N is for NightClub 2-Step

N is for Nothing

Nothing is what I strive to think when I dance.  I do not want to have to think about my feet and where they are stepping.  I do not want to wonder whether I have the skill to follow my partner.  I especially do not want to second guess what my partner is trying to lead…I will be wrong.  I simply want to feel my partner’s lead and respond, as well as I can.  No thinking, just the cadence of the music in my head, a smile on my face and the knowledge that I have the skills in muscle memory to move as I need to in order to follow what is led.  Nothing more.  Nothing at all.

Dance of the Day:: NightClub 2-step

Nightclub 2-step is a contemporary social dance that was created in the mid-1960s to dance to mid-tempo ballads in 4/4 timing.  It has a quick-quick-slow timing and rock-step -side to side movement that can rotate and float around the floor.  The hold is relaxed and has a casual, romantic feel.

During the 1980s, the country western dance community adopted the dance and over time adapted it for the many slower country music ballads, dancing it on slow-quick-quick timing and replacing the rock step with a close-cross movement on the quicks and a strong, developed slow.  Called NightClub, the dance is one of the 8 dance that are danced competitively on both the UCWDC and ACDA circuits.

G is for........

........Geez.....I failed to post a G topic on Saturday.  Guess I was to busy dancing @ the Oklahoma Dance Festival.  Congratulations to my student Paul S who danced really well, winning Gold in Nite Club 2-step, West Coast Swing & 2-step & Gold w/Honors in Waltz!!  (The UCWDC uses a medal system in pro-am competitions so that students are judged against a standard of quality at their age/ability level rather than being judged against each other).  "Gold" is the mark of acceptable execution of the dance.  "Gold w/Honors" means that the execution is beyond expectations!  Paul's Gold w/Honors is particularly special since this was the first time he danced Waltz in competition & it was the first time he received a Gold w/Honors in any dance!!  Congratulations Paul....I am very proud of you!

Dance of the Day- nope.....couldn't think of one that started with G.  Guess I have to take a day off from dancing occasionally!

F is for Festival...Dance Festival!

F is for Festival….Dance Festival

United Country Western Dance Festival (UCWDC) to be exact….what FUN! (another F word).

The UCWDC is an international organization which promotes country western dancing by producing dance festivals and competitions (including the annual World Championships of Country Dance) in 20 countries.  The organization advocates country dancing as a social activity for people of all ages and abilities. 

UCWDC festivals are a blast!  Typically they are 3 days and nights of social dancing, workshops with the world’s best country dance instructors, and amazing competitions (sanctioned pro-am, amateur and professional couples, and line dance competitions; social jack ‘n jill contests and “just dance” contests; and with some festivals even ballroom and swing contests).  Take part in a UCWDC festival and I guarantee that you will be foot sore and happily dance exhausted by the end of the weekend…new friends, new dance skills and a renewed desire to dance and dance some more…as soon as the feet recover, that is!

Check out ucwdc.org for more information!  Hope to see you on the dance Floor at a UCWDC dance Festival for dance FUN!

Dance of the Day:  Foxtrot

A smooth progressive partner dance that is usually danced to big band music in 4/4 time.  It is a beautiful, elegant, sophisticated dance that was developed in the 1920’s but became most popular in the 1930’s and remains popular today.  It is dance competitively both in American Smooth and International Standard competitions.  A faster version called Quickstep is danced in International Standard.  A simpler social version often called rhythm foxtrot is the most popular of the foxtrots in a social ballroom setting. 

Why talk about foxtrot (other then it starts with F) below a discussion of Country Western dancing whose flagship dance is the country 2-step?  Well…it turns out the 2-step and rhythm foxtrot are kissin’ cousins….it’s just that one is a city girl and the other is a country boy!  The basic timing of Rhythm foxtrot is slow-slow-quick-quick.  The basic pattern structure of 2-step is quick-quick-slow-slow.  Many of their patterns can be interchanged in the beginning levels of the dances…but 2-step is faster and uses much more open work and turns along with weaving and slingshot patterns in the more advanced levels of the dance.