1920′s Cherry Dress

As I multi-tasked through my emails this morning, I was contemplating making some cherry bounce for the holidays, then ran across this 1920′s dress in a cherry print. Serendipitous? Perhaps if it had been in my size…

On Judging (Part 2): Watching and Note-Taking Technique

In its simplest form, a judge’s job can be said to be simply this: 1. Look at competitors. 2. Make notes and rank them on a clipboard.

EBC 2011 Vendors

It’s already wonderful that the Eastern Balboa Championships is just a short drive away, but this year EBC really had the feel of a top notch swing dance event, brimming with a level of excitement and enthusiasm that is almost unrivaled. EBC already felt like a Balboa family reunion, bridging the gap between All Balboa Weekends, but this year it felt like EBC really came into its own as an event. The new hotel for this year’s EBC, the North Raleigh Hilton, provided a lovely ballroom space, a big hallway with chairs and tables for vendors, registration, and for hanging out, and there were no shortage of extra rooms for practice space. There were competitions for everyone and I am proud of the newer Raleigh/Durham Balboa dancers, some of them only dancing Balboa for a few weeks prior to the event, taking the challenge head on and entering their first amateur competitions. 

HEIDI ROSENAU: vintage dancer, in 13 acts

A Game To Develop Assessment Skills

A critical component for someone if they ever want to judge a swing dance contest or to become a good dancer themselves is the idea of defining ,then being able to assess what is “good dancing”.

Modern Follower Video Index of the Ages!

Hey Everyone! I need your help with a project – I want to make a (cue dramatic music) “Modern Follower Video Index of the Ages!” When I started dancing, I had to watch a lot of single time east coast swing videos, trying to find the really great lindy hop videos. Hopefully this will help.

Do dance weekends make you more passionate about dancing?

I’ve been reading the posts on the vernacular jazz dance tumblr and pondering if dance weekends really make you more passionate about dancing? VJD comments:

A Few Random Clips

I’m going to shake things up a bit and publish early this week, since I’ll be traveling tomorrow. The recent waist-down clip discovery was from a few nights where I dug around some film footage archives. Here are some of the other clips from the archives that I’ve been watching.

Heroes

Heroes can be lots of things. Sometimes they are close to you, sometimes you never meet them, and sometimes you can’t meet them because they exist in your mind. To me, Skye Humphries is all of the above at the same time.

Are You Ignoring Your Partner?

I know the kitties are cute, but let’s not get distracted…it’s Story Time! I’m reading Lewis Armstrong’s biography, Pops, and something he said really struck me. Joe Oliver was his idol, and he got to play in his band. However, as Lewis grew as a Trumpet player, he realized that he could out-play Joe.

Defining a Dance

Inspired by a recent Facebook thread, I decided to post an article on this topic that deserves more focus. Defining a dance is not a new concept. It’s a long and distinguished subject that people spend years in school studying.

Tuesday in Budapest

Two nights ago, Kevin and I arrived in Budapest and it’s been an exciting and delightful experience. After getting our luggage, we exited baggage claim to be picked up by a little, charming, old man who drove us to the Novotel. Kevin and I proceeded to check in, and found out that we were at the wrong Novotel. In fact, there are three of them in this glorious city.