thoughts of a dance teacher

Celebrity status in Colorado

2008-03-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Just returned from my first trip to Colorado for a gig with TinaMania, the show in which I dance professionally. I didn't get to see much of Colorado, but the Denver airport is pretty spectacular. Our gig was in Fort Collins, about an hour's drive from the airport. This was a gig for the city of Fort Collins, a benefit for a senior center I believe. We were the only act, so we did two 45 minute sets and the audience LOVED us. Many of them asked us to sign their posters. This was the first time anyone has asked for my autograph and it was fun. Takesia (the other back up dancer), and I both had the same response when we were asked. You want MY autograph? Our first thought was that somehow they had mistaken us for Kiesha (Tina Turner) although that would be virtually impossible if we'd had time to think about it. The audience was wonderful, dispite the fact that we were a half an hour late and stunned by the effects of the altitude. We'd been warned, but still found ourselves gasping for air when we started working hard. We were told, and we believe it, drink a lot of water in high altitudes if you're planning on exerting yourself!

Keeping the dance community alive: part II

2008-03-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

One way or another, a dance community has to attract beginners or it will die. Sometimes the dance is simply so compelling that new people see it and just want to do it. Argentine Tango is a good example of this. In my opinion, it is the most difficult of all partner dances. Hard to learn and hard to retain, it requires a huge time commitment in order to do it well enough to enjoy it. The community is not welcoming of beginners to say the least. Beginners are expected to prove themselves by their continued work before they are acknowledged by the experienced dancers. Yet they keep coming because the dance itself is so exciting. Sometimes a similar dance can woo dancers away from an established dance. West Coast Swing was once hugely popular. The rise of Lindy Hop didn't kill West Coast Swing, but the community shrank considerably as many dancers decided that Lindy was a whole lot more fun. Lindy became so popular the community became complacent and nearly lost it's beginner momentum a few years ago when beginner classes were floundering all over the bay area. We can thank Hep Jen's move from Seattle to the Bay Area for rescuing our dwindling beginner appeal by offering free classes at Lindy in the Park to curious passerbys, an idea that worked miracles to keep the dance alive and thriving. Cudos to Hep Jen with her friendly and welcoming energy!

Lifetimes of Dance Communities

2008-03-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

A discussion with friends today brought up the subject of how to keep a dance community from dying. I remember when Country Western Dancing was popular. There were clubs everywhere and I taught a lot of C/W. All of a sudden there wasn't enough interest to keep the formally thriving clubs alive, and one by one they closed. Now the closest clubs to my area (Oakland) are Fremont and Concord. Even the gay community's stalwart Rawhide II closed and the popular dance is now relegated to twice a week in SF. What happened? It seemed like it was here to stay. My guess is not enough beginners. A dance community has to nurture it's beginners to stay alive. More about this in the next entry.

Dancers hunt for treasure: results

2008-02-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

I know you're all eager to hear how Rats-a-roni: the San Francisco Meat fared on the treasure hunt. Well, we didn't finish, but we had a great time, enjoyed each other's company off the dance floor, and had an adventure in foul weather. We also solved a lot of the clues, which was challenging and exciting. Not very good in the competitive spirit department, I wasn't the only one with the tendency to shout out a solution in great excitement, fully within earshot of other teams in the vicinity. I was shushed good naturedly by the more competitive players on more than one occasion, but in the end it didn't matter since we didn't finish in time to turn in our score card. It's a great exercise in stretching your mind, staring in great frustration at the clue right in front of your nose and not seeing it, until you do. It's hard not to shout "There it is!" at the top of your lungs. There is a certain fun in slogging about in the rain, but all in all I would have enjoyed it more in clement weather.

Dancers hunt for treasure

2008-02-21T22:49:00.000-08:00

An important and not often addressed part of dancing is that of community. when you fall in love with a dance, you do it often, and you begin to get to know the other regulars. Sometimes your dance community becomes your social circle. This weekend a group of Lindy Hoppers will try our hand at the annual SF Treasure Hunt. It's the year of the rat, hence our team name, Ratsaroni, the San Francisco Meat. It's a first for me and most of our team. Wish us luck. I'll report on our success after the weekend.

Your Teacher: Does gender matter?

2008-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I get a student who wants to learn to follow and expresses a choice to learn from a man instead of a woman. I don't argue with this, as some women just don't feel comfortable dancing with another woman and I'm happy to pass her on to one of my colleagues. However, sometimes it's not a matter of comfort level, but a misunderstanding of what it takes to teach the skill of following. Any dance instructor who teaches alone must be skilled in the arts of leading as well as following. If you want to learn to follow, your instructor must know how to lead, but also he/she must have a clear understanding of how to follow. A man who doesn't follow may be able to teach you, as the leader is directing the follower, but someone who dances both parts will be better equipped to give you the instruction you need than one who only dances lead. If you are not a natural follower, that is someone who picks up the skill intuitively, it can be a very difficult skill to learn. If you are not uncomfortable learning from someone of the same gender, pick you teacher based on experience, teaching skill, and how comfortable you feel with him or her. Gender is not important.

wedding dance question

2008-01-29T16:43:00.000-08:00

I am frequently asked if I can choreograph a routine for a first dance for a wedding. I want to talk about that here because I answer it so often. Of course, I CAN choreograph a routine, but I advise against it. Here’s why. A choreographed routine requires strict memorization as each step is designed to fit a particular place in the music. If the leader makes a mistake, the follower has to decide whether to follow the routine or follow her partner and it makes for a difficult recovery. It takes a long time to perfect, is more expensive, and after it’s over, all you’ve learned is how to do that one routine to that one song. I believe a much better plan is to learn to lead and follow, and learn enough moves to make your dance interesting. If the music has particular places that are more dramatic, you can learn a move that you can do in those places. A dramatic entrance and flashy dip at the end give it a polished look. The follower always follows her partner, and recovering gracefully from mistakes is easy and takes a lot of pressure off. After it’s all over, you’ve learned how to dance, to any music that fits the dance you’ve learned, and you can use your hard earned lessons to have fun on the dance floor as you continue your life together. I’ve choreographed routines for contests and performances, but for weddings, a relaxed dance that connects you to your partner with love and joy is a much better choice.

Mea Culpa

2008-01-19T13:42:00.001-08:00

I’ve been remiss in keeping up my blog, but I’m back on track! Please don’t give up on me, few readers that I have! Stay tuned…..

Close dancing versus hugs: another non wedding instruction piece

2007-10-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

At an intermediate lesson for blues dancing , the teacher suggested, as an exercise, that the students go about the room randomly hugging each other. This was preceded by a brief introduction to a variety of hugging styles and permission to say no. I commented to a friend that I hated this exercise. . “ I like to cut to the chase”, I told my friend. “It’s blues dancing for Christ’s sake. If you’re not comfortable dancing close, you’re in the wrong class. Go home.” We both laughed, but I was only half kidding. When people are uncomfortable holding their partner close, a given in Blues Dancing, it’s usually because they’re not sure that it’s OK to do so. It’s been my experience that when you give them permission, by instructing them in the proper hold for the dance that they’re there to learn, they do it and get used to it. Yes, I also speak about being sensitive to the comfort level of your partner. If you feel her stiffen up when you hold her close, back off, etc, but I don’t belabor the point. Generally speaking, if a woman is in a Blues Dance class, unless she has no idea what the dance is like and landed there by accident, she’s basically comfortable with the concept. And as long as the energy isn’t creepy, she’s probably going to be comfortable dancing in your embrace. I give my women students permission to walk away when the energy is creepy. Everyone knows what I’m talking about and that it’s inappropriate behavior on the dance floor. It’s fairly rare, too, particularly in a lesson. My friend, also a teacher, had a different take on it. He thought the hugging exercise didn’t work in this context, but felt the concept to be a good one. It’s an interesting point to debate.

wedding dance lessons? Who wrote that post?

2007-09-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

What was up with that last post? Well, if it seemed out of sync, it was because I didn't write it. A friend is helping my computer illiterate self cope with the world wide web and he wrote it for me as an example. I'd say over half of my business is working with people who are about to get married, so I've been encouraged to use my blog to speak to that market. It's one of my favorite things to do. Working with wedding couples is lots of fun. I get to be around people who are in love. Everyone loves a lover, perhaps not a hundred percent true, but mostly so. More about this soon!

Wedding Dance Lessons

2007-09-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Are you a newly engaged couple? Are you looking forward to your wedding reception? Are you worried because you don't know how to dance?

Wedding Dance Lessons are what you're looking for, and I'm the one you're looking for. My name is Laurie Ann Lepoff, and I'm a private dance instructor in Oakland, California. My clients come from Oakland, Berkeley, and the entire East Bay. I can teach you how to dance.

Wedding Dance Lessons (search here on google).

What makes a good leader?

2007-07-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve addressed this question before but a recent conversation brought it to mind again. A woman asked an accomplished dancer for a dance. A very flashy and entertaining dancer, more fun to watch than to dance with some have said, the man paused before saying, “I don’t know. It’s a pretty fast song. I’m not sure if you could keep up with me.” Recovering quickly from the shock of such a rude reply, she countered with “Tell you what. If I fall down, you can just step over me and keep right on going.” To his credit, the chagrinned dancer has since asked her repeatedly to dance, but the point is this. A good leader’s focus is on his partner, not on himself and his own fancy moves. He accesses the skill level of his partner and dances accordingly. No matter how skilled he is, if he’s not dancing with his partner, he’s not a good leader. He may as well dance by himself.

2007-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

Waltz

Here it is! My first page of info about the dances I teach:

There are many different styles of waltz. They are all in ¾ time ( three beats to the measure) and all are progressive, in that they travel around the room in the line of direction. Basic ballroom waltz is based on the box step and is danced to medium/slow music with a consistent tempo . Viennese waltz is danced to music that speeds up and slows down. It’s very fast and full of spinning turns with a lot of centrifugal force. If you go to the Gaskills dances, from the Elizabethan era, you’ll see a lot of rotary and cross step waltz. Rotary waltz is fast and spinning, but less complex than Viennese. Cross step is danced to slow music and as you might imagine is characterized by lots of crossing steps. Country Western waltz resembles Viennese in it’s footwork, with the complicated arm movements of swing. Cajun waltz zig zags around the floor similar to the Cajun Two Step. There are other styles as well, and even I am occasionally introduced to a completely new one. Waltz is unique in that it is the only dance that is never boring even with only the basic step. As dance historian Richard Powers pointed out in his “The Zen of Waltz” lecture, advanced dancers often prefer to simplify the waltz down to one or two simple movements. I think this is because, having no pauses, there is a hypnotic quality to the waltz, like riding a merry-go-round, that gives a trance like quality to the dance. Mesmerizing though it may be for the dancers, it’s not very interesting to watch countless turning boxes, however, so if you’re planning a waltz for your wedding you might want to add a few more steps to your routine.

2007-07-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

new work on my website

I'm adding new material to my website, expanding the explanations of the dances, so I'm busy with new writing. I'll post it here as I work it up, so you can inform me of any glaring errors before it goes live. Stay tuned!

2007-06-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

British Posture

One of the tings about which I’m constantly talking to my students is the importance of correct posture. It’s the cornerstone of connection to your partner. Moving with physical integrity is difficult for most people to learn because most of us walk like the little man in the cross walk signal, bobbing as we go. In England I was struck by the crossing signs. Their little man walks upright with correct posture. Only the sign for elderly crossing shows people bent over their canes. Stereotypes die hard.

2007-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Dancing in England

I just returned form England where I had the pleasure of an English Country Garden Tour. In order to make the best use of my frequent flyer miles, I had to arrive 2 days early and stay an extra day. Fortunately for me, an old dance partner with whom I used to perform has since then gotten married, had two children, and bought a house. He was happy to arrange for a baby sitter for a night so we could go dancing. Having a family has made dancing a low priority for Peter and Lara, so they thought I'd know more people there than they would. That was almost true. I knew three. It was a balboa dance, one of my favorites. Bal is mostly danced in the Lindy community. It's a fast dance with complex footwork and I don't get to do it much at home. When a bal song comes on, it's hard to find a partner in time as we don't carry signs identifying which dances we do. Someone once had the idea to print tee shirts with a check list, but everyone refused to wear them. I loved the London Bal dance where everyone knew the dance and mostly danced it fairly well. A week later I got to attend the same dance again, finding my way there on the fabulous London underground before flying home the following morning. Everyone was suitable astonished to learn that I was in England for a reason having nothing to do with dance. It wouldn't have done to have come all this way and not danced at all however.

2007-06-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

I returned from my vacation to learn that my internet connection was not working and it took another two weeks to get it up and running, so I've been away from my blog for a while. Just a note to let you know I'm back and will be continuing my dancer comments soon.

2007-04-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

BLOG entry
Different dances, different challenges

Years ago I took my first zydeco lesson at the now defunct Candelight Ballroom. It was a basic, drop in lesson and very easy, so I picked it up pretty much instantly. One of the owners of the ballroom said to me “I can’t believe you just learned that. You look like you’ve been dancing it for years.” “Well it was pretty basic stuff,” I explained. “It was very easy.” She shook her head ruefully and said, “You have no idea. You just have no idea.” I was struck by her comment because she was an award winning competition ballroom dancer. I couldn’t have learned her style of dancing in half an hour, but she was awed by my ability to pick up a simple dance quickly. Why was that? Competition Ballroom dance is judged on styling and alignment. It’s not judged on grace, fluidity, or musicality. It’s athletic, very stiff and formal and disassociated from the music. Street dances like Zydeco are “get down” kinds of dances. They are music driven, relaxed and natural. Feeling the music creates the style. They are so different they barely qualify as the same category of activity. In fact, I consider competitive ballroom dance to be more of a sport than a dance. Extremely challenging to be sure, but to me dance is about the music. It’s about making an instrument of your body and jamming with the band. I have a friend with whom I enjoy dancing who does competitive ballroom. I remember inviting him to an event with the caveat “The music sucks, but the crowd is great.” He looked at me blankly and said, ”Oh, I guess the music is important to some people, but to me dance is it’s own art form that has nothing to do with the music.” That statement in a nutshell defines the difference between my kind of dance, which includes social ballroom, and the world of competitive ballroom.

2007-04-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dance Friends

Any shared activity is fodder for socializing, but I think the Lindy community is special. A friend's college student son joined us for lunch after lindy in the park a few weeks ago. He's taken up dancing at school and loves it, as does his mother. He observed that there were 3 generations represented in our gathering of after dance munchers. Yet it didn't feel that way. It feels like a group of friends that vary in age, occupation, lifestyle, dance experience, and politics. We all enjoy each others company and the difference in our ages is just another part of our diversity.

2007-04-03T21:36:00.001-07:00

Fred and Ginger learn a new trick

As I’ve mentioned before, my dance studio is adorned with a pair of cats who are mostly greatly enjoyed by my students. I saw an ad in Cat Fancy magazine for a cat feeder that requires the cats to pull a lever to release some food, a good idea for indoor cats that need exercise. They hate it so far and refuse to use the lever, but yesterday during a lesson I heard a loud “ca chung!” and the sound of food falling into the dish. A moment later came a repeat. My students, ever vigilant to the dramas of my cats, applauded. I thought the problem was solved until I discovered that Ginger had discovered that if she bumped her head against the part that releases the food, she can get it to release some. Fred has discovered that if she waits until she hears the sound of Ginger beating the system, she can race in and partake of the spoils. They both are still holding out hope that I will tire of this before they have to work too hard and just feed them already. The guy who designed the thing is a real character, a Californian who sounds like the car talk brothers, with a story to tell about his own cats and an interest in everyone else’s. I’ll call him and find out if their progress is normal. I’ll keep you posted….

2007-03-14T10:34:00.001-07:00

Dance Shoes

As I left for a dinner date after a dance lesson saying "Hang on a minute while I change into walking shoes", it occurred to me that "walking shoes" sounded like an unnecessary adjective. Aren't all shoes for walking? But no, they're not. Some are for running, some for appearance despite crippling discomfort, etc. So what makes a shoe a dance shoe? Well, that depends on the type of dance, but for partner dance, three things. Comfort, a leather sole, and a strap or laces to secure it to your foot. Heel height depends on how dressy the event, and your own comfort. The primary difference between a dance shoe and a walking shoe is the leather sole. For dancing you want to be able to pivot smoothly on a hardwood floor. For walking you want traction, which is why non dancers rarely have leather soled shoes in their closet. You can buy dance shoes, or you can put leather on the soles of any shoes you'd like to turn into dance shoes. If you don't like the selection of shoes available in dance stores or on line, any shoe from your favorite sneakers to dressy pumps can be turned into dance shoes as long as they stay on your feet when you stand on tip toe. A shoe repair can do it, or I can do it, or you can go to Tandy Leather in San Leandro and buy a scrap in their remnant bin and do it yourself. Barge cement, the dancers companion, will do the trick and will affect an emergency repair if it comes loose.

2007-03-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

2007-03-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

Life's Latest Miracle

I’m not really the kind of risk taker who chooses self employment over the safer route of learning a more lucrative trade than teaching dance. In one of those odd twists of fate, I did so because of a physical disability that caused too much pain and disruption to enable me to work a 9-5 job. The result, of course, is that I wound up with a career to which I’m perfectly suited and I was able to follow my heart. Now, after years of adapting my life style to my disability, I’ve stumbled across something that is helping me to live a virtually pain free life AND still get to do this wonderful thing for a living.

Three months ago I met Deb Linder at a women’s networking meeting. She told me that she used to have migraines every day and doesn’t have them anymore and now she sells the product that keeps her migraine free. I have idiopathic epilepsy, the worst symptom of which (in my case) is severe migraine headaches. I’ve had this condition for 53 years and have tried practically everything, so I’m a skeptic and a hard sell. Deb began telling me about the wide range of ills that these products have been successfully addressing in her clients and encouraged me to try it. USANA has a one month guarantee, Deb told me. “Yeah, yeah,” I said. I’ve tried things before that seemed to be working and after the free month I paid a lot of money only to find out that it just happened to be a good month, nothing to do with the product, and I felt really ripped off. My symptoms are so erratic that it’s hard to tell for sure and I’m pretty strapped financially right now.”

“Tell you what,” said Deb, undaunted. “I can’t do this for everyone, but I’ll give you 2 free months out of my own pocket and if it doesn’t work, it costs you nothing.”
“Well, that would probably be long enough,” I conceded, “but if I can’t afford it, I don’t even want to get started.”
“Tell you what,” she said. “If the products work for you, and you write me a testimonial, I know I can get enough new people from that testimonial to cover your expenses. If you become a distributor, you’ll never have to pay for them.”
Hard argument to pass up, so I gave it a try. I’d been having seizures in varying degrees of severity every day for about two months at the time, so it was a good time for a trial. After the first day, my health cleared up completely and I was in fabulous health for about two weeks. Then, after a particularly stressful experience, I had a bad seizure and was in pain for several days. I finally called Deb and she tweaked the formula. After taking the new dosage, my good health returned immediately and Deb (in an amazing output of generosity) said she would start the trial period from that time so we could really see if it was working. Two months later, I’ve had 2 bad days, which I controlled with my old drugs enough to function, causing another half day of drug hangover each time. To say that’s a significant improvement is a masterpiece of understatement. It’s more like a miracle that hasn’t quite registered yet. I still don’t really believe it, but I’m on board as a distributor.

Sales are not my thing, so I don’t want it to be my business, like it is for Deb, but I’m happy to pass it on to the people in my life who have noticed the change and are curious about it, so I’m putting this explanation in my blog for anyone who wants to know about it and to explain why there is about to be a web page about it on my site. Feel free to call or email me with questions and I’ll tell you as much as you’d like to know!

2007-03-01T09:52:00.001-08:00

Muscle Memory
I’ve been thinking about muscle memory lately. That odd tendency to memorize walls when learning a new move. You can only do it facing the same wall for a wall. Change the direction and you feel as if you never learned the move. I just bought a track ball in an attempt to solve an ergonomic problem with my wrist and suddenly I can’t remember how to cut and paste! I have to go back to my mouse to remind myself how to do basic moves on the computer and then translate them to the track ball. Same phenomenon, only; I didn’t realize that particular skill was lodged in my muscle memory until I put the track ball to use. In dance, practice to get your muscle memory to take over so you can relax your brain, but sometimes you need both to work in tandem with each other so you can be aware of what you’re doing (when you need to) and at the same time execute it smoothly.

2007-02-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

I just finished volunteering all weekend for another Frankie Mannng workshop. He's 93 now and is slowing down a bit but still looks the same. Judy Pritchett gave an interesting presentation of the history of The Big Apple (the dance, not the city) in which she included a film clip of Frankie teaching at the Herrang Dance Camp about 10 years ago. He looked like a 30 year old and was demonstrating some jazz steps with the agility of a teenager. We all had to blink to recall he was 83 at the time. Since his knee surgury a few years ago, he moves much more conservitively now. Still, I'd like to move that well when I'm 93.

2007-02-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Blues Dance Stories

Blues Dancing is gaining popularity in the swing dance community and it's about time. A street dance, like Lindy, it never was considered a "real" dance as far as the studios are concerned, but it's always been one of my favorites. Close and sexy, it's been around in one form or another for decades. My favorite eavesdrop story was overheard just before a Steven Mitchell workshop. One of the greatest and most innovative jazz dancers of all time, Steven was teaching a blues class as part of this weekend workshop. A friend of his dropped by and was having a conversation that I overheard. "Blues dancing?" said the friend, "What's that?" "You know," said Steven, with enough of a demonstration to get the idea. "You have to teach that?" said the friend. "Evidently," said Steven.

2007-02-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

A Perfect Day

Here it is the end of January and I'm falling down on the blog. One of the great things about dancing in Golden Gate Park on Sundays is being so close to the new DeYoung museum. I'm on the side of the controversy that likes the new building. I mentioned to a fellow dancer that I still hadn't seen the Ruth Azawa exhibit and it closed that day. "I'm a member," he said. "I'll take you in." So I got to see the show, and it was one of the best exhibits I've ever seen, and with company as well. AND I danced, and had lunch with fellow dancers afterwards and the weather was perfect. A perfect day.

2007-01-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

Business picks up

December is a great time for vacations because few people take the time for dance lessons during the holidays. People who are planning spring weddings are beginning to call for dance lessons now. These are the couples who think ahead, smart to learn to dance before the pressure of the wedding is crowding their thoughts. People who call 2 weeks before the wedding and cram a lot of lessons into a small period of time so learn something, and what they wind up with is far better than rocking back and forth in a musical hug, but their is experience is far less enjoyable. I do enjoy the challenge, but much prefer working with the ones who give themselves time to relax and really learn the dance.

2007-01-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

More on Swingout Northwest
For those of you who don't know about dance camps, they are a great way to immerse yourself and make great leaps forward in a short time. I don't recommend them for beginners, however. You need to have some basics to build on to get the most out of the experience. Basically, you take classes all day and dance all night. If you're young enough, you sleep when you get home. If you need a full night's sleep, you make choices. Swingout Northwest is a week long (some camps are 2 or 3 days) with about 61/2 hours of classes a day, 3 meals, an evening dance and a late night dance. It's one of my favorite camps because everyone lives and eats together, as opposed to camps where you go to a city and find your own lodging. I like the community feeling as you schmooze with the people at your table. Also, I don't miss much work the week between Christmas and New Year's. Self employed people get no vacation pay. More later!

2007-01-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

New location for Swing Camp

I'm finally home from yet another Lindy swing camp. A new location, this one is in a Salvation Army camp near Mt Rainier. A perfect snow on the second day created a pristine woodland beauty that thrilled the people from warm weather areas like the bay area. The east coasters were less than enthusiastic. The snow crystallized on the second day and sparkled in the sun like a Christmas card. I never realized it actually did that in real life. More on this new site later...

2006-12-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

Robot Dance Partner

A Japanese company has developed a robot that can interpret your lead and follow you on the dance floor. She’s modeled after Marilyn Monroe and has a huge gown that covers her complex mechanisms. For some reason not explained, she also seems to be sporting Mickey Mouse ears. Not for sale as yet, as far as I can tell from their website, www.irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/top.html. My best friend in Sweden, a flight simulator engineer, once told me it would be fairly easy to design a virtual dance partner. Like the robot, however, she could follow but not lead. The technology to create a practice partner for followers is still a ways off. I’ll bet somebody, somewhere, is working on it. Meanwhile, we’re stuck with our fellow human beings.

2006-12-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Blogs
Dancing with the Stars

I went in for a Mammogram last week and while I was checking in, the receptionist was glued to the lobby TV as she processed my Kaiser card. I turned to see what had her so engrossed. “Is that ‘Dancing With the Stars?’” I asked. “I’ve never seen it, but my students talk about it all the time.”
“You know,” she said, “This office has the most varied staff you could imagine. Different ethnic backgrounds, married, single, young, old, kids, no kids, but the one thing we all have in common is everyone is hooked on this show.”
Good news for dance teachers.

2006-12-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

The Great Equalizer
Dancing really is the great equalizer. Attractive guys get a lot of perks in life, but if he can’t dance, the homely guy will get the girl every time. Dancing is sexy, and if you do it well, it will transform you. The Savoy Ballroom in the 30s and 40s was the only integrated ballroom in the country. According to Frankie Manning, who practically lived in it at the time, movie stars used to watch the dancers. Nobody cared how famous you were, what color you were, or what you looked like. The only thing anyone cared about was “Can you dance?” That tradition holds true in dance communities today. Dance well, treat people kindly, and you have instant popularity.

2006-12-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Old Dancer Phenomenon

One of my favorite oddities of the human condition is the phenomenon of elderly dancers who can barely walk as they approach the dance floor. When the music starts, they straighten up and glide across the floor, 30 years dropping off their bodies in an instant. The music stops and they hobble off the floor, the years returning as quickly as they left. Go to a senior dance to observe this fascinating occurrence. If you want to stay young, learn to dance!

2006-11-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

Bill and I make the Eldergivers photo gallery

A pitch for the eldergivers project arrived in the mail with a photo gallery of the event. The last picture is a great shot of the two of us steaming up the dance floor. The following caption accompanied the picture: “As the evening drew to a close, a couple of unidentified dancers took to the floor to swing and sway to the gypsy jazz of the Golden Gate Hot Club. A few elder artists were just about leave to return to their facilities but stayed to watch this graceful duo, putting an unexpected cap on a lovely event.”

2006-11-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

Dancing at the Elder Arts show

Last year I was sent an invitation to an event at the DeYoung Museum featuring the art from a program that teaches art to seniors. A swing band was playing, so I made arrangements to go with one of my favorite dance partners, Bill Swindle. No sooner did we make our arrangements than we were disinvited. “Oops,” said the disinvitation, “It never occurred to us that all the people we invited would actually accept, and we don’t have room for all of you, so you can’t come after all. Sorry about that.” This year another invite came in the mail for the same event, same band, but this time it was at Moscone Center and they didn’t even check our invitations at the door. The space was so huge, anyone could come and everyone would fit. The elder artists were definitely grooving to the music, but we were the only ones dancing. Many people thought we had been hired as part of the entertainment, and the band really appreciated us. Musicians play much better when they’re appreciated. Early in the evening, a woman came up to us and asked if she could have a dance. As I watched Bill dancing with her, I could tell that while she was rusty, she clearing had been a proficient dancer at one time, so I cut in half way through and finished the dance with her. “Thank you!” she said as she departed, “You made my day.”

2006-11-02T21:34:00.000-08:00

Dance Camps vs exchanges

I just sent in my registration for Swingout Northwest, a swing camp that takes place every other year during the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's a good time for me because I don't usually see a big demand for dance lessons that week. (This year, however, I may miss a gig now that I'm performing with the Tinamania show.) Two years ago I noticed a serious decline in the skill level of the students. Four years ago, an intermediate Balboa class meant you had to have the basics down cold or you were lost. At the last camp, intermediate Bal students were people who had just taken beginning Bal the day before. There were no advance students, to say the least. Discussing the phenomenon with Sylvia Sykes, she said she thought it was due to the popularity of Lindy Exchanges. A lindy exchange is a custom we started several years ago when a bunch of dancers from SF went to Chicago and stayed in the homes of the local dance community. We returned the favor, and a trend began. Now exchanges happen all over the world. You can go to another place and dance, with no instruction and a lot less money so a lot of people are going to exchanges instead of camps. Now I feel like a real old timer, reminiscing about the old days, but here I go anyway. In the early days of the Lindy Hop revival, there was a lot of emphasis on learning the dance, getting better and better, experiencing new teachers from far off places, etc. I have to agree with Sylvia that along with the popularity of Lindy Exchanges, has come an increase in sloppy dancing. I'll be interested to see if this year brings a change for the better, particularly in Balboa. For those of you confused by the terminology, Bal is a dance from the swing era usually dance to very fast music. It's a difficult dance, but not physically tiring. There has been considerable renewed interest in it in this area in the last couple of years so I'm hoping that interest will show up at Swingout Northwest. Stay tuned!

2006-10-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Lesson interrupted by cat in distress

Picking up the phone to make a call a few days ago, I discovered an extension somewhere in the house to be off the hook. A brief search unveiled the bathroom phone to have been knocked into the toilet by a cat. Possibly two cats working together. I fished it out, grateful that it hadn’t shorted out and that the toilet had been flushed. An hour later, in the middle of a dance lesson, a police car rolled up and two of Oakland’s finest marched up the stairs. There has been a lot of recent crime in my neighborhood and I was worried about my out of town neighbors whose cat I was tending. “We got a 911 hang up from this house,” explained one of the cops. “Are you sure?” I said, stupidly. “Was it my number?" He checked. Yes, that was the number. I asked when it had come in and he said an hour ago. (Aren’t you glad that if you manage to dial 911 before the bad guys disconnect you that you only have to wait an hour for the police to drop in?) “Well,” I said, giggling in spite of myself,“an hour ago my cat knocked the phone into the toilet, but I can’t imagine she dialed 911 before doing so.” It’s not as if I’d locked her in the bathroom after all. Right on cue, Fred sauntered into the room and looked inquiringly at the cop. He looked at Fred. “Is that the culprit?” he deadpanned. My students where in stitches and I couldn’t believe the police were buying this story. I wouldn’t have bought it. But lucky for me, it appears that there is an explanation, although I have to admit I didn’t understand it. There is a way that the circuits can get confused when a phone lands in a toilet and 911 can somehow get triggered. “It happens,” said the cop.

2006-10-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

Caviar, with or without Mom

Last week I went to the wedding of a former student who met his bride on the dance floor. A success story! It was a traditional Chinese wedding, with a ten course meal. One course sticks in my mind because I’d never seen it before, and it was notably disturbing to the Caucasian people at our table. The biggest prawns I’d ever seen, each one wrapped around an enclosed egg sac. The roe turned out not to be stuffing for the prawns, but rather we were being served pregnant prawns with the egg sacs still attached. Caviar plus Mom. I’m not a big fan of caviar, but I love the flying fish roe that comes with Sushi, and this was a lot like that. Not salty but satisfyingly crunchy. I was not totally immune to the somewhat creepy aspect that caused my table mates to forgo the course, but I am a big fan of shrimp so I got over it. Nevertheless, I was fascinated by the question of why we’re comfortable eating prawns, and may consider caviar a great delicacy, but only if they’re separated first. I felt a little guilty enjoying my pregnant prawn, as if it was a tad cannibalistic of me.

2006-10-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

What does it take to teach at Laney?
A couple of years ago I was offered a job in the dance department at City College, but my teaching degree is limited service, Peralta College system only. So the friend who offered me the job talked me up to the Laney dance department which is close to my home and therefore a good place to work. I was offered a class, possibly two, to teach, but before the start of the term, the head of the dance department was replaced by someone who wanted all Laney teachers to have master’s degrees. I was fired before I even got started. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Laney offering me a class again. New head of dance department, very nice guy, thought I’d be great for the job but maybe I don’t have the legal qualifications. He has to check. Probably I won’t get it because the guidelines are very clear for dance teachers: a teaching credential in dance or a college degree in dance. My degree is in fine arts and my credential is in Physical Education and special Ed, and therein lays a tale. Back in 1979 I was teaching self defense classes for people with physical disabilities and Vista College offered me a job. They really wanted a self defense class in their disabled student department and I was the only teacher in the field. I didn’t have the qualifications, so they pulled some strings and presented me with something called a limited service lifetime credential. Good for life, but only in the Peralta system. Everyone tells me how lucky I am to have it since lifetime credentials are no longer available. And I would be lucky to have it if I could use it for anything.

2006-09-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

What is Lindy in the Park anyway?

The August !0 contribution explain a lot about LITP, but here are some more crucial details. It’s not an exclusive club. It’s a free public event consisting of dancers willing to dance on concrete in exchange for the joy of showing off before strangers in the gorgeous setting of Golden Gate Park. This is such a great idea that it has inspired other Lindy in the Park events in various parks all over the world, but we were the first! If you want to join us, you can find directions on www.lindyinthepark.com. You know we were the first to have gotten that URL! Here’s my trick for spinning on concrete: I went to Tap Plastics ( a favorite haunt of my art school days) and told the clerk that I wanted a kind of plastic that I could glue to the soles of a pair of shoes that would let me dance on a sidewalk without sticking to it. I walked off with a big sheet of plastic and a tube of barge cement. I sacrificed a pair of shoes to LITP and slapped a piece of the stuff on the soles. As it wears out, I just add another piece. The first sheet of plastic, about $10 worth, lasted me about 9 years. When I finally used it up and went back I found the same piece costs about $40 now. Plastic is a petroleum product. Share it with a friend!

2006-09-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

What is Lindy in the Park anyway? For that matter, what’s Lindy?

This question came up in conversation with one of the few people who reads my BLOG, so I thought it might be a good idea to answer it. Lindy was the dance that followed the Charleston, a street dance originating in Harlem in response to the new jazz music of the late twenties and early thirties. A complex jazz dance, it was constantly changing as dancers challenged each other to come up with new moves. It was popular until after the war when the music changed and the dancing along with it. About 20 years ago, a few people in various parts of the world became interested in the dance and went to New York to see if anyone was still alive who could teach it to them. A group of Swedes found Al Mins and a young couple from Pasadena found Frankie Manning, both members of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers whose antics can be found on vintage celluloid. Mins died about a year later, but Frankie, at 92, is still around inspiring people everywhere he goes. That was the beginning of the revival of the Lindy craze. Lindy is now popular again in many places, one of the top locals being our own San Francisco. Next I’ll answer the LITP question. Stay tuned!

2006-09-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Dance Camps or gardens?

I just booked myself into an English country garden tour for next spring. I've always wanted to do this and now is the time because I'm no longer spending the month of July in Sweden. For 8 years in a row I attended the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden for 4 weeks every summer. Some of those years I spent the 3rd week at the Bergen Dance Camp in Norway. I was there to study Boogie Woogie, a European swing dance I fell in love with and hoped to bring to America. Unable to find a partner willing to put the time and effort into learning it, I finally gave up on that dream and decided to just go for the fun of it. But two years ago Bergen folded it's camp, the dollar is in the toilet and Herrang finally got too crowded and too expensive for me. So I won't get to watch Axel, the beautiful son of my best friends in Sweden, grow up each year, and no more boogie fixes, but I'll finally get to see the famous Chelsea gardens. And I'll get to meet the two children who have been added to the family of my friends in London since I last saw them. There are other things in life besides dance, even for me!

2006-09-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Bonnie dances in the Park.

My sister came for a visit last week and accompanied me to Lindy in the Park. A good East Coast Swing dancer and a natural follower, Bonnie danced with the lindy hoppers all afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed herself. East coast swing is an easy dance and Lindy is a complex one, but most dancers who can lead lindy can easily lead East Coast Swing. Although it can be intimidating, I encourage jitterbug dancers to dance with the Lindy crowd. It's a friendly crowd, fun to watch, and inspiring! Just ask Bonnie!

2006-08-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Dancing with my Sister

My sister, otherwise known as "The Amazing Bonnie" married Mr. Right in July on board a boat on the Potomic. I was a bridesmaid and here we are having our first dance. I cut in on my Uncle Bernie much to both of their surprises. "You're supposed to dance with Bernie!" said the Amazing Bonnie. I did that next.

2006-08-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Lindy in the Park

My favorite place to go dancing is Lindy in the Park (www.lindyinthepark.com)on Sundays. When we first started this remarkable event 10 years ago, we took over the bandshell when it was not in use by someone who actually paid for the priviledge, plugged in our speakers and danced about once a month. As it increased in popularity we increased it to every other week and finally every week. When the construction began and the bandshell was closed, we moved to FJK drive right behind the De Young museum. Now, thanks to Seattle's contribution of Hep Jen to our comunity, we have a free half hour dance lesson every Sunday which has done much to bring new people to the lindy comunity. This weekend we celebrate our tenth anniversary with a potluck barbeque and extra long hours.

2006-08-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

2006-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! For a fairly computer illiterate person, this should prove to be an interesting adventure. I did a search for my website, www.stepsontoes.com, yesterday and found some links to other sites where people had posted comments about my business. What a delightful surprise! Here's one

From Indiebride:
Dance lessons from THE AMAZING, I TOTALLY RECOMMEND HER http://www.stepsontoes.com/Laurie Ann Lepoff - we only had five lessons and Mr. L danced divinely. She was wonderful, practical, funny, and had kittens to play with!

My kittens, Fred and Ginger, are now legally of age although they don't know it yet. They are banned to the bedroom on the rare occasion that I have students who object to their presense, but by and large they are a big hit. Having grown up in a dance studio, they're very interested in people and their belongings, especially shoes. Some people have been know to sign up for another series just to maintain their cat addiction. For those who are interested, I shall attempt to up load a photo. Stay tuned!