Reading The Tea

Last month Sean from NY and I taught a contact improv and blues workshop. We had twenty people there, and so much fun that we’re teaching another workshop this month.

Facebook Event

Come join us February 14th!

This intimate workshop focuses on individual progressions of dance through contact improv and blues fusion. We will start with some contact improv and blues warm-ups and progress into weight sharing and counter-balancing, playing with how tension and release can bring new dynamics to your dance. We’ll use the theory from contact improv to explore creating your own fluid, safe, lifts and dips.
If you came last month, we hope to see you again — we’ll be exploring different material. If you missed out, here’s your chance to join us!
No partner needed. All levels — some experience with blues dance or contact improv expected.

Sunday, February 14th 3-5 PM
Dance Mission Theater
3316 24th Street (corner Mission)
San Francisco CA 94110

$20 with RSVP to hoffman.ruth@gmail.com or a Facebook “Yes”
$25 at the Door

Bios:
Sean Grimm started breaking down beats in street, hip-hop, and break dancing when he was barely able to spell his own name. Over the years, Sean has been humbled as he explores the world of dance and witnesses just how amazing, difficult, intricate and fun all different forms of dances are. He has studied and practices Blues, Lindy, Salsa, West Coast Swing, Tango, Modern, Contemporary, Wall dancing, Street, Break Beat, Hip-Hop, Breaking, House, and Contact Improv. Sean is currently living in New York City pursuing his dream of dance and learning new forms of dance. He hopes to one day create his own unique dance style.

Ruth Hoffman has been skipping and twirling through life since she started ballet at age three. In 1997 she discovered ballroom dancing and soon after stumbled across Lindy Hop through a visiting teacher named Frankie. In college at University of Oregon, she continued her passion for dance studying modern dance, contact improv, ballroom, argentine tango, dance history, swing, belly dance, choreography, kinesiology, jazz dance, and anything else she could get her feet on. Ruth currently runs Shades of Blues (sfshadesofblues.com) and teaches blues dance, argentine tango and dance fusion around the bay area and beyond.

Every now and then I need to take a break from dancing to remember that I love it, not just do it. This weekend I did lots of not dance.

I climbed my first 5.10b at Mission Cliffs! I followed it up with my least-favorite type of 5.10a — one where I have to get across an overhang. There’s something so satisfying about feeling out of energy and continuing to push through. I also realized just how similar the use of legs are in dancing and climbing — in both I ground into the wall/floor and use it to take my next step.

Sunday I went with a small group hiking at Muir Woods. We got a later start than expected, and ended up finishing the hike in the dark (The last couple of hours of the hike.). I wore hiking shoes that I hadn’t worn before. First one, then the other of my soles peeled off, leaving me with a thin under-sole. It did increase my ninja qualities, making me quieter for sneaking up on fellow hikers… We got to see tons of stars. Stars… living in big cities for as long as I have it’s easy to forget how beautiful, how bright, and how many they are. I like the feeling of insignificance. It’s oddly comforting. A really loud owl cheered us on for a while. Our adventure culminated in the discovery that the bridge we had to cross to get back to the car was washed out. We shimmied across the water on a fallen log.

I finished The Island of Dr. Moreau(The link is a PDF of the book!), part of a new SciFi kick I’m embarking on. Dr. Michael Drout is a marvelous professor who’s done several audio courses for the Modern Scholar series. Dustin and I have decided to read all of the books and listen to the lectures. Want to join us? The syllabus for “From Here to Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction Literature” is available for download, among other places, here. I skipped to lecture two to get going on the reading right away, and am going to circle back for the chapter one reading. Most informal book club ever.

Dance is taking up increasingly more weekend and evening time, leaving less room for “life.” I really need balance, so Dustin and I decided to make Tuesdays during the day adventure time. This week we took advantage of the first Tuesday of the month free day at the Conservatory of Flowers and the de Young Museum. (Pardon the poor photo quality — iphone photos…)

The conservatory has a miniature garden railway exhibit right now — made out of recycled materials.

We made it up the observation tower at the de Young for the first time — amazing (cloudy) views of the city. It has a wood floor up there… I want to hold a dance with a view!

The photo on the left is of Nathan Oliveira 1958 “Walking Mime.” (Oil and collage on board.) It reminds me of a boleo. I like the torque of the body and the turned-up face. In the middle photo we look unhappy, but are just putting on our serious and tired faces. Kind of like the penguins on the right.

This first video is really not very tango-like, but has amazing athleticism. (Core strength, anyone?)

This piece successfully fuses modern aerial dance with Argentine tango. I want some bungee cords to play with now!

I have made a big, terrifying, exhilarating, life-altering decision.

I gave notice at my job. “Job” is doing paperwork at a big academic institution here in the bay area. I’ve learned several things during my year here. 1.) I hate doing paperwork. 2.) I love teaching, research and writing. 3.) I know what I want to do. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, but been too scared to really pursue.

So, what next? I’m going to pursue dance, music and theater. I love teaching. I love performing. I love choreographing. I love researching. I love writing. Is this practical? No. Am I going to make it work? Yes.

I have a plan, but I’ll spare the gory details. (At least for now…)

It’s amazing how much you can say with a walk… It’s rumored that Monroe shaved down one heel to get this sway.

When I saw the announcement that Daniel Trenner was teaching a fundamentals class at Friday Night Blues, I was excited and a bit confused. Isn’t he an argentine tango dancer? Why is he teaching at blues? As it turns out, he taught an excellent introduction to partner dance. As a teacher he is charismatic and memorable.
My notes from the class (geared to people new to dance):
1.) Everyone started in a circle, facing in. He had us pick out someone (at random) from the circle to remember. Our task was then to walk around the room, cutting through space without letting “your” person get behind you. Back in the circle, we picked a second person, and this time didn’t let either of them get behind. “Staying to the outside of the room is cheating,” we were admonished. “If you make a mistake, pretend you didn’t.”
Great ice-breaker, everyone milled around the room and took up space. Conversation followed about eye contact with other drivers.
2.) Try to press your front against the back of the first person you picked. Next, the second person. This resulted in everyone running, milling about the room. Lots of giggles. I think this exercise is especially good for breaking the “I don’t want to touch another human” barrier.
3.) Circle again. Pick a point across the room and traverse the space. Now do it by walking forward and backward (still towards a point). Again, awareness of others. If you bump someone, make it soft. adjust the length of your line if the middle is getting too clogged. Traversing again, this time picking a point to turn. (I kept thinking… Improv score!)
4.) His approach to the introduction of leading and following was quite different from others I’ve encountered. We circled up again, and he asked for a volunteer. Any volunteer. A teen-age girl bounced into the center. He made her the lead in much of the demonstration. They stood side-by-side and he demonstrated two ways to go along with her — pulling her behind him or the “gentlemanly” way, offering her the space ahead of them for her to step into. “Which is easier?” Several people guessed the gentlemanly way — he said it’s actually harder, but better. He showed how when she is leading him, she has to keep leading as he steps, then step with him. (The were still standing side-by-side.) We all tried it with partners. Because of the circle before this exercise, genders were mixed up and people weren’t self-conscious about it. (Mental note: remember this…) We then switched to facing each other and leading side steps. (Both partners took turns leading and following.) With music, we did it again, listening to the music. There was discussion of riding horses. When you have a beginning rider, what kind of horse does he ride? An older, plodding, gentle one. As you’re more advanced, what kind of horse do you want to ride? A more spirited one. Plodding through a dance is not great following. However, it is good to do with beginners. Also: if a beginning lead says “You’re not doing this right,” it’s a desperate cry for help. In discussion after, several new follows said that they felt freed by this concept, since that gave them permission to not self-judge so harshly.

The reactions of the people to this are awesome…

I’ve been contemplating taking a pole dance class. It’s great for strength training…

This second one for you has the funniest kid doin’ some moves.