Wanna come up to my room and look at my etchings?
Tonight, Mysterious DJ of Mystery!
The person who knows the DJ is a few thousand feet above the midwest at the moment. But otherwise, the weathers gettin' fine, and it's a perfect time to swing down at the ol' Jam Cellar.
Balboa starts tonight!
Balboa champs Bobby and Kate begin their Beginning Balboa series this month for those who want to learn Balboa. I have cunningly repeated the words Balboa several times in the last sentence to create a hypnotic effect on the reader. Anyway, it's going to be a ton of fun, with little to no hypnotism. Wanna see some couples doing Balboa? Check out this clip, with Jeremy and Mary on the Left, and Bobby and Kate on the right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jSrJK9i1bU
Volunteers Needed! Win The Undying Love of the Weird People Who Run the Jam Cellar
We are currently looking for some volunteers who can work the door for an hour every now and then (or regularly, if you prefer), or help close down (a 11:50-12:10). Not only do you get in free, you will win the admiration and respect of us who run the Jam Cellar. We will also give highly glowing work references to add to your resume.
Next 6-week Lindy Hop Basic series begins Oct 19th!
That's right, for the fall we're going try an experiment where we have back-to-back Basic Lindy Hop series in addition to our usual Building Your Basics series. So, New Blood Night on Oct. 12, and new Beginning Lindy Hop AND Building Your Basics series on Oct. 19. Tell your mom.
Swing Anaologies–Balboa is like a poem…(cough)
Balboa is like a Poem. Would you like to come up to my room and look at my etchings?
This analogy is something I played with years ago when I was trying to figure out the connection between Lindy Hop and Balboa to me personally. I love both equally, and it helped me realize why when I compared Balboa to verse poetry, and Lindy Hop to prose. (It's important to note that this analogy probably isn't the same one I'd use today, but I'll keep thinking about it.)
Works of prose, like a novel, are structured only on the English language and grammar; it's an open art form that allows great areas of freedom and very little structure. This to me is very similar to Lindy Hop. The strength of Lindy Hop lies in the freedom.
Verse poetry is much more structured, working with meter and rhyme. This is similar to Balboa. For instance, in Bal-Swing, if you're only attached with one hand, it's most likely because you're about to turn.
The fun of creating poetry, especially verse poetry, is working within that structure. Sure, it's more confining, but such boundaries challenge, and thus inspire, creativity.
Another result of working within the structure is that in poetry, single words hold much more power than in prose, just as in an Pure Balboa dance, for instance, single steps hold much more musical power, and therefore the exact way you step has more focus.
Now, things aren't as simple and clear cut as I've learned much more about each dance. Things like old school Bal Swing, for instance, seem a lot more free to me now than they did then. But, as a basic analogy in my early days, it made a lot of sense to me and helped me develop in each.
