swing
DWO 2009 a smashing success!
Dances With Owls was a smashing success. Teams from all across Texas – including UT, SMU, A&M, and UofH – joined us for a night and a day of excellent dancing, fellowship, and competition.
Some of the comments I’ve heard so far are:
“Thanks again for everything. We had so much fun on Saturday!!!! (There is not an amount of exclamation points that could express this fully
) Is your club looking at going to any other comps soon?”
“I was very excited to hear other schools, specifically A&M & UT , say what a great comp this was and that they so much fun – and they would definately come back next year.”
“You an RSDS did a great job hosting the event and getting other campuses to come see what Rice is about! Great job and fabulous event!”
“This was literally the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
Event Co-Chairs Emilia Stepinski and Autumn Allen deserve rounds of applause for juggling all the details and preparations for this event. Our deepest appreciation also goes to Super-Awesome Team Mom Pam Shefman, Scrutineer Drew Shefman and Emcee Pat Walsh. (Without their experience and wisdom, we’d all be in way over our heads.) And lastly, thanks to all the folks who volunteered throughout the weekend. DWO is an entirely volunteer-run comp, and without our dedicated members and friends, the event simply couldn’t happen. So thanks to everybody. I’m really proud of this event, and I hope you are, too!
p.s. Thanks to all the dancers who joined us from the Houston community and other collegiate communities state-wide. We hope to see you next year!
Help us with our Spring 2010 schedule
All RSDS members, please take this really quick (45 seconds) survey to let us know how we should schedule classes for next semester:
Swing Classes in October
Just wanted to inform you that for October we have CHANGED the Swing
Schedule on Thursdays evenings. We will be having the following two
classes in the Miner Lounge:
- 7:00-8:15 Beginner Class with Hank and Natalie
- 8:15-9:00 Free dance
- 9:00-10:00 Swing Sampler Class with Richard and Chloe
This month we are bringing in Richard Lyders and Chloe Delepine to
teach California, an awesome Lindy Hop routine that is often performed
in Melody Club on Sunday nights. For those of you who have never seen
Richard and Chloe, they are two sensational dancers with a unique
style that will make you smile…seriously, I can’t help but be happy
when I watch these guys dance. Note that there are FIVE Thursdays in
September so you know that by the end of the month they will have
taught you some seriously cool stuff. Our Swing Sampler classes are
completely independent so even if you did not come last month, feel
free to take the class this month.
The beginner class will be wrapping up six-count Jitterbug in these
first two weeks and them move onto Lindy Hop, which is an 8-count
dance that you will usually see in the Houston Swing scene. This class
should tie in very nicely with our Swing Sampler class to give you the
complete Swing repertoire.
We were a little shorthanded on GUYS last month so if you know any men
who like/know/are interested in Swing dancing, make sure to bring them
along.
Harvest Moon Ball registration
HMB is coming up soon – 9/26!
The dance starts at 8:00 (with a free lesson at 7:00) in the Grand Hall. You can find more info about the dance on the swing page.
If you pre-register with RSDS, you won’t have to pay $20 at the door.
RSDS student members: free
RSDS community members: $10
Please let us know if you want to attend Harvest Moon Ball, and we’ll put you on a list to get into the dance. Please tell either Tal Einav or Emily Watkins before MIDNIGHT of September 24. You can find us in the Grand Hall on Tuesday between 8:00pm-midnight and in the Minor Lounge on Thursday between 7:00pm-10:30pm.
swing classes start tonight!
Since I typo’d our first flyer, I just wanted to make sure everybody knows that SWING classes start TONIGHT!
Here’s the schedule:
7:00 beginner swing classes
8:15 practice / free dance
8:30 Swing Sampler classes
9:30 intermediate swing classes
RSDS Swing meets every Thursday night in the RMC Miner Lounge.
Your first class with RSDS is always free, so if you think you might be interested, come check it out.
If you have any questions about swing classes or events, contact Emily (emwatz@gmail) or Tal (tal.einav@gmail).
sweet. see you there!
– Michael
welcome back / pie-and-dance TONIGHT!
howdy everybody, and welcome back!
RSDS is getting into gear for the fall semester. I can’t wait to see yall on the dance floor again!
Our first event, a meet-and-greet info session & free dance, is TONIGHT (Tuesday) at 7:30 in the RMC Grand Hall. There will be pie. We’ll dance until 9:30… or maybe (probably) later, who knows.
BALLROOM meetings this year will be TUESDAYS in the Grand Hall:
6:30 beginner ballroom classes (open to students and community members)
7:30 practice time
8:00 intermediate ballroom classes
9:00 advanced classes
10:00 free dance until the cows come home
SWING is meeting on THURSDAYS in Miner Lounge, starting this week:
7:30 beginner swing classes
8:15 practice / free dance
8:30 Swing Sampler classes
9:30 intermediate swing classes
TANGO will meet on WEDNESDAYS at the Grad Student Apartments. Shuttle service is available from campus. More details TBA.
All the schedules and details will be up on the website: http://rsds.rice.edu
I look forward to seeing yall tonight and in the coming weeks!
cheers,
Michael
Fall 2009 Update
Classes are starting soon:
Ballroom = Tuesdays 6:30-10:00, RMC Grand Hall
Tango = Wednesday evenings, TBA
Swing = Thursdays, 7:00-10:30, Miner Lounge
FREE DANCING! Every Tuesday, 10pm-midnight
TUESDAY, September 1 will be our first ballroom meeting. It’s a meet-and-greet dance, with pie from House of Pies!
More info coming soon…
Jazz Soiree
The Rice Social Dance Society is gearing up for their annual swing dance, the Jazz Soiree. This is an (optionally) classy affair, so feel free to ritz it up, or come as casual as you wish. We’ll provide the snacks and water, the Rice Jazz Band will provide some live grooves, and you provide the steps. There will be an intro lesson before the night gets in to full swing, so be sure to bring your friends. And the best part? It’s completely FREE!
A call for performers:
The trouble with running a club on campus is that the officers and students turn over too fast to really continue any one legacy. However, persons older (and wiser) than us have informed us that there used to be performances at RSDS’ Jazz Soiree. We’re pretty tickled by the idea and are looking for groups, couples, and individuals who want to perform at the Jazz Soiree this year. We welcome swing dancers (of course!) but are also glad to see any other sort of social dance.
If interested, please email Natalie (nweber@rice.edu) ASAP, and no later than Wednesday, April 8th
The down-low:
Friday April 10th, 2009
Rice Jazz Band playing 9pm – midnight
Intro lesson 7:45-9:00pm
FREE!
Martel Commons, Rice University campus
- You can find Martel here (http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html), or it is #42 on the printable map on the same page. There is construction around campus, so it is a little confusing to get to, but we will try to have signage around the campus.
- Parking: The nearest visitors’ parking on campus is at Founder’s Court (http://parking.rice.edu/visitors.cfm). However, it is generally easier to park north of campus on a residential street that allows parking and walk on to campus.
Questions? Contact Natalie Weber (nweber@rice.edu)
Muscle Memory Minders
Last week in the beginners’ swing class we went over some of the most important things we think help your lead/follow, technique, and all-around skillz, plus said a few things specifically for the follows. These are things just to keep in the back of your head and sometimes think about consciously, until you can really get it into your muscle memory and do them naturally. Here is the list in full:
Muscle-Memory Minders:
- Footpatterns — you won’t have time to be distracted by trying to make your feet do the right thing.
- Frame fundamentals — keep your arm in front of you with a slight bend (i.e. do not let your elbows push back behind you nor let your arms outstretch).
- Follows, let your Energy Flow — that is the life blood of this dance!
- Create and Respond to changes in Energy with Counterbalance (not muscle).
- Lead with your hips as you move… letting your shoulders ride above them, moving as one piece — If we are moving “away” then with our counterbalance we would ease into a “sit” (keeping shoulders above the hips, not leading/preceding the hips) as energy is arrested.
- Follows, Return (compression, tension, counterbalance from the Lead) In Kind.
- And it’s corollary, to Respond to Energy from the Lead, not just to the tension or compression inherent in your position (i.e. don’t bounce).
Follows’ Skills & Secrets:
- RELAXING does Wonders! — If you MUST think while dancing, try to focus on your own technique (e.g. sit back in his arm, frame, flow, etc.), not anticipating his leads or moves.
- Be on top of your foot wherever you step to — try to step and move all your weight to that foot as you follow the guy’s lead. There will be a temptation to transfer your weight to the trailing foot as it comes up; but be patient, leave your weight on the foot you were led to and leave your trailing foot free as the dance continues. This means that you’ll always be on one foot with the other free, never resting on both feet with your balance split (unless your lead actually takes you there).
- Keep your shoulders back (as opposed to letting them slump forward) — doing this helps with connection, frame, and grace.
- Always look at (or at least, be able to look at) your hand when you’re being led in a turn.
- Do not release the connection with your partner. You certainly don’t want to grasp but neither do you ever want to pull your hand away.
- We start by asking you to follow a little “heavy” to be sure you don’t anticipate and that you’re letting your leads move you — but as you get more comfortable you’ll find that you can still be patient in your follow and you’ll never-the-less be able to respond and follow much more lightly.
- There are lots of places where the Follow can play in Swing. Let’s look at where/when you can find those opportunities.
Swing Sampler class begins this Thursday
Thanks once more to everyone who came out last Thursday for our dance! Swing lessons are starting up proper this Thursday in Willy’s Pub:
- 6:30-7:30 Swing Sampler
- 7:30-8:00 Free Dance
- 8:00-9:15 Beginners Jitterbug
Every few weeks our Sampler class will bring in a new instructor, who will teach what they are most passionate about in dance, what they feel is most important to learn, their favorite moves, or more — anything is fair game. The first instructor of the semester will be Aramis Martinez, who many will recognize from late-night Ballroom and for his unique blend of styles. In his class we will be exploring unusual leads and different methods of finding connections with your partner. In his words:
Description
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One of the best metaphors for social dance is conversation — conversation whose tools are body and soul in addition to sound and word. Since there are as many ways of communicating as there are dances and dancers, learning more ways to communicate allows our conversations to become more playful, more intriguing. Melding different modes of communication also makes one a better dancer, which ultimately leads to more and more fun:
Tango displays passion through an upper torso connection and subtle technique. Whether open or closed position, blues relies on pulse and musicality and moves stolen from anywhere and everywhere to pour out one’s soul. Lindy hop relies on tension links to bounce energy and momentum between partners, while ballroom styles can rely so much on compression you could incorrectly guess that tension isn’t fun in ballroom. Salsa and cha cha can look as if tension does all the talking, yet just as often they utilize soft, highly visual leads as an invitation to play. With improv styles the limit is set only by your imagination.
During these classes we will talk about what we are saying in our conversations with our partners and how we say it: connection, frame, musicality, technique. We’ll play games, we’ll build a open and supporting environment, we’ll work on the advanced technique of listening to each other and responding as we dance. We experiment with different ways of talking to each other and explore the common threads that underly all of them. Any point of contact, or even no point of contact, is fair game if the conversation engrosses your partner.
Bio
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Aramis Martinez is an alumnus of Rice’s Physics and Astronomy department and is a former co-president of RSDS. He began taking lessons during the era of “Can you lindy to this?” and considers RSDS his home scene. Upon his first visit to the Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club, his funky, distinctive style attracted notice, and he was promptly integrated into Houston’s unique intersection of blues/lindy/westie/tango dancers. He now cross-trains in multiple dances, travels for exchanges and workshops, and has most recently been learning Texas two-step and West Coast swing. When a blues moon is out, beware.
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