[Callers] Buzz Step Swing

[Erik Hoffman via Callers]

Erik Hoffman Chiming in:

In a beginners' workshop I will often do a quick demonstration of a buzz 
step, but never explicitly teach it. I think it's not opinion that:
     * thinking about footwork while trying to also figure out figures 
is more than most beginners need
     * one walking while one buzz steps works fine
I will say, "if you come back you'll find your feet figuring out out." I 
might say, "if you try it, keep your right foot in front of your left 
foot," with a small demo.

Things I think are important to covey in that usually 20 minutes:
     Giving Weight
     No Grip! Gripping leads to hurt! (And I have a small mission of 
encouraging callers to remover the word "grip" from their calling 
vocabulary.
     Smooth transitions
     Swing Position
         Hands on shoulder blades
         Giving Support
     98 percent -- end with woman (raven) on right
     Geography
     Courtesy Turns
         Lady's Chain
         R&L Thru
     Balance - and - Balance & Swing

And, that is a lot to absorb! I think adding footwork is just too much.

Maia wrote:
     Of course any teacher worth their salt will teach that a swing 
always ends with the lady on the right.

Since I've been dancing for a while, and, back in the day when we used 
to do proper, active/inactive dances, and I still occasionally call 
those, there are times when you don't end with the lady on the right and 
the gent on the left, but instead end backing away from your partner 
into the vacant spaces behind you, as in ... Rory O'More!

(I still think it's funny when callers say, "as in Rory O'More," or, "as 
in Petronella," and I look around and see 98% of the dancers -- and 
possibly even the caller -- have never danced Rory O'More or Petronella...)

I agree with Tom on ending swing transitions offering timing and other 
challenges:
     Swing and face the next neighbor -- potentially confusing
     Swing into a R&L Thru -- incorrect ending messes up timing
     Swing int a Ladies Chain -- doesn't need to be a problem, as even 
ending up on
         the incorrect sides, the women (ravens) just put out their 
right hands but
         often leads to timing issues because newcomers think they must get
         into the correct spot prior to starting the chain...

On 6/21/2015 10:52 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers wrote:
> I agree that the buzz-step is not the be-all, end-all of contra swing! 
> I've been dancing for going on 5 years and I pretty much exclusively 
> walk-swing, because I find it more comfortable and easy to control, 
> and don't actually like swinging extremely fast.
I completely agree with this, although I do buzz. Then again, with new 
dancers who are still getting dizzy, sometimes I just sway and slow turn...

> John mentions the bad habits that even experienced dancers may have 
> while swinging, such as:
>
>     - grip, clamp, squeeze, hang, press
>         - hold their partner in the wrong place so it is uncomfortable
>         - use too much strength and try to do silly things like making
>     their
>                partners feet leave the floor
>         - lean sideways or backwards
>         - start twirls too late and when they are facing the wrong way
>     so that they
>                end up in the wrong place
>
> I find it pretty telling that this list of habits actually has nothing 
> to do with footwork! In my opinion, the reason to teach walking swing 
> instead of buzz-step to beginners is that there's SO MUCH ELSE to 
> concentrate on. The more things we can abstract away, the easier a 
> time beginners will have learning what's left. If you're focusing on 
> strange new footwork (and I find that buzz-stepping beginners tend to 
> think that the buzz-stepping is the most important part of the swing, 
> and concentrate more on that than on their frame), it's harder to pick 
> up things like giving weight, a proper hold, etc. But everyone already 
> knows how to walk!
Above, I'm putting this in my own words...

Sometimes, if there's a call for it, during the break I'll give a 
buzz-step lesson. A long time ago I was presented a way to do this:
     first: teach dancers to "gallop": right foot forward, the buzz step 
in a straight line
     second: have dancers back away from partner, to opposite sides of 
the room
     third: have dancers hold their "frame"
     fourth: set them off galloping towards each other. When they meet, 
while still galloping, have them enter into swing position, and they'll 
start going round in circles.
It's fun! When I learned this, this teaching plan was attributed to Todd 
Whittemore.

erik hoffman
     oakland, ca


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