Our workshop schedule for Meet in the Middle 2017, Saturday February 11th:
| 09:45-10:00 |
Registration Opens |
| 10:00-11:30 |
Advanced Lindy Tricks
(Laura and Dave) |
All Levels Lindy: Shaping your Swing with Musicaliciousness
(Alcina and Warren) |
| 11:30-13:00 |
Intermediate Lindy: Taking Chances in Charleston
(Alcina and Warren) |
All Levels Blues – Jukin
(Gab and Eric) |
| 13:00-14:00 |
Lunch |
| 14:00-15:30 |
Beginner Lindy: Lindy “Fun”damentals
(Alcina and Warren) |
All Levels Blues – Ballroomin’
(Gab and Eric) |
| 15:30-16:30 |
Panel: Building a Swing Scene |
Workshop Descriptions
Advance Lindy Tricks: If you’re comfortable with the basics and are looking for something to add flash and pizzazz to your dancing, then this is the class for you! In this class we’ll work on some Lindy Hop tricks and flashy moves that will turn heads (without turning ankles). This class is meant for dancers who have been doing Lindy Hop for a while, who are confident with their swingouts, and who are comfortable enough in their connection to be able to enthusiastically share their weight with their partner.
Shaping your Swing with Musicaliciousness: Dance through the various structures of jazz music and spicing up your individual flair. We’ll be looking at some classic choreos and making up our own!
Taking Chances in Charleston: Add more vocabulary to your Lindy Hop with this complementary dance. We will be taking a look at some variations to your basic 20s and 30s Charleston, as well as Tandem Charleston.
Beginner Lindy: Lindy ‘Fun’damentals: Bring the fun back to your Lindy by developing the proper technique to feel the “goosh”, the “boing”, and the “whee”!
All Level Blues: Jukin’: We’ll explore the gritty styles of jukin’ blues you’d find at juke joints. Through solo and partnered movement, we’ll play with the rhythms and shapes that make jukin’ distinct.
All Level Blues: Ballroomin’: Danced to the slow jazz and ballads that would play at the ballrooms like the Savoy. We’ll work on connection and lines to make your dancing feel as elegant as the music it’s danced to!
Additionally, all our instructors have limited availability for private lessons on Sunday. If interested, please use our Contact Form to inquire about lessons and we will forward your requests appropriately. Please use “MITM Privates” in the subject line.
Lindy Hop Teachers
Alcina Chiu has been travelling for and teaching Lindy Hop for over a decade. She brings her personal joy and love of the dance, as well as her background in body awareness and dance technique, to all her classes. She is excited to be back in Kingston for Meet in the Middle 2017!
Warren Cheung had a casual relationship with swing dancing for a half dozen years before rediscovering Lindy Hop in the kinetic joy of swinging out. Since then, dancing has taken him from Vancouver to Seattle, through Lisbon and Seoul, and he now shares his love of swing by dancing and teaching lindy hop, balboa and blues in Montreal. His mantra is dance with the music, dance with your partner, but never forget to dance for your own joy of dancing.
Laura Smith is a swing dance instructor from Ottawa, one of the owners of the newly founded Side Street Swing. She has been dancing and teaching swing for over 10 years, and loves to share her passion with others! Laura has been invited to teach, compete and perform all over North America, most recently right here in Ottawa as part of the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill.
Laura’s greatest source of pride is watching her students learn and grow, and she can’t wait to see you on the dance floor!
Dave Schindler traces his interest in swing way back to 1996, when he and his sister, inspired by the movie “Swing Kids”, started experimenting with acrobatics and lifts in their church hall. It wasn’t until university, however, that he began to learn about the dance side of swing, and he’s been hooked ever since! Dave has been dancing and teaching for over 12 years, and has a keen eye for the small tweaks that make a big difference in the way a student moves. He loves the energy and athleticism of swing dancing, and helping students improve!
Blues Teachers
Eric Barbier has always been moved by music, and 12 years ago, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that you could dance to swing music. Starting in the little town
of Sherbrooke, he jumped on an opportunity to move to Montreal and enjoy all the dancing its scene has to offer! Eric has tried many styles, including Hip Hop, Jazz, African dance and Salsa, but is currently focusing on Balboa, West Coast and Blues. There’s
so much to do and so little time! For him, dancing is a way to connect with the music through physical expression, and a great way to meet people, especially while traveling!
Gabrielle Kern grew up loving jazz. She discovered swing dance in 2004 and quickly got hooked! A long time instrumental musician, she finds dance is a chance for the body to be the instrument – a physical expression of the music. As a teacher, she loves exploring how music can move you and how you can move to music.
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