specialties

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lindy hop and jazz roots

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I was a Lindy Hop artist before all else.  I believe in the beauty of basics, and the importance of individual movement and responsibility within a partnership.  As lindy hop is a Black American dance, I continually strive to be an ambassador for the history, culture, and movement ideals of African American vernacular dance.  I am an advocate both for the performative nature of lindy hop (the stage! the jam circle!) and for the personal -- connecting to a partner, and the intimacy of shared and mutually supportive creativity.  My lindy hop classes are a balancing act of rhythm, connection, musicality, and personality -- and the biomechanical techniques underpinning all of these.

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My higher education curriculum is an embodied approach to the historical social dances of the Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s and 40s. We also look at how the modern dance tool kit borrows from and dialogues with jazz dance methods of improvisation and collaboration.

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musicality

 

As a jazz musician myself, I bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to musicality classes.  From standard structures and phrasing to riffs, stops, and call and response, knowing what the musicians know gives you the ability to respond in the moment and look both organized and effortless -- just like the music!  Comfort with where the music is headed during a song improves your ability to take chances. One of my favorite quotes about playing jazz -- It’s not about playing a lot of notes, it’s about playing the right notes -- lends itself perfectly to the decision-making dancers must face when choosing their moves, whether in choreography or spontaneity.

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