When my line dance classes were first cancelled because of the virus, I honestly didn’t think the closures would last very long. Here we are, three months later, and my sound sleep has often included dance dreams. In nearly every single one of them, there is a major problem, either in a class I am taking or one I am teaching. It’s come to the point that I’ll be hesitant to go back to being an instructor!
Now I wonder why I’m having these dreams; is it due to withdrawal from being in class? Are any of you experiencing the same phenomena? In my April article here, I wrote about taking online lessons from Dan Albro at the Mishnock Barn. I’m still doing that; however, it’s obviously not the same as engaging in class personally.
Usually I teach but decided I didn’t want to join the (what seem to be) hundreds of people posting line dance instruction tutorials and videos. Truthfully, I don’t even bother to watch them unless I’m familiar with the instructor. There are so many, I wouldn’t get anything else accomplished!
Recently, there was a video posted by a gentleman who was irritated about the misuse of the word “syncopation” by line dance instructors. One of my dancers sent it to me, and even though the video was almost 16 minutes long, I felt the need to watch it in its entirety. After all, I am a line dance teacher and thought I might learn something.
What I learned is that I won’t get back the 15 minutes and 59 seconds that it took me to watch the video! The author stated that he released it in the interest of “fun and instructional” content; additionally he delved deeply into both musicality and philosophy. At the time that I’m writing this article, he had 270 views with 9 “thumbs up” and 3 comments. Maybe by the time my article is posted online, his video will go viral!
So far I haven’t had any dreams that included his musings, but only time will tell. In the meantime, here is a dance I’ve taught (among others) that I feel has a few syncopated steps:
Make It Sweet
Once these establishments are permitted to open again, Dori Yez hopes to continue teaching Country Line Dancing on Mondays at Rolling Mills Bar in Girard, Ohio and at the Cortland Ohio SCOPE Center on Fridays.