DVD to help me follow silver-level leads?

[tahl]

Hi, folks, I'm new around here. I'm a long-time lindyhopper, & I've been taking & enjoying ballroom & latin classes for nine months.

Can anyone recommend DVDs, or other reference materials, that will help bronze-level me do a better job of following more advanced leads in social dancing?

I'm particularly looking for help following continuity footwork in (American) waltz and foxtrot. Quite a few of the guys lead me in continuity at my studio's dance parties. I really really enjoy faking it, and look forward to learning it properly in the future. But private lessons aren't in the cards right now, and I won't get to this stage in my classes for another 5-6 months. So any stopgap help would be useful!

 

[waltzgirl]

I was in the same boat, but I was taking private lessons, so while I was still in bronze in my lessons, my instructor gave me a couple "survival silver" lessons so I could follow the advanced leads at socials.

The silver level syllabus videos (try dancevision.com) will give you the footwork for silver patterns. But for the same price as a couple videos, you could take a private lesson, which I think would be of more help. Just make sure the instuctor knows what you are looking for--social ability to follow continuity, not necessarily all the relevant silver technique.

I did find that when I started silver in my lessons, I had developed a few bad habits from faking it during socials that I had to overcome. Still it was worth it to be able to enjoy the socials.

 

[wooh]

I agree that the money for DVDs would be better spent on one or two survival silver lessons. Like she said, just tell them you want survival skills, not so much of the technique!

 

[PasoDancer]

Definitely DanceVision- the one "Intermediate Foxtrot" one we have (well, it's a VHS, but probably available on DVD too) is GREAT- if only I could remember it! :'(

 

[tahl]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Actually, I'd planned on taking some "survival silver" private lessons . . . and then I actually had one, last night, my first-ever private ballroom lesson -- and I thought my head was gonna explode.

Okay, I exaggerate, but not much. I explained that I wanted to follow social continuity better, & so the instructor taught me the Open Right Turn from silver foxtrot/waltz. Problem is, I've never worked with head position & lean & changing lean before. The footwork, not so bad by itself, but with head & lean at the same time . . . yipes, if I need to get a grip on all that to follow continuity socially, it's going to take a lot more than the four or five privates I'm prepared to buy at this point.

 

[NielsenE]

You might want to check some of the "Styling and Technique" DVD's taught by Toni and Michael from DanceVision, rather than the figure based DVDs. I have the four single dance ones (haven't checked out the "Basic" one.

I found them to be extremely valuable DVD's. Normally I wouldn't recommend them to a beginner, but as it sounds like you have a good background in Lindy (and I would assume rather developed follow skills) these DVDs should be just what you're looking for -- how the underlying actions in Smooth should be led and what reaction they are hoping to cause in the follow.

The separate four dance DVDs are about 1/3 technique and 2/3 styling, while the combined basic DVD looks like it flips the ratio -- I'd suggest watching the clip the have and see if its what you're looking for.

 

[waltzgirl]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Actually, I'd planned on taking some "survival silver" private lessons . . . and then I actually had one, last night, my first-ever private ballroom lesson -- and I thought my head was gonna explode.

Okay, I exaggerate, but not much. I explained that I wanted to follow social continuity better, & so the instructor taught me the Open Right Turn from silver foxtrot/waltz. Problem is, I've never worked with head position & lean & changing lean before. The footwork, not so bad by itself, but with head & lean at the same time . . . yipes, if I need to get a grip on all that to follow continuity socially, it's going to take a lot more than the four or five privates I'm prepared to buy at this point.

That's why I said make sure your instructor knows what you are looking for! It may depend on how the silver leaders in your area dance, but in mine, they are mostly social dancers who've been dancing silver for donkey's years. Their technique is not so great. If it's the same where you are, what you mainly need at this point is footwork of the most common patterns and practice following continuity, so you can get the hang of it and be able to follow patterns you don't know.

In any case, my instructor did not introduce all those concepts in one lesson. Sounds like way too much for the first private lesson ever.

Toni and Michael's DVDs are great and I'd highly recommend them when you start doing silver for real. Another good one is Heather Smith's Ladies Technique and Following. But neither of them cover any patterns--it's all technique.

 

[gracie]

I found Jim and Janell Maranto"s silver syllabus tapes (Dancevision.com) very helpful even though I take private. I still refer to them frequently and always find something new that didn't register from the last time. Great way of teaching and the footwork shots really explain it all. Jim's amature girls always look and do great at comps.-- proofs in the pudding.

 

[saludas]

Video is by definition only two dimensional, so they're of little help in understanding a figure - however, they are good for 'reminding' you of what it looks like when you go over it with your instructor.

"Footwork" is simply memorization of a basic pattern, but just memorizing footwork does not help you in dancing - only technique can do that. Partner dance is based on lead-and-follow, so you need to understand what is going on, in three dimensions, with your body and your partner's body.

 

[Chris Stratton]

Video is by definition only two dimensional, so they're of little help in understanding a figure - however, they are good for 'reminding' you of what it looks like when you go over it with your instructor.

Perhaps, but the key missing dimension for examination is time, in that you don't have full control over it. If you want to fully understand things from video before developing real-time analytical skills, you need to be able to frame advance and rewind the video in order to see how the important elements develop - which probably means watching it on a computer, and possibly format converting it first.

 

[JANATHOME]

I had a few dancevision videos I bought quite some time ago. When I tried to copy them onto DVD(for my own use) they were copy protected and I could not do it... I dont know if they can be reformatted as suggested.

 

[waltzgirl]

I had a few dancevision videos I bought quite some time ago. When I tried to copy them onto DVD(for my own use) they were copy protected and I could not do it... I dont know if they can be reformatted as suggested.

Yeah, my dance tapes are the reason I have to have a combo VCR/DVD player.