Hustle! Salsa! Dance Trance, West Coast Swing Dance, Contra Dance, Tango Milonga, Waltz Brunch

Published: Fri, 10/17/14

Gainesville Ocala Swing and Social Dance Newsletter 2014-10-17

Hustle! Salsa! Dance Trance, West Coast Swing Dance, Contra Dance, Tango Milonga, Waltz Brunch

Hello and Gainesville Ocala Social Dancers,

There is a new dance in town, Dance Trance, which is dancing for fitness. They meet at By Ear Musican a few days each week. www.dancetrancefitness.com/gville

Hustle! Salsa!

Your chance to learn the basics of two great dances, Hustle and Salsa, both lots of fun and useful. Broaden your repertoire, add variety to your dancing, and learn some new skills that you can transfer to the dances you already do.

4 week series starts Thursday, October 30, Salsa at 6 pm, Hustle at 7:10 pm. Sign up now via Santa Fe College Community Education (SFC). Call Jennifer 352-395-5193 or visit www.sfcollege.edu/cied/communityed

This Weekend

Remember this is Homecoming weekend, with the parade Friday at noon and Gator Growl Friday night, so UF Swing Club meets Friday from 8 to 10 pm, at the Gator Wesley Foundation, 1380 W University Avenue.

Josh holds his third Friday West Coast Swing dance at 7:30 at the Movement.

Saturday night is the monthly evening Contra Dance at the Boltin Center at 7 pm (not 8 pm any more).

Also Saturday night David and Thuy hold their monthly Argentine Tango milonga. Confirm david.chayes@gmail.com

Sunday is the Vintage Waltz Brunch at 10:30 am at the Movement, with a waltz lesson this month.

What Are You Looking At

Recently, I did a dance program at the Altrusa House, which is daycare for those with dementia or are disabled. Several of the residents and staff got up to folk dance, and they all had a good time. We did a few circle dances and a partner dance.

At my regular dance sessions, I am constantly trying to get people to not focus on the feet. Watching the feet is a difficult way to learn to dance, causing people to get stressed out and quit. When you try to learn dances by watching the feet, you throw yourself off balance and disorient yourself.

This is not just a problem for folk dances, but a problem for social dances too. In swing dancing, often a follower will lock herself into a six-count rhythm and do step, step, triple-step, triple-step, even when you lead an eight count movement. She will do her six-count footwork right through the eight counts, so when you start your next movement, she will come forward with a triple-step, instead of a step, step. This happens because she is focusing on footwork, instead of on dancing skills.

What you should do in all your dancing is maintain good posture, balance over each step, listen to the music, dance to the rhythm and orient yourself by following the body.

No matter how often I tell people, they keep looking back at the feet. Not the residents at the Altrusa House though, they had fun doing the dances without looking at my feet at all. Most kids are that way too. We can learn from them.

Feet are for moving the body. Focus on dancing, not steps. You will have more fun and develop a useful skill.

Happy Dancing,
Andy

publish@gainesvilledance.com
352-327-3672

Gainesville and Ocala Dance Calendar

www.DanceCalendar.info/u/event.asp?idarea=19

Note: if you do not see the calendar in color, click the compatibility view in your browser. In Internet Explorer, press alt-t, then check Compatibility View.

Dance Quotes

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. ~ Marcus Aurelius, 121 CE to 180 CE

Dance Schedule

Confirm all programs before going

  1. Friday 10/17 - UF Swing Club
  2. Friday 10/17 - West Coast Swing Dance Social with Josh
  3. Saturday 10/18 - Contra Dance
  4. Saturday 10/18 - Tango Y Te with David and Thuy
  5. Sunday 10/19 - Vintage Waltz Brunch
  6. Sunday 10/19 - Bachata and Specialty Latin
  7. Sunday 10/19 - Swing Dance with Nick and the Swingtastics
  8. Monday 10/20 - Israeli Dancing with Andy
  9. Tuesday 10/21 - Ballroom with Ray and Eileen
  10. Tuesday 10/21 - Salsa LA Style
  11. Wednesday 10/22 - West Coast Swing Dance Social with Josh
  12. Wednesday 10/22 - UF Argentine Tango Class and Dancing
  13. Thursday 10/23 - Senior Line Dancing with Andy via SFC Community Education
  14. Thursday 10/23 - Ballroom with Ray and Eileen
  15. Thursday 10/23 - Salsa LA Style
  16. Tuesday 10/28 - Line Dancing with Andy in Hawthorne 1 of 4
  17. Thursday 10/30 - Line Dancing with Andy at the Senior Center 1 of 3
  18. Thursday 10/30 - Salsa Dancing with Andy at GHS 1 of 4
  19. Thursday 10/30 - Hustle Dancing with Andy at GHS 1 of 4
  20. Friday-Sunday 10/31-11/02 - Gator Salsa Club Weekend Extravaganza
  21. Saturday 11/01 - West Coast Swing Halloween Autism Fundraiser with Josh
  22. Sunday 11/02 - Contra Dance
  23. Sunday 11/03 - Argentine Tango Milonga Papirusa
  24. Wednesday 11/05 - West Coast Swing with Judi
  25. Saturday 11/08 - Argentine Tango Milonga El Abrazo
  26. Saturday 11/08 - Ballroom Dance with Ray and Eileen
  27. Friday 11/14 - Friday Night Social in Ocala

Ongoing Dancing

Classes with Andy

To sign up for classes offered via Santa Fe College Community Education (SFC) call Jennifer 352-395-5193 or visit www.sfcollege.edu/cied/communityed

  1. Israeli Dancing on Mondays at B'nai Israel, 3830 NW 16 Blvd, 7 pm, $5, drop in, no sign up required, ongoing.
  2. Line Dancing on Thursdays at noon at the Senior Center, sign up via SFC, ongoing.
  3. Line Dancing in Hawthorne starting Tuesday October 28 from 6 to 7 pm for 4 weeks, sign up via SFC
  4. Hustle Dancing at Gainesville High School starting Thursday October 30 for 4 weeks, sign up via SFC
  5. Salsa Dancing at Gainesville High School starting Thursday October 30 for 4 weeks, sign up via SFC
  6. Private Lessons, classes for Novice Dancers, Wedding Dances, also for Argentine Tango, Contra, Hustle, Lindy, Line, West Coast Swing, Vintage Waltz contact Andy

Thank you for subscribing to the Gainesville Dance swing and social dance newsletter. I also publish a newsletter called Internet Handholding which you can subscribe to at www.InternetHandholding.com. My other business is Internet and computer consulting. Contact me if you need help with the Internet, with anything from websites, marketing your business online, email newsletter, selling on Amazon or Ebay, publishing books, to software development and so on.

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Andrew Weitzen, publish@gainesvilledance.com, 352-327-3672, Gainesville, FL