Thursday, June 24, 2010

Intermediate Step, Combo 1, June 19, 2010

Are you ready for some more Intermediate Step? This is combo 1 of a routine I just finished teaching at my gym. I kept it longer than usual because my participants really enjoyed it, and also because it has some more advanced aspects (i.e., syncopation and cross-phrased moves), and I wanted to give them more time to work with it and really master it. I hope you enjoy this.

Dana




Choreography:

Up & stomp in front, Box cha-cha (8)
Stomp & Stall across (6)
Rock 3 on the floor & stomp (6)
Scissor Over (4)
Knee on the Floor (4)
Cut the Corner (4)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Making Baby Steps

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd share with you a bit of news. I've been slowly taking steps towards being able to provide continuing education workshops to instructors who want to learn how to teach Step or to provide smoother breakdowns for their classes. I have submitted paperwork to my state to set up my own company, under which I'll do my workshops, and once that is all in place, I'll be submitting my workshops for approval through ACE and AFAA.

The notes and handouts for my first workshop are basically complete. It's a comprehensive workshop to help instructors learn to teach Step and do breakdowns the way that I do them. It involves a full day of instruction, including a practical session and a master class, and I'm hoping it will be approved for a large number of CEUs/CECs. I'll keep you posted on that. Future workshops may include time-saving methods for creating choreography and breakdowns, and a workshop on teaching syncopation.

I also hope to soon offer a website where you can see choreography videos, communicate with me, and shop for choreography DVDs. Many of these tasks, unfortunately, require me to wait until my business license is completely set up, so there's the delay. Well, that... and TIME! I never seem to have enough time for everything I want to do.

I hope to have my first workshops in the Northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, and North Carolina areas. If you live in these areas and might be interested in having your gym host a workshop, please email me. A link to my email is located on my profile page of my blog. My best guess at this time is that I should be all set for doing workshops by the September or October time frame. We'll need several weeks advanced notice anyhow to provide people enough time to sign up.

As always, I love to hear from you. If you have questions, comments, or ideas for workshop topics, please share them with me!

Dana

Advanced Step, May 14, 2010

Hi Everyone!

I'm a bit behind in my postings. Sorry about that! This is an Advanced Step combination with breakdown. What I found interesting about this combination is that while there isn't any off-beat moves, I still consider this to be an advanced routine, based on the swivel on top and the syncopation. The breakdown is fairly straightforward, too. Enjoy!

Dana




Choreography Notes:

Swing Repeater (4)
Step back & Swivel (4)
Box on the floor (4)
Knee Lift Over (4)
Stomp & Walk back/forward (8)
Cut the corner (4)
Pivot (4)