lot of question, but everything was asked! Footwork review, timing, leading (the leads should have asked about this), was it a variation, how did we know, weight distribution, etc. In hindsight, this leads me to believe that I also must not have taught very well, otherwise these questions wouldn't have been asked. Hmmmm......
• During the routines class, I was showing the girls the timing on a forward swing out with kicks on 7 & 1. I didn't tell Kevin that I wanted to do the next swing out, so he assumed that we were going to stop on 1 like we had been doing. I, however, made the assumption that Kevin would "just know" what I wanted and then I went for it. Because the floor was slippery, I wasn't in sticky shoes, and I didn't inform Kevin about what I was doing, I totally bailed. I was on the floor! It happened so slowly too, but I couldn't stop it. Then I was on the floor, Kevin couldn't help me, and then I started wiggling around in order for me to try and make my fall into something graceful. Needless to say, I tried, but not much else happened. I used this as a lesson to show that the leads should not stop to watch a variation, but continue to lead through to the next move.

After classes we headed home and then took one car to sushi. And it was great sushi too. We ordered so much sushi that a sizable boat arrived with our dinner! I used almost all of the Japanese I remembered in order to get some special service (and impress Dorry and Sommer) and only ONE person responded to my "Sumimasen" yelp. As I later found out, only one person spoke Japanese there. After eating more than necessary, we headed back home, got into our performance clothes and then headed to the dance that night.

Almost minutes after arriving at the dance, Kev and I got ready to do a social performance. We performed live to Sac au Lait, who were just phenomenal, and Dorry sang Dinah with them. We had such a fun time performing with them, even when they sped up the tempo on us. And Dorry's voice was amazing as always!

A few hours later we were ready to head home and get into bed. We could hardly wait for the fun that was in store for us on Sunday.

Sucess in Baltimore

Friday

The original plan was to leisurely get up, briefly review over our class material, and then go to the Museum of Art and see the sites. However, this is not at all what happened. I woke up, but not leisurely (thank you cell phone and iPod going off at 7 am!!! And that was totally my fault), and we didn't briefly run over our material or see a museum, or see Baltimore. But no point crying over spilled milk!

Actually, the day was very successful. Kevin and I had a good warm-up, we ran through our class material and routine, and then had some great lunch at Py (a fabulous pizza joint). After that, we came back and did 2 half privates, and then got ready for the dance.

Dorry and Sommer headed out early and Kev and I took naps before the dance. This meant that we then had to drive ourselves to John Hopkins University. We made it to the campus just fine, but we had NO idea where to park. After taking in an unexpected view of the campus, we finally found a spot near a meter. Then we realized we didn't know what building it was in!

After wandering around, we found the Great Hall. The Boilermakers Jazz Band were playing and they were ON that night. Their sound and energy was great! Not to mention, the very lovely Naomi Uyama was there singing with the band. Even more fabulous was that Dorry & Sommer hired Naomi to teach the beginner lesson before the dance. Apparently this had never happened before. Word to event director who hire the Boilermakers: If Naomi is singing with them, you are SILLY to not hire her to teach your beginning lesson. For goodness sake, she is already there!!

So anyways.....Kev and I did some social dancing and then we pumped ourselves up for our performance. This would be the um-teenth time we would have done our "Swingin at the Cotton Club Routine", but we were still nervous. I don't worry about forgetting the choreography because my body will remember it as well as Kev will always lead it...but I was worried that I wouldn't have the stamina to get through it. It's not terribly long, but it's fast.

The performance went well and we were very pleased with it, however we were so tired afterwards that we headed home so that we could get into bed early. Fortunately or unfortunately Sommer and Dorry came home before we went to bed and then cooked us late-night breakfast. It was soooooooooooo good. Yum yum.

And then it was bed time.

Getting out of the cold

We are so ready to leave this cold weather. It's like it never goes away!

The snow is still novel to me; it reminds me of Christmas. In fact, I'd prefer it to snow than rain any day of the week. However, snow requires cold weather and I am not a fan of cold weather. I feel like I have come a long way since my Southern California days and am now able to bear the cold weather. 40 degrees no longer is all that bad! But when it gets down to 30, I have a hard time with it.

Kevin and I are normally traveling and we go visit other weather climates, and then we briefly return to ours momentarily. These days, however, we've spent a significant amount of time in Pittsburgh (we'll, for us it has been) and it's just plain cold. The cold seeps into the walls at night and my legs and feet get so cold that I can hardly fall asleep.

But no more!!! We are going to Baltimore!!!

This weekend we are teaching at the Leap Year Lindy Weekend and we are looking forward to different (and hopefully better) weather. We are leaving very early tomorrow (7:45am - eeeppp!!!) for a warmer climate and to go see Dr. Ron (a chiropractor) that Kevin knows in DC.


Hopes for this weekend:

warm weather
cute brick buildings
a "cultural" experience
seeing Semi-Pro with Sommer and Dorry
teaching students who have a great sense of humor and are ready to learn
eating some great food
lots of laughing
hearing great music
having some great social dances