Hi, Tessa here. Since 2002, 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 dancers #trainWCSsmarter and teachers #teachWCSsmarter, which we do thoroughly in our Swing Literacy training programs.
These articles are my way of contributing some free, bite-sized education to the community to help inspire and motivate with practical, actionable advice for your dancing.
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I highly encourage everyone to leverage these free resources by sharing them in your community groups and with friends you know who could use them. Enjoy!
No one wants to be the person that everyone complains about. It’s easy to make the assumption that since you “never get any complaints” that your partners are satisfied enough. But since people don’t usually complain to your face, how do you know if people are complaining about you or not? One method is to take private
It’s hard to see the forest for the trees. Beyond your local classes, what else is out there? And how do you know if it’s for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a diagram or flowchart showing all the components of this West Coast Swing world and how they fit together? Showing all the
Last week’s Part 1 featured concerns that women have about their own dancing – things that women should take personal responsibility for, as opposed to blaming outside sources. This week, I need to shift the focus to more serious concerns: things women should NOT take responsibility for, and ways women can and should take a stand. By popular demand,
Girls*, let’s chat. The boys had their turn with Guy-Guidance and Dude-Dilligence. Now it’s our turn. I’d like to address some of the common concerns and complaints I hear from women in my Feminine Styling Intensive, private lessons, and in personal conversations. It’s a bit of tough love specifically for women, whether they lead or follow. There was
I sat down with Kay Newhouse, affectionately referred to as “Community Mama” of the NorthEastern US, and co-director of Swing Fling, DCSX and MADJam, some of the biggest and most-successful events on the WSDC circuit. We were particularly curious about the awesome initiatives she is taking with the Newcomer demographic, and her ideas on catering
MEN! You have questions, maybe you’re too shy to ask, or maybe you’re afraid of being judged for asking. Myles has heard it all, and is here to provide the answers! Champion leader Myles Munroe answers 21 probing questions from men who dance West Coast Swing, including 5 questions that everyone wonders about but avoids asking. There’s something
“One day, I hope to speak Egyptian Arabic well enough to visit Egypt” This makes no sense, right? You don’t need to be fluent in Arabic in order to visit Egypt. In fact, the Egyptians would probably be pleasantly surprised if you even tried “Hello” and “Thank you”. When it comes to language,
Post-pandemic, as you have been reassessing your priorities in dance, you may have noticed you have had a bit of an imbalance. Focusing too much on training and not having enough fun, or the reverse – focusing so much on the party aspect of our dance that your skills are suffering… Regardless of your
It’s easy to get hypnotized by all the sparkly rhinestones, the splashy tricks, and the sick combinations. But after your Newcomer honeymoon phase, your senses are no longer overwhelmed and your brain has the bandwidth to appreciate different elements of the improv competitions and routines you enjoy watching. Some spectators like to analyze the
There are so many of these weekend experiences that have been personally moving or meaningful to us for different reasons: relationships built, magic moments in performance, hysterical spotlights or all-skates, powerful learning transformations, teaching breakthroughs, etc. But each year, on the third weekend of May, we are privileged each year to be involved in
Every once in a while you experience something that shifts your perspective, and your world becomes more colourful, more vibrant, higher-definition. Suddenly the preconceptions you had are shattered like pieces of Lego, and you have a glorious opportunity to reconstruct them from scratch, with newfound wisdom. Emotionally, it could be the result of meaningful conversation,
As I write this, we are in travel transition: driving home from (local) Easter Swing and preparing our suitcase turnaround for Singapore and Thailand. Sometimes it feels like travel is as much a part of my job as moving to music. You could say we are Champion travellers. How did we develop our expertise? The