WEST COAST SWING
Intensive Classes
UPCOMING
Every month: We are available for Private Lessons ($75/hr for one instructor, $130/hr for both instructors, + room/space rental fees, typically about $15-45/hr). Contact us here.
December, 2016
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Happy Holidays! No classes.
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January - February, 2017
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January 29, Sunday • 3:00–5:00 pm
"West Coast Swing - Intensive Beginner Crash Course!" Instructors: Ken Kreshtool & Paula Wilson Our intro to the building blocks, principles, and techniques that make WCS easy and beautiful. Open to everyone. No partner or prior experience needed. (If you have any prior dance experience, we will use it to maximize your learning.) • $40 in advance, $48 at door. Location: midtown Manhattan (see your emailed Registration receipt for address) February 12, Sunday • 3:00–5:00pm "Intensive Workshop! For our 6-week Level 101 Alums only! Let's take it up some notches!" Instructors: Paula Wilson & Ken Kreshtool Open to 6-week Level 101 alumni only • $40 in advance, $48 at door. Location: midtown Manhattan (see your emailed Registration receipt for address) February 26, Sunday • 3:00–5:00pm "Intensive Introduction to WCS #2! For people with other dance or movement training!" Instructors: Ken Kreshtool & Paula Wilson Open to everyone • $40 in advance, $48 at door. Location: midtown Manhattan (see your emailed Registration receipt for address) |
March - April, 2017
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Six weeks • Mondays • March 6 – April 10 • 8:05–9:35 pm
WCS level 101 Special Series "Intensively Amazing! For Absolute Beginner through Intermediate(+) dancers." Instructors: Ken Kreshtool & Paula Wilson Location: midtown Manhattan (see your emailed Registration receipt for address) Special 6-week series • 9 hrs total, $180. For Absolute Beginner through Intermediate(+). Also recommended for people who have other partner-dance experience and want to learn WCS really fast, without having to plow through a standard Beginner class. Note the "8:05 pm" start time. Please do not ring the doorbell before 8:01 pm — there's a yoga class in the space that ends at 8:00 pm, and we don't want to disturb them. The doorbell buzzer is VERY loud! Thank you! We will learn and rapidly improve our WCS by focusing on how really good WCS dancers actually dance. Is there a secret that makes WCS easy, and makes WCS's huge vocabulary of moves and patterns easy to learn? Yes! We will focus on the 5 primary and 4 secondary partnered-movement building blocks of WCS. Snap these together, and we can magically dance all the Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced WCS moves & patterns with the same ease as Advanced dancers. • Absolute Beginners very welcome. You will learn WCS effortlessly, and will be genuinely good by the end of class. You will not feel lost at all. • Beginner+ and Intermediate+ dancers very welcome. You will be amazed at how different this teaching approach is, and how fast you will jump upward in skill. This class is all about the "technique" stuff that other teachers mention a lot — presented as so natural and easy that you'll get it immediately. If you have other partner dance background—Lindy, Salsa, Blues, Tango, Ballroom, Country, etc—this class will help you adapt your skills to WCS faster than any other class anywhere. If you dance "old school" or "classic" WCS, this class respectfully expands your skill set so you can dance both "old school" and "contemporary style" as you choose. • Everyone in class receives focused individual attention and hands-on tips. • At the end of the course, we will all take a "field trip" together to a local WCS dance (optional). You will be amazed at how good you are, and how happy everyone will be to dance with you! Our teaching is quite different from standard WCS pattern-based classes, and therefore offers an excellent acceleration for all WCS dancers. Prerequisite: Ability to count to 6. We'll teach you the rest. No partner or prior experience needed. (If you have any prior dance experience, we will use it to maximize your learning.) SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. 100% refund available any time before the 2nd lesson, no questions asked. So come try the class – it's risk free! |
EVERY MONTH
BIOS, CLASS DETAILS, FAQ
Why our Intensive Classes? It's all about the teaching! Our unique "building blocks" teaching approach will get you out on the dance floor fast - having a great time - meeting new people - while continually getting better! Our classes themselves are friendly, entertaining, highly social, and packed with dancing! If you want to understand WCS fast — or if you want to supplement your other WCS classes to boost your learning and technique — come join us!
"That was the best partner-dance class I've ever had of any kind, ever!" —an experienced dancer at a recent WCS class
"You guys are the gold standard for partner dance teaching. Wow." —another experienced dancer at a recent class
"That was the best partner-dance class I've ever had of any kind, ever!" —an experienced dancer at a recent WCS class
"You guys are the gold standard for partner dance teaching. Wow." —another experienced dancer at a recent class
YOUR TEACHERS
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Paula Wilson: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. Graduate of the Alvin Ailey School's Professional Division. Professional modern dancer and internationally traveling Argentine Tango teacher for 12 years. Award-winning former early childhood education teacher.
Ken Kreshtool: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. "The best instructor I've ever had in ANYTHING!" — Harvard University students' comments, 6 years in a row, for his on-campus dance classes (while working on a PhD there).
Ken Kreshtool: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. "The best instructor I've ever had in ANYTHING!" — Harvard University students' comments, 6 years in a row, for his on-campus dance classes (while working on a PhD there).
WHAT'S WEST COAST SWING?
West Coast Swing (WCS) is a partner dance, a smoother and highly sophisticated form of Jitterbug or Lindy Hop-style Swing dance. It kept evolving in California during the post-WW II decades when Jitterbug itself (aka Lindy Hop) went dead or dormant for 50 years. It has continued evolving dramatically even today, adapting to new music and new dancers. Over the years, it has "borrowed" (stolen) almost every cool move, turn, dip, and styling from Lindy Hop, Salsa, Hip Hop, Country, and booty-shakin', and even some Ballroom, Zouk, Tango and Blues. West Coast Swing has one of the biggest vocabularies of moves and combinations of any partner dance — and the widest range of music styles. At the same time, WCS Followers have more freedom for improvisation, and both partners have more freedom for musical expression, than in any other partner dance. WCS is the easiest of the Swing dances to learn (if you have the right teachers — that's us!), but perhaps the most challenging to fully master. It's hugely popular on the West Coast and in Europe and South America. Come get in on the fun as it sweeps the East Coast!
CLASS DETAILS
WHERE: Midtown Manhattan. Please check your emailed Registration receipt for address and directions.
CLOTHING: Wear anything that is comfortable. Jeans or slacks, t-shirts are fine. Bring an extra shirt.
SHOES:
Good footwear: Any clean dance footwear that lets you spin comfortably is fine — dance shoes, dance sneakers, Toms, even socks. Clean suede soles are best. Pulling large, thin socks/footies over your shoes or sneakers works surprisingly well. Low heels or flats are best for WCS.
Bad footwear: Grippy rubber soles are bad — your knees will die. NO SPIKES OR HIGH HEELS, PLEASE! Salsa heels, Tango heels, even character shoes, do NOT work well for WCS.
NOTE: Please change into your clean dance footwear in the lobby area after arriving, to preserve the nice wood floor. If it rains or snows, definitely change into clean, dry footwear after arriving. Thanks.
WHAT ELSE TO BRING: (a) All you friends! (b) Water. Maybe a snack. (c) An extra shirt. (d) Carry your dance footwear and change into it/them after you arrive. (e) Gum. Toothbrush. Deodorant. Please. (f) A smile!
GENDER NOTE: Our classes are non-gender biased. Dance whatever role(s) you like. We'll probably all try both roles at some point, as part of learning faster and better.
CLOTHING: Wear anything that is comfortable. Jeans or slacks, t-shirts are fine. Bring an extra shirt.
SHOES:
Good footwear: Any clean dance footwear that lets you spin comfortably is fine — dance shoes, dance sneakers, Toms, even socks. Clean suede soles are best. Pulling large, thin socks/footies over your shoes or sneakers works surprisingly well. Low heels or flats are best for WCS.
Bad footwear: Grippy rubber soles are bad — your knees will die. NO SPIKES OR HIGH HEELS, PLEASE! Salsa heels, Tango heels, even character shoes, do NOT work well for WCS.
NOTE: Please change into your clean dance footwear in the lobby area after arriving, to preserve the nice wood floor. If it rains or snows, definitely change into clean, dry footwear after arriving. Thanks.
WHAT ELSE TO BRING: (a) All you friends! (b) Water. Maybe a snack. (c) An extra shirt. (d) Carry your dance footwear and change into it/them after you arrive. (e) Gum. Toothbrush. Deodorant. Please. (f) A smile!
GENDER NOTE: Our classes are non-gender biased. Dance whatever role(s) you like. We'll probably all try both roles at some point, as part of learning faster and better.
Registration
FAQ: World's best WCS classes? Drop-ins? Late registrations?
ARE THESE THE WORLD'S BEST WEST COAST SWING BEGINNER TO INTERMEDIATE CLASSES?
Yes.
DROP-INS PERMITTED? Yes for our Sunday one-shot workshops. But for our Monday classes ... No, not really. Our multi-week Level 101, 201, 301, and 401 classes on Monday nights are cumulative — each lesson builds on all previous lessons.
• However, if you are visiting from out of town and want to attend one lesson, to see what the World's Best WCS (West Coast Swing) Classes look like <insert modest cough here>, please contact us and we will almost always say yes. We may ask you to sit on the side if we think that day's topics require preparation that you don't have yet, but we will refund you if we do that.
LATE REGISTRATIONS AFTER THE FIRST WEEK? (For multi-week classes.)
• We are very reluctant. We want you (and all your partners in class) to be happy! Not frustrated! Our class is intensively cumulative, which is how we learn so much so quickly and easily. Please come to the first lesson! Thanks for understanding.
• If you absolutely cannot attend the 1st lesson, contact us about starting at the 2nd lesson. We'll probably say yes.
• Start at 3rd lesson? No, sorry. We cover so much ground in the first two lessons, that we have never had anyone successfully start during lesson 3. We used to allow it, but everyone who tried it, dropped out in frustration. (We gave them a full refund, of course.) We want you – and all your partners in class – to be happy! Not frustrated! So we ask you to wait until our next class series starts.
Yes.
DROP-INS PERMITTED? Yes for our Sunday one-shot workshops. But for our Monday classes ... No, not really. Our multi-week Level 101, 201, 301, and 401 classes on Monday nights are cumulative — each lesson builds on all previous lessons.
• However, if you are visiting from out of town and want to attend one lesson, to see what the World's Best WCS (West Coast Swing) Classes look like <insert modest cough here>, please contact us and we will almost always say yes. We may ask you to sit on the side if we think that day's topics require preparation that you don't have yet, but we will refund you if we do that.
LATE REGISTRATIONS AFTER THE FIRST WEEK? (For multi-week classes.)
• We are very reluctant. We want you (and all your partners in class) to be happy! Not frustrated! Our class is intensively cumulative, which is how we learn so much so quickly and easily. Please come to the first lesson! Thanks for understanding.
• If you absolutely cannot attend the 1st lesson, contact us about starting at the 2nd lesson. We'll probably say yes.
• Start at 3rd lesson? No, sorry. We cover so much ground in the first two lessons, that we have never had anyone successfully start during lesson 3. We used to allow it, but everyone who tried it, dropped out in frustration. (We gave them a full refund, of course.) We want you – and all your partners in class – to be happy! Not frustrated! So we ask you to wait until our next class series starts.