My first Ballroom Dance teaching lesson

I had my first dance lesson with Foster Lampert of DanceLovers.com. My goal is to become an exceptional Ballroom Dance instructor. Foster is over 70 years old and one of the finest men and instructors I know.

I started taking dance lessons from him back in 2002, met my future wife in class and then dropped out for a while. I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the effort at becoming a teacher in my 40’s however recent developments made me realize that if I didn’t at least try I would regret it for the rest of my life.

Foster and his wife Judi have a very detailed system for teaching which I hope to outline in these posts. Primarily it will give me the opportunity to review my lesson for that day which I believe will benefit me greatly.

So, what did I learn? Well, the Lamperts generally teach groups of students in 12-week increments. Each new course building on the previous course. Foster started me with the course for Beginner’s which has material in Single Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, Rumba and Cha Cha.

Foster starts these classes slowly and repeats the previous weeks’ content the next week and adds a little each week. By the end of the 12 week course the students have a foundation they can take out that includes rudimentary knowledge in all 5 dances.

The very first thing he does is tell the new students that dancing is a lifetime hobby and is incredibly healthy being good for both the mind and body. He let’s everyone know they will have a great time and as dancers will make lots of wonderful friends.

He then has the students move to opposite ends of the room. Men on one side and women on the other. Then he shows them how to walk in place using the count 1-2-3-4. Since they are beginner’s he doesn’t mention what step he’s teaching or the dance it is in. This is so the students don’t get a preconceived notion about what the step might look like.

For instance if he were to say he’s teaching the box step in Waltz he’s found that several students have an idea of what that is and are often wrong. But if he were to say “Step, Side, Together” and have the students repeat that over and over again they are getting the muscle memory before knowing what they are actually doing.

In any case after the students learn to walk in place for four counts he than has them change the rhythm to walk, walk, run, run, or step, step, march, march. This is the foundation for single swing.

Foster taught me much more this day but it’s been a while since I took the lesson so I’ll elaborate within the next two weeks when I have my next lesson.

History of the East Coast Swing

Ask a group of dancers to give you a definition of “swing dancing” and you will probably get as many answers as there are people in your discussion. Ask a group of historians to give you the history of “Swing” and you get a lot of different ideas. Below is our “truth” about Swing.

The Jitterbug (initially called the “Hop”) first became popular in the 1920’s. The name Lindy was appended to the “Hop” in 1927 at the Savoy Ballroom (New York), supposedly in commemoration of Charles Lindburgh’s famous flight across the Atlantic. The music that this dance accompanied was jazz, which by the 1930’s was also called Swing. Its origins can be traced to Ragtime, Dixieland and Blues.

It is said a young dancer named Frankie “Musclehead” Manning created the first air steps (aerials), and the Lindy Hop “soared.” As a performance art, the Lindy Hop involved ensemble dancing, choreographed routines and acrobatic air steps (much like those recently shown on the Gap commercials). These require a superb degree of expertise and are usually not danced socially, but only for performance (for many years, the better establishments frowned upon the wilder forms of Lindy, because the aerobatics involved
limiting the number of people who could dance at one time).

From the early days of the “Hop” until the mid-1930’s, the mainstream of jazz music and Swing/Lindy/Jitterbug dancing was developed and defined in the United States by African-Americans.

In the mid 1930’s, as the swing music of Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford and Lionel Hampton embraced the nation, the Lindy Hop became the rage of the young generation. The term “Swing” became associated with the Lindy as Big Band Swing came into popularity. The combination of swing music’s popularity and the talented dancers moved the Lindy Hop to the stage and screen.

The Jitterbug (Lindy) migrated out to Hollywood and other areas in California. Hollywood directors and choreographers in the movie industry wanted to fit more dancers on the floor without the camera losing their faces with the circular movements of Jitterbug, and so the West Coast Swing was born, which is danced in a straight line or a slot.

In the modern era of standardized American Style Ballroom Dance, there are basically two swing dances. They are the West Coast Swing (W.C. Swing) and the East Coast Swing (E.C. Swing). The W.C. Swing has
evolved into a Country Western dance, danced in a slot to typically slow, sultry music (20 to 30 mpm). E.C. Swing has incorporated the rest of the swing type dance rhythms (Jitterbug, Lindy, Shag, etc). It is danced with Single, Double, Triple, and Lindy rhythms. This allows E.C. Swing to be danced to just about any speed of music. The International Style dance “Jive” is a variation of the Triple Rhythm E.C. Swing danced in the 40 to 45 mpm speed range.

Reprinted with permission of Ron & Rebecca Kellen & Bogie of the Mile High Ballroom of Prescott, AZ

History of the Waltz

The Waltz is the oldest of the ballroom dances, dating from the middle of the Eighteenth Century. The German “Lander”, a folk dance, is supposed to be the forerunner of the Waltz. During this time period a dance developed which was called the “Walzer”, a word owing its origin to the Latin word Volvere, which indicates a rotating motion. Napoleon’s invading solders spread the waltz from Germany to Paris; then the dance glided across the channel to England and finally made its way to the United States.

When the Waltz was first introduced into the ballrooms of the world in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, it was met with outraged indignation, for it was the first dance where the couple danced in a modified Closed Position – with the man’s hand around the waist of the lady.

Beginning about 1830, the waltz was given a tremendous boost by two Austrian composers Lanner and Strauss. They set the standard for the Viennese Waltz, a very fast version played at about 55 – 60 measures per minute. The fast tempo did indeed present problems. Much of the enjoyment of the new dance was lost in the continual strain to keep up with the music.

It is not known exactly when the waltz was introduced to the United States. It was probably brought to New York and Philadelphia at about the same time, and by the middle of the Nineteenth Century was firmly established in United States society.

During the later part of the Nineteenth Century, Waltzes were being written to a slower tempo than the original Viennese rhythm. Around the close of the Nineteenth Century, two modifications of the waltz developed in the United States. The first was the “Boston”, a slower waltz with long gliding steps; there were fewer and slower turns and more forward and backward movement than in the Viennese Waltz. This version eventually stimulated the development of the English or International Style which continues today. The American Style Waltz is similar to the International Style except the American Style has open dance positions and the dancers legs pass instead of close. The second modification was the “Hesitation Waltz”, which involves taking one step to three beats of the measure. Although the “Hesitation Waltz” is no longer danced, some of it’s step patterns are still in use today.

Today both the faster Viennese Waltz, made forever popular by the Strauss family, and the slower American and International style waltzes are extremely popular today with dancers of all ages.

Reprinted with permission of Ron & Rebecca Kellen & Bogie of the Mile High Ballroom of Prescott, AZ