The Booty Whisperer

Every dance teacher has her specialty: some are very good at making students feel very good; some are masters of discipline and help us strive for perfection; others offer insight into timing and rhythm, and so forth. Since I frequently teach beginners and often sub for other local teachers, I particularly specialize in breaking down basic steps into component parts. I like to take a foundational, "toolbox" step and examine where the feet should be, how the knees bend, where one hip is in relation to the other and how the spine responds. The happy coincidence is that when I encounter more experienced dancers, they may not learn anything new per se, but it's a great tune-up. I'm lazy myself, and teaching beginners forces me to tighten up my technique and show what it should look like in its ideal state. I suspect that intermediate and advanced dancers experience a sort of drifting effect - do a step long enough and the feet no longer point perfectly forward, the hands end up at half-mast instead of majestically high in the air.

Tonight I had the pleasure of subbing for Tahja. While she's enjoying some fresh mountain air, I've managed her Wednesday night classes for about three weeks, and I worked with students who've been at it for several months to two years or more. Walking shimmy (indeed, any shimmy) is usually a challenge, and to their credit the students wanted to conquer it. Doing hard things is hard. It's more fun to do what's familiar and easy, so I really celebrate the dancers who want to work on that which is less pleasant. So, we shimmied. We started slow and went fast, we shifted weight from one foot to another, we counted, we walked. Every dancer eventually finds her own shimmy, but I have some techniques that usually manage it for most people. Aaaaand . . . around 7:30 tonight, two struggling students had shimmy breakthroughs. Swish swish went the coins, and their faces lit up brighter than any sequins. So, that's my deal. I fix shimmies. I am     . . . 

The Booty Whisperer. If your shimmy's broken or has gone into hiding, get in touch. Email me here for details, or come to class on Saturdays at 10 at Dance Artistry.