ATOMIC Ballroom's Dance Blog!

Dance is art and art is moody

By Shesha Marvin|2010-01-24T00:19:54-08:00November 27th, 2009|Swing Dancing|

We all have good dance days and bad dance days. Sometimes those of us that take our dancing seriously get down on ourselves when we have bad dance day. It's important to keep in mind that these slumps don't make us bad dancers. It may be that we are bad technicians that day but we are still good "dancers". Dancing is an art just like painting.

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Paying it forward…selfishly.

By ATOMIC Ballroom|2010-01-24T00:19:59-08:00August 17th, 2009|General|

I started my lindy hop habit a number of years ago, when after attending Atomic ballroom a couple of times with what can be best described as “functional” east coast swing abilities I decided I should learn lindy hop and signed up for some classes. I took a beginning series and started social dancing once or twice a week. After the beginning series ended I took an intermediate series and upon its conclusion the instructor approached me about a team that he ran. The team met for a couple of hours once a week to learn and practice. They performed publicly from time to time, but the point of the team was to help beginning lindy hoppers progress their dancing.

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To rotate or not to rotate

By Shesha Marvin|2010-01-24T00:20:05-08:00July 19th, 2009|General|

To rotate or not to rotate

When you take a group class at ATOMIC Ballroom you will quickly find that we rotate partners. Your instructor will say, "Thank your partner, and rotate." Dance studios rotate partners because

Classes are not evenly matched with leaders and followers.
Many students come alone and would like to meet more than one person.
Every partner "feels" different. Because partner dancing is based on lead and follow it's a good idea to develop a versatile connection.
When you go to a dance you will know many partners because you will have danced with them before during class.

Some people come to class with a partner already. However it's still a VERY good idea to rotate partners.

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Beginner Tips for Viennese Waltz

By Shesha Marvin|2010-01-24T00:20:41-08:00June 10th, 2009|Ballroom Dancing|

Viennese Waltz

The Viennese waltz was born in the suburbs of Vienna and in the alpine region of Austria in the 1700’s. The waltz was originally a folk dance, danced by peasants in Austria and Bavaria. Many of the familiar waltz tunes can be traced back to simple peasant yodeling melodies. The word, waltz comes from the old German word “walzen” which means to roll, turn, or to glide.

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Camp Jitterbug 2009, AWESOME

By ATOMIC Ballroom|2010-01-24T00:20:44-08:00May 29th, 2009|Swing Dancing, Dance Camps|

Camp Jitterbug 2009, Seattle

Greetings from Seattle. Camp Jitterbug 2009 started off this year with a bang! The Jump Session Show was filled to the brim with top notch dancers from across the globe. Although I wondered how they would fill the 2 hours, after being there and watching the show, I wonder what other awesome routines they had to cut out.

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I am a Lindy Hopper

By ATOMIC Ballroom|2024-11-18T20:55:12-08:00May 18th, 2009|Swing Dancing, General|

Lindy Hop ROCKS!

I am a Lindy Hopper. Although I continually want to improve my dancing, I’m very happy with how far I’ve come in the last two years and am eager to continue. But I would not be where I am today without a lot of help from a lot of people. That commitment to me as a part of the Lindy Hop community is built through the generosity of knowledge and talent from other dancers and the interpersonal nature of the dance itself.

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Frankie Manning 1914 – 2009

By Shesha Marvin|2010-01-24T00:20:53-08:00April 29th, 2009|Swing Dancing|

Frankie Manning with the Big Apple Dancers.

It is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our wonderful friend. Mr. Frankie Manning passed away peacefully early this morning at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York from complications of pneumonia. As many of you know, we would not be where we are today without his talent, creativity, inspiration and SMILE!

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Any suggestions for swing music?

By Kyle Smith|2010-02-16T21:39:56-08:00April 15th, 2009|Music|

Herbie Kay Orchestra

So you are interested in swing music, but don't know where to start? Follow us after the break for a quick list of some (by no means any where near complete list) of my favorite traditional and contemporary swing artists.

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Good Dancing Check List

By Shesha Marvin|2010-01-24T00:23:06-08:00March 19th, 2009|Swing Dancing, Ballroom Dancing, Latin Dancing|

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

I've tried to come up with some rules of dance for myself and for my students. I'm looking for universal truths. Things that are hard to argue against. But of course...feel free :-)

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Lindy Hoppers on Dancing with the Stars

By Shesha Marvin|2009-04-29T16:23:10-07:00March 3rd, 2009|Swing Dancing|

My wife Nikki and I had the fun and stressful experience of performing lindy hop on Dancing with the Stars in '07. We danced to a rock song "Dance Dance" by Fallout Boy. Like always, the producers of the show like to showcase the dancing to contemporary music.

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