Jazz steps & fast dancing

This week we focused on fast dancing by working on individual as well as shared dance issues.  We learned a short sequence and then danced it to faster and faster songs.  Congrats to all of you for becoming more driven when the music became too fast, instead of being discouraged.  Great attitudes all around!We started the class with a round robin of jazz steps…but when no one could think of any, we decided to brainstorm them all together.  Here’s what we came up with (jazz steps, movements, and misc things):

•  Fish tails
• Spank the baby
• Shorty George
• Tacky Annie
• Jump Charleston
• Pushes
• Cross overs
• Helicopter
• Apple Jacks
• Stomp off
• Kick ball change
• Charlie Chaplin
• Itches
• Fall off the log
• Box step
• Knee slaps
• Camel walks
• Heel pop
• Boogie down
• Boogie forward
• Boogie back
• Tick tock
• Cakewalk
• “Blues walk” (strut)
• Lock step (& turn)
• Suzie Q
• Pickin’ apples
• Rocks
• Skates
• Shoe shine
• Corkscrew
• Ochos
• Lolly kicks
• Break a leg
• Pimp walk
• Pecking
• Gaze afar
• “Sumo”
• Eagle slide
• Scoot
• Swivels
• Runs
• Hitch
• Matrix dip
• Heel click
• Trucking
• Rusty Dusty
• Mess around
• Shimmy
• Low downs
• Charlie Brown
• Rubber legs
• Crazy legs
• Rocking horse
• Half break
• Thrusts
• Black bottom
• Crab walk
• Paddles
• Pushes
• Drags
• Sweeps
• Heel slide
• V-slide

This is by no means an exhaustive list of jazz steps, just what we thought of on that day.  We’re going to continue with round robins to keep these jazz steps fresh in our minds, and we’ll go over the more tricky ones to be sure that everyone can do them.  We’ll also ad to the list every week of course.  Yay, solo jazz rules! 

Open Week Topics

The first week of LindyU went off without a hitch!

We laid out a four piece plan, although we managed to cover only the first three.

Class began with a rousing warm-up to The Boilermaker Jazz Band tune Let’s Misbehave.

The swing out was the first fruit of the day focusing on an easy and loose connection driven by our bodies moving away from each other. Two weights connected through our centers by a bungee cord. The figure was based around the origin of lindy hop — charleston; it kept the linear figure and highlighted the walk-like ease of it.

Our second piece was a contrast exercise. Our relaxed swing-out and its loose bounce was contrasted with a sharp and controlled exhalation on the seven of the swing-out. This removed our triple-rhythm and created an almost break-like feeling without stopping our momentum. It also highlighted how our breath allows us to connect more deeply with our core.

The last piece we managed to get to was a pair footwork variations, one for the lead and for the follow. Taking a basic kick-ball-change variation at 7&8 the leader dropped his weight towards his right and twisted on 8, 1, and 2; adding a touch of the “twist” to our dance. The followers used the same kick-ball-change variation but rather than kicking on 7, it was a slip out with the right on 6. Followers were then encouraged to play with the idea and create some of their own variations.

We finished off the class with some workshop time where the followers and leads cleaned up a variation or two of their own and showcased them jam style.

Stay tuned for the first official week of LindyU with Alain and Sylwia; I hear they have a good selection of topics including connection, a swing-out clinic, and more.