MY DAILY SHUFFLE ISSUE

Transcription

1 MY DAILY SHUFFLE ISSUE

2 EDITORIAL Table of Contents Editorial President s welcome 50 th Photo Gallery MDS Comp Team New Dance Class Salsa Feature Swing Feature Class Timetable Semester 2 Events It s your editors here, Joe and Mel. Semester 2 is here and brings about that air of finality to it, but there is so much yet to happen, including achieving all those dance dreams! [Blades of Glory] Sports Anchor: And how heavy is that gold around your necks? Fairchild: Scott, this may be solid gold, but to us it s lighter than air, because dreams never weigh you down

3 PRESIDENT S WELCOME Welcome back to another semester of dance! Hope you ve all had a relaxing break and are ready to get those dancing shoes back on. As many of you would know, MDS celebrates its 50 th anniversary this year. Following a fantastic night of story sharing, performances and plenty of dancing at our birthday bash, we were able to share with our alumni what MDS has grown to become over the years and what we look forward to in the future. It was great to see so many past members reunited with old friends and to hear what they have gone on to do, including those who have continued to dance following their experiences with MDS or MBDS as it was known back in the day. This semester, as well as our usual practice sessions for the different styles, we have introduced a competition team class following the success of many students at previous external competitions. By dedicating a class to technique, styling and competition routines, we hope to help students build on what they ve learnt and have a supportive team representing MDS at Ballroom Latin competitions. There are a lot of exciting events coming up this semester including our annual performance night, dinner dance and hip hop competition which we plan on expanding to include other theatrical styles. Do get involved in our many events, try new styles you ve never done before and have a fun, dance- filled semester! Bilin Zhou, President s

4 50TH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIES

5 MDS COMP TEAM Do you ever think to yourselves, when dancing in your room to music on full- blast, that people should be seeing this amazing talent of yours? As dancers I think it is fair to say that we love the centre stage and the opportunity to showcase our hours and hours of practice. I personally have always loved performing Jazz routines on the stage, as there is a great thrill in being an entertainer and performer and of course getting to wear costumes and stage makeup. When I joined MDS in 2014, I started Ballroom and Latin dancing. Asides from the immense amount of technique that is required to perfect the rumba, waltz, foxtrot and samba, one of the most challenging aspects of picking up these styles from my Jazz background was learning to dance with a partner. It is one thing to learn a routine independently, practice your own technique and get comfortable wearing your dance heels, but it is a completely different experience when you put it together with your partner. One of the best ways to improve you partner skills and to get more comfortable with moving in sync with them is to practice as much as possible. And one of the best ways to ensure that you get sufficient practice is by entering a competition. How can I compete, I hear you eagerly asking? Luckily at MDS, we have the MDS Comp Team. The MDS Comp Team is open to absolutely from MDS to join. On Sunday 12 th July, 10 wonderful members from the MDS Competition Team, Alex, Ruihong, Andrew, Lynette, Ryan, Bhawanni, Michelle, Thomas, Michael and Vatsal, participated in their first external competition to MDS at the Monash Dance Festival, organised by the Crown International Dancesport Championship. For many weeks leading up to the competition, they organised extra practice sessions to learn new routines specifically for the competition, to perfect their technique and to build up stamina. The challenge of doing a competition for the first time was clearly not enough for the team, so most of the competitors learnt at least one brand new style, so that they could do more dancing! Booking the rehearsal room can sometimes be a challenge, but this did not deter the team in the slightest, rehearsing in any open space with a smooth floor they could find, including the ground floor of the Menzies and the dining hall in the Campus Centre. These practice sessions involved practicing, often painful and seemingly endless repetitions, of rhythmic samba timing, slow and controlled rumba walks and sharp and precise voltas up and down the rehearsal room floor. All of the dancers hard work and dedication definitely paid off, as every single participant achieved absolutely amazing results at the competition. Vatsal Kumar, one of our MDS members, competes regularly in C Grade Amateur Latin. Vatsal has taken pretty much every class offered at MDS and has a myriad of competing experiences under his belt. Coupled with his personal training for the competition, Vatsal volunteered his time to help our new participants prepare, taught routines and was an invaluable source of support.

6 Competing for the first time is always a nerve- racking experience and the adage expect the unexpected should definitely not be underestimated. The MDS competitors definitely encountered their fair share of mishaps during the competition, which although frightening in the moment, were useful learning curbs that will definitely prepare them for future competitions. Ryan and Michelle soldiered on during their New Vogue routine after Michelle unfortunately tripped and fell. A big shout out should go to Michelle though for keeping her cool and being able to finish off the routine. Ryan and Bhawanni also had a bit of a sticky situation during their Quickstep. With couples coming from all directions, they found themselves hemmed into a corner of the dance floor. But the couple showed brilliant floor- craft skills to overcome this and find a way to continue. The Monash Dance Festival competition had different sections that either judged dancers individually, as Best Gent and Best Lady, or as a couple. The MDS Comp Team took out numerous awards in both sections. Here are some of the remarkable results, MDS represent! Alex Rabinovich: 1st place Open Medalist Latin Best Gents (Samba), 1st place Latin Adult/Masters Couples (Chacha & Samba), 1st place Silver & Below Latin Adult Gents (Samba), 2nd place Silver Bar & Above Latin Adults Gents (Rumba) Ruihong Lu: 1st place Open Medalist Latin Best Ladies (Samba), 1st place Latin Couple (Chacha & Samba), 3rd place Silver & Below Latin Adult Ladies (Samba), 3rd place Silver Bar & Above Latin Adult Ladies (Rumba) Ryan Ahern: 2nd place Silver & Below Standard Adult Best Gents (Waltz), 2nd place Standard Adult/Masters Couples (Waltz & Quickstep), 4th place New Vogue Adult/Masters Couples (E3 Step & Merrilyn) Bhawanni Kirkland: 2nd place Standard Adult/Masters Couples (Waltz & Quickstep), 5th place Silver & Below Latin Adult Ladies (Samba) Andrew Louey: 2nd place Open Medalist Latin Best Gents, 2nd place Silver & Below Latin Adult Gents (Samba), 3rd place Silver Bar & Above Latin Adults Gents (Rumba), 3rd place Latin Adult/Masters Couples (Chacha & Samba) Lynette Young: 3rd place Latin Adult/Masters Couples (Chacha & Samba), 4th place Silver & Below Latin Adult Ladies (Samba), 5th place Silver Bar & Above Latin Adult Ladies (Rumba) Michael Hayes: 3rd place Open Medalist Latin Best Gents (Samba), 3rd place Silver & Below Latin Adult Gents (Samba) Michelle Lai: 4th place New Vogue Adult/Masters Couples (E3 Step & Merrilyn) Thomas Eli: 4th place Open Medalist Latin Best Gents (Samba), 5th place Silver & Below Standard Adult Best Gents (Waltz), 6th place Silver & Below Latin Adult Gents (Samba) Vatsal Kumar and his partner Lynn came 1st in their Adult C and B Grade events CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MDS COMP TEAM!!

7 NEW DANCE CLASS COMPETITION TECHNIQUE CLASS If all this talk of competitions is making your feet itching to dance, then keep on reading! This Semester MDS is introducing a very exciting opportunity for you, our brilliant MDS members. We will be having a new Competition Technique class, on Thursday from 10-11am, taught by our wonderful teacher Margot. This class will be focussed on learning specific technique, tailored routines crafted for competition level and other tips and tricks to help you transition into competitive dancing. This class can only be taken by MDS members who are also taking either Latin or Ballroom classes. If competing in dance competitions is something that you would be interested in, please come and talk to a friendly MDS committee member and be sure to join the MDS Comp Team private Facebook group for updates.

8 SALSA FEATURE CARL WU When and where did you first start dancing? What was it like for you? My friend Zoe Tranter brought me to the MDS Bachata party. At first I didn t really think much of it. Back in first year I think it was in the first week i was like oh I m not gonna to do that it was real intense when I saw Vatsal dancing (but he didn t know me back then). I didn t really think of dancing until Zoe brought me to the party. A couple of months down the road some other friends brought me to a social dancing event in the city, I d learned the basics before but I still really felt like a noob and so I just kept trying. What brought you to MDS? What were your first impressions of the group? At first it all seemed really intense, luckily I knew Zoe though and she introduced me to other people in the group. After a while I got over the stereotype way of thinking that the scene was intense and always serious with people training hard whereas it s actually quite fun and relaxing. I was discouraged from attending the Friday practice sessions in the beginning because I didn t know anyone and I was quite afraid of jumping out of my comfort zone to other people, but I think I m all good now. This experience at MDS has brought me here now which I appreciate. Have you taken part in any performances or competitions, what was your experience like with them? I was part of the beginner jazz so I performed at the MDS performance night for that. It was very fun for me as I was the only guy everyone was saying to me hey come join us! The dance was along the lines of solo work (not partnered) but everyone is in a formation. Toni (the Jazz teacher) taught a lot about contemporary footwork. She is also a Zumba instructor and worked with us a lot on our flexibility. I was also competing in intervarsity competition between Monash, Melbourne, and RMIT. I competed in Beginner Salsa as a follow, Intermediate Salsa as a lead, and both Beginner and Intermediate Bachata. It was a fun experience for me considering that I really don t like competitions normally. I got in to it for the sake of getting more points for Monash and for that reason I m happy to do some comps. I danced with three partners and learned a lot of different moves which was a really good experience for me. The training and preparation wasn t particularly hard, it just included lots of repetitive work with my partners to get the muscle memory working in the end. I would have loved to do some free styling in the performance as well, but to be safe with getting it right with your partner, most of what we did was choreo.

9 What sort of involvement have you had in social dancing? The first time I went social dancing was really fun I remember when I went social it was quite overwhelming for me back in 2014 at La Fiesta. There were so many people there and it made me quite stressed out. At first I was worried that people were gonna judge me since I was such a beginner, but it turned out that there were a lot of people like me there, which helped me feel much more relaxed as the event progressed. Even the people there who had clearly been dancing for a long time were very friendly and patient if you were taking it slow. Over the summer has also been a very memorable time, people from MDS went social dancing a lot together which was around when I started taking lessons. During these social events I was still having trouble working out some moves and handling my general coordination. I can say though that having MDS people there with me made it a whole lot easier. What worked for me was simply to try very hard and work on footwork repetitively both by myself and with others. After practicing a lot I was able to feel more familiar with the body and hand positions. Working on it by myself really made a difference when it came to even the basic steps and developing some muscle memory and the ability to recover if I ever fell out of the song s timing. In China I went to a few salsa dancing pubs where I managed to get in and have a few dances what I remember clearly was how much smaller the place felt as far as the dancing space was concerned. I wouldn t say it s a very popular scene yet in China since people tend to be more reserved and shy than over here especially when it comes to partner dancing. At the pub I noticed that there were in fact plenty of westerners and upper- class ladies who were able to speak English which is pleasant but yeah I don t think it s popular with the masses yet. Latin Sundays has been a really good place in the summer since you can see the sunset each time you go. During the summer the venue consists of both an indoor and outdoor section, but in winter it s reduced to just indoor because of the weather. In winter you don t get that sunset perk but there is plenty more space since less people show up which is nice. I have been to a Loco Mojo party one which was interesting. That place had a bigger variety of dance for example they did the Cha- Cha which I honestly wasn t too familiar with. I ve been to plenty of TSF events including La Fiesta and Potluck. Potluck is in the TSF city studio where people will bring a dish to share. It s a monthly event and for each one, they will celebrate the birthdays of the people during that month with a birthday dance. At this place they tend to focus on Salsa and Bachata, but also a bit on Reggaeton and Zouk. La Fiesta is more of a celebration for level 1.5 students which are basically beginners. It s a big celebration party where they are introduced more to social dancing; they also have birthday celebrations in a similar way as with Potluck with the birthday dances. I ve been to a few places in Brisbane, there was a place called Casablanca, it was quite a different experience compared to the ones in Melbourne. The timing is the same but they had moves I haven t seen taught down here. They do a lot of moving around and jumping especially at the end of each main beat (in my opinion at least). In Brisbane they were also doing this routine that was more Cuban Salsa where they are in a circle and partners would swap around in this really cool pattern. I m sure they would also have this in Melbourne but I definitely haven t seen it yet. Timbalero (at La Di Da in Melbourne) is a club with a really fancy and smooth feel to it with more of a night club vibe. It s quite a small place though and is very crowded every time I go there. Night Cat in North Melbourne is also a good place, it can get extremely packed though. They have a live band which is crazy where they can play songs that go as long as ten minutes. There are plenty of non- dancing people there as well so it s a decent place to just hang out and watch. They teach classes before the social events, but this goes for Latin Sundays and in fact many of the other social venues.

10 With regards to dancing, what tips would you give to your past- self that you wish you knew earlier? Tips for my past self would include being more adventurous, and being able to go to social places by myself without being awkward and to just go up to strangers and ask them to dance. In the beginning I was really intimidated and shy, people don t really bite there which is worth noting. It s always a really nice experience to ask people and it s important to just not be intimidated. Another tip would be to try different schools and even the classes before social dancing. I d also recommend myself to go more to the Friday practice sessions at Monash. It s a great place to get a dancing fix, practice what you learned, and just to hang out oh and it s free. Some people go to dance classes, but then they just go straight home. They don t seem to go social dancing and it feels like they re missing out. What recommendations for social dancing events would make for: Beginner dancers I think one of the most difficult things is the steps and the space that you occupy. I would recommend places with lots of space on the dance floor. My first example would be LATIN SUNDAYS IN WINTER (a beach half outdoor half indoor event) there aren t that many people over there right now so there is plenty of space compared to other venues. Another factor may be the other people around you and their skill levels. It s much more comforting to be around others that appear to have the same skill as you, so that it s easier to feel more included. A good place for this would be the TSF monthly La Fiesta party which is hosted for the graduating students of the TSF 1.5 Salsa class. It s a really nice feeling when you go and can say hey I m not the only one that might be struggling and that everyone is kind of in the same boat. Intermediate dancers Latin Sundays in summer would be more for intermediate since it s PACKED. For beginners I think it s a struggle with space sometimes when it comes to social dancing and the risk factor of bumping into other people. La Fiesta can also get quite packed but I d still say it s still beginner friendly. When I first started I remember there was this guy who just gave me that face because I would be bumping into him which was a little discouraging. Some other places would be Timbalero and TSF Potluck. Advanced dancers Nothing comes to mind really, it just comes down to beginner and intermediate for me. If someone is really advanced they would have a good time at any of the intermediate places. I wouldn t say there is really a place exclusive for advanced dancers. In my experience though, Night Cat can be pretty intense since they play with a crazy live band and songs can go for 10 minutes at times I felt like I was running out of moves in those situations.

11 SWING FEATURE RUWANI DE SILVA When and how did you get involved in MDS? What were your first impressions? I first heard about MDS at the O- week stall. I could hear an awesome Latin beat and followed my ears. I turned around a corner and saw a stall with students having a party and dancing in broad daylight; stepping, twisting and spinning away with smiles on their faces. I thought to myself, I m going to learn how to do that. I was already hooked and I was soon attending as many free lessons as possible! Can you describe your experiences with MDS and/or any highlights? MDS has been a wonderful experience to be a part of. It is particularly great having a student community to introduce you to different styles, make friends, share tips and go to social events together. A highlight of being a part of MDS would be doing my first performances in 2014 as part of the annual Performance Night, where everyone gets to showcases their routines. The photo below was taken during our swing performance. It was a great night to just have fun and showcase a routine we had learnt during class. I also was lucky enough to perform a demonstration of swing at the O- week stall the following year. How involved are you now? When I first started learning swing I was more involved with the club as I had to learn a new style from scratch, so I wanted to have as much practice as possible. I am less involved now that I know some steps and I ve got studies to focus on, but I ve made long term friends who I still see often. Sometimes I ll attend practice sessions too.

12 What sort of involvement have you had in social dancing? I ve been social dancing at Funpit and back home in Perth too. I also went to a dance workshop and festival as a volunteer at Sea of Rhythm that featured tap, swing, jazz and afrobeat, it was amazing and I met some dance celebrities too! The photo just below was taken at the Sea of Rhythm festival. Dancing next to me was tap dancer Joestte Waggan and next to her was Ramona Staffeild, a professional lindy hopper. Are there ay tips you can give that you wish you had as a beginner (either specifically for swing or dancing in general)? For dancing in general, I think it is good to just have a go and see if it is for you! Liking the music is a big step to knowing if you will like the dance and the scene. Another suggestion would be to not limit your learning solely to class time. By this I mean practice by going social dancing or meeting up with friends. What venues would you recommend for swing social dancing? In particular, venues for the following (if you know of any): I don t go social dancing too much, but the Funpit on Friday nights is really good for beginners as they have lessons at the start.

13 CLASS TIMETABLE TUESDAY 10am- 11am Advanced Gold Ballroom (Irina) 11am- 12pm Advanced Gold Latin (Irina) 12pm- 1pm Intermediate Silver Latin (Irina) 1pm- 2pm Open Bachata (Alex) 2pm- 3pm Open Argentine Tango (Alex) 3pm- 4pm Beginner Urban Choreography/Hip Hop (Will) 4pm- 5pm Intermediate Urban Choreography/Hip Hop (Will) WEDNESDAY 10am- 11am Beginner Bronze Ballroom (Dawn) 11am- 12pm Intermediate Silver Ballroom (Dawn) 12pm- 1pm Social Ballroom/Latin (Dawn) 1pm- 2pm Beginner Salsa (Jai) 2pm- 3pm Intermediate Salsa (Jai) 3pm- 4pm Beginner Lyrical Contemporary (Laura) 4pm- 5pm Intermediate Lyrical Contemporary (Laura)

14 CLASS TIMETABLE THURSDAY 10am- 11am Competition Technique (Margot) 11am- 12pm Beginner Bronze Latin (Margot) 12pm- 1pm Open Rock n Roll/Jive (Margot) 1pm- 2pm Open Hip Hop (Peter) 2pm- 3pm Beginner Swing (Joel) 3pm- 4pm Intermediate Swing (Joel) FRIDAY 10am- 11am Beginner Ballet (Toni) 11am- 12pm Beginner Jazz (Toni) 12pm- 1pm Intermediate Ballet (Toni) 1pm- 2pm Intermediate Jazz (Toni)

15 SEMESTER 2 EVENTS Week 1 FREE CLASSES ALL WEEK Week 2 Dance Party Friday 7 th August 5-9pm Rehearsal Room Week 4 Dance Party Wednesday 19 th August 5-9pm Main Dining Hall Week 5 Get Bodied Thursday 27 th August 3-7pm Dining Hall Mid- Semester Break Dinner Dance Thursday 1 st October 6:30pm The Regal Ballroom, Northcote Week 7 Performance Night Friday 11 th September 4:30pm TBA Week 11 AGM Friday 16 th October 5-9pm Rehearsal Room

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