Posted on by Apache · 1 Comment

My Sole Problem

The Proposal

So this past weekend Dax Hock posted a challenge “The Heel Challenge Has BEGUN! All Women in Heels, All Men in Hard Leather Dress Shoes. Who’s in?”

Of course I wanted in! However I faced two issues.

  1. Functional dress shoes for dance tend to be expensive.
  2. I am a poor college student and spend all my money on eating out at restaurants, hats, liquor swing dance travel and activities.

So I posed the query if anyone had any recommendations for hard leather dress shoes that are affordable for someone like myself. I got a flurry of responses, the ones that I felt helped me out the most I listed below.

While some people posted information to some breath-taking/badass dress shoes, unfortunately I did not list their suggestions here since they were a tad out of my price range.

Response 1:

Max Pitruzzella chimed in first with a recommendation for the Giorgio Brutini company. What I really love about this recommendation is the exotic section for shoes. You can pick up a pair that is unique and will set you apart from the average pair of dress shoes you see out there and have them be under 100 dollars.

From the Exotic section.

Response 2:

Next Dax Hock himself put up a suggestion to try these shoes from Stacy Adams which was under 100 dollars and a good set of shoes to start with.

Stacy Adam Madison shoes.

However he also warned that you get what you pay for and dropped a few other useful hints as well:

  • Just go to a Nordstrom and just go try on shoes. Even a Ross might carry some discounted.
  • Go to a thrift stores and find some oldies super cheap! Don’t think “dance shoe” think leather soled dress shoe and go for a style that is more vintage. Then get a leather heel put on.
  • If you can get a Good Year Welted Double Stitched sole. It is a type of construction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Welt. Don’t by a sole with a glued on sole and no stitching leather, it will fall apart for sure.

Response 3:

Speaking of Goodyear Welts, our next recommendation comes from Jesper Andersen who recommended Grenson shoes which are all goodyear welted.

Grenson factory, making high quality shoes.

While normally this recommendation would be out of my price range he also notes that on ebay you can find these cheap and due to the Goodyear Welt process, if the sole is damaged, resoling a shoe is most likely not an issue.

In All…

I’d like to thank everyone who gave a response to my question, personally I think I am going to save up for one of those unique pairs of Giorgio Brutini dress shoes. If any readers have suggestions for affordable hard leather dress shoes, I’d love to hear them in the comments section.

Posted on by Apache · 17 Comments

What the Heel?

What the Heel?

So lately a topic that has been all the chatter over the swing dance online community is a post by Sarah Breck on women wearing heels while dancing on the website Dax and herself share at DaxandSarah.com and a response why not to wear heels by Fenn at her blog shortgirlphoto.blogspot (Edit: Apparently Fenn decided to delete her blog post, but google cache has a version she edited before deleting the post. Link).

Even yehoodi has seemed to take notice in the topics To Heel or Not to Heel and Sarah Breck on Why Women Should Wear Heels.

Logical Fallacies

Just as a background, for my major Computer Science I do an upsetting amount of proofs. Also just when I think I am done with them… they come up again. In my algorithms class, my discrete mathematics class, and now again my automata and finite states class.

When I read or listen to people debate I usually don’t care about the emotional content of their arguments (which gets me into trouble a lot) but the facts they lay out.

What bothered me about the blogged response to Sarah’s post is this issue, Logical Fallacy: Appeal to Ridicule.

Fenn writes,

Today, I found this post in my facebook newsfeed. I was confused, because I thought I had read the title wrong. Surely, a dancer couldn’t be ENCOURAGING women to wear heels. I went over and read it, and my confusion was cleared…to anger. The writer says that women should wear heels because it’ll improve their dance skills.

THIS. IS. TOTAL. BULLSHIT.

 

Capslock is NOT cruise control for cool.

 

This could have been written simply as, “Today I found this post in my facebook newsfeed. I was unpleasantly surprised by the fact that the author was encouraging women to wear heels which I think does not improve ones dancing at all and in fact can be detrimental to their health. ”

Same effect, but does not come off as horribly condescending and hostile.

Points

I don’t have a background in podiatry nor have I spent long periods of time wearing heels so I am not going to comment on the validity if one should not wear heels or not. However what I argue against is the way Fenn presents them. Sarah’s main point her article or (the premise being argued against) of why she wears heels is,

“Because they help keep me in check. I feel like I become a better and stronger dancer when I wear them”

Fenn’s counter-points are:

  1. Shoes don’t improve your feet’s ability to do anything.
  2. Heels will damage your body over time.
  3. They are not necessary for any dances.
  4. Swing dancers don’t spend enough time strengthening their feet like other classically trained dancers do.

I would like to note that Sarah does not write anywhere heels are required for dance. Automatically points 3 and 4 do nothing to argue against the premise that Fenn is attempting to counter.

Point 1 I have a strong issue with because it disregards the fact of something we know and love known as physics.

There is this thing known as friction: the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another.

Can I do slides without shoes? Yes. Will I get much more distance with a pair of slick shoes then barefoot? Yes.

Since Fenn seems so eager to bring up Balboa, here is a move from it known as the Maxie Slide. Named after the late Maxie Dorf.

With the exception of someone who does not have a good sense of balance, I can promise nearly every lead can get more distance with that slide with a pair of slick leather soles/suede then their bare feet.

In addition, some dance venues are not the safest places to go barefoot. As someone who has danced barefoot for an international dance troupe for almost 2 years (Penn State International Dance Ensemble) I know how much it can hurt when someone leaves stuff on our practice space. Imagine the possibilities of foot damage at half the venues across the United States.

Point 2 is the only valid argument I see in the whole response to Sarah’s article. However there is no references cited and I am left to rely on Fenn’s personal credibility, which is greatly reduced in my eyes in the extremely condescending manner that the arguments are presented and the extraneous irrelevant points that are raised.

In short, I agree with arguecat that…

Damn straight Arguecat.
Posted on by Apache · 2 Comments

C’est Si Bon

I was stumbling around youtube looking for some examples of swing dance in public media and discovered this on Patrick Szmidt’s youtube channel:

The description translated to english says,

Patrick Szmidt & Natasha Ouimet in the transmission “La Culture Pour ou Contre” broadcast on ARTV in August 2009 to Canada.

Its a fun clip with two Lindy Hoppers, dancing on live television, to a gyspy jazz band covering Django’s Minor Swing.  Enjoy!

Posted on by Apache

Event Review: Swing Out Under the Stars (Oberlin)

Oh Nostalgia…

This past weekend I received a free pass from awesome follow Beth Hartzel, to go to an event at Oberlin called Swing Out Under Stars.

This visit was particularly nostalgic for me because my first out of town swing dance experience was at the Oberlin Jazz Dance Festival  several years ago where I first saw awesome dancers like Nina Gilkenson and Andy Reid. In result I was motivated to take my dancing more seriously and start traveling to events on a regular basis.

Oberlin has been doing this swing dance thing for awhile.

Being a Follow

One thing I am going to give Oberlin kudos for is as a male who was following in some of the classes this weekend I have never felt more comfortable being a follow then anywhere else in the world. Normally when I take classes as a follow, I usually get a vibe from people in the rotation of “Oh… its a guy following, there is something weird about him.” and odd looks.

However everyone was friendly and encouraging to me. I even got asked to dance as a follow a few times during the dance to the Boilermaker Jazz Band on Saturday!

 

Staying in a Co-Op

During the weekend I was hosted by a lovely girl named Shane in Oberlin’s Tank Hall Co-Op, affectionately referred to as “The Tank”. To quote wikipedia,

“The Oberlin Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) is a $2.4 million dollar non-profit corporation that feeds 630 and houses 175 Oberlin College students.[1] It is located in the town of Oberlin, Ohio, and is independent from but closely tied to Oberlin College.”

The Tank Co-Op. Amazingly friendly people there.

It is hard to explain what it is like to stay in an Oberlin Co-Op but my best description is imagine several people living in the same house with each of them having equal responsibility of maintaining the home. While I was there I was invited to have meals with the house which were all hand-cooked by the students. The food was vegetarian, different then what I was used to, and most importantly delicious.

Tank food, vegetarian and declicious.

In addition I got to meet other people who were also visiting the house like two French guys who are doing a country tour of the United States and was visiting Oberlin as one of their stops.

The Boilermaker Jazz Band

For the Saturday night dance, they had the Boilermaker Jazz Band who played a fun set and featured a vocalist I hadn’t seen personally before by the name of Erin Kufel. Even though it was a smaller crowd, I thought the Boilermaker’s did a great job of bringing energy to the room and playing some good tunes.

The Classes

The instructors were Falty (Michael Faltesek) and Carla Heiney who were a good fit for Oberlin, especially since Falty as apparently taught there several times in the past.

What  helped them out was the class sizes were ridiculously small. I’m talking like 12-14 couples for the last two classes of the day on Saturday & Sunday, with such an intimate environment I felt everyone got more out of the workshop then most workshops I have attended. In result the instructors were able to give individual feedback a lot of the times. Also Carla was in the rotation in some of the classes as well, which many of the other leads at the event agreed to me was a great help.

Something I would like to note is both Carla and Falty (who described himself in the lesson as a post-modern feminist) put a decent effort at remaining gender neutral when addressing follows and leads.  For the male follows and the female leads in the classes, it was much appreciated.

Overall

I’m not going to say that Oberlin’s swing dance event was the biggest event ever or had the highest quality of dancing. However what they did well is provide a unique experience that was fun for all parties involved. I’d dare you to find another workshop in the United States that features intimate class settings, unique housing opportunities, a safe environment to be a lead or follow, a quality band, and two great instructors. I will leave you with a quote about Oberlin that I thought they really lived up to this weekend,

“Oberlin is peculiar in that which is good.”

Posted on by Apache · 4 Comments

Decision Trees and Newbies

The Problem

One of the hardest things I deal with when teaching newer dancers a.k.a newbies/novices is understanding their need for context-free and defined rules, yet not compromising my personal beliefs when it comes to dancing.

Probably the biggest philosophy I have when it comes to dance is to pay attention and respond to the music and your partner. Ignoring either is a cardinal sin in my book.  You might as well be dancing with a broomstick to a metronome if you forget either of those things.

Yet, newbies on the other hand just want to be able for the most part to get through a dance and not fall over, maybe learn a few “cool” moves if they get past that. The subtleties I care so much as someone who has danced Lindy Hop for years, will fall on deaf ears due to the general lack of context and holistic view newer dancers have.

I’ve found through trial and error when I have tried to explicitly present this philosophy I have it is either is dismissed as “something for advanced dancers/too difficult” or rarely accepted but in a limited understanding.

Rumination

My friend John White over at Black Belt Lindy wrote a post the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition which made me think a lot about how I learned and how I taught lessons. Lately, this has been rolling around in my head even more due to I have been learning about Expert Based systems in an Artificial Intelligence class. One of the difficulties of building them is extracting “expert knowledge” from the experts themselves.

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert myself under the Drefyus model. However it got me to think of the idea, “How effectively am I taking my acquired skills and knowledge of the field of swing dance and translating it to people who are new to it can benefit the most?”

The Compromise

So what I do is give newbies who take my lessons a decision tree, essentially a manual or a guideline of rules in which some require prerequisites and others have priorities to navigate a dance. For example a high priority rule for a lead would be not to send your follow into other dancers or walls.

However the compromise is I hide subtleties in the lesson that allow the newer dancers who choose to stay after the lesson and dance or practice on their own to discover through trial and error. Because without the context of why those subtle ideas or lessons are important, they will likely fall on deaf ears.

Advice

What I would like for anyone who is teaching newer dancers to glean from this blog post is the following : Unless if your explanation for something comes with a funny story or is safety related (a.k.a. engaging muscles to not let arms out and prevent rotator cuff injuries), cut it from your lesson.

The majority of the time the newer dancers will lack a context to understand why those ideas you are presenting are important to their dancing experience.

Posted on by Apache · 3 Comments

Those “So-Cal” Dancers

I remember awhile back I was writing one of Bobby White’s posts on Swungover titled “The Old Timer (Part 2: A Release of Energy)” and got a smirk on my face reading this quote,

I think it’s one reason why so many So-Cal dancers handle competitions well–the one-upness attitude and showing-off confidence has been an important part of their scene ever since the neo-swing craze and before.

I’ll fully admit, as a So-Cal dancer myself I am proud to the point of vanity about my local scene. You can dance every night of the week, we have an amazing hometown band: Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five, and a plethora of badass dancers.

The 90’s

If you aren’t familar with the neo-swing craze/swing revival, go read this wikipedia article.  Then watch this clip from the film Swingers (1996):

Two reasons its important:

  1. It features The Derby, a legendary venue of Southern California.
  2. It presents the idea that swing dancing could be for anybody.

Erin Stevens, wrote in an interview from the now defunct website laswinginfo.com,

The Derby certainly deserves credit for getting the word out to the general masses. The GAP Commercial and the movie Swing Kids certainly had an effect [on the popularity of swing].

[…] There were so many people who wanted to swing dance that it was almost out of control. That was when we realized that we needed to be careful what we wished for. All of a sudden, we went from having 100 people in a class to having 400 people in a class. We soon had a different problem. We had to police our classes more, and make sure we could see the back of the room, all while still trying to get the material out there. We couldn’t teach everything we wanted, because much of the class became about just trying to move the people around.”

A quote from Peter Loggins on an article about Collegiate Shag has a few interesting things to note,

In the late 1990’s we had Shag Contest all around Southern California which was real fun, but it didn’t seem to last long, as most dancers were interested more in Lindy Hop, Swing, Charleston and Balboa.However, there were those countless nights in the back room of the Derby in Hollywood of all of us Shag dancers going off and Jamming! Imagine that on a regular night out….those were the days!

So before I lose you, here are the key points from the revival.

  • 1. Public media through movies (The Mask, Swingers, Swing Kids) and the Gap commercial made swing dance something accessible to the general public.
  • 2. Southern California during the 90’s swing dance had an overwhelming popularity, to the point that classes were full, competitions became very frequent, and venues like the Derby became avenues to learn and show off.

L.A. Old School

So below I am going to post these videos ranging from promotional clips, social dancing to competitions that I think show off this So-Cal flair from its 1998-2002 days. I’ll let you be the judge if we have this “one-upness attitude and showing-off confidence”.

The Hollywood Jitterbugs 1998

Santa Monica Mall Contest 1999

Swing Pit Opening Night 2001

Link: http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/18650186

The LA/OC Lindy Exchange  2001

Apparently we had some out of towners for this event.

Just as an FYI, So Cal also had some of the best advertisement campaigns ever:

We are just better at hiding it these days.

Lindy Binge 2001: House Party

Jam at Camp Hollywood 2002

Jam at Paladino’s 2002

Posted on by Apache · 1 Comment

Outside Perspective

Outside Perspective: Documentary on Swing and Jitterbug

My friend Morgan Day, posted on yehoodi awhile back a link to a documentary by David Wittkower on Swing and Jitterbug which was filmed during Camp Hollywood 2006.

What is interesting though, is David Wittkower when deciding to make this documentary was someone who was from outside of the swing dance community.

When I asked his permission on youtube to use his video for my blog post he gave me the response,

“The back ground was this. I was youtube surfing and came across this clip which I really loved watching:


because I love the music and the dancing. Not really a dancer myself, I used to Cajun dance many years ago and I grew up listening to the big bands because my parents were in WW2.
After watching this video (above) I thought it would be great to make a short film about swing dancing. It hasn’t been in any festivals, I made it a few years ago and now decided to put it up on Youtube, along with some of my other films.

I’ve been making films for over 30 years, mostly documentaries, and constantly looking for projects that I either get hired to make or I make them because the subject interests me.”

What I liked about this documentary is it allowed me to get a great quality view of 23 Skidoo!’s team performance that year, allowed for some interesting perspective from Hilary Alexander the event director, interesting interviews with Jack Carey and international dancers from Italy and Sweden, and last but not least Jean Veloz and Ray Hirsch dancing at the very end.

If you have a spare moment I would recommend checking out this documentary besides some great footage of Camp Hollywood, it also offers some insightful messages as well.

Posted on by Apache · 2 Comments

School of Hard Knocks

Friendliness of the instructor, its a phrase that comes up constantly when people talk about why they liked a certain instructor or even hired a certain instructor. I am myself am guilty of that. As an organizer for a college club, after the quality of teaching abilities, usually one of the big factor of why I hire instructors is if they are good fit for my demographic a.k.a. college students.

However personally when it comes to instruction for myself, I could care less how friendly an instructor is. Maybe it is because of my grandfather raised me on too many kung fu movies where a good portion of the instructors believed in hard-work, fundamentals and the school of hard knocks.

Jackie Chan practicing Horse Stance.

There is a topic on yehoodi “Meanest things a dance instructor has ever said” that the topic of how mean or nice an instructor should be comes up.  Two quotes in this yehoodi topic from Damon Stone really stand out to me, the first one is.

“I’d rather someone be direct and even mean and brutal to drive home the point. I hate being coddled. I’m an adult, if I can’t take your honest opinion I don’t deserve to have you as a teacher and probably shouldn’t be taking lessons.”

I was actually talking to my roommate who teaches violin this past weekend and seeing the overlap in musical and dance instruction. He went into anecdote about when he used to take lessons in his younger years, from an instructor who had him play what he was instructed to practice the previous week at the beginning of each lesson. If he didn’t perform up to his instructor’s standards, his instructor would tell him to get the hell out and stop wasting his time.

I chuckled and responded if I I did that in any of my classes, I would probably get the reputation as the worst swing dance instructor on the East coast. His response to that statement struck a note with me though. He commented that; the weeks he earned his teachers ire, he worked harder then ever to improve.

The second quote by Damon that stuck out to me was,

“I’m not sure I’ll ever quite get why intermediate dancers and above are sensitive about their dancing. I mean beginners are just that they want to learn enough to get out on the floor and have fun. By the time you are intermediate you should know everything you need to do that.

If you are taking lessons after that point I’d assume it is because you really want to improve, you want to be a kick-ass dancer. I can’t imagine going into a jazz or ballet, or contemporary, hell even Hip-Hop class and expect the teacher to be all sunshine and rainbows.”

Now, I think the issue at hand is differing opinions. I have had friends in my international dance performance troupe with backgrounds in ballet, jazz, and et cetera go into horror stories about how strict and demanding their instructors were that would send most people I know reeling.

But those are all instructors who see the material they are teaching as a serious art form and if you use their time, they demand respect for their experience and the material they are teaching. However, I would say for the most part not out of disrespect but being truthful, that the swing dance community as a whole are hobbyists.

In result it is often difficult to offer a class with the same serious framework like ballet or music without potentially touching some nerves or hurting feelings. Even often when I hear people talking about other dancers within the community, its usually a long list of their strengths and they are loathe to point out weaknesses.

Personally, I want someone to tell me my dancing is garbage. I want someone to point out my weaknesses and criticize me harshly about them. For me, its not the words of encouragement but these harsh criticisms that drive me more then anything to work harder on my dancing. I want knowledge, not a self-esteem boost.

Slightly Related Clip (For those of you just using my blog to procrastinate):

At 7:30 is the type of instructor I would want..

Posted on by Apache · 5 Comments

Tabby the Cat

A jazz step I like because of its kooky name and look is known as a “Tabby the Cat”. I was casually chatting about it with my friend Annabel the other day and she mentioned its rather popular in the swing dance community these days, apparently due to Sharron Davis.  I do not know the exact origins of this move (besides it coming from the song “Tabby the Cat”  Edit: See Peter Loggins comment below for details.), however I do have a feeling it has something to do with Dean Collins.

They are still working on getting the move down.

Dean Collins: The Cat’s Meow

First reason is Dean seen doing the move with fellow dancers Johnny Duncan,  Jenny Duncan, Jack Arkin, and Irene Thomas in a 1945[1] soundie Tabby the Cat, which also featured comedian/pianist Eppy Pearson.

The move is first shown at 0:36, then Dean strolls in and does it with the gang at 1:05

Second is it is a featured move in his shim sham, the Dean Collin’s Shim Sham. You can him do it himself below in a 1983 impromptu performance at about 1:25.

A more modern demo of the Dean Collin’s Shim Sham is below with our friends at the London Swing Dance Society. They do the move at about 1:28.

Modern Uses:

The move Tabby the Cat is great for partnered, solo dancing and a necessity if you want to learn Dean Collin’s Shim Sham. One of my favorite examples of it used in partnered dancing is below by Juan Villafane with Carla Heiney at this past year’s Lindy Focus. He hits it perfectly at 0:33, BAM.

Sharon Davis seems to have adapted it for the blues ascetic.

How to Learn It?

A skim notes version for you fast learners, check out this video from the Houston Swing Dance society.

Footnotes:

[1] The interesting thing about the Tabby the Cat soundie when I was attempting to do research for it was IMDb has 1945 as the year of the clip and only lists the pianist and vocalist. Whereas whoswhoinswingdance.com lists the full cast of dancers but has the year listed at 1939??. I chose IMDb’s date, because the song is listed in wikipedia coming out 1944 {Tabby The Cat (Arr. Dave Matthews) Broadcasat Hollywood Paladium, Hollywood, Ca.}

Posted on by Apache · 4 Comments

Event Review: SparX

This past weekend was CWRU (Case Western Reserve University) Swing Club’s annual Lindy workshop weekend. As their promotional website promised, SparX did fly at the event.

SparX 2011

For a college workshop weekend, SparX delivered three tracks (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced), two bands (Baby Soda & Gene’s Jazz Hot), and two competitions (Jack & Jill and Solo Jazz).

Most college events where one is lucky if there is more than one track or live band.  Case Western pulled off an impressive feat by having an event this big and well run.

Classes

After probably the roughest audition I have ever encountered (about 30-40 minutes of straight social dancing, one song after the other), I got placed in the Intermediate track. Generally I thought most of the classes were a good balance of technique & moves to keep everybody interested.

However what stuck out to my was Mike Faltesek and Casey Schneider’s classes. I have taken several of their classes, multiple times in the past. What I really enjoy about their classes is, no matter how many times I have taken a class they have offered before, I always get something new out of it.

Competitions:

The finals were to live music provided by Baby Soda, the results were..

1st ~ John Holmstrom & Annabel Truesdell
2nd ~ Daniel Repsch & Corinne Shafer
3rd ~ Mark Muthersbaugh & Beth Hartzel
4th ~ Yosseff Mendlesohn & Jesse Hanus
5th ~ Sam Copeland & Ellie Hanus

Some highlights from the J&J were:

  • 1:56  Daniel Repsch & Corrine Shafer throwing down some peckin’
  • 2:18 Mark Mauthersburgh backing it up with Beth Hartzel in tow.
  • 4:25 Jesse Hanus showing some serious sass.
  • 5:48 Annabel Truesdell shimmying it up.
  • 5:56 Yosseff Mendlesohn & Jesse Hanus hamming it up.

The PSU Peanut Gallery

Slight Back story to the Jack & Jill: Some of you might wonder why some of the competitors entering the spotlights got extra loud cheering then the others. People actually at SparX were probably wondering who all the crazy people with blue and white pom-poms were. Well one of the Penn State students, (not going to say names) happened to be a season football ticket holder his Sophomore year and saved pom-poms from every game, thought it would be a fun idea to bring the student section to cheer on any Penn State students or alumni competing at SparX. Needless to say, it was a blast for all parties involved.

The results of the Solo Jazz competition were…

1st ~ Jesse Hanus
2nd ~ Dani Dowler
3rd ~ Mark Muthersbaugh

Some highlights from the Solo Jazz comp for were:

  • 00:52: Mark’s grand entrance. I am not sure what made the outfit more, the longhorn bull belt buckle or the blue sequin jacket.
  • 9:53: As commented on youtube, Ross Hopkins fall hits a cymbal crash perfectly. Coincidence or crazy musicality? I’ll let you guys decide.
  • 10:20: It’s a shame there isn’t a video from another angle. Jessie Hanus does an amazing Josephine Baker impression here and sells it with her facial expressions.

Room For Improvement?

The only negative things I can say about this event would be to trouble shoot the sound equipment with the Friday band a little more and perhaps more food for the late nights. But they were things that paled in comparison to how much ridiculous fun I have been hearing other people claim they had and the marvelous time I had myself.