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From the President's Desk:
It was great to see everyone again at our September
dances. The year seems to be flying by so fast that before we know it Christmas will be upon us again.
A special thanks to Robert Seay of Fred Astaire Dance Studio for instructing at our first
dance — always a super job. Thanks, too, to Ray Mulholland for filling in on short notice to teach
West Coast Swing. His short background address on the origins of the dance was especially
impressive — talk about Toastmasters' spontaneous speeches!!
The elections are over and you will have to put up with Jerry Camillo as treasurer and myself as president
for another two years, I’m afraid. Jerry did a great job in putting together next year’s budget for all to
vote on. The budget was accepted unanimously and our club is financially secure as we move into another
year.
We will be having our annual Halloween Dance on October 27. So dust off your costumes and get ready to parade
with the other ghouls and goblins to win some great prizes. We will be offering at least five prizes for the
most original - and daring — costumes, so please make an appearance. November will be our post-Thanksgiving
Day pig-out where we can all work off some of that turkey and gravy. Then, on December 8, we will be having
our annual semi-formal Christmas Ball, complete with bow ties for the men and beautiful ball gowns for the
ladies. We have the schedule on the books — now all we need is for you to come out and enjoy yourself, dancing
and socializing with your friends in
USABDA.
Southeastern Regional Dance Championships
Columbia’s USABDA chapter was well represented at the Southeastern Regionals this year. Adrian Cuc
and Orsi Lazar did the Gamecock Dancesport Club proud dancing admirably in A level Bronze standard
and Latin. Also competing for the first time in a USABDA comp were Tim and Linda
Jowers. They were the winners of our two admission tickets to the event and were fortunate to have
Tim’s family come and watch them compete. They danced the Bronze A Latin events and placed strongly
across the board. In B level Mike and Grace Keller wore out their legs dancing in 76 different dances.
Needless to say, they didn’t have to worry about calories after that effort. Congratulations to all our
competitors and thanks, too, to the members of the Gamecock Dancesport Club for attending and rooting us
on. Your dancers did a great job representing Columbia at this prestigious competition. Finally, Linda
Young and George Folger of New Jersey won the scholarship donated by GCC USABDA in memory of Charlotte
Elfe. They danced beautifully and were most deserving of the award.
National Ballroom Dance Month, September 2001
Thanks to all our teachers and our students who came and supported the many beginner ballroom dance lessons
we offered in September. We had a total of thirty students participating in the lessons. Although the numbers
weren’t great, we did manage to stir up
enough interest in dancing to continue to offer lessons at Ft. Jackson and at Polo Road Recreation Center.
By spreading the lessons out in various sites throughout the city we were able to reach a more diverse
audience. We will keep you updated on when and where additional lessons will be available in the
future.
Daytona Beach National Dancesport Festival
We will be telling you much more about the National Dancesport Festival in the coming months. Once again
it is being held at the Ocean Center in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida — right across from the ocean.
Plan on attending!! The dates are January 5 through January 12. It features
workshops all day long taught by world-class competitors, nightly dance competitions, floorshows, nightly
social dances, a full meal plan, and great fun and socializing. We went last year and it was absolutely
GREAT!! The only — and I do mean only — bad part of the event is that my legs were tired from all the
dancing! It is without a doubt, the best and most reasonable dancing of your life! We hope to see you
there — it would be great if we could get a contingent of people from Columbia to attend. The rates for
students are especially reasonable, so plan now to book at least four to a room!!
Dance Competition Lessons Learned
Once again, competing with other amateurs is a great learning experience. The more you are able to perform at
these comps, the more comfortable you become. I don’t think there will ever be a time when my heart doesn’t
race and I am short of breath just before stepping on the floor, but at least some of the first-time jitters
have gone away.
So, what did we learn this time? First, warm up before getting on the floor for the first time. We didn’t manage
our time optimally before we danced our first heat, and we were
lucky to be recalled to the second round. Next, conflicts on the floor are the rule rather than the
exception. Plan for them every time so that you will have a place to go and a plan of action when you
get boxed in. Look around as you dance and try to mentally clear a path for your choreography. I thought
that I had an adequate opening during our Tango but still managed to plant my elbow in the back of another
lady competitor’s head — thought I knocked her out cold! Next, realize that the judges are watching you
closely during the first 30 to 45 seconds of each dance. After that time, unless it is a championship
level and/or hotly contested event, they will have recorded their scores. So, it is most important that
your dancing be error-free early in the dance — especially at the very beginning! Make sure you practice
starting to the music time and again as you prepare. If you are going to make a mistake — and everyone
does, of course — try to make it later in the dance after the scores are recorded.
Finally, buy the tapes and view them after the event. A picture is worth a thousand words — or so I’ve heard.
I had been working very hard on keeping my frame in preparing for this event, but saw that I didn’t do as well
as I needed to (or thought I did). If you think your left arm is in the correct position, try raising it
higher ... and if you can, it wasn’t high enough in the first place. Keep checking your head position and
make certain that it is not leaning forward over your partner. Not only does this look bad to the
judges, but also your partner probably doesn’t like it either. Last but not least, bring food and
Gatorade to the comp, especially if you are dancing many events. Power bars worked great for keeping
our energy level up.
That’s all for now. See you at The Barn on October 13 and 27. Keep dancing!
Teaching Footwork, Revisited
by Ray Mulholland
While attending a dance workshop in Nashville just recently, one of the instructors,
Rex Jones, gave us a brief lesson in human nature. While he didn’t tell me anything I didn’t
already know, there was something about the way he put it that started me thinking, and the
train of thought that ultimately came of it will form the basis of this article.
His argument was that the body can understand extremes, but does not deal with
the various degrees in-between. For example, the body can tell the difference between hot and
cold, but we need a thermometer to tell how hot or how cold it really is. He proposed that the body
hears music the same way, that the body can feel the beats but the body can not feel the counts. Using
this argument, he went on to teach the Two Step class using Quicks and Slows rather than counting out
the beats.
I have always known that it is easier to teach Two Step using Quicks and Slows (as well as a good many other
dances), but I never thought of the reasoning behind the theory before this class. Now that I knew why it was
easier for Two Step, I asked myself if it would work for all the other dances I know. For the dances I decided
it would not work for, I asked what would be the best way to teach. I came up with three different methods to
teach footwork.
The first method is the number method, where each beat of music gets assigned a number for the duration of the
basic. An example is the Waltz, where the footwork would be described as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; with counts 1 and 4
emphasized to match the music. If a step takes more than one beat, then numbers are left out. An example would
be Bronze level Foxtrot, where the cadence is 1, 3, 5,6. Half beats are counted with an & for the second
half of the beat. An example would be the Cha Cha, which would be counted as 1, 2, 3, 4 &. This is perhaps
the most common method, because it is always the easiest way to write directions down for someone else to learn
from. While the brain can deal with this, there are some severe limitations that instructors should be aware of.
As stated above, what is
good for the brain is not always good for the body. Also, it is a pain to have to deal with half of a half
beat, which might look like this written
out: l-e-&-a-2-e-&-a, etc.
The second method is the Slow and Quick method. Some people are under the mistaken
impression that a Quick is one beat of music and a Slow is two beats of music. For dances like Fox Trot
or Two Step, this is indeed the case, as the shortest step is 1 beat of music long. The real definition
is that a Quick is the shortest step for the dance, and a Slow is twice as long as a Quick. In some dances,
a Quick would be half a beat long and a Slow would be one beat long. It would look like this: Quick, Quick,
Slow, Quick, Quick, Slow. The big advantage to this method is that the body can easily
understand Quicks and Slows. It is not very practical for a dance that keeps the same steps all the way
through, such as Waltz or Meringue, for a dance that has changing rhythms, such as Line Dancing, or for a
complex
rhythm, such as most Swing.
The third method is the Name method. A specific name is given to an easily learned
footwork pattern, usually two beats of music long, and the name is called out as the steps are learned. An
example would be for the East Coast Swing, which is frequently called out
Triple Step, Triple Step, Rock Step. This is possibly the only way to teach Line Dancing in a time effective
way. The advantage of this is that, once the simpler footsteps are memorized, a dance of almost limitless
complexity can be built. The disadvantage is that time must be spent teaching the basic two beat foot
patterns, and then these patterns have to be learned almost to the point of becoming second nature.
I would hope that instructors, professional or amateur, would take time to consider these methods and decide
for themselves what is the most effective tool for a particular dance. Even though I did mention what I thought
was appropriate for several dances above, my real goal is to get people to think rather than me tell them what
to do.
Next Board Meeting
The next USABDA Board meeting will be Saturday, November 3, 2001 at 9:00 a.m. at the Barn. All board
meetings are open to the public.
| "We should consider every day lost in which
we do not Dance at least once."
Nietzsche |
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