As I write this, we are in travel transition: driving home from (local) Easter Swing and preparing our suitcase turnaround for Singapore and Thailand. Sometimes it feels like travel is as much a part of my job as moving to music. You could say we are Champion travellers. How did we develop our expertise? The […]
Our Lessons in Partnership: 15th Anniversary Edition
April (Seattle’s Easter Swing) marks the 15-year anniversary of our dance partnership! As a rare breed of Champion couple who has been able to make a dance partnership AND romantic partnership work, I thought it might be nice to honour it by sharing the lessons we have learned along the way. Every couple has a […]
Balancing Social Dancing and Socializing
How do you manage your social wellness with your dance wellness? It’s easy these days to get wrapped up too much in your own training and/or competitive capital – have you paused to take inventory lately of your social/emotional capital? What about the reverse – have you been focusing so much on the party aspect […]
Interview with a Dance Photographer
Dance event photographer, Brad Whelan (famous for his signature BW watermark) gives us the inside scoop on his photography and some hints for dancers to get their best moments captured. CC: Tell us about your photography business? BW: While I’m now based in Australia, I find myself in another country about 75% of the time. […]
Tactical Social Dancing Part 3 (ish)
Part 1 and Part 2 of this series have garnered a massive response – when I opened up the floor to take suggestions for more tactical questions, people really unloaded! It seems that many dancers have many questions that have gone unanswered, or have been incompletely answered, and are excited about the weekly Coach’s Corner […]
Tactical Social Dancing Part 2
Last week, I published Part 1, which you really should read first, to get the context of Part 2. If you had a chance to read it already, something to notice in both articles is how often the words “technique needed” are mentioned. When we lay out advice like this, it really stands out how […]
Tactical Social Dancing: Part 1
“What should you do if…”, “What happens when…”, “How can I handle…”, “How do I deal with…” These are all questions that students of all levels batter their teachers with. They are tactical questions – they ask for circumstantial advice, or recommendations for particular situations that have to do with not just the physical side […]
Becoming a WCS Teacher
As creators of the Swing Literacy Development Method, we train teachers on a regular basis, and get asked all the time, “What do I need to do to start teaching?”. This question is quickly qualified with assuring statements like “I know I’m not advanced level yet, but there’s no one else in my town who […]
20 Tips to Maximize Your First Dance Event Experience
If you’re new-ish to dance events, or you are considering attending a dance event for your first time, you likely have not had anyone explicitly orient you to the dance event experience. Dancers are generally left to figure it out as they go. If you are lucky, there’s a Newcomer program being offered, or […]
Create Your Dance Progress Plan
Whether you are a seasoned recreational dancer or keen rookie, you are probably looking for the best way to improve your dancing in the most time- and cost-effective way. Let’s compare your dance progress to a fitness program. If your goal was to get in shape, you would go to the gym and have […]