Rabbits and Toasters was founded in 2010 and features manually selected articles from the best dance blogs on the web. The site is updated several times a day, check back often. Do you run a blog you think should be apart of the network? Send us an email.

Dance Instruction Archives

Lead and follow or initiate and respond? From: followervariations.wordpress.com | May 31, 2011 Another weekend, another workshop, this time a Lindy workshop which challenged my notions of lead and follow yet again.

Hiring Swing Dance Instructors: From a College Organizer Perspective From: taintwhatyoudo.wordpress.com | May 23, 2011 For this post I am addressing a different crowd then I usually do, this post is mainly geared is those who consider themselves swing dance instructors or those who are trying to become them. However, it will still be an entertaining read for those who are interested what goes in behind the curtain of how a college scene hires instructors.

Where Shame Goes to Die From: allthecatsjoinin.wordpress.com | April 08, 2011 Last night, I was teaching intro to blues for the Towson University Ballroom Dance Club, and we touched upon the issue of self-consciousness in dancing. I firmly believe that to be a great dancer, you must leave your shame behind every time you step on the dance floor. You have to take risks with your body, make weird shapes, feel awkward, and be completely willing to make a fool of yourself. As my students will attest, making a fool of myself is something at which I excel.

The cult of celebrity – what really hurts Lindy Hop instructors? From: followervariations.wordpress.com | March 31, 2011 Does posting class summaries on YouTube really hurt instructors? I assume we’re talking about financial hurt here. There might be a handful of dancers who say I don’t need to pay to go to a workshop because I can watch a 1 minute summary of an hour long class on YouTube instead but I am sure this must be a tiny minority and would hurt the organizers of the workshop more than the instructors who are probably going to get a fixed fee no matter who turns up.

An Explanation: Class Descriptions From: www.mikethegirl.com | August 13, 2009 Being a teacher first, and organizer second, I will freely admit that my event-running is utterly biased.  I just returned from the most successful Buenos Aires Blues we've had yet, and I'm proud to say that despite my own flaws and "learning experiences," the event went off beautifully.  I chose, for a number of reason, to withhold class titles and descriptions from the site, and rather than leaving folks to think it was an oversight (although I had a few of those, of course), I wanted to explicate my reasoning.