I highly recommend the Swing Literacy program for anyone who would like to understand the mechanics of WCS. The pedagogical approach is highly effective as the content and drills build on each other and you'll see results quickly. The program gives you the language to articulate yourself more clearly in class to ask better questions as well as all of the juicy detail you always wanted to know about the "why" and the "how" it works.

I often feel like other teachers can’t answer all my questions, but with M&T, I am never afraid they won’t be able to answer my questions. I feel safe asking about a conflict in my knowledge and trust that they will straighten me out and never leave me with any lingering confusion or cognitive dissonance. Before working with M&T, I knew I had lots of gaps in my foundation. I feel like M&T poured the water in that filled all the gaps. Their method allowed us to integrate the old info with the new info - I finally got all my random dots of knowledge connected. M&T have developed an awesome system to be able to assess wherever I’m at, and meet me there to build a plan designed for me.

Last week a young man, who had participated in the beginner class sat off to the side intently watching as the social dance began. I could see that he was literally “drinking it all in”!
When I heard a song with a simple clear beat come on I asked him if he would like to dance.
He was nervous & concentrating SO hard while using the “step back lead and step out of the slot” techniques he learned in class. But then he began to relax, then smile- then break out in a big grin!

This is where having Swing Literacy training and insight led to ME having MY BEST dance of the evening!
Because this young man was “on top of the world” & had a complete change of demeanor at his success.
His eyes shone and he began to talk to others sitting near him.
What a treasure it is to share someone's first real social dance.

It's like having a world class teacher - who happens to be a dancer - give you the secrets you need to know to be an effective, creative, inspirational, and inspiring teacher.  It isn't just about dance... its the science behind teaching others.

I had a gut feeling that things should be taught a different way - Swing Literacy gave me the courage to step out of the box of the old school teaching methodology. It gave me affirmation, guidance, courage, valildation. It reinforced my dedication to the concept of drills & skills over patterns & footwork, and I realized what was critical both to focus on and to avoid focusing on.

Yesterday I taught a private for the first time since COVID started. I've been teaching this couple more or less consistently since they started 18 months ago.
The couple and I were wearing masks and were in a huge room with open windows, at least 10m apart on different sides of the room. So obviously I couldn't dance with/touch them in order to demonstrate anything. I taught them Swing Literacy fundamentals and discovered they could handle more than I thought. And: it made a big difference! They were able to understand the techniques behind the moves so much better, and I was able to explain the technique way clearer. I think before I much more had to rely on being able to dance with them and make them feel certain movements in addition to explaining some concepts. It was also easier for me to identify what was missing in their dancing, so issues were easier to fix. Their underarm turns, sugar pushes and inside turns looked so much better afterwards!! Thank you, Myles and Tessa, for putting together this invaluable training program!

Before the retreat, I was really frustrated - I didn’t know what or how to practice. But thanks to the systematic and cooperative coaching from M&T, I could feel improvement after my first hour on the first day. Instead of guessing what they think I am asking about, M&T are patient in trying to figure out what I’m confused about, and accommodating for my learning style and level of understanding. I now feel clarity and confidence in knowing what’s possible: what I can do and where I can go.

10/10 Highly recommended! The course material is highly relevant, intelligently sequenced, and will lead to rapid improvements in the quality of your dance. The progressive skill building nature of this course makes progress easy and long lasting.

As a full-time educator, it is vital for me to have a solid, hierarchical framework of the topic or skill that I am teaching. Although I was a competent dancer who was already familiar with Myles and Tessa's teaching style when I started the SLDM, I did not have the level of expertise or the time needed to confidently build my own framework, particularly since teaching a physical skill is very different from teaching an academic one. While my teaching skills did give me a distinct advantage, the SLDM Theory Module acted as my textbook and gave me the foundation of this framework, while also teaching me how to effectively expand and build on it. It gave me the confidence and knowledge that I needed to be able to teach with professional integrity.

The Fast Track Coaching program the best thing I’ve ever done for my dance. Tessa is a peerless diagnostician. I swear it’s like her eyes see dance in slow-mo X-ray. She once told me to stop curling my toes while dancing… when I was wearing boots at the time!! Her teaching methodology is absolutely impeccable. She doesn’t just list concepts; she teaches you how to practice and learn dance so that you can retain the information. Most of my biggest breakthroughs in dance are thanks to Tessa and the more I learn about this dance the more I realize how right she is about basically everything. She got me out of Novice and now she’s gotten me out of Intermediate. The plateaus in my dance not-so-oddly coincide with the periods of time when I was working with her less regularly.

“I absolutely love Myles and Tessa’s approach to teaching. In just the first hour I spent with them, so many light bulbs were set off that I had to stop so I could start trying to keep track. They have a sincerity about them that I really appreciate. They’re really intent on helping me not just become a better dancer, but to understand what makes me a better dancer. It’s some of the best stuff you could hope to get from a teacher.”

I feel as though in other intensives, instructors will demonstrate patterns and strategies, but will not connect these to the basic skills that are required to perform these patterns/strategies. Myles and Tessa do a fantastic job explaining what prerequisite skills are required to compete the task at hand, and that helps people catch onto the material SO MUCH quicker.

We have a huge class of dancers (especially leaders) who are missing critical skills in their dance, trying to perform patterns and strategies in which they don't have the underlying/supporting skills for. Swing Literacy focuses specifically on filling those gaps in dancers' skill base. I definitely attribute MUCH of my success to your teaching style of skills before patterns.

Up until this course, I had a mish-mash of information and concepts drawn from various teachers and from my own experience, but I didn't have a logical, consistent structure to provide a framework for it all. This is absolutely going to me give me more confidence (much needed), as now I feel like I know what I'm talking about.

First of all it was a lot of fun for me teaching the class with a different approach than how I learned to dance WCS myself a few years ago. There was more interaction with the students than I’ve seen at other beginner classes.

(The recommended drills and sequence)... were not only a lot of fun but also worked great... in no time it looked like they were dancing West Coast Swing even though it was a simpler version. Everyone was on time, followers waited to be led, and they found it easier to pick up new patterns. Nobody looked at their feet, not once! I danced with the followers and really loved their connection, it really felt like a WCS connection already.

The group was small, but definitely not everybody extremely talented, and still everybody seemed to be able to dance WCS passes that look and feel like WCS within an hour. Definitely will use more of this concept for my next beginner workshop :-) - Miranda Lam

When I signed up for this program, I expected a what-to-do training session; how to teach the basics, and in what order. To my surprise, they didn’t give us any of this information. Yes, there was a metric ton of materials provided, but they gave us the tools to answer these questions for ourselves.

This was not a lesson in how to replicate Myles & Tessa in dance, or in teaching style. In fact, they avoided preaching subjective, personal opinions like the plague. This was a lesson in how to break down complex material into manageable building blocks, and how to scaffold learning in order to give the student the best possible shot at retaining the material.
 I learned to question everything, myself, and *why* something works or does not work. I learned that while a student must experience success to feel compelled to learn more, there are alternatives to teaching pattern footwork to a beginner in order to give them a manageable task. Many alternatives!

I learned how to shape a more credible WCS dancer in their first 15 minutes, and how to convey the key underlying WCS techniques with relatable analogies and simple drills. This is the tip of the iceberg. Myles & Tessa, you are truly masters of your trade. I am so grateful to have you both as my coach, mentor and dance project manager. Thank you!