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Hot Dance News |
WCS Classes & Practice in CT
(Fairfield)
Every
Monday
WCS Lessons (7pm Beg, 8pm Int, 9pm Practice)
*Next
beg series starts on the first Monday of the
month - Mon, April 3
but it's not too late to show up on Mon, April
10.
at Al's Place in Fairfield, CT
MORE INFORMATION
This is the best place to meet new faces
and see old friends in the southern CT area
while enjoying the world of dance. It
has a good balance of men and women but the
more you spread the word the better it works.
This dance averages 40-50 people every Monday
and is a great environment for the start of
the week.
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Weekly WCS/Blues/Lindy Party
(New
Haven)
Wednesday, April 5
at Caffe Bottega in New Haven, CT
Weekly Party
MORE
INFORMATION
This is a new party at an amazing location
but it can't happen without you!! This is the opportunity to blend
all the Swing dances (WCS, East Coast, Lindy, and Blues).
Now that spring has arrived, it's time to being Swing to the forefront of the New Haven
community. Come out and build up the
scene with me!
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Platinum
WCS/Hustle/Salsa/Tango
(Fairfield, CT)
Sunday, April 9
at Al's Place in Fairfield, CT
6pm Beg/Int Hustle Lesson w/ Lisa Patternoster
7pm Dance (WCS/Hustle/Salsa/Tango)
MORE INFORMATION
Same familiar place but the dance is going to be more of a
mix of all the social dances. I'll also play some foxtrot and
waltz if you beg.
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Day of Private
Lessons in Stamford, CT
Tuesday, April 11,
18, 25
Metropolitan Dance Center, Stamford, CT
MORE INFORMATION
Many people have asked me for privates lately to improve and clean
their dancing. I've made a special day in Stamford to make it
especially convenient for the southern CT crowd. Click on the link
and select a time slot.
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Platinum Party NYC
Friday, April 21
New Comer Appreciation Day
& The Return of DJ "Anty"
at Club 412 at You Should Be Dancing in NYC
MORE INFORMATION
This is the perfect party to get new and veteran dancers prepared
for the
Gotham Swing Club's Big Man on Campus day (on April 22, see
below). The lesson will be a crash course in WCS and I'll be
dancing with all the new and familiar faces. DJ "Anty" has
been lying low for a few years and he's back!!! He's one of my
favorite dj's and one of the guys that was an inspiration to me when
I was learning WCS....and from what I hear, the women think he's
hot!!
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 "Take
the Lead"
Ballroom meets Hip-Hop and
the dance floor sizzles!
You've heard of some
dancers combining Swing and Hustle to form "Swustle". And
other dancers combining Swing and Tango to form "Swango". Well,
now Swing has mated with
Hip-Hop to form "Swing Hop" in the new movie
"Take the Lead" starring Antonio Banderas which opens nationally
on April 7th.
TTL Director, Liz
Friedlander, has taken notice of the growing trend of combining
old dance styles with cutting-edge moves and is outspoken about
her ultimate goal for this movie.
"So
much of what Usher is doing now is about how inspired he is by
Fred Astaire. I've been to Atlanta and seen a dance called
'Ghetto Swing' down there, which is kind of partnering Swing and
Hip-Hop, and a lot of the Chicago stuff is like Stepping, which
is a partnering dance. Really old-school dance is coming back in
Hip-Hop [and] it could be time to blow it wide open."
Friedlander does just that with "Take the Lead," a musical drama
that mingles two polar-opposite dance styles, Ballroom and
Hip-Hop. Here's the recipe: Take the charm of "Mad Hot
Ballroom", mix in one part sensuality from "Dirty Dancing -
Havana Nights", add two parts energy from "You Got Served",
sprinkle in the dark subplot from "Tap" - and you have "Take the
Lead".
The human drama is
intense but the movie is mostly driven by the dancing. And the
contrasting dance styles and personalities between the "hip"
Hip-Hop crowd and the super-sophisticated Ballroom crowd make an
interesting storyline. "It's not a bad pitch," says Friedlander.
"What I think is cool about this movie is that people can go in
saying, 'Oh, I hate Hip-Hop, but I love Ballroom dancing' - and
at the end of it hopefully come out with an appreciation for
both."
Based on a true story, "Take the Lead" stars Antonio Banderas as
Pierre Dulaine, a former professional dancer who sets out to
inspire tough New York public school kids through dance but runs
head-on into their urban Hip-Hop dance culture. Eventually, they
find common ground through the language of dance and create a
new hybrid dance style that may just set a new teenage dance
craze.
"We wanted to portray the energy of the movie from start to
finish," Friedlander said of the film's trailer. "We wanted to
show enough of the dancing to let people know that we were doing
something kinda new and cool with the Ballroom stuff, [and] we
wanted to show Antonio as he's never been seen before."
For the role, Banderas put in long hours of training on the
dance floor, and when it came time to shoot, he took on a
real-life teaching role as both dancer and actor. "He was the
most amazing mentor, because we had a lot of kids in this movie
who'd never done anything before," Friedlander recalled. "One of
our kids who plays Monster (Brandon Andrews), we found him on a
football team at Dominguez High School in [Compton] California.
He had just graduated and never auditioned or done anything
before. Antonio mentored them in terms of steps, but he also
mentored them just in terms of the way that everybody kind of
rallied and supported each other."
Banderas and the young actors also bonded with the real Pierre
Dulaine, who was the inspiration for "Mad Hot Ballroom". "He was
one of the ringleaders of the four-week boot camp that the kids
went through," Friedlander said. "He was there, he was with us,
he participated. And 11,000 kids have gone through his program
in New York City schools, which is amazing."
Friedlander wants to create a new dance trend that has the
finesse of Ballroom and the raw, street feel of Hip-Hop. "I
want to make a Hip-Hop 'Saturday Night Fever,' " Friedlander
said, citing the classic John Travolta film. "I want to make a
record to go along with the movie that you want to listen to
again and again, not only because the cut is amazing, but
because it reminds you of the experience of watching the film."
"What was really funny was the ones who were really amazing
dancers, who came into this thinking, 'No problem, I can do
this.' They were all floored by how hard it is to do a simple
Waltz or a simple Fox Trot," she said. "It's just a completely
different way of moving."
Hip-Hop meets Ballroom on April 7th. Buckle
your seat belts! This movie is hot!
"Take
the Lead" movie website
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Gotham Swing Club - Big Man On
Campus |
Gotham will be presenting a Saturday workshop
series featuring three of the top men in WCS today! Each day
of workshops will consist of 3 workshops, followed by a
dance at Club 412 (You Should be Dancing) hosted by John
Festa.
April 22 – John Lindo
July 22 – Mario Robau
Sept 23 – Robert Royston
Workshop Schedule:
Workshop 1 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Workshop 2 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Workshop 3 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm |
Workshop Admission:
$10/day for members
$45/day for non-members |
Dance Admission:
(hosted by John Festa - 9 pm-1am)
$10 for members
$15 for non-members
The workshops and evening
dance will take place at
Club 412 @ You Should Be Dancing (NYC)
412 Eight Ave---4th floor, NYC 212-244-0011
wwww.youshouldbedancing,net
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Dance in the NY Times |
Dance Partners:
Antonio Banderas and Pierre Dulaine
By Sara Cardace (NY Times)
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(Photo: Kerry Hayes/Courtesy of New Line
Productions)
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This week, Antonio Banderas
hot-trots his way into cinemas in Take the Lead,
playing real-life ballroom-dancing legend Pierre
Dulaine, who teaches inner-city teenagers the joys
of waltzing—and coached Banderas for the film.
Sara Cardace spoke with them.
\So, Pierre, was Antonio a
good student?
Of course he’s not a professional dancer, and I
don’t know what difficulty he underwent in his own
mind, but he is so light on his bloody feet that
it’s really fantastic. The tango he did in the
film was like Dancing With the Stars.
Banderas: Thank you, Pierre.
Dulaine: I really do mean that,
Antonio.
Oh, you two. Now, Antonio,
you’ve waltzed with Madonna and tangoed with Chita
Rivera. But what’s your most embarrassing dance
memory?
Banderas: I remember throwing a girl
to the ground, big-time, in a disco many years
ago. She landed hard. Hard hard. She didn’t ever
look at me the same! I also remember one day when
I was dancing on Broadway with Chita Rivera. She
was wearing a very slippery, silky dress, and I
was blindfolded. And we had one movement that was
very close to the first row, and I almost lost
her. The whole theater gasped. I am very happy
that I did not throw Chita Rivera into the
orchestra.
Dulaine: My most embarrassing memory
is from when I was 14 in Birmingham, England. We
had a party, and if the music stopped and you were
standing under the mistletoe, you had to kiss your
partner or leave the floor. I refused to kiss my
partner. I was so shy, and I couldn’t kiss a
bloody girl.
Banderas: And here you have one of
the big differences between Pierre Dulaine and
Antonio Banderas.
How did all the hip-hop
dancers in the film take to ballroom dance?
Dulaine: They really are amazing.
They’re sponges. Hip-hop dancing is one of the
hardest forms to learn because it’s about
coordinating all the parts of your body. Whereas
ballroom dancing, as long as you’re standing
straight, you move your left foot with your right
foot—it’s much, much simpler.
Ballroom dancing is also big
on manners. Do you think there’s an etiquette
crisis among today’s youth?
Dulaine: There’s a lack of civility
in life. We are so insulated from each other. So
many kids have cell phones, BlackBerrys; we are no
longer hugging each other in life. The hold in
ballroom dancing is called the embrace hold, and
if we learn through ballroom dancing how to treat
each other with respect, I think this is an
incredible message.
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Photos |
Professional quality performances at the
Metropolitan Dance Center Pro-Am Showcase Night
on March 31.
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A Revolution of Good Times at the
Boston Tea Party on March 24-26, 2006
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"Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like".... the
MAD Jam Photos.
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Review your WCS & Hustle
Basics |
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Here is the link that will help you get to the beginner
WCS & Hustle videos. Enjoy.
Intro Videos
Here
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Dance Ettique Tips: |
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Want to maximize your time on the dance floor? Here are
some tips to get you through the night: 1) Ask people's
name.
It's much easier to ask someone to dance if you actually
know their name (duh!!).
2) Deodorant & Mouthwash.
You'd be surprised to know that the #1 reason why people
don't want to dance with other people is because of the way they
smell. If someone offers you a mint or a piece of gum,
take it, or at least assume that they're trying to tell you
something. It's better to be safe than sorry.
3) Correcting your partner.
I hear about this allllll the time. It's simple, don't
correct your partner. If your partner wants your advice,
they'll ask you for it. Don't assume that they want to
learn from you...especially during the middle of a dance.
If you want to let someone know the secret of that special move
you know, ASK them if they'd like you to show it to them
AFTER the dance. 4) How long do I have to dance with
him/her?
Realistically, you only have to bear with each other for about 4
minutes (avg length of a song). If you mutually enjoyed
the dance you can do another, but it's safe to walk away after
one ride. If you're new or shy, you can always ask someone
to dance the final 2/3 of a song by saying "would you like to
finish this song?". Since you're only dancing for one
song....trying smiling...it makes it more enjoyable for both
people. 5 ) Declining a Dance.
This is tough!! Eye contact is 90% of the game. Avoiding
eye contact is a polite way of avoiding being asked.
Polite excuses (bathroom, tired, thirsty etc) usually works too.
But since it's a social environment, try to ask the person who
you formerly declined; it's good for Karma. If you find yourself
being declined a lot, try engaging in small conversation before
asking someone to dance. See advice #1-3 above.
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