Category: Dance

Dancing with Youngdon at BluesSHOUT! 2017. Photo by Ben Hejkal.

Enjoying Your Dance

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If you struggle with confidence when it comes to dancing or competing, there are a myriad of reasons that could be the case, but one question I have to ask is, “Do you enjoy your movement?”

I don’t mean whether it looks or feels technically correct, or musical, or connected to a partner, or any of the more abstract stuff. Do you get that feeling of pure enjoyment out what your body’s doing? If I don’t have that, or if I focus so hard on something else that I lose that, dancing (any dance) doesn’t feel right, I’m not confident, and it shows.

At any given time, I have a list of things I absolutely love about my body and my movement. It doesn’t mean I can’t be better at them, but these are the things I enjoy, and it’s hard not to be confident when I’m enjoying my own body (yes, phrasing, but it’s true). I couldn’t care less if people confuse my enjoyment for arrogance because, if I can’t enjoy my own movement, I don’t have a good reason to be dancing.

  • I love the gravity of my hips, the way they sway when I just let them go, the way my butt jiggles when I do anything rhythmic
  • I love my long torso, the flexibility of my waist, and the way I can use it to create shapes
  • I love the strength of my core and how I can heavily dissociate or engage it for very precise movement and a clean axis
  • I love “palming” the ground with my feet and feeling like a slinky cat on the prowl, power in every smooth step
  • I love the way my feet move, how I can isolate from the hips down to either very rhythmic or very smooth movement
  • I love isolating and slowing things down and feeling the way different muscles in my body engage to let movement travel from one part to another
  • I love transferring movement from one part of my body to another, and watching it with my eyes, enjoying what my body is doing and inviting other people to enjoy it with me
  • I love my close embrace and cuddling my body into another person’s body and allowing its softness to squish and adapt to another person’s shape and movement
  • I love playing with the edges of my balance and seeing how much I can play with and break my axis through dynamic movement and still be in control

How do you enjoy your movement?

(Photo from bluesSHOUT! 2017 by Ben Hejkal Photography.)

Excerpt: “Music and Dance” from Kadavy’s Design Hackers

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As many of you know, I am a full-stack web developer by profession. As part of our weekly reading hour, I read (and was clearly excited by) the following passage from David Kadavy‘s Design <for> Hackers:

Music and Dance

Although some experimentation has been done with irrational numbers, such as the golden ratio, the most popular music tends to contain very simple patterns. Most rock songs are in 4/4 time, meaning that there are four beats per measure. Also occasionally found in popular music is 3/4 time, meaning there are three beats per measure; 3/4 time is the time signature of waltz music.

One of the most fascinating examples of proportion in music can be found in proportion’s influence on tone, as shown in Figure 5-15. If you strum an open guitar string tuned to C, you’ll hear a C note. If you shorten the length of the string to half its original length, you’ll hear another C note, but this time an octave higher (the eighth note in the major scale). If you take that same string and strum it instead at three-fourths its original length, you’ll hear an F note (the fourth or subdominant note in the major scale). If you strum the string at two-thirds its original length, you’ll hear a G note (the fifth or dominant note in the major scale).

Figure 5-15 from Design for Hackers by David Kadavy

Figure 5-15

Shortening a guitar string to three-fourths or two-thirds its original length produces the subdominant and dominant notes, respectively, in the major scale.


Continue reading “Excerpt: “Music and Dance” from Kadavy’s Design Hackers” →

In memory of Carl David Flores

The Ninja1 Comment

I don’t update this very often because if you’re around San Diego, chances are at any one of the venues, you’ll find me, and I’ll always run the monthly Blues Labs. Two weeks ago, however, I lost a friend who was very near and dear to me and one of the major driving forces behind my immersion into blues music and blues idiom dances.

I’ve made eleven posts on Facebook thus far of memories of various aspects of Carl Flores, but the one I posted on Facebook for tonight’s blues lab is what I want to share here: Continue reading “In memory of Carl David Flores” →

Another Double DJ Weekend

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I apologise for not updating as much I’d originally planned. The Blues Labs have been going strong, and I have DJ’d at The JAM as well as First Saturday Swing in the last few months, as well as City in Motion.

Anyway, I will be DJing at two locations this weekend! First will be the early set in the upstairs blues lounge (tonight!) at JAMnBLUES in Kearny Mesa. Again, that’s tonight, Friday, the 6th of March, 2015. Taster lesson by Roger Nielsen begins at 9:15pm, and my set will begin at 10pm and go until 11:30pm or a little later.

The second will be in the Blues Alley at First Saturday Swing on the 7th of March, 2015 (tomorrow!). FREE beginner and intermediate swing lessons at 8pm, dancing at 9pm, and the blues room opens at 10pm. Continue reading “Another Double DJ Weekend” →

Double DJ Weekend!

The NinjaLeave a comment

After a hectic several weeks where I was either too busy or too exhausted to dance, I will be DJing at two locations this weekend! First will be the early set in the upstairs blues lounge at JAMnBLUES in Kearny Mesa this Friday, the 3rd of October, 2014. Taster lesson by Roger Nielsen begins at 9:15pm, and my set will begin at 10pm and go until 11:30pm or a little later.

The second will be in the Blues Alley at First Saturday Swing on the 4th of October, 2014. FREE beginner and intermediate swing lessons at 8pm, dancing at 9pm, and the blues room opens at 10pm. It will be the SD Lindy Haunt Pre-Party, so come decked out in your best Doctor Who themed attire! I am planning on exploring the San Diego Night Market a little earlier that evening before heading over to dance and DJ. Continue reading “Double DJ Weekend!” →