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.
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