Wednesday, September 20, 2006

WCS Mondays

The last few Mondays I've been goin to Steppin' Out for some West Coast Swing, and so far I've tried both the beginning and intermediate classes. Richard (K.) was the guy I took classes from before, so I knew he was good. The intermediate class he teaches is a decent pace and seemed to be stuff I could basically manage. I opted to start out with a few weeks of Stephanie's beginning class, though. It's much slower, but I think it's good for me to slow down and concentrate on the basics for a bit so I can maybe do them right. And she's just a hoot as a teacher, too. The #1 rule in her class is "Fake enthusiasm!" (which ends up keeping everyone energized with real enthusiasm). And whenever you learn a particular new rhythm or step or term, you have to pinch yourself somewhere, to add it in to physical memory (and to make Stephanie laugh). It's fun.

Another thing I like about the lessons in general there is that between the 7:00 and 8:00 classes, Richard and Stephanie do a dance together for everyone to watch. I think it's good for students to get that shot of really good dancing each week, to stay inspired. Plus, I just love watching them. I've noticed this about Richard before in particular, that even though it's not inherently a funny dance, I'll sometimes just laugh in delight when I'm watching, just because it's so cool.

So anyway, between that and Blues, I'm definitely in a different sort of dance phase right now.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fun! We've been so busy lately. I think WCS Mondays are more Jason's style and FNW is more my style. Maybe. Anyway, we may not make this week's, but I want to go again soon. And often!