Level 1

Adamo and Alba taught the fundamentals of blues dancing plus a travelling in close position ( or open embrace) with two different rhythms, standard  (with pulse) and double ( step on every beat). Then they did a tuck turn and come back in close. The follower here could be a “pure” or could take her time and add some spicy…

Sin City Blues 21.2.12 Level 1.5

Level 1.5

Adamo and Alba taught a close embraced class focusing on hips movement to make the dance look more African. Fish tails, blues apple jack and mess around were taught and used when travelling

Sin City Blues 21.2.12 Level 1

See you next week!!

Adamo and Alba

Tuesday 28 February 2012:
7:30pm: Beginners 1940s Charleston
8:40pm: Level 2 Eight Count Swing Outs

We had a great time dancing with lots of you at our monthly social dance last week! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Well done to all our Beginners who have tried Eight Count over the last three weeks. This coming week we’ll be moving on to 1940s Charleston – a mega fun footwork pattern that has lots of great moves. Don’t worry if you’ve never tried it before – or even if you’ve never tried swing dancing before. As always, we’ll start with the footwork and build it up from there, so absolutely beginners are welcome to join us.

This coming week in Level 2 we’re inviting Beginners who have tried Eight Count, Six Count and 1940s Charleston up to our Level 2 class. We’ll be teaching Eight Count Swing Outs in Level 2 – the move that is the heart beat of Lindy Hop! For our existing Level 2s, the class will give you lots of great Swing Out technique tips to help you fine-tune the move.

If you’re planning on doing both the Beginners and Level 2 class, then you’ll be pleased to hear that the second class is half price if you’re doing two classes in one evening. So that’s £12 for two hours of lindy-learning!

See you on Tuesday,
Chris & Gen

Last Week: Tues 21 February

Coming Up at SP Clapham Common

Beginners (7:30pm):
Tues 28 Feb: 1940s Charleston
Tues 06 Mar: 1940s Charleston
Tues 13 Mar: 1940s Charleston
Tues 20 Mar: 1940s Charleston, followed by our monthly Social Dance

Level 2 (8:40pm):
Tues 28 Feb: Swing Out Technique
Tues 06 Mar: Swing Out Variation Moves
Tues 13 Mar: Dips & Tricks
Tues 20 Mar: Social Dance

Monday 27 February:
7:30pm Beginners Six Count

We loved the energy in the room last Monday! It was great to see you all getting into dancing and socialising at the same time. Hopefully more of the same this coming Monday!

This coming Monday Ingrid will be back and is looking forward to seeing how you’re all doing with your swing dance journey! We’ll be teaching some more Six Count – don’t worry if you’ve missed previous weeks or never done any swing dancing before, because as always we’ll start with the footwork and build it up from there. So absolute beginners welcome!

See you Monday,
Chris & Ingrid

Last Week: Monday 20 February

1. Class notes from both classes – filmed twice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQBGNVles_o

2. The NW6 social Friday March 2nd
All you need to know here.. lesson at 8.10pm and read about the TWO competitions.
http://www.swingpatrol.co.uk/social-dancing/nw6-swing/

3. Learning the Shim Sham at Queens Park.
Will be taught at the 8.00pm class on Wednesday March 1st.
It will replace our usual Lindy Hop Eight Beat class for a week.
All welcome – even the new guys as it’s a solo class.
The Shim Sham for those who don’t know it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_k_BIA_unI

See you soon and join our venue specific FB Page..class notes always added here first.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swing-Patrol-Queens-Park/222105871149710

We’re really looking forward to this week’s class. Erin has her voice back, so come prepared for a fun couple of lessons!

Level 1 at 7pm - 6 count Lindy Hop – we’re going to carry on from last week’s class, putting in some cool new moves and musicality …

Level 2 at 8pm - 8 count Lindy Hop – some great moves and … you guessed it … practice on those Swivels!

See you at class.

Erin and Kieron xx

Coming up on 21 February

Level 1: Six-beat This week we’re going to introduce a whole new rhythm in Level 1, six-beat, a really fun one. This will be new to everyone so now’s a good time to try dancing if you’ve never been before. Come on over!

Level 2: 8-beat Technique! We’re going to be looking at technique for some of tonight’s class, but we also have a move for you to add to your arsenal.

What we did on 14 February

Level 1: Another packed class for our last week of Charleston. We showed you the hold on one, which you can accessorise with jazz hands, finger waggles or anything else that takes your fancy. Then we showed you the epic Johnny drop, a dramatic move you can pull out for the big breaks. Leads, remember to give your follow a push outwards to give her some room, and so she knows what’s coming. Here’s the clip:

Level 2: Feeling hungry? Last week we showed you donuts (doughnuts?), four different flavours, from plain vanilla right up to chocolate with sprinkles. All varieties were based on the same stretch, which leaders give their follow on beat 4, by holding her right hand on their right hip. This gives the move the great stretchy feel and gives the follow enough momentum to make it back around. Pointless describing them here (other than to say you rocked them hard!), take a look at the video for details:

For all of our dancers, our best piece of advice for you: come out social dancing. It’s great fun, you meet loads of people but above all you get valuable practice and you GET BETTER. The more you go out dancing the faster you’ll nail the moves, and the less scary you’ll find it (we were scared at first too). Check out the excellent Swing Out London website will show you all the opportunities for dancing in London – and there are loads:

Supersize it!

David and Erin

Wednesday 22 February 2012:
7pm: Beginners Six Count

We’re having so much fun at SP Putney Bridge at the moment! The Six Count is looking great and it’s fantastic to have such a great combination of regular students and new people dropping in each week. We hope you’re enjoying it as much as us!!

This coming Wednesday we’ll be doing some more Six Count. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the previous weeks or have never done any swing dancing before – as always, we’ll start with the footwork and build it up from there so no prior knowledge is required.

See you Wednesday,
Chris & Marine

The Lesson Plan!
Weds 22 Feb: Beginners Six Count
Weds 29 Feb: Beginners Six Count
Weds 07 Mar: Beginners Eight Count Lindy Hop
Weds 14 Mar: Beginners Eight Count Lindy Hop
Weds 21 Mar: Beginners Eight Count Lindy Hop

Last Week

We’re still having problems doing video diary notes at the venue because of the low light. Each week we’ll video it elsewhere – but we can’t always do this in time for when we write this diary note. As soon as we do video it, we’ll post it on our SP Putney Bridge Facebook Page.

From the London Gay Big Band

London Gay Big Band…

Gen, Chris, Pippa, Laura and others will be at this night. Come and enjoy some great live swing and support one of our venues.  By way of introduction, my name is Peter Jay – I am the Musical Director of the London Gay Big Band.  I thought you might be interested in hearing about our next gig on 26 February in the Two Brewers.

We are a full 18 piece jazz orchestra – saxes, trumpets, trombones and all the rest!  We will be playing a mix of crowd pleasing big band classics that are great fun to listen or dance along too.

Join the London Gay Big Band for an evening of classics from the Jazz and Swing eras, including In The Mood, Mack the Knife, American Patrol, Sweet Georgia Brown, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Big Spender and many more. Bring your dancing shoes! Sunday 26 February 2012

7:00pm The Two Brewers 114 Clapham High Street London SW4 7UJ
Tickets: £5 in advance / £7 on the door  Ticket price includes entry to the cabaret after the gig Advance tickets: 020 7819 9539

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/150024

More here

Housemates needed:

I have a room for rent in a really great house in Maida Hill. The house is close to shops and transport and is great value for for price. Check out link.     Pippa Tooher <pippa.tooher@gmail.com>

 from Duncan

The company I’m working for (just 4 people at the moment!) is looking for a permanent part time web designer/developer. Since every 5th person at an SP class seems to be a designer of some kind I had to ask.

Just in case it’s something you’d consider including in the newsletter, the job spec is at http://dxw.theresumator.com/apply/UIb3m7/Web-Designerdeveloper.html

Tuesday 21 February:
7:30pm: Beginners Eight Count Lindy Hop
8:30pm-10:00pm: Brew That Hop, our monthly social dance!

Welcome to all our new dancers who joined us last week for some Eight Count! Also, a huge well done to our Level 2s, who have done a fantastic job working on their stretch technique in the last two weeks.

This coming week we’re excited to have our monthly social dance – now called Brew That Hop! It’s a beginner friendly social dance that’s free and starts immediately after our Beginners class.

The 7:30pm Beginners class will be our last Eight Count Lindy Hop class. Don’t worry if you’ve never done Eight Count before – as always, we’ll start with the footwork and build it up from there.

For details of what’s coming up at SP Clapham Common, check out the information underneath the video below.

See you Tuesday,
Chris & Gen

Last Week: Tues 14 February

Coming Up at SP Clapham Common

Beginners (7:30pm):
Tues 21 Feb: Eight Count Lindy Hop, followed by our monthly Social Dance
Tues 28 Feb: 1940s Charleston
Tues 06 Mar: 1940s Charleston
Tues 13 Mar: 1940s Charleston
Tues 20 Mar: 1940s Charleston, followed by our monthly Social Dance

Any Beginners who have tried 6 Count, 40s Charleston and Eight Count are welcome to move up to Level 2 on Tues 28 February. Knowing those footwork patterns is more important than having them down perfectly! Level 2 is all about become a confident social dancer – trying more challenging moves, learning lead and follow skills, and working on your technique. If you’re unsure about making the move up to Level 2, just come and have a chat with us on Tuesday!

Level 2 (8:40pm):
Tues 21 Feb: Social Dance
Tues 28 Feb: Swing Out Technique
Tues 06 Mar: Swing Out Variation Moves
Tues 13 Mar: Dips & Tricks
Tues 20 Mar: Social Dance

Monday 20 February:
7:30pm Beginners Six Count

We really enjoyed teaching you the Charleston Stroll last week – it was looking great at the end of class, and hopefully you were proud of your first experience of solo Charleston! If you want to practice, we’ve posted an existing video on YouTube below as a reminder of the moves. The track it’s danced to is Put A Lid On It by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

This coming week we’ll be heading back to Six Count. Don’t worry if you can’t remember the footwork, or even if you’ve never tried it or swing dancing before! As always, we’ll start with the footwork and build it up from there, so no prior knowledge is required.

See you Monday,
Chris & Marine

The Charleston Stroll