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.

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.

I think a lot of dancers forget that the head is a part of the body, especially in partner dance. I see people at milongas, and even in performances with their heads held stiffly, heavy spheres tacked onto the beautifully moving body. Often amazing (even “famous”) leaders make my neck hurt just looking at their necks craning forward. The skull is heavy, but should seem to float above, like a helium balloon. Your neck (the string) is the only thing that keeps it attached. To me one of the most interesting things about the helium balloon imagery is that a balloon is never stiff. (Tango dancers!) The head can “float” high, without collecting tension. At the same time, it is a continuation of the spine, the vertebra. If doing a stomach contraction (using the spine) or body ripples, consider continuing the line through your skull (Blues dancers!).
Thinking about how the head relates to the rest of the body is interesting when watching these robots dancing. A lot of early non-human dance looked so “robotic” precisely because the body parts performed in isolation from each other. This one is pretty amazing.