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!
April (Seattle’s Easter Swing) marks the 15-year anniversary of our dance partnership! As a rare breed of Champion couple who has been able to make a dance partnership AND romantic partnership work, I thought it might be nice to honour it by sharing the lessons we have learned along the way. Every couple has a different
Dance event photographer, Brad Whelan (famous for his signature BW watermark) gives us the inside scoop on his photography and some hints for dancers to get their best moments captured. CC: Tell us about your photography business? BW: While I’m now based in Australia, I find myself in another country about 75% of the time. I
Hey. You look a little stressed… a little adrift. Maybe it’s time we sat down and had a chat. Pull up a comfy chair, order your favourite hot beverage, and get cozy. Let’s get you feeling anchored. This time of year can be emotionally draining, even pulverizing for some. While I don’t claim to be an
It’s US Open season! This means many competitors are hard at work preparing their choreography, and are turning their attention (if they haven’t already) to planning their costumes. There are dozens of factors to consider when choosing/creating a costume, it’s easy to miss some. But the reality is that little details make a BIG difference. Some
If you haven’t yet seen Part 1, Tough Love: Read at your own Risk (Part 1). You really should read that first, in order to put this article in perspective, and catch the points that are made about aspects of WCS outside of competition. This article is aimed specifically at Competitors. Whenever I start coaching a new student, I
As an educator, I spend most of my time trying to make learning enticing: convincing kids to want to learn more. They want to freeplay, but there are so many life skills that they need to learn that are mundane or challenging. As a dance teacher, most of the time I get to teach people who
I love that while our dance evolves as fast as technology, we use technology to evolve our dance. YouTube is a great source of inspiration, but for the most part, a horrible teacher:YouTube doesn’t know what you need to improveYou have to force yourself filter out the entertainment aspectIt doesn’t provide the irreplaceable hands-on learningBut since this
For social WCS dancing, you can wear whatever you want – no one is judging your 3T’s here. So be yourself. Be comfortable. But for competitions, it’s a different story. I wish there were some guidelines like this way back when I entered the scene, so I’m hoping to pass on some hard-earned wisdom.Dress for the gameDancing taught
The inside scoop on the hotel side of dance events:When to book your room and whyHow to save and earn perksHow ED’s can take care of businessMeet fellow Canadian Julie Epplett, hotel wizard to event directors. Julie is the the expert smart Event Directors have in their back pocket when negotiating hotel contracts for dance
I had a workshop student say to me recently, “I so badly want to take private lessons from a Champion like you. I hope someday soon I will be good enough.” “Pardon?” I queried, confused. “Good enough?” He stared at me with a blank expression, baffled about why I was questioning his apparently obvious reasoning. I clarified, “Why
Dear Routine Competitors,The month leading up to the US Open is always fraught with emotions. The intense preparation causes us to reflect on why we are putting ourselves through this. It is almost impossible to explain to outsiders who genuinely just want to wish us well. How can they possibly understand? This can be a
Ever wondered what a physiotherapist’s take on West Coast Swing would be? It’s not easy to find one that really understands the nature of social dancing and the specific actions involved in WCS. But we’ve got one! Meet Ruth Norgaard…we asked Ruth some questions about common WCS errors that lead to injury and how to avoid them. Here are her responses!