The Quest for The Ninja Rhythm
I taught a class in Austin, Texas with Laura Glaess for a Ninja Workshop and this is what we taught. Don't worry pirate friends, I will do a Pirate workshop sometime in the future too, Herrang maybe?
Quest for The Ninja Rhythm
In the quest to becoming a ninja, one must strive for perfection in what is known as, "The Ninja Rhythm". The Ninja Rhythm is an uncompromising and unconditionally perfect rhythm. It is not affected by a partner, no matter how crazy, wild, or 'pirate like' that partner may be. Go ahead Anti-Rhythm Pirates - try to get a ninja off rhythm! For a true ninja has such uncompromising rhythm, it can inspire even a pirate to lose his ability to be off rhythm.
I started by taking all the 'ninjas in training' into a secret Dojo room where I explained the quest about to be set upon them. The curtains were opened and they were off on their quest. The class was awesome and Laura was perfect to teach it with. Her rhythm was incomparable as not even I could claim to be anywhere near her mastery. She continues to amaze me! Speaking of Laura... Congratulations Laura and Mike Roberts (they just got married)!
Labels: Austin, laura, Ninja, Rhythm, workshop
A new opportunity to learn - the Get-together will travel to you
Because of my past retreats and the experience of Mihai's Blues retreats, I have finally decided to start to take this idea on the road and offer regional get-togethers whereever there is someone with the desire to help make it happen. I have noticed such a large difference in my own and other's dancing that I want to give more people the opportunity to experience this style of event. So if you are interested in having a get-together in your part of the world, send me an email and let me know! AndrewSutton (at) SmoothSavoy (dot) com
Labels: get-together, retreat
Memphis, TN Blues Retreat
Mihai hired me to be the organizer of his blues retreat in Memphis, TN. This was one hell of an inspiring weekend. The blues retreat is based on my get-together teacher's retreat that I run each year at my home in Sacramento. The idea of these retreats is to bring together about 10-12 full-time teachers and dancers aspiring to be full-time teachers to teach each other and have lots of self-discovery thru out the weekend. I was a little hesitant on the outcome because of how quickly the whole thing was being put together and because the level of the dancers was so strongly varied. We had everything from full-time international instructors to dancers who had only been dancing for 6 months and they were all supposed to teach each other something about blues dancing that would keep each other's interest. It has always been my belief that someone with only 6 months of dance experience or less could teach someone with 10 or more years of experience if the correct subject were chosen and presented in an appropriate method. However, I have not personally tested it to this extreme of a degree. I have had people with as little as 3 or 4 years of experience in my retreat teaching with people with 10 or more years of experience but never only 6 months. Also, could someone with only 6 months experience keep up in the same class with someone with 8+ years experience? The answer was YES and it was totally inspiring to see it happen! It is so rare to see such an amazing rate of progress both by someone who had only been dancing 6 months and by myself who had been dancing 8+ years!
Labels: get-together, mihai, retreat
