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Teaching in Hawaii

11/26/2022

I love Hawaii! It's a wonderful paradise, where I'm always warm and the plumeria seems to always be in bloom. During this trip, my friend from Hawaii has lined up a bunch of folk dance teaching opportunities for me. I've been planning for months, and I'm terribly excited!

I'll post updates here from my time with:
Hawaii Israeli Folk Dancers
A 3-week series at the Aina Haina Public Library
Mandala Folk Dancers
The students in my friend's class at Honolulu Community College

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A community grows!

10/13/2022

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Something unusual, but VERY exciting has happened. All at once, we have not one, but TWO experienced folk dancers move to our small community on the southern Oregon coast. These new folks will infuse energy into our community by bringing new perspectives, experiences and ideas. Welcome Sharon and Rose! The more, the merrier!

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Take Hands

12/14/2021

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"Take Hands" is a documentary film about two things I think about often: dance and community.

It started in 2013. A renowned contra dance photographer, Doug Plummer, announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund his 2014 contra dance calendar. His 2013 contra dance calendar featured the blissful joy of contra dancing with scenes of people contra dancing in a variety of settings. Doug is a talented and mindful photographer! One of the benefits of sponsoring his 2014 calendar was set at the $250 level: "I'll come to your regularly scheduled community dance and photograph it, and you can use the photos for publicity. Anywhere in the country, travel included. You might make the 2015 calendar."

What an incredible deal! I couldn't pass this up. I sponsored Doug's Kickstarter campaign, and he came to Coos Bay to photograph South Coast Folk Society's dance in 2014. Here are some of the pictures Doug took of our community.

Also in 2013, the Country Dance & Song Society (CDSS is the umbrella organization for South Coast Folk Society) announced exciting plans for their 2015 centennial celebration. They invited their 300 affiliate organizations to apply to be a stop on their Centennial Tour. In addition to having their usual weeklong camps, CDSS would send musicians, dance and song leaders on the road. On behalf of South Coast Folk Society, I applied. Remarkably, we were one of six organizations across North America chosen to host the CDSS Centennial Tour. Our community was the only west coast tour stop. That's us - on the far left of the map!

So when Doug came to Coos Bay to shoot publicity pictures in 2014, we were in the throes of planning our weeklong extravaganza of music, dance and song that would be held in October, 2015. The converging of two interesting events had begun.

Doug liked our community. He liked our plans for reaching out to our community to spread the joy of music, dance and song. He decided to make a documentary about the South Coast Folk Society and what we were doing to create a larger dance community.

The culmination of Doug's work over the past 8 years is coming into sight. At the "Take Hands" website, you can see the trailer, meet the characters and crew, and learn where/when you can watch the film.

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My virtual journey

4/23/2021

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What a year it has been. When the pandemic struck, like everything else my dance class was cancelled. At the time, I thought it was important to start teaching online right away so that the dancers in my class would have consolation in SOME way for us all to stay connected. Turns out, that wasn't what the dancers in my class wanted.
But I've met many other people through this virtual teaching journey who DO want to learn online. At first, I used Facebook Live for teaching. Over the past year I've learned about Zoom. You can dance any night of the week on Zoom if you want to! You can visit groups in Texas, Chicago, the east coast...
The thing I am most proud of about teaching folk dancing is the community it creates. Now I feel like part of a much wider community.

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Virtual dancing

10/11/2020

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It's a whole new world on Zoom.
When the pandemic arrived in March 2020, my community ed dance class was cancelled. I taught on Facebook Live for several months. Now I'm getting ready for the community ed class to be offered through the college and on Zoom.
In the past 8 months, I've attended more folk dance classes, workshops and dance festivals than I have ever attended. I've learned SO MANY new dances. I've gotta start teaching them, so they don't go by the wayside.

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New experiences in Stockton

8/10/2019

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This is a picture of me and three beautiful people who take my folk dance class. This was taken on picture day at Stockton Folk Dance camp. (Not pictured- our dance friend from Creswell who traveled with us.)
I've traveled and roomed with friends to dance weekends in the past. It has always been a memorable occasion. I'm thrilled to have created memories with Kay, Lori and Nancy at Stockton. Among the four of us, we cover a wide spectrum of introvert/extrovert, varying learning styles, and years of folk dance experience. It filled me with delight to watch their interest, delight, playfulness, aptitude, and most of all, I was impressed by their participation. Attending Stockton is a challenge both physically and mentally. I was gratified that we all took care of ourselves - napping when necessary, etc. Hats off to Nancy, who on day 1 decided she wanted to extend her participation and stay for week 2 of camp.

For me, in addition to traveling with friends I had two other epic first-time experiences at Stockton.
Last year at Stockton, we had a teacher from Macedonia who taught a dance that I wanted to teach immediately. But the preliminary notes we were given at Stockton did not accurately reflect the steps we were taught in his class. I sent what I thought were accurate notes to one of the Stockton organizers (my beloved mentor, Loui), and she invited me to join the "research committee".
As an apprentice research committee member, I had a BLAST! The committee works as a team. We pair up to observe the teacher and make corrections to the preliminary notes. (Had I waited for the committee's work last year, I would have missed out on the chance to be on the team!)
I worked with Tom on the research for Gigi's Argentine Tango for couples. Honestly, I would have fervently NOT chosen Gigi's class, had I not been assigned. And then I would have missed the enchanting dance that is the Argentine Tango. And the equally delightful teaching of Gigi and Warren. A couple of near misses there - being on the committee, and tango class. Note to self: keep eyes and heart open to unexpected experiences.
I teamed up with Cricket and Marina for Maurits van Geel's classes. On the research team, they ask our preferences when making assignments. Maurits and his wife Tineke each taught classes. They were my first choice. It was an honor to work on Maurits' notes. My assignment required that I watch Maurits dance. What a job! He's an incredible dancer.
I had fun working with these two researchers. I had fun contributing my observations, drawing on my experience as a dancer and as a musician. I didn't realize how much I rely on the skills I've developed as a musician. I can see how this observation can help inform my dance teaching.

Speaking of dance teaching, I had the opportunity to lead a Dances for All Ages session at Stockton. When I was first approached to lead the session, I pitched doing Welsh dances. I was trying to think of something that would bring new material to community dance teachers like me. What dance instructor couldn't benefit from having a few beginning level Welsh dances in their back pocket?

I chose to teach these dances:
Joc Y Do - a set dance for 4 or 5 couples
Cylch Y Cymry - a circle mixer
Clawdd Offa - a square dance
Rhwng Ddwy - groups of 3 people
Robin Ddiog - both as a circle dance for as many as will AND as a couple dance in a Sicilian circle
I asked an experienced teacher to observe and give me feedback. Suzanne gave me insightful notes. One camper from Seattle told me I did a good job. She didn't usually attend Dances for All Ages and she didn't have much expectation. :-( Another camper from NJ said she would love to be in my class - she complimented my clear teaching. Woo hoo! It was thrilling to teach at Stockton.

Stockton was a big success this year. Only 11 months and 7 days until next time we go to camp!

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Summer at Glasgow

7/10/2019

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I have not held a summer class since 2014. Unlike the past 5 years, I now find myself with a great deal of motivation: there are three - not just one, nor only two - but three dancers in my class who are going with me this summer to Stockton Folk Dance Camp! I will not be driving alone. (Nor will I be able to pick up fellow campers at Stockton airport for a ride to camp.) It's going to be a whole new experience for the three of them -- AND being there with them will be a new experience for me.
I vividly remember last summer at Stockton... every day, I would have an interesting experience and say to myself, "wow! Kay would absolutely love it here!" Somehow, I've encouraged Kay, Nancy AND Lorie to come to camp. I cannot wait to share this experience with friends! Countdown #2 on my phone is set for Stockton: 9 days and 12 hours.

So I'm teaching class again this summer. And again, I can admit that I teach folk dance for selfish reasons. Usually I tell folks in my class that I teach because I'd prefer to have people to dance with. Dancing alone is okay, but not as much fun as with a group. And now I'm holding summer class this year because I want to be in good dance shape for camp! I can do many things by myself to get in shape for dance camp, but I'd really prefer not to dance alone.

Summer class has brought some new folks my way. The summer started with an evening of minimal teaching. I learned that this was not the preference of some folks. So I've been teaching throughout the evening. I envisioned the summer would be more like a party than a class, so I want to incorporate SOME dances without teaching them first. It's another skill that can be learned at a folk dance class -- giving dancers the opportunity to learn by standing behind the line. When we go to Stockton, we're going to have MANY opportunities to stand behind the line of dances we haven't yet learned. So although the summer series is more than half over, I'm still honing the format of the class. Content is based on dancers' requests.

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Gaining confidence as a dancer

6/6/2019

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Tonight is week 10 of spring semester class. One more week, and spring semester will be finished. Next week, we have an international potluck and then dance party. Tonight is a review of all the dances we learned this semester. I like to introduce this review activity as a fun activity while assessing whether dancers learned the material from the semester.
I love the end of the semester. It's awesome to watch the confidence that dancers have gained. Repetition is a worthy teaching tool, as we gain muscle memory.

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Do the clothes make the dancer...?

3/27/2019

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Stockton Barbie and I have matching dance-themed skirts now. Here's hers - mine is identical. They were a gift from Diane, a dancer in my class. She sewed them. They each fit us perfectly. I'm looking forward to going to Stockton with Barbie in our skirts.
Coincidentally, I was also given a fabulous new T-shirt with this inspiring message:

I am so blessed.

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Comparisons are odious

1/20/2019

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I've been thinking about Linda (my former dance teacher) a lot lately. When I think of Linda, I think of her abounding energy, her dark eyes, and her smile. And of course her red boots! My eyes were glued to her boots as I learned the dances.
She taught us style-filled couple dances that I haven't considered teaching these past 10 years... like the hambo. I remember learning Zillertaler Landler (video below) from Linda. I haven't done that dance for over 30 years. But I'll never forget Linda's instruction of sticking the guy's hands in his armpit for that repetitive turn.
On the other end of the energy spectrum, Linda taught us lots of lively dances like Hora Or, Trei Pazeste, Cimpoi, Godecki Cacek, Haroa Haktana, and many more. Linda had a great sense of rhythm. Coupled with her spritely approach to these dances, I was won over immediately.
I don't have a crystal ball, but I wonder how much longer I'll be able to teach. Can I do this for another 20 years? I've been inviting the Universe to bring me someone young who will fall madly in love with international folk dancing, and want to learn ALL of the dances that I know. Maybe a cadre of young people. That would be nice. It's essential to keep passing the tradition forward.

From Jonathan Jensen's song "Spread the Joy",
Spread the joy, pass it on,
May it blossom in our children when we're gone,
For the gift of dance and music has the power to enthrall,
Share the magic, spread the joy to one and all.

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Teaching in Hawaii

A community grows!

Take Hands

My virtual journey

Virtual dancing

New experiences in Stockton

Summer at Glasgow

Gaining confidence as a dancer

Do the clothes make the dancer...?

Comparisons are odious

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