So, recently, I had the opportunity to DJ for Blues Muse, an awesome follower-focused event up in Philadelphia, PA. I also, lucky me, had the chance to DJ for some of their regular venues, including Jazz Attack on Thursday, Powerhouse Blues on Monday, and was scheduled for Lindy and Blues (LaB) on Tuesday but couldn't DJ because my computer chose that day to fall apart. Long story short, I had way too much fun and did a whole lot of DJing, despite the last-minute disaster-adventure of my motherboard failing.

I played a good set at Jazz Attack, there was great energy and I got several compliments on it. Same with my set at Powerhouse on Monday. I even got plenty of compliments on my sets during the weekend for Blues Muse! But DJing for that event was one of the more stressful DJ opportunities I've had in a while. Why? Because, generally, I am not as familiar with my blues music (or bluesy-jazz) as I am for any of the music I would play for a lindy hop or balboa crowd. Jazz Attack was natural and flowing, even Powerhouse was only an hour and didn't make me panic. Blues Muse, however...eep!

Don't get me wrong, the event was great, the organizers were great, and I think the music all weekend long was great. My issues stemmed from the fact that I really wanted to impress the crowd, as it's a crowd I don't see very often, and I don't DJ (let alone go to) very many large-scale blues events. I definitely wanted the organizers to feel like it was worth asking me to DJ for their event. I wanted to put my best stuff out there, and regardless of how prepared I was, I never felt completely certain that I was doing so. The longer sets (1.5 or 2 hours) made me question--did I even have enough good music to play? Could I keep the dancers interested? I even got a little worried when the first DJ on Friday, Christine Moser, played several of my go-to favorites, which of course meant that I couldn't play them later that night. 

Overall, the worry was for nothing, and just like the last time I DJed a blues weekend, I came out feeling confident, successful, and stronger as a DJ. Of course I had more than enough good music, I was able to keep the crowd interested, and even able to throw in a few well-received surprises here and there, to put my own stamp on my sets. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have DJed for the event, and I'm even more glad that I was able to attend (and hang out in Philly) at all, because it was one of the absolute best weeks I've had recently. Sometimes it's just worth putting out there--your DJs really are concerned with giving you their best, and there are times when they work really hard to do so. Or at least, I do!
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Just a short music post for today, since I've been all swamped in work and there's only so much to say about this song, anyway. I heart it!
Check out this Lucky Millinder song, "I'm Just Waiting for You"--you can find the track on eMusic, it's definitely worth having! This one is one of my favorites right now, especially because it puts me in that long-pretty-dresses and beautiful-old-ballrooms kind of mood. It's a little dramatic, sure, but only because it's the kind of track that makes you want to dance around in your pretty dress with your good-lookin' man holding you in his arms. You know what I mean? Maybe that's just me, but I hope you enjoy the track anyway. There's always room for a little more big band drama!
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Today's Youtube feature comes from ILHC 2010's advanced J&J division--yes, I know the event was more than a month ago, but I'm still doing my share of rewatching of all the videos, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites. Today, some follows (and their lovely partners) that didn't place in the competition, but whose dancing I particularly enjoyed. I'll give a couple reasons, below.

First up, Crista Seipp (DC) dancing with Patrick Szmidt (CAN). Patrick is responsible for some of the great HD videos that popped up so quickly after ILHC, and does all sorts of great stuff with his usual partner, Natasha Ouimet. Here, he provides some great structure for Crista to play around in!
I've always admired Crista's clean and compact dancing. She has great control over her movement and always looks like a great complement to her lead. Here, I'm pleased to see that she felt comfortable breaking out of the box a little--check out the interesting way she uses her whole body for the switches at about 0:59, and I LOVE the attitude in the little variation around 1:10. On top of all that, she looks like one of the most responsive, easy-to-move follows ever! These two didn't place, but I had a lot of fun watching them, and I wish I had been at the event to see it in person this year.

Next, we've got my faux-twinsie (seriously, it's kind of ridiculous how often I've been mistaken for her), Kate Hedin (DC), dancing with Andreas Olsson (SWE). I've only danced with Andreas once, at All Balboa Weekend in 2009, but I think I'll probably always remember that I had an absolute blast dancing with him. I think Kate did too--the two of them look like they're having a ton of fun in this dance!
I love the way they start off, with Kate immediately injecting some attitude into the dance that echoes the chill sassiness of the horns in the song. And she amps it up even more, with a cute little pose around 0:21! Check out the shape she makes right around 1:00--I adore the definitiveness and cleanliness of it, like it just makes so much sense and of COURSE that's what she would do there. Again, Kate looks all sorts of responsive and ready-to-move, a quality I would like to develop more in my own dancing.
Kate's definitely been featured, especially among follows, for her balboa dancing and stylings--I would say (although, of course, I'm no expert) that she is one of the leaders in follows-having-their-own-say in the dance. This clip, I think, is a perfect example of why she is a great lindy hopper, too, and all the work that she's put into her dancing over the years is totally evident. Compare this clip to Kate lindy hopping in 2007, and you'll see changes, but still with the same personality to it.

That covers my kudos to these underfeatured ladies for now. Maybe more later!
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Athletics! 09/04/2010
 
What is it, exactly, about dancers being so athletic? I'm talking about swing dancers here, although of course there are other dancers (ballerinas, modern, lyrical particularly) who are athletes of dancing and spend hours a day training their body for the "sport" and exertion of their dance. There is definitely athleticism in dancing, but that's not what I'm wondering about.

No, I'm talking about the common factor I've noticed among many swing dancers--lindy hoppers, especially. It would seem that every dancer I know is (or was) already athletically involved before coming to dance. I know soccer players, swimmers, cyclists, gymnasts, runners, and plenty of yogis (both amateur and professional). I fall under the categorization of the latter two, although my initial athletic background as a fastpitch softball player of twelve years is another underrepresented faction, along with baseball players. I picked up yoga about a year and a half ago and only recently--as in, January--started running, and both have since become more serious hobbies of mine (although I don't expect them to overtake dancing anytime soon).

I know why I was drawn to yoga, and the benefits I draw from running are easily applied to my dancing; I imagine that motivations are similar for other dancers. Just like taking up tap or African dancing, these sports are a form of cross-training that can be done to improve our body awareness, body movement, strength, flexibility, and other qualities so integral to our dancing. But what about lindy hop--or swing dancing, more generally--draws so many athletes in the first place? It's easy to speculate: high-flying aerials, energetic tempos, and charleston craziness are bound to attract (or turn off, in some cases) a certain type of person. I wonder, though, if there's anything more to it than that. Or further, I wonder if I'm just finding a pattern of athleticism where I want to. After all, lindy hoppers can't all be the nerdiest nerds and athletically-inclined, can they?

Let's see how many lindy hoppers we can get together at Warrior Dash Mid-Atlantic and test this theory. Last I heard, the count was 5 or 6...
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Dear Dancers and related parties,

I'd like to start by suggesting that if you have no idea what situation I'm referencing in this letter, you go ahead and ignore it. If you're curious because you feel it actually has some effect on you, I encourage you to seek information from all sources. Otherwise, don't get involved! Enjoy your dancing, instead!

With that out of the way, I am writing to you in regards to the email newsletter you may have seen. I know that, at this point, anything I say is an expected refutation of what was written about me, and the impact of my words is therefore likely to be lessened. You may have been surprised to receive that letter instead of a typical dance-details newsletter. You may have wondered why you were on the email list at all. You may have not received the email directly, but had it passed on from a friend. You may not know me, and it is those people especially that I want to address.

Some of what was written is very serious and potentially cause for legal action, particularly the felonious accusation, and as such I will not address it in a public forum, so as to avoid any possible repercussions. Instead, I urge you all to reserve your judgment on these statements until you have been able to gather all the facts and all sides have been represented fairly. However, in the interest of clarity, there are some simple facts I would like to present. If you doubt the information I give below, I would refer you to the current NSDF board members or to Solomon Douglas, all of whom know the facts of the booking situation.

1.) I was contacted directly by Solomon to arrange the dance on behalf of myself and of him.

2.) I then contacted NSDF, in order to ask for their help in getting the information about the dance out to all the dancers in Nashville.

3.) I am in no way profiting from this dance, except that I get to have good live dance music in my town, to dance to, with my friends. All proceeds minus the cost of the venue (to be paid directly to the studio manager) will go directly to the band. So come on out and support live music and local musicians!


It is my hope that in presenting these facts I can allay any fears that anyone might have that would keep them from attending a great chance to dance in Nashville. Attendance of this dance doesn't support me and doesn't support NSDF; there is no taking sides. Rather, your support of this particular dance on Friday night will show your support of good live swing music played for dancers.


I would also like to apologize to anyone who read the letter and has little knowledge of Nashville or its dancers. I don't feel that this newsletter is representative of normal operations in Nashville, and it's my hope that those who have read the newsletter but have no intimate knowledge of Nashville's usual operations will hold their judgment and allow the scene to recuperate on its own. Relatedly, I take responsibility for the email I wrote that was excerpted in the newsletter--though I used unprofessional language, there was no malicious intent and the letter was never intended to be disseminated to a large, national audience. In fact, the email was sent as a personal communication between myself and Jimmy, and was never intended for anyone but him.


I think it has been agreed upon at this point that the newsletter sent out was a mishandling of a sensitive situation. Unfortunately, that mishandling has resulted in backlash on myself, Nashville's other dancers, and our dance community as a whole. For those that don't know me, I'm sorry that your first impression of me has been set in such a negative light, and I hope that you will reserve judgment of my character until such time as you are able to interact with me yourself and form an opinion then. For those who don't know very many Nashville dancers or aren't very familiar with our scene as a whole, I ask the same. This newsletter is not representative of those dancers, nor of the scene they choose to take part in. 


In closing, I want to thank those that have exhibited their support, concern, or even outrage on my behalf--I am lucky to have such friends and professionals in my life, and luckier still to have them all over the country to defuse the situation as much as possible. Please know that the situation is being handled by the two individuals most directly affected, and that Nashville's scene is in the capable hands of all those who care about it.


Sincerely with swingouts,
Breanna Perry 
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Hello there, internets! It's been a while. Things happen, y'know, things other than writing become priority when you're not a serious blogger. Enough excuses, though, I need to tell you about one of the most entirely enjoyable times I've had recently!

I got the chance to go to Philly (a city I haven't been to in 4 years) and go to Hot Mess, a fast lindy hop and charleston event featuring Joanna Lucero, Karen Turman, Reuel Reis, and Adam Boehmer (who was unfortunately sidelined at the last minute), as well as music by the Loose Marbles and Glenn Crytzer's Syncopators--some of whom looked suspiciously like Marbles :)

So, of course I jumped at the chance, and made my plans, with the addition of the Monday after the event to hang out in Philly and teach/DJ at Powerhouse Blues, the weekly blues event put on by LaB. Turns out, I ended up catching up on sleep, email, various work-type things and not actually hanging out much on Monday except for with Mike the Girl in her apartment, but it all worked out well enough because I got plenty of social time during the weekend, which is NOT how things usually work out for me! And on top of that, I participated in every class but one (body refused), and had plenty of dances with plenty of new people!

There's too much goodness on the weekend to go over in detail, so I'll just include the highlights:
-Meeting yet another "twin", Meredith
-ALL THE HUGS. And cuddles. And people piles, and general touching that I am comfortable with. This includes my tandem upward dog with Beffs.
-Swinging out like crazy and being so happy with getting to hear the Syncopators.
-Gelato and whatnot with Haggai, Beth, Ben, and Dylan. Good, naturally-flowing, comfortable and diverse conversation!
-Good classes, especially the Jam class (my favorite of the weekend, with Reuel/Joanna's "When You're Smiling" routine not far behind)
-Ridiculous 5 flights of stairs totally being worth it for the excellent late-night dances and meeting more new people
-"NASHVILLE!!!!" and adopted "Nashville"-ians and pelvis and all the silliness that I easily fall into and that is just furthered by me and Beth ever being in the same place at a dance event.
-Public transportation! EFFICIENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! And walking!
-Pretty much everything about Sunday's late-night party, including the mansnatch and Dylan's pancake, impressions, "battles", pancakes with Beffs, swingouts, chilling-outs.
-Mike the Girl-Cat, instant friendliness with so many people, cricket sounds, carmonica  concerts, 2-in-1-seat traveling, silly awkwardness, EVERYTHING. Mark, Nelle, and "woop woop!". Also, Mark. And Nelle. I can't say it enough, EVERYTHING.

It was an A+ time, I would recommend it next year for those of you that didn't get to go this year. Oh yeah, and if you are awesome, you should move to Philly. I'm totally moving to Philly! More on that when it actually happens.

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Y'know, I keep meaning to write up some sort of blog post about Cumberland Shuffle, how it went down, my thoughts about it, the work that went in...but it's now something like three weeks after the event and I just can't gather that huge multitude of thoughts all at once. My short opinion: the weekend was awesome. Mike and Casey were the perfect teaching couple to have in, I had a great time, and I've heard the same from a ton of others. Was it perfect? Nope, but I'm already working on plans and ideas for next year (they're sort of always on my mind), so I'd love to hear constructive feedback from others who were at at the event, but beyond that, I'm just waiting for the pictures. I think Aris and Jon both got some pretty sweet ones!

In the meantime, here's video of a performance done by Lindsay Longstreth and Brooks Prumo, Saturday night at Cumberland Shuffle. It's a great little routine, and unique enough in the fact that it's mostly solo jazz movement done by a couple of dancers--all-girl troupes and all-guy troupes do solo routines frequently enough, but how often do you see them done by two accomplished partner dancers? Check out the sweet action (and AWESOME song):
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For today's Mmmmmmmmmmmusic, I'll share with you one of the songs I'm currently digging on: Happy Feet! I keep hearing this pop into my head, and every version I hear just makes me want to dance! It's ridiculously catchy.

The version I've included in the youtube video below is done by Reggie's Red Hot Feetwarmers, a Dixieland-styleband from around Albany, NY (I believe). The video also includes dancers Amy Johnson and Chance Bushman, who I've talked about several times before. Excellence all around!
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I just wanted to use my web outlet to draw attention to Karen Turman and Andrew Thigpen, real quick. I'm here at Swing into Spring 2010 (preparing to DJ, actually), in Columbia, SC, and these two goofballs are here teaching some classes and generally keeping the energy high.

If y'all don't know who Andrew and Karen are, let me point you to their most recent ridiculously-awesome (ridonkulawesome?) showcase routine, which completely exemplifies their silliness and innovation as dancers (below).

Karen and Andrew have been great this whole weekend, teaching fun classes and serving as awesome inspiration on the dance floor. Plus, THEY'RE ACCESSIBLE! For a smaller scene or event like this, they are one of the most perfect couples I could think to have in. They both just love to dance, and be silly, and it absolutely shows. So kudos to Andrew and Karen for being totally awesome. (Also, I don't know anyone who can top Andrew's random outbursts--you should have heard him when he heard that the late night was going to be in a bagel shop with fully operational menu.)
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I got back from Rochester, NY earlier this week, after an amazing weekend DJing at Girl Jam. I ended up being only one of three DJs for the weekend, betwixt two other fabulous gentlemen, Michael Gamble and Mike Thibault.

This weekend was the first I've had where the bulk of the DJing work fell to me, and was the first event not-my-own where I DJed a competition. I'm pleased to say that I got several compliments from competitors afterwards, approving my choice of songs.

In fact, I got several compliments throughout the weekend on my DJing, from attendees who hadn't ever heard me before, from organizers, from instructors, and even from those who had seen me as a DJ at other events (mostly in Ohio). It felt great to be in such a prominent role and be praised for my skill in it.

The compliments, plus the DJing stresses that I faced and overcame throughout the weekend, made for one of the most satisfying weekends as a DJ that I've had in a long time. The closest comparison would probably be in 2008 at Oberlin's Jazz Dance Festival, which was essentially my first major out-of-town time as a DJ--and also a weekend full of compliments.

I've been lucky enough to be DJing for a couple years now and to not have had any horrible experiences as a DJ. I've found that the common thread in my most memorable DJing, though, is compliments from the other dancers at an event. Everyone likes compliments, of course, but I also feel that comments--especially specific and direct ones, which are most helpful--put me more in touch with what the dancers on the floor want to hear.

What to take from this? Well, in my experience, DJs don't respond well to requests for specific songs (how many of you have heard the joke about the guy that asks the DJ "Hey, can you play that Jump, Jive, and Wail song?"). On the flipside, they WILL respond well to praise and your actions. So be sure to let your DJs know when they've done something that pleases you!
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