Love the sound, the clothes, the hair, and the dancing! Hopefully I can get the full scoop when I’m visiting Lithuania in a few weeks. :D

Enjoy!

9) The people!!!

First I need to thank the volunteer staff for being so incredibly awesome. They did a fantastic job making sure that everything was running in the background so that everyone could have a great time. THANK YOU to the cooks, transportation liaison, coordinator, music and sound technicians, hotel staff for making sure we had water, the DJs, photographers, videographers, the lighting coordinators, and everyone else who helped out Michael and Jaya in the background.

Secondly, I want to thank all of the people that attended, especially the students. You and your and enthusiasm are what make doing my job such a treat. You guys made the event as fierce as it was. I get to do what I do because of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

8) The Nutcrackers.

7) Andrew Thigpen as the MC.

6) Nina Gilkenson impersonating Andrew Thigpen:

5) The Balitquerque party.

The Baltimore and Albequerque scene teamed up some time ago and have been throwing legendary parties at various dance events. At the end of these various events, Dorry (one of the head honchos in Baltimore) would rave about the party and ask us why Kevin and I weren’t there. Unfortunately, we never got an invitation. This happened at two events. No bueno (*shakes head). So this year, Dorry made an extra effort to make sure we felt included.

Kevin and I received our invitations during our Swing Out Intensive.

Andrew Munoz dressed up in his tux and cordially informed us that we were invited to (*use your best British accent here) “enjoy an evening of tomfoolery” and that we should swing by room 166 around 7 o’clock. How delightful!

Here are some pictures that barely do the night justice.

This video is too dark to see the madness, but it’s a good start :D

4) Winning the Invitational Jack & Jill with Todd Yannacone. That competition was really hard to judge so I’m very surprised that we took 1st. I am positive the scores are all over the board, so I have to give a shout out to the Relative Placement system! :D

3) Nath Bugh and Dorry Segev Dueling Piano number from the show on New Years Eve. The video speaks for itself.

2) Performing five new numbers this year, most of which I learned in the two weeks prior to the event.

The most challenging act I did was my solo jazz piece called My Discarded Men. I probably spent around 35 hours putting this routine together and trying to teach myself how to make the particular shapes I did. It wasn’t perfect, but I am really proud of myself.

The least physically demanding, and most fun was performing my drunken striptease. Hahhaa, it’s so nice to get to be ridiculous sometimes! Otherwise, it was a real pleasure to get to work with Gabby, Kelly, Melanie, Casey, and Natasha on the girls charleston piece in the New Years Eve show, as well as The Killer Dillers on our most recent group number. Finally, Sharon created a gorgeous choreography that had the ladies of the KD mostly naked on the floor.

1) All of the ridiculously awesome social dances I had on the last night!! Ok, so I was a little buzzed off of all the champagne I had, but man, my following was pretty freaking awesome (*toot toot). I had a number of really-freaking good dances that night, but in particular, I felt that I really connected with Todd and Mikey. Not only that, but Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five were playing. Gaaaaaaaaaah, the music was soooooooooooo freaking gooooood!!!

View from the top:

Yes, it’s kinda messy, but I had been dancing all night in it!!!

Want to learn how to do this? Check it out here or here!!!

PRESS RELEASE

Baltimore Based Swing Dance Footwear Company Releases New Line of Women’s Dance Shoes for Spring 2012 Season

Baltimore, MD – (March 7, 2012) Due to overwhelming demand, local swing dance company Aris Allen has added more than 14 new styles of women’s shoes to its varied line of internationally recognized footwear.

“Our loyal customers have been champing at the bit as we worked to release an even wider variety of vintage-inspired shoes for today’s swing dance enthusiast” states Gay Santelmann, product developer and CEO.

The new assortment of shoes includes styles such as the 1940s 3-Buckle Dance Shoe, as well as a low heeled late-1950’s Shoe with Ankle Strap. Aris Allen has also developed some of its customer favorites in several new color combinations that fit in well with this season’s upcoming trends.

Response from swing dancers all over North America, as well as international customers in several countries including France, Germany, Australia, Italy, and the UK has been more than favorable.

Alongside the array of new shoes, Aris Allen has made room for gently worn footwear at its retail location in Curtis Bay, MD – many of which have been showcased by celebrities and featured on tv series such as Dancing with the Stars. Many styles from past seasons can be found for up to 70% off, along with an assortment of swing dance apparel.

In its efforts to encourage young Baltimore-area dancers interested in swing, Lindy Hop, Balboa and Charleston, Aris Allen is also offering free pairs of shoes to customers touting a student ID when visiting the store.

About Aris Allen:
Founded in 2004, Aris Allen features the best in shoes, clothes and accessories for dancers who practice Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Balboa, Charleston, Boogie Woogie, Collegiate and Varsity Shag, Blues, West Coast, 6-count, 4-count (you name it), any and all forms of swing dancing! Visit Aris Allen’s retail site at www.dancestore.com for more information.

Oh yeah, and Kevin and I are in it as well. :D

I wasn’t really sure what filming a music video would be like, which meant I was able to walk in with no expectations of “normal”. I think I romanticized what the process was going to be like – and perhaps like most things, the end product is fabulous – but the creating process is time and energy intensive. Regardless of the time commitment, I had a blast. Here are some picture Kevin and I took during the three day we spent on the Speakeasies “Black Swamp” music video.

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The Back Story

MONDAY

Kevin and I were supposed to leave Rome at 9am which meant we caught our shuttle around 6:30am. We arrive exhausted to the airport, only to find out our flight had been rescheduled for 9PM. Fucking excellent. The only thing we could think to do was head to the Hilton down the street and see how much money it was going to cost us to nap. Much to our good fortune, I am apparently a Gold Member of the Hilton Honors which allowed us to stay on the executive floor, have free internet for one computer, and access to food in the lounge. So not all bad. We nap most of the day, check out at 6pm, fly to Greece, and arrive at Alex’s house around 2am (instead of 2pm). Luckily (insert sarcasm here), we’ll get to sleep for 4 hours before the video shoot. Yeah! Long of the short of it is: we are exhausted.

TUESDAY

It’s still dark out when we leave the house around 6am to drive up into the woods. Even though we are fully clothed, we are still cold. Luckily we’re excited to see what the set is going to look like and that makes everything better. Within moments of our arrival, I have a plastic bag placed around my neck and my makeup is being done by a professional. As the sun rises, my inner zombie awakens (see photos). Kevin snaps pictures of the morning sun warming the sky aaaaaand Scary Jo.

Kevin is first up to film. He wanders around at various tempos, takes a knee by the grave, and does more walking. When I’m ready, I sit on a rock in a cape-thing and hold out my hand. You can see in one of the pictures there are lots of people sitting around me making sure my hand “emotes properly” and to check my hair and makeup. :) Finally, we film the ending where I pull back my hood to reveal Scary Jo!

That’s a wrap (at least for Kevin and me)! It’s about 10:30am and we’re done for the day. Alex takes us to eat crepes and we talk about what direction we’d like to go with the dancing and the who/what/where of choreography.

WEDNESDAY

Kevin and I head to the Lindy Hop Greece dance studio to put together choreography for the slow section. After about two hours, we have something we’re happy with. We then move to the group choreography section for the zombies. We thought it would be fun to do a Michael Jackson tribute and to keep it swingin’, so we threw something together, showed it to Alex and Christina, and they liked it! In total, I think we spent about 3.5 hours on choreo.

After rehearsal, I needed to go shopping and find something to wear for the fast section. I didn’t really have anything I thought would read well on video, so I headed to Zara to try my luck. I found a white polkadot shirt with a peter pan collar and a black skirt with a nice amount of flair :D Perfect.

Before I went to bed that night, I put my hair in pin curls in hopes that my hair would have some much needed body to it (see photo).

THURSDAY

Filming Day! We arrive at Block 33 around 10am and immediately start on hair and makeup. Even though the place was cold, I was charmed by the exposed brick, abandoned-factory sort of look. Kevin helped with set up as a transformed from “blah” to “yeah” (see pictures) and then we were first up to film. While all the dancers and crew looked on, we did 7 takes on the slow. We never hit it perfectly in any one of the takes, but we were close. Then we filmed closeups of our faces as we walked away from each other. At this point, we were hoping that all of the Zombie Dancers were going to be in full makeup, but mostly people had watched Kevin and me slow dance. Hahah…..that’s amusing to me.

As more zombies are created, I help run through group choreography  with the “humans.” People continued rotating in and out until most knew how to “dance-support” Kevin and me during the flash back sequence. I change and redo my hair, and then did what I could to keep warm. At this point, it’s probably close to 2pm.

One of the fun/difficult things about shooting was the fog machine. Sometimes there was too much and sometimes the fog would dissipate too quickly. Regardless, it was awesome to work with and I think I’d love to have one for the house :p Something else that was difficult was keeping warm and keeping the energy up. The entire experience was exciting, but filming days are long days. What also elongated the day was that Kevin and I don’t speak Greek, so almost everything needed to be translated. We finally wrap up around 10pm that evening.

Coolest part: We talked to the director and crew and explained to them the importance of syncing the dancing to the music and they were totally receptive to it! Now, you might say “Well, yes, of course. Why wouldn’t you do that?” but if you look at other videos with dancing in them, you can find examples where the dancing is in rhythm, but not on beat. Seriously, it happens. So, that being said, it was freaking fantastic that we were able to tell the crew what takes we liked best, had opportunities to look at our lines and make some adjustments, and that they were receptive to our feedback. Woohoo!!

All in all, it was a fabulous experience and I would love to do another one. The days are long, and I can only imagine what it must have been like for the band and crew who had considerably more work than I did. So to all the members of the Speakeasies Swing Band, the crew, and especially to Lindy Hop Greece, thank you from the bottom of our heart for having us.

Here’s a recap of all the things you saw during this past month!

WEEK ONE

Day 1 – Sock Bun 
Day 2 – Front Swirl (a favorite!!)
Day 3 – Marilyn Curls 
Day 4 - Faux Pin Up Bangs
Day 5 – French Twist
Day 6 – Edgy French Braid 
Day 7 – Victory Bun 

WEEK TWO

Day 8 – Rihanna Inspired 
Day 9 - Alternative Braid 
Day 10 - Pin Curl Updo
Day 11 - Mermaid Tail Braid
Day 12 – Quick Twist 
Day 13 – 1940s Pin Up
Day 14 – Fun Bun

WEEK THREE

Day 15 – Pin Up Bandana - accessory
Day 16 - Victory Rolls (this is a favorite!)
Day 17 - Sponge Rollers  
Day 18 – Vintage Vixon
Day 19 – Twist and Pin
Day 20 - Color Bug hair color
Day 21 – Elegant Fauxhawk

WEEK FOUR

Day 22 – Scarf Wrap Tutorial - accessory
Day 23 – Fishtail Braid
Day 24 – Roll it Up!
Day 25 – 1940s Reverse Roll Hairstyle 
Day 26 – Not Your Average Ponytail 
Day 27 – Mohawk Monday!
Day 28 – Milkmaid Braids

Day 29 – Five Strand Braid

Kevin and I had a freaking fantastic time at Inspiration Weekend 2012! Thanks for participating in the workshop and being an awesome group of students. I’ve had a number of people as me about the class material that we weren’t able to get to, so I wanted to follow up with you and direct you to one of the many places you can go for more information. :D

Whether you’re a beginner or advance dancer, there is a charleston transition for you:

This lesson, part 6 of 6 on the Advanced Charleston Transitions lesson pack, teaches a fast paced and stylish routine that works you through each of the transitions in this pack. Breakdown includes everything you need to know to tie these movements together plus some bonus tips for understanding how to interpret footwork!

For Spinning and Turning:

An in depth explanation of technique and corresponding drills for improving your spinning control and increasing your number of rotations. Footwork, torso torque, arm use and spotting are all addressed.

If you want even more information, here’s another pack you can check out!

A few more blast:

Beginners, here are a set of Intro to Lindy Hop clips that might appeal to you.

Ladies from the Intermediate Track, some of you asked about swivels – check them out here!

If dance clips aren’t your sort of thing, but DVDs are (shameless plug), you’re in luck! Kevin and I have 7 new DVDs coming out in the next two weeks that just so happen to cover some of these topics! More on that to come.

Again, than you to all the students, dancers, and organizers that help support the scene and keep the inspiration flowing!

A tumblr called ‘Pinuprdj’ has curated some very funny images of Robert Downey Jr, as pinup girls. The creator explains, “Vintage pinups are the pinnacle of art. Robert Downey Jr. is the pinnacle of sexy. It’s not rocket science”.

[via Neatorama]

Freaking amazing, right?!

Check out more of her stuff on www.bellabraids.com or email her at alicia@bellabraids.com to set up an appointment to look fantastic!!