Stanford Dance Weekend Videos
Hiya Dancers!
Thanks so much for a totally awesome Stanford Dance Weekend.
If you enjoyed my classes, please feel free to check out my schedule. I teach at FNW, Starlite Dance Club, Google, Oracle, Equinox, Reach, 24 Hour Fitness, Vivre… all over.
In particular, if you liked the Bollywood class, please check either by 8:30 am Wednesday class at Vivre or my 10 am Friday class at Decathlon Club (only every other week!). Both are available to drop-in dancers, you don’t have to be a member of the gym.
If you happen to work for Oracle, please come to Bollywood class on Fridays at 3 pm. If you work at Google, check go/bollywooddance for info on classes.
Here’s the video for the intro to Argentine Tango – we went over a lot of basic technique on how to lead and follow with a partner, and how to interpret the music. Here’s the basic steps we covered (walking, rocking, outside partner walking, outside partner rocking, ochos, and grapevine):
And here’s the Salsa combo we taught (slowly just the steps):
And here it is again a little faster with the music:
We then covered an introduction to dips and tricks. We included a basic dip, rag doll dip, side lean, side hip bump, and side rotational lift. Please don’t try these at home unless you were in class and understood the full instructions:
I was happy to get a chance to offer my first ever Polka Cha Cha Fusion class. As Ethan said, the opportunity for mayhem was high. But we all succeeded, despite the heat, the crowd, and doing polka in 42!!:
And my rather brain fried overheated version of turns and spins – perhaps I will redo when less brain fried and overheated. =)
Sadly we did not video any of the Bhangra class – but you guys were such a blast to work with. Let me know if you have any comments below, or you can email me with questions.
See you soon!
Foot exercises for Dancers
Howdy all!
So if you go into a high-end athletic shoe store, they will examine your feet, determine their weaknesses, and recommend to you the perfect shoe that will compensate for your particular feet’s / ankle’s problems.
Or, instead of compensating with shoes, arch supports, and various braces and band-aids, you can do some simple exercises to strengthen your feet. That is not to say that good foot gear is not a great thing, and I highly recommend getting a variety of shoes that fit you and help support your feet.
However, I also recommend strenghtening your feet and ankles as much as you strengthen the whole rest of your body.
Back in the day before even concrete pavement and athletic training shoes, humans had to strengthen their feet so they would work well on a variety of uneven surfaces. Now we coddle or ignore our feet so much that they are mushy, flat, and weak.
Not so for dancers! Feet are the foundation of our posture, balance, and movement. To dance well we must have strong and flexible feet and ankles. Even if you have never danced a day in your life, you can use these exercises on a daily basis to begin to get your feet in shape:
All of this discussion of feet,ankles, and legs is a build up for our last week of dance technique class, which will be on how to safely execute various jumps and landings. See you next week on Wednesday at 3:30 pm!
Just like this!
Dance Technique Class – Club Dance Routine
Hello Google Dancers,
Thanks again for coming out for class last week.
We went over body isolations, and put together a little routine to help you practice.
Here’s a little video of the club dance routine:
Hope to see you for this week’s class in Spins and Turns – a very fun and important topic!
By the way, if you have any requests for future classes at Google, please write in on the comment field below. Do you want an “Intro to Club Dance”?
What kind of shoes should I wear to dance class?
At many of my dance fitness classes, students ask me what kind of shoes they should be wearing. The first question, of course, is what kind of dance class are you going to?
Zumba / Cardio Latin / Latin Jazz – These latin dance fitness classes involves a fair amount of twisting, swiveling, and turning. This means you want some shoes that are not too sticky on the bottom. Many new Zumba dancers wear gym shoes that are too sticky and twist a knee or ankle. I would recommend investing in some dance shoes sooner than later! I think that dance sneakers are the best bet for Zumba – they provide cushioning for the more high impact movements and swivel easily for the latin style moves. Other options are jazz slippers or cheaper gym sneakers that don’t have a lot of tread on the bottom.
Hip Hop – Many hip hop dancers prefer a shoe that looks like a street sneaker, yet isn’t too sticky to spin. Others prefer jazz sneakers. I find as long as you can spin without twisting a knee, and it looks cool, anything goes in hip hop.
Around the World – Like any cardio dance class, we do a far amount of jumping and bouncing movements (especially with Irish and Scottish dancing!) So it is good to have a dance sneaker that gives some cushioning for this movement. At the same time we do some dances, like samba and salsa, that use a lot of twisting and swiveling. It is good for these dances to be able to swivel your foot easily on the ground. I think dance sneakers are great for this class, but jazz slippers or cheaper gym sneakers that are not sticky on the bottom are also options. As well, if you are used to dancing barefoot for belly dancing or Bollywood dancing, you can try the class barefoot. However we do a lot of other styles that might not be comfortable barefoot, so it’s good to have some dance sneakers you can slip into if you feel like it.
General Dance Technique Class – For this class we will be going over many different dance movements, kicks, spins, jumps, isolations, etc. Because of this, it is very useful to have dance shoes that allow for spinning but are not too slippery, provide support and cushion, etc. I think the best choices would be a jazz slipper, ballet slipper, or dance sneaker. All of these choices are fairly inexpensive ($20-$50) and will greatly increase your ability to participate in class. Particularly when we are discussing the action of the foot joints, you cannot wear normal gym sneakers, as they do not allow you to move the various parts of your foot. Dance shoes are specifically designed to allow you to articulate the joints in the toes, foot, and ankle for maximum balance and power when dancing. Barefoot or socks would be a better option than sneakers, especially for the weeks are discussing foot and leg action and spinning.
Bollywood – If you are used to dancing barefoot, be my guest! Dancing barefoot can be great exercise for the feet as it allows you to really work all the joints and muscles in the foot and ankle. However, if your feet and ankles are not feeling strong, sometimes this can be too much for them. Especially as we do more bouncing and jumping in some of the routines, barefoot can be very hard on your joints as you don’t have any extra cushion. You might consider getting dance sneakers as they allow you to swivel and provide extra cushion for jumping or bouncing.
Ballet – For ballet class dancers wear ballet slippers or pointe shoes. If you are just starting, you will be starting with ballet slippers. You can buy some online or at a local store likeVictoria’s. You can check my other posting for full list of local dance stores.
Jazz – Similar to ballet class, dancers will wear jazz slippers for most classes. If you are doing a particularly high impact routine dancers might choose jazz sneakers instead.
Tap – You can buy tap shoes locally at Victoria’s in San Jose or Dancer de Jour in Menlo Park. You can also buy them online here.
Modern – Most modern / contemporary dance is done barefoot or in half soles. Make sure you pick a pair of half soles that are soft and flexible – some of the more stubborn ones cut into your foot! I highly recommend trying these on carefully in person before buying.
For partner dancing / ballroom / social dancing, check my other posting on dance shoes.
Do you know of another great brand of shoe? Or a store here in town that I’ve missed? Please add it below to the comments field! Thank you!
General Dance Technique Videos
Hello Google Dancers,
I hope you’re enjoying the new general dance technique class at Google. If you weren’t able to make it to the first one, no worries, each week will be it’s own topic. Feel free to drop in whenever you can make it. I would recommend coming a few minutes early if possible to pick up a class entry pass – last week people were turned away when we reached the 25 person space limit (and this week we will allow even fewer as it was too crowded!)
We are using a little latin jazz routine to “Mercy” by Duffy as a platform on which to discuss various elements of technique. Although it is not particularly important that one learns the routine for its own sake, it would be useful to you if you attend class to be familiar with the sequence (although we will continue to review it – so you will learn it even if you don’t check out these videos). Within the sequence are many of the elements that we will be discussing – body isolations, spins, jumps, kicks, etc. It is best to learn technique and apply it immediately to dancing, otherwise theory does not always turn into practice!
As we go along we will also add a club dance / hip hop routine that will help people more with the kind of dancing you would do at a party.
In last week’s class we discussed posture, and I did a little video review for those who weren’t able to attend (or have forgotten what those cryptic notes mean). Hope you are practicing your posture while you work, drive, walk, etc. Then it will be natural and automatic when you come to the dance floor! There is nothing that will make you look and feel better faster than improving your posture.
We will be discussing balance and body isolations this week – very important topics, hope you don’t miss it!
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!
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.
