Firstly, Gina Helfrich and Michael & Jaya Gamble were the organizers of this glorious event and did a bang up job. Frankly, they are some of the best organizers in the US and if you haven’t been to one of their events, you should go! I know…. you should go to Lindy Focus!!

Teaching Classes

I really felt like I came into my own this weekend. I felt really confident in the material I was teaching and that allowed me to think about how I’d like to deliver the message instead of focusing on what I was going to say. All in all, I felt like I knocked it out of the park. I thought I was funny, witty, silly, sassy, and a bit of an asshole. In fact, I think you could say I was a sass-hole!! Hahah, I think one of my favorite things I told the class was that I aimed to be offensive, but not so much that anyone would leave. I must admit, this weekend of teaching changed who I am as an instructor. I’ll never be the same again….so THANKS M&J and Gina!!

I’d also like to give a shout out to Kevin, my awesome dance partner, for teaching the Jumps! class with me and being my knight in shinning …. er…. jeans. Kevin feels like home base so when I teach with him, it just feels easy! And let’s not forget about Andrew Munoz for being a fantastic leader and teaching partner in my other two partnered classes. Andrew was very brave to agree to teach with me. I only gave him 3 minutes of prep time for each class and he killed it. A great teacher in the making, me thinks!

Performances

I had a really fun time putting together a piece with Carla and Laura and they were such champs! The choreo wasn’t finished until Sunday the week before and I wasn’t able to put it on film to send to them until Tuesday. That just goes to show what professional ladies those two are!!

And speaking of professional ladies, the ever so love Miss Sharon Davis threw down a performance at SBSB. Check it out!

Yes, yes, yes, she wasn’t on the bill because she wasn’t teaching, but the event was THAT good that even Sharon came all the way from Australia for it……heheh, ok, so that’s not entirely true. She was in the general area and she came down from Pittsburgh to have some weekend fun.

Here’s a video from the Solo Charleston Contest:

1st place: Ms. Breanna Perry
2nd place: Jesse Hanus
3rd place: Morgan Lee Kestner
4th place: Lindsay Longstreth

For whatever it’s worth, here is video of the Instructor Jam we had at the beginning of the weekend.

If you had thought about coming but decided last minute you weren’t going to come, I am sorry that you missed such a stellar weekend. It was a rocking good time.

People brought their A-Game and that’s all there is too it. In many ways, I didn’t feel like the placement matter….everybody rocked.

Here are some favorite moments:

Solo Charleston Contest

My dance partner kicked ass and won! Not only that, but he had someone do a front flip over his head, and he still won. That’s gotta say something!

Invitational Jack and Jill Lindy – Todd Yannacone & Annie Trudeau

There are many reasons to include this – like the fact they won – but the reason I do is because of what Todd said before he went out. During Skye’s and Laura’s dance, Skye brought Laura and himself over to the Baltimore Section of the floor. Todd smiled and said that was a cheap shot. Then, when it was Todd’s turn, he not only took the SAME “cheap shot”, but then blew that shot out of the water! He went to the Baltimore corner, showed Annie off to the judges, then to the far corner, and then ran by all the the instructors sitting on stage. Hahaha….very, very amusing.

Invitational Jack and Jill Lindy – Stefan Durham & Jo Hoffberg

The dances I have with Stefan are like none other. He is super creative and I dig his lines. Fun Fact: he drew me in the J&J at ILHC in 2008 as well!

ILHC 2010 – Showcase – Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau

There are sooooooo many things that can be said about this gorgeous routine. The energy, their creativity, their musicality, their aerials, their….. everything. Congratulations to both Max & Annie on their win.

ILHC 2010 – Showcase – Andrew Thigpen & Karen Turman

They killed it!!!!!!!!! Andrew and Karen ARE the spirit of Lindy Hop, according to me. They bring so much energy, heart, and love to the dance, it’s inspiring. I am so honored to have made it into Lindy Hop History this way. For me, this dance will be one to stand the test of time. If only two clips of lindy hop were to survive an apocalypse, I hope it’d be Hellzapoppin’ and this one.

ILHC 2010 – Classic Lindy – Thomas Blacharz & Alice Mei

After they came off the floor, I told them I thought they were the couple to beat. What an amazing job they did!!! The choreography is musical and intricate, they performance is stunning, and frankly, the just danced the shit out of that routine!

ILHC 2010 – Classic Lindy – Kevin St. Laurent & Jo Hoffberg

I am adding myself to the list because I am super proud of what Kevin and I did. This is our first Classic piece and the reviews we’ve been given were pretty spectacular. What was most noteworthy to me about this performance was that I felt like we had SO MUCH TIME while performing. Normally I have to think about the choreography and focus on the details while performing, but here, I had time to look at the audience, the judges, and Kevin. I just felt like…..it was effortless. That was a first for me.

ILHC 2010 – Pro Champions Strictly Lindy – Finals

I thought this was a great showing for the pros AND it was a return to the old school. Kevin & Carla reunited to kick some ass (they took 3rd), Skye and Naomi danced together, and Todd and I competed (we were partners many years ago). It was an old school battle.

And Finally, the Yes Dance!

Yeah, this isn’t the one that was done, but I can’t find a link to it. If you find it, please let me know!!!

ILHC 2010 – Charleston Solo – Finals – All Skate

COMPETITION RESULTS

1. Kevin St. Laurent
2. Max Pitruzzella
2. Bobby Bonsey

CLASSIC DIVISION

Tommy Blacharz & Alice Mei

Mikey Pedroza and Nikki Marvin

Mike Roberts and Laura Glaess

Kevin St. Laurent & Jo Hoffberg

Oskar Markusson & Mikaela Hellsten

Nick Williams & Laura Keat

Joshua Welter & Mélanie Huot-Lavoie

RESULTS FROM CLASSIC:

1. Thomas Blacharz & Alice Mei
2. Kevin St. Laurent & Jo Hoffberg
3. Nick Williams & Laura Keat

If you’d like to buy the song, click here.

Now, check us out!!

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Jack and Jill

Zacke and Michaela were the winners.

Strictly Lindy

Zacke and Frida won.

Thanks Rikomatic for posting the videos!

Contestants: Josette Wiggan (USA), Juan Villafane (AR), Sharon Davis (AUS).

Videos from Lindytysk

Without further adieu, here is “Communication”.

Camp Hollywood 2010 – Showcase Division – Kevin and Jo from Jo Hoffberg on Vimeo.

I also have to post Marty and Delilah’s “Posin’” because it just tickled me!

Fuck, I just love that girl. She’s a whole lot of awesome if you ask me. Enjoy!!

Who is “we”?

Evita Arce and Gio starring as Madonna and the backup dancers were Sharon Davis, Juan Villafane, Michael Jagger, Ilan Dromi, Bobby Bonsey and myself.

Here’s the run down on what it takes to be me (*tooting my horn):

May 17, Monday: 9:25am flight from Berlin to JFK. Arrive into Pittsburgh at 6:30pm.
Finally coming home from Europe! Can’t freaking wait! I’m basically coming home so I can rehearse for Camp Jitterbug and do some laundry.

May 20, Thursday: 7:00pm flight from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis. Arrive into Seattle at 11:30pm.
The idea was that I’d have time to spend with my family. Instead, I run errands for the next few days all over town.

May 24, Monday: 2:30pm flight to Orange County. Arrive 5:30pm.
Man, I love direct flights! They rarely seem to happen. It’s also fun to run into people I know, like Ben Morris. I want to rehearse with The Atomic Cherry Bombs before our performance on Friday night. Nikki was kind enough to let me work with the girls for about 2.5 hrs. We do a full dress rehearsal. I try to scare and motivate the girls

May 25, Tuesday: 12:00pm flight to Seattle. Arrive 2:45pm.
Direct flights are fabulous! I rehearsed again before I left for Seattle. I continue to run errands until the day of the show.

May 28, Friday: JUMP SESSION SHOW 7:30pm
ROCKED IT. I was so very, very pleased with my ladies and myself. Sharon’s Bell Boy Routine went well and so did Stratosphere.

June 1, Tuesday: 5:00pm flight to Los Angeles. 10:30pm flight to Sydney, Australia.

June 3, Thursday: 6:30am arrival into Sydney. 9:15am flight to Perth. Arrive at 11:25am.
It’s glorious in Perth at the moment. Oh how I’ve missed the sun shining. I have class to teach from 8-10pm that night.

And there you have it. A rather crazy 2 weeks, wouldn’t you say?

What have I gleaned from my last two weeks?

• It’s important to get your frequent flyer miles.
• With those miles you don’t have to worry as much about over-weight luggage.
• It’s important to pack layers.
• Just because it’s “Spring” on the calendar doesn’t mean Mother Nature is going to play along.
• Having gloves on you is never a bad thing.
• “Days Off” are really just days to do all the chores I wasn’t able to do previously (translations: not really days off)
• I must remember to schedule “Lazy Days” where I am just sitting around doing nothing. My scheduled “Days Off” aren’t working out the way I had hoped.
• If you’re planning on performing something with a group of people, it’s worth the money, time, and effort for YOU to travel and go see them. It would have been a terrible idea to have not seen the Cherry Bombs before the show.
• Never underestimate the power of a cupcake, especially when your best friend brings you one “just because.”
• It’s important to run things full out. This means costume and body movement. Doing that the hour before the show does not mean you are well prepared. Remember, your building muscle memory when you’re rehearsing, so make it count AND you’d want to know if your who-ha was going to be showing before you got on stage.
• (Ladies) Every performer should own false eyelashes and glue, bobby pins that match their hair color, hand mirror and fabulously bright lipstick.
• Be gracious and understanding. It goes a long way.
• Keep pushing. You’ll get to rest eventually.
• Claire Pedroza might be a Vintage Hair Genius. She did my hair for CJ and it was in great shape until I left for Oz. Tons of compliments. She rocks.
• Empty flights are a godsend.
• Getting to sleep horizontally is awesome.
• Too many bobby pins set off security alarms.
• Nick Williams travels more than I do.

And there you have it! Two more things I think it’s important for you to know: how to pack for 10 Days in a Carry-On and What Happens to you crap after you’ve left if on a plane. Great reads, so check them out

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Two notes about the video: this is not high quality footage, but it is footage nonetheless. The lighting made filming this number rather tricky.

Jump Session Show 2010 – Honolulu from Jo Hoffberg.

I am so very pleased with how this turned out. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some high quality footage of this number. Let me know if you find anything!

The story behind Honolulu:

I’ve had the idea in my head for the last year or so that I wanted to do a tribute to Eleanor Powell by recreating her Honolulu number. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tap and didn’t have the choreography broken down. About 3 months ago I finally started breaking down the first third of the routine and even though it was difficult, I had such a great time doing it. The routine is broken down into three parts: jazz, hula, and tap. I performed the jazz section at Swingin’ in Spring in Gotenborg, Sweden. The following week, the Icelandic Volcano erupted and I got stuck in Sweden for another 10 days. In that time, I managed to break down the tap section.

Mind you, I still don’t really tap and I am not a trained dancer – two very important pieces that would have made my life significantly easier. I downloaded the clip off of youtube and then frame-by-frame went though the entire routine and tried to learn the shapes as best as I could. I first learned the general outline of the leg movement (for the tap section), then added arms, and then tried to add in the actual taps. Luckily for me, the wildly talented Nathan Bugh helped break down some of the tap for me months ago and I used that as a starting point.

Relatively, the choreography wasn’t that difficult, but refining the details of my movement was (and still is). Eleanor Powell has technique up the wazoo and trying to learn her signature mannerism was very challenging. The way she holds her shoulders, her hand shapes, her arm positioning, her natural body movement, and her ability to spin are things that I have to constantly keep an eye on when I am running the routine. I often record my rehearsals and then go through them frame-by-frame and look for the missing details. Talk about tedious (but oh-so necessary)!

The greatest challenge for me has been learning how to spot. Before working on this routine, I could basically spot my partner, but in general, I’ve always had a pretty good awareness of where my partner was in relation to me and didn’t use spotting all that often. Eleanor Powell, on the other hand, spots like her life depends on it! Just check out this clip (fast fw to 5:05 and watch from there)!! So needless to say, I wasn’t going to be able to learn how to spin and spot like that in a month (in heels no less), but I certainly tried my best.

All the while I was working on the jazz and tap portion of the routine, I had to break down the choreography for the supporting dancers. This is where the amazing Nikki Marvin and her Atomic Cherry Bombs come into play. I sent Nikki some crappy videos of me trying my best to break down the supporting part, and nothing about that process was easy; from breaking it down, to emailing; from music cutting to uploading, all if it was a hassel. I’d send videos (which were filmed in mirror image – thank you MacBook camera) and emails trying to explain what I wanted, but really, Nikki watched the clip just like I did and broke the stuff down. She did such a great job and so did all of her ladies. To top it off, the Monday before Camp Jitterbug, I flew down to OC and rehearsed with the girls. Dang….I am sooooooo glad I did that.

I am thrilled with how it came out. Now I just need to find us more places to perform it!

On a final note, I must give a shout out to Claire Pedroza for doing my hair. I wouldn’t have looked that gorgeous (* toot toot) if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for making this (*running hands up and down body) look good!