On Tuesday night, Cori and taught the first week of our current _Intro to Swing_ class for Groove Juice Swing. The class moved a little bit too slowly (which may have been my fault), so we didn't get through much, but I consider it a success and am really looking forward to the next four weeks.
The first great thing was that there were actual bodies in the class, and a relatively good number of them (13). We were only mismatched by one extra leader, so that’s another plus. Also, they were actually picking up most of what we were telling them, which of course is the whole point.
I have a tendency in classes to run at the mouth. Sometimes I have to fight myself to remember that these people want me to zip it so that they can get to the dancing. Also I start to go overboard on both the technical and zen aspects of things, though I try my damndest to avoid using words like “center” in an intro class.
Even so, one of the things we have students do the first week is to just walk around the room in closed position with their partner, as a way to ease into the idea of leading and following. Right off the bat, I was asked by a leader how they should be stepping, since they were starting the usual tendency of trying to take wide steps. A perfect place to give my little demonstration of the difference between walking feet-first and walking center-first! I love the little nods of agreement around the room when you explain that as a male, your chest is the first thing that you walk with, not your feet. Unless maybe you’re an infant.
To be truthful, I was a bit apprehensive about this session before going in. We only had a few pre-registrations, the Tango Cafe had moved to a new location, and most importantly I hadn’t done any teaching since June, and very little social dancing. The tide turned once we got down to business, and it’s great to have a little bit of that excited spark back.
Men walk with their chests first? News to me… I’d figured it was ego first or something.