Neat floorcraft trick for leads - you can do a send out in any direction! For a forward sendout, you lead with a forward rock step. For a sendout in a different direction, start with a rock step in that direction. For example, instead of rocking back on 1 with your left foot, step forward with that left foot. Then step back onto your right. That weight transfer will generate the momentum for the follow to travel in the direction of your rock step. To generate that stretch and communicate it cleanly, you leave your arm behind you on the rock - think of it as moving your torso away from your right elbow as you step forward, then moving your torso back to your right elbow as you step back. The four walls drill is simple - do a directional sendout in all four directions! We covered forward sendouts. A left sendout is pretty simple - the rock step is to the left! The back sendout is trickier, as it is rotational - after the rock step you should be facing roughly opposite your start. And the right sendout is widely voted the awkwardest - you rock step to the right across / in front of the follow, sorta cutting them off like on the 3-4 of a swingout. Was cool, thought I'd share. :)

I recently took an intermediate balboa workshop, so here's me talking through and demonstrating some of the concepts, specifically pivoting, then how to use pivots in swivel steps in Balboa. This is at the tail end of some hours of practice so my steps are a little all over the place, hope it still comes across!

A few friendly pointers on the dos and don't of asking for a dance on the social floor :D What do you guys think? Anything you'd add to the list of dos and don'ts?

Good morning!! Who wants to talk psychology? The Flow State-- first coined in psychology as the "autotelic state" by Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly-- is one of my favorite psychology topics. It was discovered when looking into the factors that lead to generalized well-being and life satisfaction. All over the world, people would repeatedly report moments in this state as their happiness points in life. It is a sort of "effortless effort" An auto-pilot where you're outside of yourself. Your sense of self diminishes as does anxiety and depression. And your overall capacity for happiness is increased. All mammals, esp social ones, are wired for this flow state. I've found my flow state in writing, art, live music, interesting conversations, and-- far more than anything-- DANCE. And here's why I think swing dance is a perfect environment for flow to flourish. Where have you most found your flow? And how does it feel for you? How has this impacted your life? I wanna know!! Thanks for watching! :D

Hey guys!! I LOVE dance and history and psychology!! So I'm re-reading one of my favorite books on all of those things and decided to do a series of short videos chronicling dance and its role in society throughout time :D Most of my info comes from Barbara Ehrenreich's Book: Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. Check it out for more info or drop me a DM!! This one cover pre-history and my favorite theory for the ultimate question: why do we dance? Spoiler: It's not 42 xP What do you guys think? Why do we dance?? Stay curious and KEEP DANCING!!