Want to learn ballroom dancing?
Samba (the best rhythm and music) +
With a partner (the best way to dance!)
=
The best ever!
Starting this Thursday (October 1st) I’ll be offering a ballroom dance series at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. It will be 4 weeks of how to dance samba with a partner. If you’ve never done samba or never danced with a partner before that’s fine, we will start at the very beginning. But over the course of four weeks you will progress through the basic patterns and into some fun and exciting variations.
You do not need to be a member of Decathlon to join, just email “Jenny Rowe” <jrowe at courtsideclub dot com> to register.
Every week we meet from 8-9 pm for lesson, and then we practice, I answer questions and work individually with people, etc. from 9-9:30 pm. It’s generally a nice, small group so you get all your questions answered!
You do not need a partner to join, we generally have both singles and couples in class.
See you soon!
Anna
Why Study Dance Technique?
So I’m beginning a little class at Google – a 6 week class on “Dance Technique”. It’s a little overwhelming trying to boil all of dance technique down to just 6 hours, so I put together these thoughts for those who are going to attend the class.
Why Dance Technique?
So what is dance technique? And why should we study it?
What, for that matter, is dance?
Some might say that dance is an artistic form of nonverbal communication.
Which sounds very nice, but doesn’t really pin it down.
Dance is a difficult thing to define, since it overlaps the boundaries of sport, art, social activity, and spiritual activity. For some people, dance is only about one of these four, for others, any combination of these four categories.
Dance technique improves a dancer’s ability to exceed their goals in any of these four dimensions of dance.
If you dance for sport, dance technique can help you jump higher, stretch further, run faster, and spin more times without falling over.
If you dance for art, dance technique can help you to express yourself more fully and look better while you do it. With better balance, and a wider range of movement available to you, you can express a wider range of concepts and emotions. Since dance is a visual art, how you look while you dance is important to the aspiring artist, and can be improved by studying technique.
If you dance as a social activity, dance technique can help you improve your movement efficiency so you can dance for longer, more comfortably, and without injury.
If you dance as a spiritual activity, dance technique can improve the way you feel as you dance. By improving the efficiency of the body, technique can free you to move in a way that feels good and fulfills your spiritual needs.
No matter why you dance, dance technique can help you improve how you look and feel, and what you are capable of doing without injuring yourself. For this reason, many dancers study technique their whole lives.
In this short course I am hoping to give you a brief glimpse of what dance technique is, and how it can be helpful to you. We will be studying 6 basic components of technique: posture, balance, spins, use of core, use of legs, and jumps. Each week we will talk about one of these main topics, however they all overlap so there will be lots of review.
Hopefully you will learn some exercises that you can continue to practice during and after the class. If you practice these exercises and apply the concepts during other dance classes, your technique will slowly improve. Just like learning a language, learning technique takes time and practice. I hope that you will use the other dance classes (Hip Hop, Around the World, Zumba) that we have here at Google as an opportunity to practice what you are learning in technique class. The improvements you make will be well worth the effort!
Dance is a very special activity – what other “hobby” encompasses: music, expression, community, movement, exercise, creativity, spontaneity, memory, culture, flirting, spiritual expression, ecstatic trance, fine art, communication, and partnering?
I hope that you use this class as a way to not only improve your physical dance technique, but to think a little about the role of dance in your life – what it is, and what it could be. And please share with us – why do you dance? What are you improving in your technique, and how? Please comment below!
Bollywood Class at Decathlon
Bollywood Dancers!
You’ve been asking for an all Bollywood class, and here it is:
Every other Friday, 10 am, at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. You don’t need to be a member to come to class – just pay the drop in and come dance!
We start our first time this Friday – hope to see you then!
We’ll be dancing to Nach Baliye, Jai Ho, Love Mera Hit Hit, and Latoo. Super fun songs, great steps from the movies, a good workout (especially for the arms too – some of the Latin dancing doesn’t give you as much arm workout – but Bollywood is great for toning your arms).
And for all out there who think that Bollywood is a little too cheezy – check those recent videos – like Khwab Dekhe or Lucky Boy. They have choreography that would make Britney Spears or the Pussycat Dolls proud.
General Dance Technique Class
Google is such a fun place to teach.
And now I’m going to be there even a little bit more (cause 5 classes a week just wasn’t enough!)
We’re adding a “General Dance Technique” class on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm in the Bldg. 40 Gym. It’ll run for 6 weeks only, and they’re going to be checking to see what the turn out is to gauge future offerings (in other words – it’s good to show up!)
I’ll be teaching a variety of things that will help improve how you dance: posture, balance, how to use your legs and feet, spins, jumps, and core. As well, we will go over body isolations, that is how to move your body parts independently. This is very important for all the Latin dances and Hip Hop that use a lot of hip and rib cage isolations.
If you’ve been taking one of my weekly classes (Zumba, Around the World, or Hip Hop) this is the time to learn *how* to correctly do all those steps. If you want your dancing to look and feel better, this is the class for you.
Please register ahead of time with Sue Hutchinson, space is limited.
