Insanity - expectations not met

Recent facebook discussions circling each other have made me reflect on my previous teaching relationships with fellow instructors and event organizers. A quote from "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is applicable- Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Here are my thoughts.


1. Discuss the services that will be rendered whether it's teaching, djing, performances, etc
2. Be clear about what you need even if teaching is a hobby. Think 5 years down the road. What precedent do you want to set?
3. Discuss applicable fees and if there's no profit split, have a compensation figure you're both agreed on.
4. Inquire when payment will be made and follow up at the appropriate time.
5. Be clear what you are saying "no" or "yes" too. Some organizers are way too flighty or only half pay attention.
6. Don't leave the event without getting paid. If it's cash or check, get it that weekend. If it's a money transfer, confirm it's in your bank account before you leave.
7. If you require a teaching or djing schedule by a certain time for your own sanity and preparation, ask for it.
8. Be professional and demand professionalism back.


Stories:
An event organizer told me to prepare one aerials class for their event. At a dinner one week before said event, volunteers informed me that I would be teaching a completely different class than the one I was planning for. I was ill prepared and stressed. I also asked for a dj schedule which I never received, so I never dj'ed that weekend.

One dance organizer didn't pay me at the end of a dance where I played an extra two hours. People still remember that very memorable dance. The organizer said he would pay me at the next dance. I believed him. There was never a next dance and I've never been compensated.

At another event, the organizer asked if I could help with the contest that night, so I asked several questions to understand what they were asking. Eventually, this turned into them wanting me to plan the entire contest as befitting my vision. Never let the organizer dump extra work on you that you did not explicitly say "yes" to.

Another workshop organizer who was to be my teaching partner stated that I would receive 100% of workshop proceeds after expenses. This was because I would have to invest many hours training them for this highly skilled workshop. I was paid 75%, inquired about this, and she got upset. In the end, I considered my 25% a donation to her future event.

I discovered 2 months before an event I made the DJ list. This was confirmed 3 weeks before the event and I was put in touch with the DJ coordinator. Two weeks before the event, I find out their compensation figures. Two days before the event I ask if DJs get free admittance to the dance evenings they're djing. I expected the typical "yes" and received a "no". I canceled that day because djing at a loss would devalue my valuable services. The moral: don't expect "typical" dj compensation

In the end, I am partially responsible for people not meeting my expectations. I expect similar business practices to occur in the lindy hop world as in the business world. Someone recently mentioned people taking advantage of working in our cozy scene. Just because we're cozy doesn't mean we should lean toward lackadaisical business practices which can eventually lead toward ill feelings or people getting hurt. Don't live with insanity. If you're getting the same results each time, try something new.

Lost in Translation - Gerês, Portugal

My language skills are bad. They are nearly non-existent. Actually, my language skills are so infinitesimally small, they should be considered non-existent. I took a couple years of Latin and also Spanish which I mandatory continued at my university for one more year. I could read, write, but my listening and speaking skills were awful;. So, of all the non-English speaking countries I could have gone, I fortunately arrived in Portugal.

There are many English speakers here in Portugal. The students are willing to practice and receive instruction in mostly English. American movies and television shows also feature Portuguese subtitles instead of dubbing. If any translation needed to occur during swing dance classes, Abeth would translate. I quickly learned to speak slowly and enunciate better (though I could still slow down), demonstrate better, listen for certain Portuguese dance related words, and become more observant.

However, all this English meant I was spoiled. A spoiled Kenny could and did lead to a lazy Kenny. Though I'm perfectly content sitting through a dinner or a party with Portuguese language swirling about, I'm missing out on so much. My typical defense is to A. Read a book. Anyone that has attended a party with me knows this is typical. B. Get lost in my own thoughts. C. Find someone willing to speak English with me. D. Hope someone draws me into conversation.

The new defense? Just learn the language. This is my third trip to Portugal and I enjoy it here. The city is really compact, so it's easy to navigate via walking or metro. The winding streets aren't the most pleasant, but you eventually get used to them. Then there are areas like Aliados (pictured above) that open up nicely. You should have seen this area after FC Porto won the championship.

Have I mentioned they have beaches? And people dance or do aerials on them?

However, I'm digressing off subject. This is about language and discovering Peneda-Gerês National Park. The above image features my weekend language instructors, Nuno and Helena. As you can see, they take themselves very seriously, demanding that I stay focused as they are. The language lesson made the drive seem very short. I asked for key phrases, Helena provided. Nuno picked apart polite forms, Helena picked apart my handwriting, and they both picked apart my pronunciation. I need work, but it was fun, they were patient, and my notebook has translation information along with conjugated verb forms.

This was the payoff. Welcome to Gerês, home to rocky mountains, hot springs, waterfalls, livestock, and more. Our first destination was a crystal clear pool of water that alternated between warm and cold depending on your location.

Fortunately our path was marked by obvious cairns. Sometimes, as Daniel discovered, there were too many cairns.

Notice the super clear water as you peer through a rock opening. This was the ideal way to enjoy an afternoon lunch. We swam, ate and soaked up some sun.

 Afterward, we decided to go off course and discover a new path. Along the way, we discovered three horses grazing which led to me planking in one of the few manure free zones.

There were some moments when we had to evaluate our next move. However, this led to new discoveries such as more crystal clear pools and small waterfalls.

Though a fun adventure, climbing back out resulted in my right arm looking like it lost a fight with a fierce kitten. Following this river was not looking like a good idea. There were too many steep drops where we would have to take another route, so we searched for higher ground.

This direction led to finding scattered quartz along with this uniquely uniform straight quartz line. Notice how far it extends.

Finally, we discovered a two tier waterfall with a segmented pool. The pool was divided into three portions by two rocks that extended end to end about 20-30 centimeters below the water's surface.

You'll see what I'm referencing if you follow Nuno's sight line. The water was cold, but well worth the exposure. There was river god posing, planking, Portugal's planking version (not sure what to call it), and more.

It was a successful hike overall. We capped it off by discovering castanhas (chestnuts) and riding on the back of tall Nuno's van. We spent the rest of the weekend camping, laying in the sun and kayaking. Here are some more pictures.

Some Portuguese wildlife for you. There were grazing cows and horses and many elusive lizards also.

Portugal planks upright!

Lindy Hop Portugal Saga - Part 3 (Story Time)

It surprises me that some friends haven't heard certain Portugal stories. Stitches, secluded beaches, aerial workshops, purse thief catcher, marriage proposals, FC Porto, and others need recounting. I'm not one for gathering people around me and telling stories en masse. Not from the guy who reads at parties. So people have gained glimpses verbally, mere written snatches on Facebook, snippets missed due to feeds. Gather round then.

Aerials

I would be teaching in Portugal for three months. An aerials workshop was a given. Abeth and I planned it as soon as we could, but we had to allow time for me to train her. She had done some previous aerial training, but not to the level that was required to teach an aerials workshop.

Day 1 found us at Leça da Palmeira. We practiced basic aerials such as the frog jumps and a litany of trip flips. We worked our way towards Moons which was easy enough. Then we started building up the pancake aerial. We got to the dive into the swing prep where I realized my mistake. Don't practice in sand if you're ill prepared for sand flying in your face.

Subsequent days found us training at the Palácio de Cristal. The sand free grass made it an easier training environment. Abeth worked hard even adding pliometrics to her workout routine. The aerials progressed well since we narrowed the teaching list to 4-5 aerials. We stepped through preps, down and ups, then overs so we understood together how the workshop would proceed. This is because workshops are best when both people can contribute to the learning process. Besides, both of us would have to pass around the room assisting people and letting them know whether they could proceed or refine an intermediate stage. Here's one video of us training the pancake.

Aerials were progressing well. The aerials workshop went rather smoothly and we had about 30 students. About half the guys worked with two women each, but they hung in there and were still throwing them at the end. Everyone got the pancake that day too. Talk about success! Abeth and I then did an aerial wrapup video that went quite well too. As I wrote in an email: "Your students should also admire the effort you put into learning and teaching these aerials with me today". See for yourself.

Stitches

The Francos metro station was near my house and there was a tempting rock wall surrounding it. I was training plyo jumps there for parkour. I choose a slightly higher target, one foot makes it, the other doesn't. My shin's in pain. There's an open wound but no blood. I start moving the surrounding skin and notice it's moving independently related to the white stuff I see underneath. Then the blood wells up and I freak out (foreign country, no insurance, will I need stitches?).

I call Carlos.

Then I called Abeth (yeah, not many numbers on my phone).

 She sent me numbers for Carla and Mariana. They happened to be working at the same clinic that day, so I merrily began my trek. It was a fun 20 minute walk where the blood slowly dripped down my leg. Needless to say, they were great, Mariana makes wonderful stitches, and I can't complain with 3-4 female doctors in the room with me.

The creepy thing about this- my brother predicted this in a dream. A broken arm is close enough to stitches in a shin, right? I learned Portuguese swing dancing doctors are great. Mariana learned that stitches begets Belgian chocolates.

And my stitches earned me company with traceurs from Belgium, Germany, and Japan.

The Purse Thief

Lindy Hop Portugal held the Atlantic Swing Festival June 3-5. Abeth and I taught alongside Argentina's Gaston Fernandez and Tina Rizza. After Sunday's workshops, everyone headed to the gazebo near the Jardim da Cordoaria for my farewell party. If I read Google Groups ever, I would have trusted this information. Any time someone would mention "hey, it's your farewell party", even if it was Gaston and Tina, I inwardly scoffed. It seemed appropriate to have a relaxed Sunday party, but I never trusted the intel related to me.

So many dancers came. They brought food, alcohol, and blankets. Eventually, the food and bags were pushed to the edges so people could dance. I still didn't trust the intel until there were toasts and a 3 song steal jam. It was a nice thank you from the Portuguese dancers. They even gifted me with a Taylor's 20 Year Old Tawny Porto (still unopened and safely stored away). Eventually, I got worn out and headed outside the gazebo and chatted with Nuno (the suited guy).

We talked of a few things, including my possible return. Suddenly two guys run past us, snatching a purse from the gazebo's edge, and continue running. A few seconds elapse and then I threw my camera bag to Nuno and took off after them black jacket flapping open. They sprinted through the hedges, trees and down the steps exiting this garden. They were heading toward the Centro Português de Fotografia and I was catching up. When I was nearly 10-15 meters away, the back guy tossed the purse to the front guy. The front guy missed and I snatched the purse off the ground. They warily walked a few meters from me feebly gesturing toward the bag. My eyes were then quickly drawn to the 4-5 lindy hopper guys pounding pavement towards me and them. The failed thieves scampered off to friendlier environs.

It was an adrenaline rush. The purse was unopened, the guys were congratulating me, we successfully returned. It was an exciting moment that deserved mental replay, but you can't recapture that feeling. The purse belonged to Mariana, the doctor who stitched me. She jokingly proposed to me and I gently declined.

I had trouble walking after that hard sprint. I thought it was my sciatic nerve acting up and my Porto chiropractor didn't give me conclusive information to dissuade me from this self-diagnosis. Only until I arrived in Colorado did I get a proper diagnosis. My lasting reminder - a scarred meniscus. My range of motion is improving, but I have to watch my landings.

Lindy Hop Portugal Saga - Part 2

Portugal is fortunate to have Abeth as their instructor and Abeth is fortunate to have Portugal. She works hard as their teacher, they work hard as her students. Trust me, I've seen some amazing old footage of some of their current best dancers - Diana, Hugo, Ana Margarida.

She has brought in some of the world's best lindy hop instructors- Skye and Marie, Thomas and Alice. Portugal, though it's sometimes a financial struggle, shows up to learn. She also manages to capture wayfaring leads to Portugal for short visits- Dave, Marc-Andre, Gontran and myself. She's picky and selective with whom she has teaches, though. Not every wandering minstrel gets to teach there. If I recall correctly, I passed the initial inspection thanks to my youtube channel and I'm sure Lexi Keeton. Abeth is protective of her lindy hop cub.

My first Porto visit stands out even more for its contrast against Galway's swing scene. Tiffiny Wine and I just taught a one day workshop there. Her and her boyfriend, Jason Stingl, went to Barcelona afterward, I went to Porto. We had an excellent time in Galway. The people are great, socialable, very hospitable, and they applauded a lot (this rarely happens at the Mercury Cafe classes). Their dancing is a bit old-school much like Denver pre-2004. Portugal, however, was current and up to date with international trends. It felt a bit like Denver. Again, kudos to Abeth's hard work.

This meant I had an easier transition into Portugal's scene. It wasn't seamless, but it was relatively smooth. It's delicate entering into someone else's domain especially in a foreign country. You have language and culture barriers. I'm not the most socialable creature. But since I would be here three months, I had to jump in and tread Portugal's lindy hop waters.

Treading was easy with my supporting cast. Daniel got me doing indoor rock climbing. Niko, my Argentine flatmate, introduced me to CuevanaTV. Monica introduced me to useful and naughty Portuguese phrases. Guedes wanted to train parkour. Helena was a great tour guide. Dalia introduced me to aguardente. Carla had a vast English sci-fi and fantasy book collection. I could speak fluent and rapid English with Abeth, formerly of San Francisco. David was my long lost Portuguese twin (somehow). Carlos offered me rides. Diana repaired my shirt. The list continues on.

In the midst of this, I taught 10 hours or more a week. Teaching more hours depended on team practices or a random workshop. Other dance hours were consumed planning classes, workshops, training, or choreographing. A few new ideas occurred when I was there.

First, we decided to change Level 1's swingout. Eventually, the more intermediate levels are taught rocksteps, stylings, on the 1,2. In essence, the stretch/release lindy hop component. Not so with Level 1. This changed soon after I arrived. It slightly disrupted Level 1 but they toughed it with us since this was a fundamental alteration to their basic.

 This video comes from their Atlantic Swing Festival Performance. Abeth and I added to the original choreography taught by her and Gontran when he was in Porto. It was a great way to reinforce patterns taught during Gontran's workshop and then material we had been teaching in Level 1.

A second change was no stretching before class. Abeth loved to stretch the dancers before class, but I rarely (very rarely) participated. I am used to dynamic and active stretches before parkour, crossfit, and aerials, but this languid stretching was neither. We talked together and brought in another lindy hopper with outside active interests who agreed with me. Stretching does not help your muscles before physical activity, but classes generally had a warm up. Warm ups were either charleston, 8 ct rhythm, jazz, or general dance based.

Third, was the first formal Portuguese lindy hop aerials workshop. Several dancers had been practicing aerials on their own before. They would learn from youtube videos, workshops they attended outside Portugal, a gymnastics coach, or from DVDs I shipped Abeth. In fact, some of these dancers finally realized I was on some of those youtube videos they watched. Abeth and I taught one Porto aerial workshop, I ran one Porto beach aerial practica, and taught another aerial workshop in Lisbon.

Finally, and this trickled down from Level 4, we got the leaders to catch the follows more solidly on the swingout's 3,4. It was surprising for Abeth to hear me tell her she was light because the Portuguese leaders made her feel heavy. So, we played with incoming and outgoing momentum, catching follows with lats and legs, and being athletic. I'd like to think the follows trust their leaders with their momentum more and the leaders are more grounded, but that's for them to say.

Lindy Hop Portugal Saga - Part 1

People fall into three categories this summer.

1. The people that didn't realize I was gone.
RI (Random Individual): "Hey Kenny, where have you been? I haven't seen you out much."
A: "Well, I was living in Portugal for three months."
RI: "Cool. Wait! You what?"

2. The people that thought I was in Paraguay, Spain, etc.
RI: "Hey Kenny, how was Spain?"
A: Bam! [swift kick for the Portuguese you just insulted.]

3. The people that knew I had left, where I went, and what I was doing.
RI: "Hey Kenny, how was teaching in Portugal?"
A: Read this blog post.

10/16/2010
Why don't you quit your job and come live here for a few months?
10/17/2010
....come on spend 3 months in Portugal. Not asking for much :)
11/8/2010
If you want to get into something where you make a difference, Portugal is really on the edge. You'll feel like you're doing something that's affecting people's lives.

I was introduced to Abeth Farag, face of Lindy Hop Portugal, in September, 2009.

A good friend of mine, Lexi Keeton, knew I desired to visit another European country after a Galway, Ireland teaching gig, so she suggested I contact Abeth in Portugal. I did and found a place to stay, a Porto tour guide, a 2 hour class to teach, and a friend whom I stayed in contact.



From this continued communication came the above online Gmail Chat snippets. Wheels were set in motion for me to teach during an extended Portuguese stay. I was dissatisfied with Denver's dance scene and my job. What was a difficult decision became easier as I tolerated work and disappeared from the Mercury Cafe.

I gave work 3 weeks notice and started training my replacement. Heather Ballew and I were working hard getting our balboa team ready for Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout. Ten couples, one darn piano, still turned in a satisfying performance.

The next weekend I taught at the Heartland Swing Festival. In this middle of these two events, I frantically packed. Clothes were donated, furniture thrown out, items given to friends for storage, a car overflowing with goods. I drove to Kansas City, offloaded my car to my parents, and then flew to Portugal 4 days after the Heartland Swing Festival.

I arrived in Portugal the second weekend of March to coincide with a beginner workshop Abeth taught with Johan Umefjord in Faro, Portugal. My departure was scheduled 89 days later after the first weekend of June.

Upon my arrival, I immediately caused confusion amongst Portugal's dancers. Lisbon dancers and at least one Porto follow drove down for the Saturday dance where Desbundixie played. We danced, stayed out late, listened to "Caliban" sing and play his guitar, and generally enjoyed ourselves. These dancers were describing the new instructor to their Porto counterparts, but there was mild disagreement about my hair length. I arrived to Faro with long hair, having not cut my hair in 10 months.

I taught my first Porto class the coming Monday after getting the shortest haircut in my remembered life. On Thursday, when I taught in Lisbon, the confusion was laid to rest now that both major Portugal lindy hop groups had seen me.

My transition to Portugal was easy. I moved into Abeth's former apartment with her two roommates. I remembered dancers from 2009

 and met new ones.

English speakers were prominent, so I eked by with few Portuguese words and phrases. Abeth gave me a phone, started me with a metro card, and picked me up for classes. Rent was cheap, food was cheap, Hulu was replaced by Cuevana and CH131, and walking around was easy. I cheered for FC Porto and mocked Benfica.

 I carried around 5 liter water jugs.

Most importantly, I was provided hand drawn Porto maps, a top cities list, and Portuguese phrase "survival kits". Examples below:

Portugal Map:

Top City List:

Phrase Survival Kit:

Futbol Survival Kit:

After reviewing these survival kits, being in good physical shape is necessary too, so you can either run, duck from slaps, or take a punch.

Lindy Hop Portugal has 5 class levels: 0 (complete newbies), 1 (beginner), 2 (intermediate), 3 (advanced intermediate), 4 (advanced). I saw Levels 1-4 every week and only Level 0 when they became the new Level 1 at May's end. Classes enjoy a 3 month cycle where dancers may move up a level after that period depending on their improvement, gender ratio, or if they're dating someone in their class. This means a new group of dancers cycles through every 3 months.

It's a fine gender balance since lindy hop isn't considered "macho" enough for mainstream Portuguese society. You'll often find classes have slightly more women attending, though the reverse did infrequently occur. The women have learned to sign up quickly for workshops or festivals since Abeth will often place them on waiting lists. The other tactic is to sign up with a partner or boyfriend to avoid the dreaded waitlist.


Kizomba ("macho", because grinding never gets old):

Lindy Hop Portugal (guys looking macho):

Now, a 3 month teaching cycle seems dreadfully long if you're me. However, I've had the benefit of weekly dances in accessible venues. These venues and their instructors have adapted faster teaching cycles, month long courses, and more frequent tentpole workshops. Porto, in contrast, has 1 monthly dance at Maus Hábitos and a weekly practica. The urgency to get people dancing moves isn't there, so more time is spent teaching slows, quicks, and triple steps inside very basic 8 count patterns. As a result, I slowed my teaching pace, and learned to really drill and refine their lindy hop technique especially in Level 1.

Important Teaching Tips:
1. Speakly slower and enunciate
2. Remove American idioms
3. Create solid visual examples
4. Listen well to their questions whether in Portuguese or English
5. Smile and be pleasant
6. Build rapport

Team Porto

Team Lisbon

Meet Lindy Hop Portugal

Enough of the food, where are the dancers? After all, I'm here for the dancing, right?

Monthly dances are held at Maus Hábitos near the Coliseu do Porto. This video is from April's dance. Portugal has a small, but mighty and growing scene. New dancers continually filter in and progress from beginner to advanced. If you're ever visiting, be sure to check out the Lindy Hop Portugal website. Their parties go from 23h to 04h, so be prepared for that later start and much later finish.

The music will be fun since you'll be in the capable hands of DJ Abeth (above) and DJ Joe (below).

The dancers are friendly, welcoming, and want to dance with you. How could you resist Monica, leaders?

Also know that if you visit Porto and have the option of choosing Super Bock and Sagres beer, choose Super Bock. Carlos knows.

Even when there's much dancing, there's always time to chat and catch up with friends or make new acquaintances. Meet Isabel. She's never blurry.

If you look like Sylar from Heroes, be prepared for special treatment. Meet Diana, Joao Lourenco, and Abeth again.

Porto also has amazing views. There's much sightseeing to do even when indoors. Notice the casted shadows of dancers.

So, come out and visit Portugal. Porto and Lisbon both have excellent swing dance scenes with great people. And there's a great event coming soon called the Atlantic Swing Festival. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Most pictures were taken after a long exhausting 4 hour aerial workshop. Then they danced until 4am and some even came to Leça da Palmeira for Sunday aerials.