Language is incredible.  We take a bunch of noises, combine them in specific ways, and bam!  Ideas flow from one brain into another- or into a bunch of others.  It's like an amazing magic trick.  However, if you mis-use language, then bad things happen.  Sometimes you're not understood.  Worse, though, sometimes you spread ideas that generate other bad uses of language- you put the mucky-muck into those other brains.  In an effort to cut the mucky-muck out, blues dancers, let's talk about polyrhythms.  

There are a lot of complicated explanations in the world as to what a polyrhythm is.  My layman-ified definition (pulling from the sources listed at the bottom, which you should read/watch for better understanding) is that a polyrhythm is overlaying two or more rhythms, where one is not a clean subdivision of the other.  So for instance, if in the same unit of time (let's say four seconds) you play four evenly spaced beats in your left hand, and three evenly spaced beats in your right hand, that's a polyrhythm.  If, however, you do four beats in your left hand, and two in your right hand, that's not a polyrhythm.  Really, you're just playing every other beat in your right hand.  

To put it in a blues context, if you step every other beat, and you shimmy a back-forth every beat, you're doing half-notes in your feet, and eighth notes in your shoulders, which isn't a polyrhythm.  Now, it's still cool!  And it's still blues!  All is not lost!  You can talk about layering movements- that's still true.  You can talk about texturing your basic- you're still doing that.  But you're not doing a polyrhythm.  The video below can help you, if you actually want to do polyrhythms.  But at the very least, let's stop abusing the word polyrhythm when we don't mean polyrhythm.  

Note: I come from a musically-exposed background, but I don't have a music degree.  I've never taken a music-theory course.  But as a result of hanging out with people who are more musically educated than I am, and many Google searches, I've learned a few things.  And one of those things is what a polyrhythm is, and is not. I encourage you to get better educated about this topic.  In the words of LeVar Burton- don't take my word for it!  Check out these (fairly accessible) explanations.



http://blog.dubspot.com/polyrhythms-put-hands-together/

http://f.unkster.tripod.com/polyrhythm.html
http://music.tutsplus.com/articles/introduction-to-polyrhythms--audio-2573

Competitions.  Some people believe that competitions are the best way to challenge a scene, to inspire novice and advanced dancers alike, and to present the best of a dance to the rest of the world.  Other people feel that competitions distort the values of a dance scene, promote flash over other skills (like teaching ability), and drive the art form more towards a sport.  Frankly, I think that there is merit to both sides of the argument.  However, that argument has been had, and for better and for worse, competitions are here, and are likely to stay.  I've hesitated to write a blog on competitions, since I don't really have a comprehensive thesis.  But with so many competitions on the horizon, here's a pile of thoughts and questions for you, dear organizer/competitor/judge/viewer/lost-internet-traveler, to ponder... plus a bonus section of my opinions with no sugar coating.  

What's the Point?
Every competition needs a reason for existing.  For some comps, that's celebrating a particular skill set (like the Jill competition at Blues Muse).  For others, it's to rally a region (like the comps at Southeast Summer Brawl).  Some are to challenge people in their athleticism and flash (I'm looking at you, lindy hop strictlies); some are to encourage up-and-coming dancers (pro-ams, that's you!).  Whatever the reason, a competition takes away from social dancing, and disappoints people- but if the pros outweigh the cons (as often they do), let the games go on.  

Just as competitions need a reason for existing, competitors should have a reason for competing- and it's rarely best to compete for the sake of winning.  Your final placement depends on factors entirely out of your control (like how well everyone else danced), so in that sense, it's a bit like trying to catch the most rain in a seven day period- the clouds have as much to say about it as you do.  There are some very valid reasons to compete- some with their dark sides.  Some of these include:
--meeting new people (this works much better in a jack and jill than a strictly)
--giving yourself a goal for which to train (life gamification)
--practicing dealing with stage fright
--measuring your progress with videos (there are other ways to do this, but this is a way)
--publicity (the dark side here is that in some scenes, people search for teachers to take from by looking at their competition videos, which selects for good competition dancing above other factors- a pretty dark path)

Competition Format
For every competition, the format must support the goals.  So if you want to showcase good improvised partner skills, follower contribution, and interesting rhythms in a lindy comp, then super-fast charlestony music is not a good fit.  If you want to showcase the best social dancers, are spotlights with fixed partners the best way to end a jack and jill?  If you want to promote the relationship between the partners and the music, is a spotlight with traveling entrances (particularly in blues) really the best way to facilitate that mindset for your competitors?  Your format has to not only make sense to enable the competitors to accomplish the goal, but you need to consider the message you're sending your audience.  If we never have any solo blues competitions that are just solo blues (not cutting or riffing), what does that say about our scene's value of solo blues?  

Judges and Judging
Every judge should be hired for their perspective, their insight, and their critical eye.  Once this criteria has been met, having specific criteria with percentages may help achieve the goal of your comp... but it may also hinder it.  For Enter the Blues, the advice I eventually wound up giving my judges was "I hired you because I trust you.  Judge based on what you think is good blues dancing."  It is also acceptable practice to give the values of the event, such as "We are especially valuing musicality in this comp, so give it extra weight."  One thing I do ask of my judges, and I strive for myself, is impartiality.  The non-favoritism part of this is obvious, but I also attempt to leave out any knowledge I may have of a competitor's progress, stagnation, or untapped potential- what I see in the competition is all I judge them on, and I advocate for other judges doing the same.  

The Wrap-Up
I'm putting the wrap-up here, because the next part is my potentially controversial set of personal views- feel free to skip it, and continue on your day with these rainbows and puppies.  But before you go, simply consider this: for every competition, there should be a purpose, and every aspect of the competition should be to further that purpose.  From soup to nuts, make the competition worthwhile.

Un-Sugar-Coated Opinions (Beware!**)
**Please note that this section is fraught with things I might normally only say after a glass of wine- I won't stand behind the global rightness of all of these, but people have asked how I feel- now you'll know.  Also sentence fragments.

-Never audience judged.  Just never.  [See?  Sentence fragments.]  You're measuring loudness, not votes.  If you must have audience judged, do online voting.   If I yell more loudly than Julie Brown or Nina Gilkenson, should I get more sway?  (The answer is no, in case you weren't clear)  

-Likewise, tap-out prelims are not the most fair way to do a prelim, they're not the fastest way, and they don't put the emphasis on the best dancing; they put it on the least-bad dancing.  Use numbers, and let each judge have an equal number of votes (with equal weight) for the dancers they think are best.  

-Blues dancers are bad at cutting.  We are, however, good at solo blues.  Let's have the occasional solo blues competition, shall we?

-Unless the point is to rile up the audience (sometimes it is!), blues dancers probably should not have do traveling entrances, especially on gritty, jukin tunes or slow, sorrowful tunes.  It sets up the competitors to focus on the audience/judges rather than each other or the music, wastes some of their phrase on cheesy traveling stuff, and isn't true to the rest of the dance.

-I challenge you, lindy competition organizers/contestants, to have lindy competitions with more lindy than charleston.  Charleston is fine, but it's dominating the competition field.  Exception: if your goal is pure athleticism and showmanship, and not lindy hop, then charleston away.  

-My personal preference for spotlighty comps is that if competitors aren't getting unique song snippets, that they get an all-skate (judged), two spotlights, and an all-skate at the end.  You can cut down to one spotlight, but that all-skate at the end is a great time for competitors to do more great dancing (the nerves are a little less raw in all-skates) and for judges to break any ties that arose during spotlights.  Don't skip it.  Skipping it is like tossing the judges and competitors and audience members some cab money... at least cuddle first.

-For the love of all things musical, have communication between your tapper-outer and your DJ/band.  Keep the spotlights on the phrase.  If someone gets off, hold up!  Wait!  Get on the phrase!  You cannot ask competitors to phrase with the music (you know, basic musicality) and not be phrasing with the music at the same time.  Also, this is super distracting to judges, and makes your competition look bad.  Manage that shit.  Do not make me throw my clipboard in anger- only joy.

-DJs- know your goals, know the values of the event, and know your dancers.  If the novices can't swing out well at 180, don't make them dance at 180 if the goal is to make them feel like rockstars.  If your goal is to provide videos to inspire the world with your advanced dancers, don't pick music that's over-the-top hard just to challenge them.  If the goal is to showcase subtle musicality and phrasing, "Mannish Boy" is not your tune.  Be wise before clever.  

-Competitors' meetings often feel like a waste of time, but they're a good time to handle logistics like numbers and format explanations.  Consider, if your competition has explicit goals, sharing these goals with the competitors during this time.  You encourage them to do justice to your event, and you increase the chances of putting out videos that represent what you want to see.

So there you have it.  If you want to know more details on how I feel, you'll just have to buy me a manhatten or a Mamie Taylor.  Keep in mind that if you think I'm terrifically wrong about some of this, that's ok!  We're talking about ranking the goodness of subjective art forms- objectively speaking, there's something silly about it.  But because we love our art forms, and our communities, we present competitions- this post is simply a reminder that they should be purposeful, and purposefully executed.  

Once upon a time, I learned to dance.  And I fell in love.  I wanted to be "The Perfect Follow."  I strove to find the "right" amount of lag, the "right" amount of tone in my arms, the "right" amount of "heaviness."  I wanted to be mistake-free.  Then, someone told me I was boring (You know who you are- and thank you, by the way), and made me sad.  So I got creative.  I got musical.  And I found myself learning to have a voice, as a contributor- as a dancer, and not just as a follow.  

In a sense, this is also the story of the blues community (or one facet of it). Follows were told to be soft, to always wait, to let the leads move us.  The perfect leader was one who left so little room for error that he could lead anyone to do exactly what he wanted, all the time.  I can easily imagine a written guide to blues dance in the early 2000s including the fact that a follow's variations should not affect the lead.  It wasn't meant to be repressive, it was meant to create dances that worked.  It's intuitive- to move a paintbrush, you hold the paintbrush, you master how to move the paintbrush, and you create your painting.  
The first Blues Muse, in 2008, did not invent the idea of follower voice.  But it was the first Blues workshop that I know of whose point was explicitly to focus on the followers' side of the dance*.  Topics included technique for follows and what follows really want from their leaders.  Topics also included the musicality, presence, and style of the first four muses (for you whippersnappers who don't remember 2008, that was Carsie Blanton, Megan Adair, Heather Adams, and myself).  All of us were interested in these topics before the first Muse happened, which is why the event happened.  (*There was a similar, preexisting event for lindy called Southern Belle Swing Bash, which inspired the creation of Blues Muse)

Six Blues Muse workshops have happened.  And the world is a very different place.  By bringing the ideas of follower contribution and receptive leading into the limelight over and over again on a national level, Blues Muse has changed the standard.  Follows no longer strive to be paintbrushes; we strive to be artists.  The number one buzzword I heard from the advanced students this weekend was "collaboration."  From a personal soapboxy-perspective, I could think of no better word to describe the process that creates our music, and it delights me that it now describes our dancing as well.  In the same way that handing out charts with note-by-note parts written out to a blues band would be ridiculous (and monstrously wasteful), leads and follows are now expected to be equally responsible for movement, musicality, and partnership.  

Now be aware, that I do not believe this means we have to be shouting over each other all the time (this is not free-jazz).  Neither partner is obligated to layer distinct variations or make loud, additive statements to have a voice, and we can take on different aspects of the partnership as we dance.  But where once I took your step as a follow, now I as a dancer embrace your step as my own, and we take it together; where once you would lead a step completely, now you follow me within the step that you create, so that we make it together- the product of so many tiny subtle negotiations.  The point is that no matter the type of dance that two dancers are creating, it should feel good, and it should feel like teamwork.  And while this is the product of the blues community at large, I think that an unduly large part of that is due to the efforts of the collective Blues Muse team over the years, and I thank them providing such a space where we are all encouraged to advance our art together.  

Warning: this is not, directly, a dance-related blog.  But it is about nutrition and science, it's an interesting idea, and I'm hoping to get a bunch of accountability buddies by going public, if you will.  Now, on to the blog!  (If you want.)

What it Is
For the first time in my life, I'm on a diet.  Winter is coming (I always gain a few pounds in winter), my exercise levels are very low right now while I rest up tender joints, and there are two equally important additional factors: 
1. I have to fit into The Dress in April, looking my best.
2. I LOVE a science experiment.  Especially where I'm the subject.

So instead of thinking to myself, over an order of fries, that I should "eat better," I'm going on a strict diet.  It's a modified version of the Eco-Atkins diet, developed by David M. Jenkins, MD.  This is the guy who came up with the glycemic index, if the internet tells true.  You can read about his methodology (and his whole study) here: Jenkins Methodology.  

Jenkins put one group of subjects onto a diet that was low (but not extremely low) in carbs and vegan, and another group on another diet- we don't care about them here.  He recognized that low-carb diets are good for weight loss, but bad for the cardiovascular system, and a terrible idea ecologically (meat and hummers are in the same category, y'all- they make the bambi cry).  So he put people on a diet that was calorie restricted, and gave the same calorie ratios that I used below.  Processed grains were pretty out, but there were some cereals allowed, and some nice whole-grain items.  The results were great.  People felt very full, lost weight, and had great lipid profiles (that means their arteries were happy).  

What I'm Doing
Now, Jenkins is a big fan of veganism, and I'm a big fan of cheese, so I'm using a modified version.  I'm being less strict on what, exactly, I eat, but equally strict on the math.  Since he's a researcher, and not a marketer, there aren't a bunch of Eco-Atkins websites, so there's some information out there on what types of ingredients he gave his subjects, but not a bunch of menus, diet books, and supporting websites.  So I'm on my own to come up with food that works.  Here's my plan:

Hardly a day passes that I'm not grateful for the giant plate of awesome (with extra awesome sauce) that is my job.  Sure, I've talked (sometimes at length) about the downsides, but man- my job is sweet.  Why?  First, my boss is generally me.  And I suck less than many of the people my friends work for.  True, I never leave myself alone, but typically, I'm pretty understanding.  Second, and more relevant to this post, I work (for all practical purposes) in the world of non-profit.  I work in a community-driven, big-picture-oriented, camaraderie-over-competition setting.  My co-workers want me to do well, and I support them in return.  This is not always the case, and has not always been the trend, but I think generally, The Scene has gotten wise to the value of cooperation.  Allow me to illustrate.

Myopic example:  Back in The Day, us old-timey Knoxville dancers used to go down to new-fangled Atlanta for just about anything.  Big workshop?  Great!  Small workshop?  Cool!  Bigger-than-usual monthly dance?  We're there!  We thought of hotlanta as our sister scene in a way- the cooler older sister we'd never had.  We were fortunate enough to have an exchange (not that common in the early 2000's), and it was our pride and joy.   Yet not just once, but twice (as my addled brain recalls), Atlanta, a mere 4 hours away, hosted workshops on top of our exchange... knowingly.  What makes the story so sad is not just that they thought it was ok (which is lame), but that we continued supporting these organizers (hey, events were scarce in The Dark Times).  Have a conversation, past-self!  Tell them that's not cool!  Le sigh.

Super-Awesome example:  This year, when preparing for Enter the Blues, Meghan and I discovered that unwittingly, we were for the same weekend as an event just a few hours from Atlanta, in Columbia, SC.  We didn't have them on our calendars, and they hadn't announced their event, so we thought our weekend was safe, and confirmed some very important details.  When we got an email from the Swing Into Spring team, we were a little heartbroken to know.  But, being the awesome peeps that they are, they said, "well, since you're stuck, we can move our weekend."  Now, back in The Day, the excuse would be made that lindy and blues are different dances, so there's no real competition.  But if you haven't been to the dark side lately (whichever dance you do less, that is), you're likely to see some pretty familiar faces.  The swing world is not a big one, and whether you dig on Bal, Charleston, Lindy, or Blues, you have a good chance of seeing familiar faces at any other swing-umbrella event.  We're all just lovers of vintage american partnered folk dances, here.  So they moved, and we've offered to help cross-promote (when they're ready) and maybe even offer some good-old-fashioned incentives for people who want to get down with their lindy AND blues selves.  Bam- everyone spreads the love of dance, and the Southeast gets more than its share of cool events to attend.

But this post isn't about how cool the Columbia people are (although, of course, they are), or how glad I am that we've moved forward from an age of "may the biggest event win" to an age of "let's make the best dance scene possible."  This post is about some ways that we can continue to move forward towards an even friendlier, healthier scene with fewer chances for conflict, and better dancers all around.  So, with much ado, I present to you:

Tools for the Scene

1. A regional, non-public calendar.  In the past, I've used a google calendar, and given access to anyone who is an organizer.  This is important because it lets organizers put "maybes" on a calendar, so that they can give each other a heads-up before going public with an event.  This way, organizers can talk before deposits are made or tickets are booked.  Let's not repeat the nastiness of the Dark Ages.

2. The recognition that Lindy and Blues or Balboa and Blues events will, in fact, be in direct competition.  Honestly, I even dislike Bal-Blues competition, but there are fewer of us who do both, so I'll settle for this: if it's a lindy event, it competes with any other swing-umbrella event (excluding Westie).  Regardless of dance style, I'd like to see 2 months between events in the same city, and ideally several weeks between events in the same region.  

3. This one doesn't exist, but I like the idea- a staff/volunteer database.  I have people who have worked for me who are worth their weight in gold.  Likewise, I have some positions at my events that need someone super reliable.  Beyond personal knowledge, how I do I find super-awesome people to work for me?  What about someone who fails to show up for 3 of their shifts with no explanation?  I'd like for them to explain why they put Bob's Exchange in such a bad position before I hire them for mine.  (If anyone makes this, let me know!)

4. Google Docs.  No, really.  Do you have any idea how powerful google docs are?  No, really.  Check it- this is how registration for Enter the Blues works this year: 
     1. You pay on our website.
     2. Paypal emails us.
     3. (Glitchy right now, but in hypothetical land, this happens) a gmail filter reads the email, and sends you the form to fill out.
     4. You fill out the form, which populates a spreadsheet.
     5. The spreadsheet sees that you're done, and emails confirmation.
     6. The spreadsheet autopopulates other spreadsheets with only the relevant data- so Karen, our lovely housing person, doesn't have to see what track you're taking, and our financial sheet doesn't tell us if you're allergic to cats.
 For real- Google does registration for us!  It takes a fair amount of work on the front end, but still- it's cool.  Of course, if you want to really go pro, and have a great team of support, I also recommend Open Dance.  Very smart, very professional, and good peeps to top it off.  Want other uses of Docs?  How about storing bios for your local instructor pool so they can update them at any time, and you never have to pester them to resend again?  Or, having your instructors for a weekend create cohesive curriculum using a doc that includes internal notes like pre-requisite moves or nice material to follow up with?

5. Public dancing.  Quite the opposite of public shaming, dancing in public gets you in the public eye.  We as a dance scene owe our existence to a Gap commercial, neo-swing bands, and a couple of movies.  The more people know that lindy/blues/balboa exist, the more likely they are to give it a shot.  So have outdoor dances at exchanges, dance in the park on Sunday, dance at music festivals.  And if you have a media connection, use it!  Get the word out- dance is a way cooler way to meet folks than  this is:  

I'm a believer that more events mean better dancers, and that's a good thing- but we need to place them with wisdom.  So, I'm curious- what else can we do?  How else can we grow the pool of dancers (and maintain our sanity), so that events can flourish?  

With much love and lots of organizing on the brain,
-m.

Recently, I've had been fortunate to spend a lot of time dancing to several live bands.  Dan and I did a one-week tour with Solomon Douglas, and were able to teach the beginner lessons before the dances.  Normally, I think we tend to have people dance about 110-125bpm for most of the lesson, pushing them to 130-135 on the high end.  Teaching right before a live band, though, we felt compelled to push the tempos a bit faster; we started them closer to 125 and tried to spend the bulk of the class dancing above 130, to give them a fighting chance at feeling comfortable during the dance.

Swing musicians (and blues musicians) spend a lot of time (most of their time) playing well above that 125bpm beginner mark... often, their mode is much, much faster.  In fact, it's fairly common knowledge (at least according to the internet) that if you hire a band, you need to coach them on a few things- namely, keep the songs short, and the tempos lower.  Most bands are pretty darned accommodating.  I noticed that Solomon even changed his tempo profile from scene to scene throughout the week.  As a dance community, we value bands that are "used to playing for dancers."  That's a pretty intriguing thought... the idea is that bands need to change what they do to be fun for us dancers.  So here's the question- how do we meet them in the middle?  How do we push our scene to be fun for bands?

I think there are several things we can do to make musicians want to have us around, as much as we (hopefully) want them around:

1. Teach your dancers to clap for the bands.  I know- you want to dip your partner, tell them how awesome they are, and maybe even talk about how great the song/band was.  Guess what?  The band can't hear you!  Their language is applause, and they need some love back from you to have a good time playing.  I've been at events where the dancers were having a great time, and failing to applaud (young scene)... let me tell you that the backstage chatter did not reflect the audience's feeling.  The band felt unloved.  So hug your partner- right after you've given a rowdy round of applause.  

2. If/when a jam breaks out, let the musicians see!  Clear a space so the band can have a clear look at the performers.  Why?  Because not only can you dance to the music... they band can play to you.  That's the advantage for you (the dancers).  The advantage for the band is that they're included, instead of shut out.  Ever been at a huge event, and walked in to see a ring of butts watching something awesome?  Not awesome for you, right?  Let's make it common knowledge that the band is a crucial part of the jam.

3. Let's tailor our scenes to the bands.  Let's teach our dancers to dance well at super fast, super slow, and super medium (?) speeds.  Most scenes have a pretty strong comfort zone.  Sometimes, it's unofficial (certain scenes are classically fast and charleston oriented, some really dig the slower, more chilled out feeling).  Sometimes, it's even imposed by organizers (a whole other topic of debate, I'm sure).  But let's make it a point to have a wide range of tempos where we can play.  Sure, you might not have the resources to be a master from 60-320bpm, but try to encourage your dancers to step outside the 120-160 range (or the 180-220, or the 110-140, etc).  Let's be able to dance well(ish) at any tempo.

This is a challenge to dancers, organizers, teachers, djs, and me.  My dream is that at some hypothetical future date, I can say to a band, "I'm hiring you because you're rad.  Do what you do best, and what you feel good about- my dancers can hang."

Much love,
-Mike

Bonus!  - if you're looking for an incredible opportunity to get into the heads of musicians (and practice hearing/making/dancing to live music for a week), I can't say enough good things about the Augusta Heritage Festival, in Elkins, WV. 
Why you should go:
1. This year, swing week is offering a whole class on playing for dancers and dancing for players (you could have skipped reading that blog!).  
2. There are classes on how to make music- whether you already play an instrument or not.
3. There are jams happening all over campus all day and night, concerts, hangouts, and more merrymaking than I can fit in one paragraph.  
4. The advantage of this over a music festival is the direct dialogue with the musicians- as in, everyone there is either a musician or a dancer, so we talk at lunch, in class, at dinner, walking around the mountain...   
5. Constant exposure/conversation/practice of music will make you a dramatically better dancer.  Dan and I have taught there for several years, and every year we come away much better dancers.  
6. Ice cream with lunch.  
7. Vacation in the mountains.
8. A week!  Did I mention it's a week long?
9. Solomon Douglas will be there (as will Dan and I). 
10.  Learn to speak musician!  This makes hiring a band much easier.  Also, music structure (macromusicality) will make more sense.
11. This will make more sense: 
http://gallery.me.com/edmalloy#100328 12. I will teach you why you need a spoon to properly eat a chocolate chip cookie.13.  Did I mention that the music is kick-ass and constant?

There is a week for blues (which unfortunately has no partner-dance classes this year) and a week for swing (that's where Solomon, Dan and I will be!).  

Details:
Augusta Heritage Center
Elkins, WV
Swing Week: July 29th-August 3rd
Website: https://augustaheritagecenter.org/swing/