Stompology is one event that I’ve mentioned time and again as a great workshop. Put on by Groove Juice Swing in Rochester, NY, it is in it’s third year. Unlike many events focusing on the partnered aspect of jazz dance, whether that is Balboa, Lindy Hop, Charleston or so on, Stompology focuses exclusively on the solo dances of the jazz family. Tap and soft shoe, charleston, black bottom and much more.
The line up this year included Andy Reid, Naomi Uyama, Jojo Jackson and Mike Faltesek with each of the teachers brings a unique array of style, skills and knowledge.
Friday I arrived off of the train in time for the late night. Held at The Keg, a sports bar, it was a relatively nice change of pace for a late night. There was a front room with the bar area and a second room which held the dance floor and impromptu stage for the musicians. The floor was a faux wood with decent give and slip. The feel of the venue was cozy yet not cramped.
Gordon Websters band started off with some easy swinging tunes until the “secret special guest” arrived, Wycliffe Gordon. I have heard many exceptional musicians and bands but when Wycliffe started to blow on his trombone the energy in the room vaulted. He laid out licks that made the hair on my neck stand up and gave me goose bumps. It was truly a great start to the weekend. (more…)
This past weekend a horde of followers descended upon Rochester, NY for the first North East Girl Jam. Put on by Jojo Jackson and Groove Juice Swing it was the first event of its kind in the northeast.
Girl Jam‘s are events which focus solely on the followers in the dance to highlight the important (and often times under appreciated) role they play in the dance. Historically we have paid more tribute to the leaders in the dance. Even today it is more common for leaders to be booked for gigs and then have a partner brought along then the reverse. Girl Jam is an attempt to bring much needed awareness to these topics and provide a space for following technique and creativity be at the forefront.
Friday night began with the Boilermaker Jazz Band, with Naomi Uyama on vocals, playing in the Tango Cafe. The space is a beautiful hall with high ceilings, nice wood floors and great lighting. As always, the Boilermakers did an excellent job with their song selection. One of my favorite tunes of the evening was All God’s Chillun’ Got Rhythm which is a tune found in this clip from “A Day at the Races”.
Friday also included a solo charleston and jazz contest where the winner was determined by tap out. Rachel Woods of Rochester, NY won the competition. The crowd was enthusiastic and kept the energy going while the participants all had a friendly attitude in the competition.
As always in Rochester, once the band wrapped up the party headed over to the Lindy Compound for the late night where Mike Thibault DJed until 4am. Late nights at events in Rochester are some of my favorites as they aren’t held in a dance studio but rather someones house. There is space to relax, socialize, eat and dance which creates much more of a party with dancing atmosphere than a “just another dance” atmosphere.
Saturday I assisted Nina Gilkenson with the first class of the weekend, a lindy hop technique class. The ratio of leads to follows was about 2 to 3 and the room was packed with three rows of couples facing us on the stage. We started by getting people to rockstep on the 1 2 of the swingout and then Nina worked with the followers on making their swivels maintain that same type of connection while swiveling. We then worked on using energy build-up and release to propel the follower through the swingout. The class went well although an hour definitely feels short when you are up on stage teaching.
Unfortunately I cannot report very much on the rest of the workshops on Saturday as my day became caught up in teaching privates. In the four remaining hours of the workshop day I taught three privates. The range of levels in each private varied from a beginner, an intermediate dancer, and a much more advanced dancer. I have not given many privates to dancers who don’t need considerable tweaking to their basics and it was very enjoyable to be able to work on conceptual objects and breaking down rules rather than trying to enforce them to get a particular result.
Saturday night was the battle of the girl DJs Heather Flock versus Gina Helfrich. Although the battle wasn’t the highlight of the dance, they traded back and forth throughout the evening and created an enjoyable space to dance.
The second competition of the weekend was a Jack & Jill that I helped judge. It was a tap-out format which is always slightly awkward especially when the floor is really packed at the beginning. There was no rotation during the Jack & Jill so your first partner was your only partner which can be both an advantage or a disadvantage from a competitors perspective. The level of competitors was very spread out but overall it was a really great turnout with a very positive attitude. Rajeev Hotchandani and Nicole Zuckerman won the competition (pictured here) and the crowd closed in to let them jam for the remainder of the song.
Congratulations and trophies given, the DJ spun up a hopping tune and a jam kicked off.
Despite saturday’s late night rolling on till 4 or 5 in the morning, almost everyone showed up for the first workshops on Sunday. A special treat for the leads was the Following 101 class with Naomi and Nina where they went over the basics of following and by the end of the hour the leads looked pretty solid as follows. Inside, Giselle taught a Cotton Club routine to the ladies.
With so little sleep, I disappeared to Spot to pick up some coffees to go around and some sushi for lunch. When I returned they were setting up for the lunchtime showing of clips which highlighted female dancers from our dances history. Gina Helfrich organized the videos and headed up the presentation including clips of Eleanor Powell in Fascinating Rhythm, Josephine Baker, and many of the follows from Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers and Shorty George’s partners Big Bea (Beatrice Gay) and Pauline Morse (thanks Gina).
I gave one more private in the afternoon and then taught a Spins and Turns class with Nina. The class was definitely smaller from the previous mornings class with enough space to form a circle and have us on the floor. We started off with some basic turning down the floor and then progressed to variations on the tuck turn and an inside turn from closed. The inside turn variation was one of my favorite ones that Nina does and it was really fun to teach that with her. We also taught a double outside turn where the leads needed more instruction to get the follower through it in the eight counts. I had to leave before the day was up and so missed Naomi’s solo jazz class which finished off the weekend.
With the workshops out of the way everyone who was still in town made their way back to the compound for the unofficial “Grill Jam” wrapup party. Chicken, veggies and beef were grilled happily on the porch while drinks and other goodies were consumed.
Girl Jam was one of the most social of events I’ve been to without feeling like it was forced or cliquish. Sadly I missed some of the classes I had really wanted to take.
If anyone went to Northeast Girl Jam and can say something to the various classes, please go ahead and leave a comment. Or even if you just went to the parties and dances, let me know what you thought of the event. Comment.
Peter Strom’s Music Blog – While not specifically jazz music oriented Peter has recently relaunched his music blog. Peter is a prominent member of the lindy hop community and is widely respected for his dancing and musical taste. He is one of the administrators for the Lindy Hoppers Fund, an organizer for Swing and Soul, and a world-class instructor.
Alain Bikes for Microcredit – Alain Wong, lindy hop blogger and instructor out of Montreal, will be biking to raise money for microcredit and to empower women. He has already raised 750$ and a good portion of donations (up to 1000$) will be matched by StandoutJobs, a recent Montreal startup co-founded by Cat’s Corner‘s Fred Ngo.
Northeast Girl Jam – Northeast Girl Jam continues the trend of many outstanding Girl Jams but this time on the east coast. The first girl jam was organized by Giselle Anguizola in 2005 and they have since sprung up all over the west coast and even Australia. If you didn’t catch the video round-up, Jojo (the organizer of NE Girl Jam) and Giselle (teaching at NE Girl Jam) are featured in the Hot Pockets routine. I’m excited to attend (as a lead) and am even featured as a guest instructor.
Enjoyed the links or would like to submit an article of interest, let me know.
Lots of random dance videos circulate the web these days and picking out some quality from the mass can be a bit difficult. Here are three videos posted on YouTube that stand out.
Stomp Stomp – A very solid routine performed at the 9:20 Special in California. The dancers are Manu Smith, Michael Terkowski, and Nathan Dias. It’s musical, innovative and yet very classic with elements similar to the routines performed by Al Minns and Leon James throughout their career together.
Hot Pockets – This video is a routine choreographed and performed by Giselle Anguizola and Jojo Jackson in 2005. The routine is minimalistic, fast and concise in its footwork and movement which works very well with the song selection.
Zhenya – While not the best angle, the routine is distinct and works well with the dynamics of the song. Movements are smooth and the ease with which he creates shapes and musicality with his arms is one of the highlights. The dancer is Evgeny Demchenko and it is performed at the 2007 Beijing Swing Contest.
partnered aspect of jazz dance, whether that is Balboa, Lindy Hop, Charleston or so on, Stompology focuses exclusively on the solo dances of the jazz family. Tap and soft shoe, charleston, black bottom and much more.
As always in 
Saturday night was the battle of the girl DJs Heather Flock versus 
I gave one more private in the afternoon and then taught a Spins and Turns class with Nina. The class was definitely smaller from the previous mornings class with enough space to form a circle and have us on the floor. We started off with some basic turning down the floor and then progressed to variations on the tuck turn and an inside turn from closed. The inside turn variation was one of my favorite ones that Nina does and it was really fun to teach that with her. We also taught a double outside turn where the leads needed more instruction to get the follower through it in the eight counts. I had to leave before the day was up and so missed Naomi’s solo jazz class which finished off the weekend.
