Choreography
The International Rally West Coast Swing is a way for students to learn West Coast Swing choreography to a contemporary song and then demonstrate it in public. This public performance helps build awareness of West Coast Swing. It also gives students a method to improve their dancing and build enduring friendships with their West Coast Swing community.
West Coast Swing to Gangnam Style
This month, Anna and I wanted to choreograph our West Coast Swing advanced dance class in Norwalk to a really fun piece. There are times when we want to choreograph to Blues or R&B to bring out the essence of Swing, but this month we wanted to be more carefree.
Dance Rehearsals for MADjam
Over the last couple of weeks we have fully resurrected our Hustle and Cabaret routines for Mid Atlantic Dance Jam, aka MADjam. This event is being held next week and we are gearing up to have clean and powerful presentations of both of our routines.
Valentine's Day Weekend for a Dancer
Anna and I are looking forward to our Valentine's Day weekend. For most people, Valentine's weekend is an attempt to have idealistically, romantic experiences mixed with chocolates and flowers. Not us!
Music Cut for New West Coast Swing Routine
And so begins a new year! Anna and I have been discussing choreographing a new West Coast Swing routine for some time now. We have finally chosen a song out of 3 possibilities. Of the two that we did not choose this time, one was a slow blues and the other was an artsy song that reminded me of a vignette from Cirque du Soleil. The one that we did select has a folksy-rock feel with a good up-beat tempo and strong positive interpretation.
New West Coast Swing choreography for September 2011
Our student group performed at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater a little over 2 weeks ago. We learned and rehearsed our West Coast Swing and Hustle choreography to Enrique Iglesias' pop song, "Tonight I'm Lovin You" for almost 90 days.
So, when I was thinking about what type of song I should use for West Coast Swing choreography for the month of September, pop music was last on the list. I didn't want anything too fast or anything that sounded like a night club.
I have generally shied away from slow music or R&B simply because it didn't have enough pep, but this was the right time! I also wanted something that the students could enjoy and attain on the surface, but find more challenging was the nuances were examined.
Routines at Disco America
Last weekend we performed all three of our routines (two of them debuts) at Stardust Dance Weekend. This weekend we will be putting the new routines to the test in competition format at Disco America, one of the premier Hustle events on the east coast.
Stardust Debuts
Last Saturday (just over 24 hours ago), Anna and I debuted 2 of our new routines during the Stardust Dance Weekend. We performed with two other couples: Nikolai Shpakov & Tatiana Keegan and the legendary Billy Fajardo & Katie Marlow.
We were the third couple to perform. We opened with our new Hustle routine. I think the audience liked the black and red costumes and you could hear audible gasps when we showed our first lift. We rocked out our routine with drama, speed and power. It was a good start to our new competitive Hustle routine of 2011. We'll be competing it for the first time in one week at Disco America in PA.
2 Weeks to Go!
Anna and I have been working on two new routines to supplement our West Coast Swing routine - a Hustle and a Cabaret routine. Our debut performance date this year is June 11, 2011 where we will perform all three routines at Stardust Dance Weekend in the Catskills.
The New Hustle Routine
One of our new routines is Hustle. For us, this might be the hardest challenge. When we picked music back in January, we knew that it was going to be a musical routine and a test of endurance. The song we picked was Ke$ha's Take It Off which is at 125 beats per minute. We liked the song for its party style energy, strong lyrics, and interesting compositional texture. During our first rehearsal, back on January 14, 2011, we choreographed a solid 45 seconds - which is a good amount.
