Hi, Tessa here. For almost 20 years, I've been writing advice articles for West Coast Swing from my perspective as a WCS Champion and 30 years as a professional teacher and coach. My mission is to help teachers #teachWCSsmarter and dancers #trainWCSsmarter, which we do thoroughly in our Swing Literacy training programs. But these articles are my way of contributing some free, bite-sized education to the community to help inspire and motivate with practical, actionable advice.
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I highly encourage everyone to leverage these free resources by sharing them in your groups and with friends you know who could use them. Enjoy!
Etiquette is a part of the culture of social dancing that is often taken for granted. We all assume that since we feel like we are doing fine, that others will perceive us the same. Everyone assumes the advice applies to everyone but themselves. …but are you SURE? You may have heard some of these tips before, but
So you’ve been learning WCS for several months now and you’re curious: the other dancers you admire seem to be doing a lot of exploring and playing outside the box of basic patterns – how can you get some of that creativity in your dance? We use this graphic to guide dancers in their first year
How is your brain sabotaging your dance progress.? There are many aspects to The Mental Game of dancing – here’s just one: cognitive biases. A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information. A learning bias is a pre-determined assumption or mindset
Feel like you’re working hard but not reaching your goals yet? Enjoy this little “photo story”. I created this because it provides perspective and answers a ton of questions and concerns that students have, that actually have nothing to do with dance itself, but rather the mastery journey. I found that when I first
Dance feedback is like hugs. Everybody can benefit from them, but no one will admit to it, and it can get awkward to ask. An no one likes an unwanted hug. This article is your go-to source on how to gracefully GET and GIVE feedback. Read on to discover: The 3 conditions required for feedback
Watch this 2-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement when you are lacking confidence because you think your skills aren’t good enough yet. Watch the video: Do you feel like you can only have confidence when you are competent? Are you thinking, “I’ll feel more confident when I get more
Watch this 3-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement when you are feeling disappointed with your “score” at the end of a dance party. Watch the video: Want to know how you can instantly score more “good” dances you have each night? Easy. Change your criteria for what qualifies as
Before you get all scared, let me clarify: I’m referring to a diet of dance, not a diet of nutrition. This sadly misrepresented word is technically supposed to refer to a regular balance of fuel, not a short-term restriction of it. So, using the original intention of the word, ask yourself how your “dance
Watch this 3-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement when you are struggling to learn a new dance skill or move. Transcript below. Watch the video: Isn’t it frustrating when you’re trying a new dance move and you still can’t get it after 10 tries? Let’s entertain an analogy: There
Watch this 2-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement to help you discover more styling potential immediately. Transcript below. Watch the video: Feeling limited in your styling? When you dance, do you ever feel like you are colouring with a box of only primary colour crayons? In each WCS class
Watch this 3-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement about asking higher level dancers to dance. Transcript below. Watch the video: Do you have an “untouchables” list? You know, that imaginary list you make up of dancers in your community that are usually better than you that you don’t ask
You’ve been taking West Coast Swing classes for a little while now, and you are inspired by the videos you’ve seen, so now you’re wondering if you should follow the hype to attend your first West Coast swing event? I got you. Here’s a brief pros-and-cons list to help you decide. First,