History, Frankie and reflections...

So it's almost Christmas which means we started Swing Patrol in London almost three years ago. I am always reflective around this time of year and what a year it has been. We will bang on about the highlights of the year at the end of the year but  the question on my mind is whether we are doing a good job? When we first started Swing Patrol we had a very clear idea about our focus as a school. Taking our inspiration from the history of the dance, we wanted to ensure our teaching captured the joy of the dance, while instilling great technique. We also wanted to build a community of dancers that was a fun, supportive and exciting place to be part of. 

We get accolades for introducing so many new people to the London swing dance community and for staying out of the politics that can arise in any community. We have a pretty strict rule that none of our team say anything negative about other groups, other dance styles, artists and so forth.  Of course what individuals say privately or amongst themselves is well outside our influence…we only ask this when they are representing Swing Patrol, they remain positive.  We get teased and get called " Swing Control" sometimes for things like this but we kind of like this tag. We may not be everybody's cup of tea.. but we do have a certain culture and we like that culture. 

Anyway….focus… back to the main thought… Are we prepared for the year ahead? Well, we are not the group of three years ago. Back then we were thrilled if we just had ten people at a class…now with much larger classes and more venues, our focus needs to be spot on as we move into 2012. I am enjoying the challenge of ensuring our amazing community of dancers are equipped for the great journey ahead. 

We do some things really well…but we could write a long list of things we need to improve on. I am glad to have a team are fully supportive of our vision. The relentless desire to continually review, amend and experiment. I do get a little paranoid at times though and hope our team have enough understanding of the history of the dance. It's so key that all we do. Did I emphasise this enough at teacher training? Perhaps I should have made each teacher read my Frankie Manning book and all my books about the great artists of the day. I have geeked out on books about Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington. Having said that .. was cool to meet Tanya recently and she was reading her Frankie Manning book on the tube, and without prompting I see our venues teaching Frankie Manning nights, or Harvest Moon themed classes…a great indicator that the team are serious about the history of the dance. Maybe I have no need to worry. :) 

Have I prepared the team well? Do we teach with the right balance of fun, joy and good technique.. and foster a real community spirit at the same time? It may sound cheesy but I wonder what Frankie Manning would think if he were to walk into one of our classes?  I have been fortunate enough to perform in front of Frankie a few times and he was always so affirming…he even made me promise to go and compete in the USA once… so I did. I was driving Frankie around Melbourne once and I will never forget the great insights he gave me and the fascinating things he said. I was amazed about his reflections on how we run classes.. he thought it was a great idea and wondered why that didn't think of running classes like this back in the day. Yes I could barely believe it.. of course back in the day you watched, copied, experimented without the structure we have today… but Frankie liked it! Sort of incredible. Maybe he was just being polite but he was pretty frank about other things that bothered him so I have no reason to assume so.  Ooops. Focus…So would Frankie have liked the classes we run in London? Would he have thought our teachers competent and being great ambassadors of the dance? I think so, but I am naturally biased. I think Frankie would have easily seen that we have a team with a variety of talents. Some are such great community builders and others are the inspiring and world class dancers that make us all want to work harder on this dance we love. 

So I reflect upon our teaching and recently we asked for some feedback from the student base about what they would like to learn and focus on in 2012. I was so pleased to see some history based topics being requested. As we plan and move into the next year.. be assured we are really in tune about our responsibility as scene leaders to ensure our students get a really great historical focus on all we do.  It is a fun thought though that as a community we are indeed part of the history and part of the Lindy Hop story in this modern age. It is the modern day Lindy Hoppers who are dancing, sharing and loving this dance to ensure the legacy continues. I mean the amount of effort to create awareness about this dance is beyond belief. It is a herculean collective team effort and I am proud to be the leader of my team and the chapters we are creating. I should point out that other groups do an amazing job also. Some scene leaders, dancers, individuals inspire me by their love of swing dancing, music and the people in the scene. London is blessed with many many truly great people who dance and work with a variety of Lindy Hop related groups. 

Watch out world.. London is making history.. now.

The unofficial mission statement

The mission statement

I emailed the teaching team the other day with a summary of our mission statement and so many of them commented that it was great to read and useful as well. I thought it might be a good idea to add some things in here also.

1. Once this Dec/Jan/Feb push is over.. we will slow down the opening of new venues and focus on really building what we have.

2. In general our teaching team have some new teachers and teacher training is key and part of the reason that I ( sadly ) relinquished Old Street recently. We have had two teacher training sessions i the last month and another one planned for early December.  There is much still to learn as a collective teaching team and creating an amazing team of teachers is a wonderful and exciting prospect. 

3. Training will also be created for outdoor gigs. We work hard to secure these events so we want to ensure more of our team are equipped to manage and enjoy a public speaking and teaching role. 

4. Once we kick off the new year with our ambitious plan to open 5/6 venues.. and if that goes ok.. we will then work on managing our venues and … creating a stronger dancer at Swing Patrol. The standard is growing no doubt but know we can move the standard more efficiently with the structure we now have.  This will involve more intermediate and advanced workshops including more guests from abroad. 

5. We are still intent on better systems. We have done a lot in 18 months but trying to automate as many systems as possible while still ensuring we offer the great personal relationship through our teaching team. This involved things like scanning registrations at workshop entry and so forth. 

6. Troupe will be a higher standard next year as the general pool of people is higher to choose from. Troupe will play a role in pushing the standard of the dance. 

7. More focus in Balboa ( more than nothing will be easy..:) 

8. More focus on the history of the dance. We already are in contact in what we consider history experts and having them run some guest seminars in 2012 as we really link the new buzz with the original charm. 

9. Streamline our systems. We want to ensure our door staff and volunteers and better supported and this includes better training for them.

10. Risks. This is about a great journey.. and as always we will take some calculated risks and see where that lands us. More on this later.

11.  A continued focus on working with the many great groups around England that think like us and love sharing this dance. We have a wonderful network of groups that we love co-sharing ideas with and that is a great encouragement for all parties to learn from each other. 

Anyway.. these are just a few thoughts to keep you in the loop of where we are heading . I hope they assist or are of interest. 

Scottie :) 

Just feeling greatful.. for an extraordinary team.

What a crazy weekend and one I can and should reflect on. I don't consider myself a blogger .. and certainly wouldn't expect anyone to read my fluff but for me it's a record of my feelings and experiences and I wish I wrote more. 

I taught in Durham all weekend. The dancers in the North are fantastic and a pleasure to work with. They love their dancing and was a really great experience as always. 

Feeling just so grateful and proud. 

I write this on the long train road home on Sunday night. I am missing Red Rhythm and today was an important day for Swing Patrol London. What amazes me is that we have such an extraordinary team to achieve so much this weekend..,. with Fiona ( my admin manager ) in Australia and myself away since Friday. 

First thing on my mind is the troupe auditions. In a packed hall in Angel we had a block buster amount of people try out for troupe. FInding a date for these auditions was impossible. With BBB next weekend and then Ben & Tanya abroad.. this was the best weekend so I made the decision that troupe auditions should proceed without me. I have put a lot of trust in Ben & Tanya and I knew that would do a great job and they cleverly asked Loz, Cam & Erin to assist in the adjudication.  I haven't really heard much at the time of this train trip but I know that Ben & Tanya are very capable organisers and leaders and would have done a super job. 

I am also grateful to the many dancers who put themselves on the line. This is a tough day as many will miss out and not being accepted for something you want can be tough to hear. I am flattered that people want to be in a troupe that our group runs and think it's a testament to the current members and the leadership of the Rhythm Rascals. 

We also had a DJ seminar/workshop and many who really care about the music were involved. Chris Gammie and Loz plus a lot of other well established and up & coming DJs attended and I also can't wait to hear how this went. 

Red Rhythm is on as I write this ( slightly sad ) but  I am completely relaxed as Chris Gammie is in charge and  we have great door and bar staff. This is an epic event to manage as we run the bar and have to abide by some very clear venue guidelines. There was a time where I would not have trusted the reputation of Swing Patrol with anyone else but me.. but this is a ridiculous notion nowadays as truth be told.. event managers like Chris and David Clarke are more thorough than me and always ( without fail ) do a sterling job. I am extremely grateful for this. 

So these are the obvious things that tick.. but what you don't see is the myriad of other things that are going on. I really sit here feeling very fortunate and blessed by the team around me. While I can't confirm any of the following I would place a bet that the following happened this weekend: 

1. Pippa. Blues Baby Blues is this coming weekend so I will bet that Pippa is consumed in the preparations.. all with me not much help in Durham

2. Laura. Our graphic designer has a long list of jobs we have and she will have spent some time this weekend producing draft art work for me to sign off on.

3. Richard. Richard Warner manages our asset register and would have spent time researching and ordering a new system for one of our new venues.. and for us to use at BBB

4. Our teachers.. every teacher would have updated their diary notes, inputted email addresses, loaded You Tube clips and kept an eye on the admin relating to their venue.

5. Our troupe.. had troupe. Despite auditioning .. it was business as usual for our troupe. What a massive day for them. 

6. Gordon. Gordon is working with Asif on the marketing of Putney Bridge. I saw the email exchanges.. lot of planning took place this weekend. 

7. Fiona. You can get that Fiona was still working for Swing patrol at the air port and when she landed in Australia. You will find it hard to meet someone so dedicated as Fiona. 

8. Blues baby Blues team. Janet, Sibhe, Gemma, Laura, David, Robyn etc. 

I haven't listed all the names.. but the team is now in full swing with little time for anything else now. It's 5 sleeps till show time. This Festival simply wouldn't run without these guys. 

9. Two of our teachers danced at an event in Brixton this weekend. Massive thanks to Chris G & Laura. I have no idea what the details were. 

10. Erin and the Sunday afternoon Spitalfields class - 22 people this weekend.. a record for Sunday afternoons. 

11. Social dancers.. Red Rhythm always has 50-90 people. Swinging out on a Sunday night. I love the London scene for their love of social dancing. These dancers make Red Rhythm an awesome night. 

Can you believe all this energy.. and I am out of London. So I am sure you can see .. why on this train trip from Durham to Kings Cross I am feeling very grateful for an amazing team that due to their collective energy create a community that has a buzz and always has a crazy weekend of activity. 

Not sure if anyone will read this.. and ( in my tired state ) after three nights of dancing and two full days of teaching.. I am sure I have missed a few things.. but I am extremely proud, grateful and inspired by the Swing Patrol team.

Scottie 

* currently this train is being held at York until further notice due to signalling problems in Doncaster. Thank goodness for my Kindle.