Page 7 of 9

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:37 pm
by Nate Dogg
mousethief wrote:
GuruReuben wrote:
mousethief wrote:In many ways, I got more of a sense of Lindy Hop from Kwik and Rok than I did from the swing instructors.
ouch
That's not a dig on the swing instructors - Peter Loggins taught my favorite class - but Kwik and Rok talked more about competition and the necessity of it. We've talked a lot on various boards about losing the energy of Lindy and how musicality does not translate into creativity. In fact, we've talked so much about it that it has become old hat and it took an outsider (but a descendant) to show me how vital these things are.

So, I'm going to do something about it. Frankie has kept me dancing for 6 years, Steven has helped me progress and Ryan has pushed me to help revitalize my scene. And I have. But Kwik made me realize that I share a culture and I have a responsibility to that culture. So I'm going bring back some degree of competition to Dallas. It's been missing for years.

Kwik and Rok are out to keep something alive and if they're taking inspiration from us, I can take inspiration from them.

Kalman
I think the most important thing is keep it fun. With competitive activitites (DJ battles, jam circles, etc...), there is a fine line between everybody having fun/pulling for everybody else and a minority endulging their ego.

Personally, The most important thing for me is fun, as long as me and my partner are having fun, everything is good.

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:08 pm
by mousethief
Ah, like we don't indulge our egos by posting on SwingDJs...

Anyhoo, I'm done posting about it. I'm doing something about it. One Dallas based, local-driven competition coming up. I'll be keeping the pressure on this one until we get enough mad crazy Dallas dancers that we win the next ALHC regionals by default.

Kalman

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:23 pm
by Nate Dogg
mousethief wrote:Ah, like we don't indulge our egos by posting on SwingDJs...

Anyhoo, I'm done posting about it. I'm doing something about it. One Dallas based, local-driven competition coming up. I'll be keeping the pressure on this one until we get enough mad crazy Dallas dancers that we win the next ALHC regionals by default.

Kalman
No, we can be egomaniacs amongst ourselves.

Competitions are fine as long as they are in moderation. This coming from one of the guys who whines when he loses too much dancing time to that sort of thing :lol:

Then again, I am a jaded veteran dancer. The more jam circles I see, the more they look the same to me :evil:

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:25 pm
by mousethief
Maybe it's because there's not enough reason for new dancers to enter them. Anyhoo, as soon as I confirm dates, I'll let you know.

Kalman

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:26 pm
by Mr Awesomer
It's not so much an issue of indulging ego's as it is a matter of bruising the egos of the weak... which describes the self confidence issues among 95% of the people in this so called scene. Everyone's so damn meek and afraid to offend someone, and in turn so easily offended that the interesting contests and battles you see in the hip hop scene, and used to be apart of the swing scene, are deemed to harsh, insensitive and labeled as "ego stroking."

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:49 pm
by mousethief
Competiton always made me want to be better. It's not about taking something away from the masses; it's about giving them something new & exciting within the same dance they enjoy.

I might not want to sit through endless heats but you CAN dance almost every night in Dallas. So why not see who can REALLY dance?

Kalman

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:04 am
by julius
mousethief wrote:Kwik and Rok talked more about competition and the necessity of it.
Well damn it I've been saying this for years! I want people to compete SOCIALLY more often, not just in formal contests. And I tried to make people do a lot of shit-talking after ULHS 1 but damn other than Kyle and Jonathan Stout nobody is into it. Everybody sucks.

Just be more rad than the next best dancer. It's as easy as that.

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:07 am
by julius
GuruReuben wrote:It's not so much an issue of indulging ego's as it is a matter of bruising the egos of the weak... which describes the self confidence issues among 95% of the people in this so called scene. Everyone's so damn meek and afraid to offend someone, and in turn so easily offended that the interesting contests and battles you see in the hip hop scene, and used to be apart of the swing scene, are deemed to harsh, insensitive and labeled as "ego stroking."
Dead on. People get so discouraged so easily. I'm a suck-ass dancer compared to Nick Williams but I challenged him at Lindygroove one week and it was a fuckin blast. Everyone watching had fun, and we did too. Who cares if you "lose" or get some tude from the winner? The winner deserves to give you tude. That's the damn prize.

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 8:39 am
by gatorgal
mousethief wrote:Competiton always made me want to be better. It's not about taking something away from the masses; it's about giving them something new & exciting within the same dance they enjoy.
It's not a question of taking something away from the masses, but splitting them up. I've either mentioned this here or other boards about how creating this "competitive" atmosphere at a social dance does nothing but ostracize a lot of people who come out to dance, socialize and have a good time.

All of a sudden you find two "camps" of dancers... those who like to compete and jam and those you don't. And they don't tend to dance with each other or socialize with each other. Maybe I'm biased because I'm in a smaller scene, but I really don't see how that kind of separation can make scenes better and encourage growth. It's hard enough to get newbies to come out and dance, but if they constantly see this type of atmosphere on the floor, they're going to get discouraged, frustrated and intimidate and not dance. I think we can all agree that you constantly need new people with fresh perspectives to keep scenes going. Of course, if you disagree, go right ahead and post. :)

Don't get me wrong... I'm not against competitions... I'm just against them in a social setting.

Tina 8)

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:13 am
by Platypus
Back to GSWLF....thanks, all, for coming out. I enjoyed the variety of sets and the chance to meet y'all in person.

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:37 am
by yedancer
gatorgal wrote:All of a sudden you find two "camps" of dancers... those who like to compete and jam and those you don't. And they don't tend to dance with each other or socialize with each other.
I disagree with this. At least, I disagree with people who do this. It's dumb. If that has happened in your scene, then that sucks.
gatorgal wrote:I think we can all agree that you constantly need new people with fresh perspectives to keep scenes going. Of course, if you disagree, go right ahead and post. :)

Don't get me wrong... I'm not against competitions... I'm just against them in a social setting.
Last night at one of our dances there was some impromptu battling. It was the most fun I've had dance in a long time. And from the expressions on the faces of the people watching, I think people around enjoyed it too. There were a lot of complete non-dancers there for a birthday party, and they were watching from the other side of the room, laughing and having fun as we went to goofy extremes to out-do each other. I think fun social competitions on the dance floor can be one of the greatest things ever. I guess it depends on the people involved.

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:51 am
by wheresmygravy
Oh yeah, Lindyfest....

It was great to hear sets from the Peters, Mike, George, and Kevin. Unfortunately, I think I missed every one of Playpus' sets. It was an honor just to be on the same bill as these folks.

I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.......

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:48 pm
by Nate Dogg
wheresmygravy wrote:Oh yeah, Lindyfest....

It was great to hear sets from the Peters, Mike, George, and Kevin. Unfortunately, I think I missed every one of Playpus' sets. It was an honor just to be on the same bill as these folks.

I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.......
You were very effective. As effective as anybody there.

Nathan

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 4:50 pm
by julius
There is this perception that newbies are easily discouraged by (insert thing such as lo-fi music, cutting contests, flashy dancers, etc.). I think the only thing that discourages people is not being included on the fun. If the problem is that the battling dancers don't ask them to dance, it's not a function of the battling. It's a function of your battling dancers being doofballs. And battling or not, those doofballs wouldn't ask those people to dance anyway.

So grab a newbie and enter a jam. Or challenge some other good dancer with a newbie. Or whatever. Share the joy.

And yeah I hope Lindyfest was awesome. Denver LX was fun because all the doofballs were at Lindyfest. HA HA HA

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:41 am
by yedancer
julius wrote:So grab a newbie and enter a jam. Or challenge some other good dancer with a newbie. Or whatever. Share the joy.
I can't see how embarassing some new person by pulling them into a jam would make them want to come back. Unless by newbie you mean someone who can lindy hop but isn't part of the "in" crowd.