There was West Coast Swing (WCS) dance workshop/dance at the Oklahoma City swing dance club on 7/6/2021 (Tue).
The instructor, Bonnie, is a dance professional with 17 years of WCS experience. Her competition record includes Champions J&J winning at Madjam 2019 with Benji Schwimmer (or should I say the Benji Schwimmer? It takes really strong a dancer to match up with a dancer like him.) She was attending Wild Wild Westie 2021 event in Dallas on the July 4th weekend, working as a judge etc, and stopping by her hometown OKC.
Indeed, Bonnie was and still is one of us. She started WCS in the OKC swing dance club and was dancing there with us until she graduated high school and moved out.
Like any other dance places, the club was closed for some time during 2020/2021 for covid. I was only coming back recently. Yet, I wanted to attend her homecoming workshop for a welcome. It was nice to see familiar faces at the workshop.
The workshop was about styling of push spin. Two versions (short/fast and long/slow) were introduced. I find them quite useful for all levels and for both lead and follow.
You can appeal on the dance floor in three ways; (i) body itself/physical ability/functionality, (ii) body usage/artistic use of the body, and (iii) knowledge on the dance. Styling can cover (ii) and (iii).
It was a nice class. Demonstration was clear. I enjoy the difference before and after the class, which is important.
Afterwards, there was social dance, and I danced with Bonnie after these years. As I remember, from the beginning Bonnie was a smooth mover, and had the “hunch” for dancing already. She could move with light feet and position herself in a way that is correct for WCS. “Naturals” do exist in any game, and in sports it can be evident.
Her possible weakness, I thought back then, was dancing. Even with the same song, fast/smooth movers can have extra time to “dance”. If you are fast and can position yourself fast, then, how do you use the extra moment? How do you add “dance” to it? Great dancers know how to hold the moment and show their “dance” (or, more like presence) even when they are not moving. They can command attention. For dancers who don’t know it, the dance can look drafty (add no dance) or forced (too busy).
For a partner dance, especially Latin, the question will be expanded; how do you achieve the best dance with your current partner?
This time, Bonnie came back as a professional, and showed her version of answer. Her smoothness and good hunch were nicely integrated with styling (which can tell you ways to dance) and added dance. I guess that the integration was achieved by professional demand to constantly conceptualize, explain and demonstrate the dance. Pros need to have many variations and tricks that they can explain and use as a part of the profession, after all.
The dance felt quite right. I was very happy to be able to have such an awesome dance. Thank you.
7/6/2021
Good dance is addictive. To have good dances, my body needs to stay in good shape. I am more motivated to be able to move as I want. Firstly, I’ll start from losing several pounds to be kind to my knees. Thank you for this motivation, too.
