Hi, Tessa here. Since 2002, I've been writing advice articles for West Coast Swing from my perspective as a WCS Champion and 30 years as a professional teacher and coach. My mission is to help dancers #trainWCSsmarter and teachers #teachWCSsmarter, which we do thoroughly in our Swing Literacy training programs.
These articles are my way of contributing some free, bite-sized education to the community to help inspire and motivate with practical, actionable advice for your dancing.
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I highly encourage everyone to leverage these free resources by sharing them in your community groups and with friends you know who could use them. Enjoy!
Dear Routine Competitors,The month leading up to the US Open is always fraught with emotions. The intense preparation causes us to reflect on why we are putting ourselves through this. It is almost impossible to explain to outsiders who genuinely just want to wish us well. How can they possibly understand? This can be a
Private lessons are a mystery to many dancers, not just the newbies. Veteran dancers tend to forget this valuable resource that can help guide them through the tough phases in their dance development and achieve their goals. Let’s demystify and help you understand exactly:Who can benefit from Private LessonsWhy you should bother considering themWhere you should
Ever wondered what a physiotherapist’s take on West Coast Swing would be? It’s not easy to find one that really understands the nature of social dancing and the specific actions involved in WCS. But we’ve got one! Meet Ruth Norgaard…we asked Ruth some questions about common WCS errors that lead to injury and how to avoid them. Here are her responses!
Are your music choices sabotaging your efforts to promote and develop West Coast Swing?The wide range of music we can dance West Coast Swing to attracts a variety of demographics across generations, cultures, and tastes. But for anyone who plays WCS music, in trying to promote and cater to certain audiences, it is important to
I’m a bit of an overachiever. This is no surprise. I don’t see much point in “just doing enough”. But overachievers tend to overachieve in both quality and quantity, which have different advantages and…not disadvantages, but consequences. (obsessive pursuit of quality has the potential of leading to paralysis by analysis). Experts in any field have
It seems kinda elite, at first glance. You see it on the schedule, but it only involves certain people, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to who gets to do this mysterious contest. When I first started dancing I had all kinds of hypotheses about what “ProAm” was. Coming from the west coast,
We all wish we could have started dancing earlier than we did. Just imagine what your teen years would have looked like if you had WCS in your pocket! Thanks to social media, the WCS demographic is getting younger, and there are more 20-somethings dancers than ever. Events and studios are wising up and starting
In every skill-based activity there’s a difference between the beginners and the veterans. This makes sense – the longer you work at something, the better you get at it. Notice I said work at; just because you hack at something longer, doesn’t mean you’re improving.But the dance community is full of distinctions, divisions, labelling…ways of
The longer you dance, the more embedded your habits become. You may have inadvertently adopted a style that is not only not what you intended, but is actually contrary to your personality and is holding you back. Your friends are too nice to tell you or aren’t able to explain it accurately enough to make
Once your dancing stabilizes in one role (leader/follower), you might consider learning the opposite role. West Coast Swing is increasingly encouraging of ambi-dance-terity, channeling the teamwork aspect of the partnership rather than the relationship aspect.People venture here for a variety of reasons;There’s a gender/role imbalance at their local dance scene and they are tired of
You may or may not be a dance teacher, but you might be someone who people look up to in your local dance community. Someone who rallies the troops, who encourages the newbies, who stays late to help out, who’s full of ideas and desire to build and grow their community so they have more
If you’re new-ish to dance events, or you are considering attending a dance event for your first time, you likely have not had anyone explicitly orient you to the dance event experience.Dancers are generally left to figure it out as they go. If you are lucky, there’s a Newcomer program being offered, or you have