Swing Dynamite Blog
Thoughts and news about swing dancing in Ottawa
Swinging to Change the World
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Mar 10, 2010 in General, Ottawa, Ottawa Dance Events, Swing Dancing
Swing dancing doesn’t have to be all about the dancing. It’s about the people, the music, the connections we make. And I’ve always hoped it could be about even more.
Running a dance school is enough of a challenge, but running a dance school dedicated to the little-known dances of Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Balboa, Blues, Shag and so on, is the kind motivation for entrepreneurship that they warn you about in business school. You’re supposed to start businesses that will make money, not just make people happy.
But for us at Swing Dynamite, it’s always been about spreading the happiness and excitement that we find in Swing dancing. Natalia, our artistic director, was speaking not long ago with her father, who said he was proud of her because her work makes people happy. It’s exactly right: we all began swing dancing because it was fun, because going out dancing and interacting with people made us happier. And we started teaching and performing in order to spread that joy of swing dancing to more people.
What’s really amazing, though, is when we can go beyond just spreading happiness through the dance, to changing people’s lives in other important ways. Since not long after we founded Swing Dynamite, we’ve been involved in doing charity work, organizing benefits, teaching classes at reduced rates for underprivileged children, and doing performances for fundraisers. Recently we managed to raise money for Haiti and medical aid to Cuba, as well as performed and offered services for a few different charity organizations such as the Canadian Paraplegic Association. For all of us, this is an important contribution.
There’s a hidden benefit to companies working with charities to offer services: recent research shows that non-profits are often seen as less competent, offering less valuable or professional services than businesses. Think of it this way: you might want to support a charity, but would you rather buy a TV set made by Sony, or by the Cancer society? It’s an extreme example, but when businesses get behind charities they can increase the perceived value and professionalism of the organization. If you can buy a Sony TV and have some proceeds go to the Cancer society, it’s a win-win, right? Similarly, we hope that as one of Canada’s top swing dance groups, our participation makes people even more excited about attending charity events, helping to increase the attendance and funds raised. It’s one thing to attend a 40’s themed charity ball, but (we think) something much more exciting to attend when Swing Dynamite is teaching dance lessons and doing performances to set the mood and create excitement.
It’s great when swing dancing can be about something greater than the dancing, or even our little dance community–when swing can help to change the world just a little bit.
Notes on Keeping a Digital Dance Journal
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Jan 21, 2010 in General
Just read a great post by Lindy Hopper Carl Nelson on the art of keeping a digital dance journal.
Personally I’ve found that a simple notebook is a big part of keeping dance notes. Lately I’ve been favouring a small Moleskine notebook using tabs to index the subjects. I used to use a larger Blueline notebook but I found that it was a little bulky to carry around everywhere.
That’s part of my personal secret in terms of taking notes: instead of having one notebook dedicated just to a single subject–eg. Lindy Hop, or even swing dancing–I just use one notebook for everything, and I date every entry. I’ve found it’s often easier to find things chronologically in any case, and the fact that I use one notebook for everything means that I’m less likely to forget it. Any sections that are really important, earn tabs–I like the little plastic ones made by 3M.
Also, lately my iPhone has become a secondary note-taking device since it’s always with me, but it’s not as quick to take notes on as a paper notebook.
I’ve been experimenting lately with a great online/offline tool, Evernote, to keep all of my note-taking organized. Evernote stores your notes from various media, whether it’s scanned documents, audio notes, etc. and keeps it all in the cloud. It even does optical character recognition on your photos and indexes the text.
Meet the teacher: Tina Davis
[ No Comments ] Posted by brynzapoppin on Feb 23, 2009 in General
In case you live under a rock and have somehow managed to miss all the hype, Blues Blast II is just around the corner. Last year, this event packed nearly too much goodness for some of you to swallow. But in true Swing Dynamite fashion, we’ve decided to make things even crazier this year. Double the teachers, double the learning, double the fun.
To help you prepare yourselves, I’m going to be profiling each member of our astounding teacher line-up. One bite at a time–remember to chew.
———-
Tina “Sweet T” Davis is easily one of the world’s top blues DJs (I’ve borne witness to several standing ovations in response to her sets) and has been widely recognized as such for many years. But more recently, she has been gaining notoriety for her dancing and teaching, as well. It’s no surprise: Tina embodies the spirit of blues more than anyone I know; I distinctly remember learning more from one dance with her than I had from years of study. She is a woman of power, sensuality, humour, and grace. Her big booming laugh is tempered by striking humility and a quiet dark side so delightfully wicked that, should you ever catch a glimpse of it, you’ll feel strangely blessed. She is not unlike any of us: strong yet vulnerable, troubled yet hopeful, captivatingly beautiful and yet not immune to moments of ugliness. Blues music, she writes below, “cuts through all the crap and the walls that people build up around themselves… it gets to the essence of living and being a human being.” Humanity: deep and complex, yet as eloquently simple as a blind man on a porch, strumming his guitar to the tune of the sweltering heat. The difference between Tina and the rest of us is that Tina is brave and ardent enough to bare all of her humanity on the dance floor.
Have you always been a fan of the blues?
I’m not sure if I can say definitively how long I’ve been a fan of the blues or blues music, but I’ve listened to music as long as I can remember. When I was a kid I used to make mixed tapes all the time. I listed to the radio constantly, literally going up and down the radio dial soaking in different types of music. So for me, the Beatles and the Supremes were as real and relevant as Duran Duran or Run DMC or anything that was on Top 40 radio in the 80s. If I was exposed to Blues music as a kid, I probably slotted it under the heading of “oldies”.
I think being exposed to different kinds of music growing up definitely helped me when I started partner dancing (first with ballroom and eventually with Lindy and Blues). It definitely made me appreciate different types of dances and adapt to them more quickly than the average person walking into a ballroom studio at the time.
Now that I dance, teach to and listen to more blues music I realize that blues music is everywhere and has been the basis for a lot of music. I hear that “blues shuffle” everywhere.
What is it about blues that speaks to you the most?
The emotion and universality of the music. Everyone has experienced heartache. Everyone has experienced loss, or tragedy… or great joy or overwhelming desire. I think that all music certainly reflects the human experience, but blues music cuts through the crap and the walls that people build up around themselves… it gets to the essence of living and being a human being.
How would you sum up your dancing philosophy?
You gotta have fun!!!! If it stops being fun, don’t do it.
Your teaching philosophy?
More of the same… I try to teach with a little fun (which is the best thing about teaching with Don), but I also try to get students to be the best dancer they can be in their own skin. I don’t want them to emulate the latest, greatest Rockstar dancer on the planet. I’d much rather they be their own Rockstar.
And finally… what’s the one thing you hope people take home from your classes?
Just one??? I guess I would say that quality and clarity of movement is a big deal and can hide a lot of sins. I said something a couple of weeks ago during a class that will probably be the brightest thing I ever say during a class – passion without control is just chaos.
Open Heart Lindy
[ 4 Comments ] Posted by byron on Nov 09, 2008 in General
Something a lot of dancers look for in swing is authenticity. As opposed to legitimacy.
Authenticity is the quality of being real, originating from the right place. Legitimacy is endorsement by others.
Lindy Hop didn’t evolve by prescription. It wasn’t created by committee. Millions of young white kids were drawn to this African-American dance in the 30’s and 40’s for that very reason. It allowed them to escape the rigid norms of European dances for something more free-form and liberating, yet structured enough to create a common ground between dance partners.
In the modern revival of swing dances, the culture has changed, mostly because the dance is nurtured in professional dance studios and university multipurpose rooms instead of the streets and ballrooms of Harlem. It makes it so much easier to fall in the trap of seeking legitimacy–doing it the “right” way, seeking to be certifiably “good.” Which goes against the whole reason we fell in love with swing dancing in the first place.
The holy grail of Lindy is authentic expression, movement that comes from inside, from baring open the heart to share with others. Open heart Lindy, the dance without pretence.
Back to the Roots, People!
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Oct 13, 2008 in General
Or should it be, “Back to the roots: People!” A little punctuation goes a long way.
A major theme in swing dancing in the last few years has been this idea of “getting back to the roots.” Generally speaking this was a movement led by some of the world’s top Lindy Hoppers, who saw a need to examine the origins of swing dancing and recapture the original spirit. It was partly because dancers looked around and saw that with all the emphasis on “technique,” “connection,” and “improvisation,” things just weren’t that fun anymore. The whole exhuberance of Lindy Hop in the swing era was somehow missing. It wasn’t really the same dance.
So dancers pored over the old clips, they dug up old recordings and played them at dances. After a few years of borrowing partner connection ideas from West Coast Swing, Ballroom and Tango, Lindy Hoppers started looking more closely at how the original Lindy Hoppers used to do it. And after a few years of Hip Hop and Ballet Jazz influencing modern Lindy Hop movement, dancers started looking at vintage jazz movement, from Charleston to Tap.
But Bryn’s post about starting at the beginning brings up an important point: beyond the roots of swing dancing in Charleston, jazz movement and so on, even beyond the West African and Western European dance influences, the most important roots of swing dancing are people.
There’s a lot of talk about “social dancing.” Too often I get the impression that “social dancing” to many swing dancers just means a sport in which a “leader” tries to get a “follower” to do weird things to her body, roughly in time with a beat. But social dancing is more than just improvisation, leading and following. It’s when dancing takes on a social role. In both the African and European traditions that Lindy Hop descends from, dancing was a major feature of social gatherings.
I started swing dancing in the fall of ‘98, but I also began learning ballroom and Salsa at the same time. One of the reasons I was so much more interested in swing was the freedom to improvise in ways that Waltz or Rhumba didn’t offer (at least as I was taught them). But the real deal-maker was the people. I just met so many cool people when I went out swing dancing that even if I hadn’t enjoyed the dancing, I still would have come back.
It’s always, always about the people.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start
[ 8 Comments ] Posted by brynzapoppin on Oct 13, 2008 in Swing Dancing
How better to begin a blog about dancing than to write about beginning to dance?
When I first started dancing, I felt completely unconnected to my peers. The only real thing that has ever unified the swing scene as a whole is the fact that we all dance (and incidentally, there’s a certain awesomeness to that; it’s amazing how diverse and yet friendly and hospitable the lindy hop world is). But nevertheless–not knowing much about dancing, nor having much of a history with it–I had very little in common with these practical strangers, and the only questions I could think to ask were, “how long have you been dancing?” and, “how did you start?”
I stopped asking those questions right around the same time I became really serious about dancing. Suddenly I was more interested in discussing the finer points of the rock step than I was in finding out about the people I was dancing with or what had brought them there. It’s funny (and sad), in retrospect, given that I’ve always been powerfully curious about the human mind. But there I was, furiously working toward becoming the best dancer and best teacher I could be, and losing sight of the forest for the trees.
The forest, of course, being composed primarily of people. The number one reason why people start swing dancing has nothing to do with wanting to master the art of triple steps and everything to do with other people. Swing dancing is a great a way to mix and mingle, build friendships, discover relationships, make real physical contact (so sorely lacking from our society today), and–for many–to develop social graces. Certainly the social aspect has been one of the most important parts of it for me, and I am grateful for the friendships and the networks I’ve developed through my dance travels, through our local dance community, and especially through our own dance company. Nearly all of the most important people in my life are fellow dancers. And yet, in many cases, I don’t even know what brought them to that fateful spot where our lives met.
Lately, I’ve gone back to asking the question of how people started dancing, and already I’ve learned a lot from it. The answer offers insight into the person they were (and are) outside of dancing; outside of the most obvious string tying us all together. It’s a starting point for digging beneath the surface and building up a friendship that is deeper than a mutual hobby. It even reminds me of the person I was (and am) outside of dancing; the person who cares intensely about other people and about what makes them tick.
As a teacher and a scene-builder, I think this return to the roots is important for bringing new people on board. Sometimes, I think too much emphasis is placed on turning beginners into expert dancers with refined musical taste. Now, I may spend my days (and nights) dissecting my posture and movement in comparison with those of my favourite pros, and I may drool at the sounds of Count Basie, Sidney Bechet, and Robert Johnson, but ultimately… I do this because I love the people, because I love the feeling of dancing with sheer abandon and sharing that with the people around me, and because nothing brings me greater joy than seeing the smiles on my students’ faces when they don’t know I’m looking.
Back around the time of its inception, swing dancing was an essential ingredient in the lives of millions during periods of war and economic depression (something to think about with the state of the world the way it is right now). A big part of that (perhaps the biggest part) is because swing dancing is a community celebration. It brings people together in a way few other things can.
But it can’t do all the work on its own. We need to talk, too. Back in the day, people mixed dancing with lounging, drinking, and socializing. It was a natural way of life for them. But today, because most of us aren’t fortunate enough to have grown up with social dancing as a regular part of our lives, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in one part of the term (dancing) and forget about the other (social).
So… let’s start talking. I want to know: Why did you start dancing?
Welcome to the Swing Dynamite blog
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Oct 13, 2008 in General
Welcome to Swing Dynamite’s new blog. Let’s see where this goes!