Franklin Foutain

This is one of those silly, meaningless, what-happened-in-my-life-today posts. You've been warned!

...because it's not at all meaningless to me. Today, I finally experienced the delight that was the Franklin Fountain (link at bottom). It's an old-school (although not that old) ice cream shop at the corner of Second and Market, here in Philadelphia. And while the establishment is only a few years old, everything inside seems like it's been waiting for you for a half-century or more. That's not entirely true- the ice cream is fresh and delicious. The rest, however, is as old-fashioned as it gets. Want to see the oldest working soda fountain, with some sort of fantastic name like the Draft Tower? It's there. Clear-Toy Candy or Teaberry flavored gum? Check. Servers with knit hairnets or armbands? Of course. Marble, brass, and old wood... even belt fans. The winter menu, available for only a few days more this season, offers hot milkshakes (toasted marshmallow, anyone?), mead, hot sodas, and hot chocolate. Me? I got a hot chocolate float, with butter pecan ice cream. Jesse and Dan, in their second round, split an apple pie milkshake. What's that? Why, it's a vanilla milkshake- with a genuine slice of hot apple pie in it. Ridiculous? Yes- in the best way possible.

Oh, and all this goodness? Comes with a paper straw.

Life is good,
-m.



http://www.franklinfountain.com/

Welcome, and Good Luck!

People tell me, from time to time, that I need to actually write in my blog; they're right. I often consider that maybe if I didn't spend so much time chewing my thoughts over and over, that there'd me more left than mush when I finally consider writing them down. I had grandiose ideas when I set up this blog- it was supposed to be full of wit and wisdom... or at least not be all about dance, like everything else I do. The reason there's only one entry? Probably because I set my standards to high. It's hard to live up to anything grand. So starting today, I'll try and just blog.

Moving has left me with a lot of thoughts, but I question whether that warrants a blog. To be honest, for someone who moves as much as I do, I'm not especially good at it. I mean yes, I'm good at packing- secret #1: don't get attached to your stuff. You can do without most of it. And I'm good at finding out what there is in a city, and where to find people- secret #2: google, and google maps, are the source of all things informed. And sure- I'm even good at getting around in cities I've never been to- see again secret #2.

But the hardest part about moving isn't identifying roads or attending dances. The hardest part about moving is feeling at home. For me, that means making myself a part of the community. It means finding someone I can call at the end of a rough day, and saying, "Hey, come over- let's do nothing together." There are countless groups of nice people that are easy to find in any given city... and yet, there's something else that has to happen- something hardly short of mystical. And the more I talk to other people, the more I feel this is a large pattern. So why?

Sometimes I think it has to do with history, and that the reason frequent movers feel alienated is that they don't have the chance to build a past with someone. It's hard not to feel close to the people who've seen you through your best haircuts and worst relationships. That's cetainly part of it. There may be more to it, though. (warning: this will look like a tangent. Stick with me.)

I read in a book once (TheGeneral Theory of Love) that the value of therapy isn't actually anything the therapist has to say. It's not a matter of telling someone who suffers from some intangible ailment how to see the world rightly. It is, as it turns out, the act of bonding with someone. To enter into a state of limbic resonance with someone more psychologically healthy than you is to learn from them on a subconscious level. The act of forging a bond is the medicine.

I read also that people suffering from emotion are, in a sense, emotionally blind. That is to say, someone who is severely depressed can't look at someone's face and see affection, sarcasm, humor, or irritation. They hear the words, but miss the connotations. This means that acheiving limbic resonance becomes incredibly difficult; the patient loses access the their best chance of healing. (This is why medication + therapy is often the best solution for patients suffering from depression).

So, if someone who is depressed needs to feel accepted and loved, and cannot read acceptance or love... you get the idea.

Perhaps, on a much reduced level, those who are in a state of upheaval suffer a similar situation. Even moves to cities where people already have friends can be shockingly traumatic. Once enough time has passed, the shock wears off, habit sets in, and the limbic brain restores the emotional and social order we pack animals need so very badly. Bonding follows, and voila- you've made yourself a home.

So the next time you move, schedule in some cushioning: plan to call friends, schedule visits, get involved in multiple social circles in your new city, and- most of all- remember that with time and the right group of people, you'll find yourself an indispensible member of the community.

Cheers,
-m.

The Newsletter!

Hey Everyone,
If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, and wanted to take a look at the first issue, here it is. The next issue comes out soon, so if you'd like to sign up, follow this link:

Mike the Girl Newsletter

Cheers,
-m.

Greetings!

Welcome to the first mailing of the Mike the Girl mailing list. This will be the first of many, happening about once or twice per month. Here are some things I think you might enjoy.

In this newsletter:
Music: Fats Waller and borrowed melodies
Video: ULHS 2005 Slow division
Food For Thought: Challenges of follow instructors
Tidbits: random fact and on-this-day
Where in the world: where I'll be for the next few months

Cheers,
-Mike


Music:
Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I must admit: I'm a sucker for jazz piano. And few jazz pianists can combine that chunky, percussive, old-school piano style with growling vocals quite like Fats Waller. His "Your Feet's Too Big" is among my most-played songs on i-Tunes- that understated piano and laid back swing... delightful. And if you think you know Fats Waller, or Otis Rush, you might take a second look. Check out the melody on "I've Got My Fingers Crossed":

Fats Waller

Did you get a good, solid listen? Recognize it? If not, let me help you out (notice the name change):

Indigo Swing Version

There's also a blues version- Otis Rush made the Violent Love version of the melody popular. Poor Taste Warning: I wish I were making this up, but it's available on the album Penitentiary Blues: Songs to Do Hard Times By. Wow.

The Otis Rush Version

Note: if you don't have emusic yet, and want to subscribe, your friends would love for you to sign up from a recommendation. I, or any other DJ, would be happy to send you the "refer a friend" email- the referrer gets free music if you sign up that way.

Emusic.com Free Trial


Videos:
Rock Me Slow

ULHS 2005, Slow Division. In honor of the Food For Thought subject, there's something very special about this clip. In case you aren't familiar, this is the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown- the best of the best. These are top-notch follows, and they can follow the craziest of the crazy, the most complicated moves and bad-ass aerials. But here, these follows shine for a different reason: their input. The leads leave spaces wide open, and the follows fill those spaces with creativity and cleverness, without sacrificing the relationship between lead and follow. The input is often subtle, but the real take-away lesson here is how receptive the leads are. They answer, build on, mirror, or use... they don't run over or get frozen up by what's going on. ((Specific examples to come)) In addition, this song is fantastic- laid back, but highly interesting. Rather than over-dancing it, the dancers keep things interesting, and keep the energy up, with clean, simple movements. Beautiful!

ULHS 2005 Slow Finals

Food for Thought:
This is a man's world

Most of you are probably familiar with Southern Belle or Girl Jam- they're weekends that focus on follows. This may seem like common sense (turnabout is fair play, after all), but this has been a recent and revolutionary idea. Gina Helfrich, one of the organizers and founders of Southern Belle, posted a blog recently on the disparities that make this event so radical. She has also included several videos, which actually include the names of the ladies (how many of us can name 3 famous lindy hop follows from back in the day? 3 leads?):
Gina's Jazz Dance Blog: Feminism and Follow-Focused Events

I posted a quick response on the blog, but would like to take some time and space to discuss it a little more deeply:

In the blog, Gina brings up the fact that follow instructors are often brought in as partners, while lead instructors are often brought in, and asked to bring the follow of their choice (or teach alone). The logic behind this fact, while flawed, is easy to figure out:

Lindy hop is comprised of a bunch of moves. Leads know the moves, pick the moves, and lead the moves. We go to workshops to learn moves. Therefore, we'll bring in leads, because they know/do moves.

If this is the case, why should follows go to workshops at all? And the answer, of course, is that there is more to dancing than a bunch of moves. For starters, there's technique. In order to teach successfully, whether as a lead or a follow, you must understand the mechanics of the dance. Leads and follows (even assuming the follow doesn't also lead) have different vantage points to discuss from, and both can provide valuable insight for students of either role. Whether you bring in a lead or follow, a solo teacher is teaching one role as, "this is what I do," and one role as "this is what I want to feel from you."

In addition to technique, there are other aspects to social dancing: composition, movement quality, the lead-follow dynamic, musicality, and so on.

From an instructor's perspective, teaching as a solo follow presents more challenges than just old-school attitudes from potential organizers. If a follow can only follow, and she wants to teach a class that includes new vocabulary (moves), she has to talk the leaders through the move, and then demonstrate after a leader gets it successfully. If there's a follow in the class who has good technique, a solo leader can pull her out and use her to demonstrate. Now, a solo follow could certainly do plenty of classes that don't involve new vocabulary, but no instructor wants to be without such a valuable tool. Vocabulary can be used to teach technique, composition, etc- not to mention, leads often measure a workshop by how much "new stuff" they get. It's unfortunate but true.

So what's a follow to do? The classic answer is: learn to lead. This enables a follow to demonstrate for the leaders, let them get the basic mechanics, then demo for the follows, to help them refine. It's useful anyway for follow-follow privates, and truthfully, being able to perform the other dance role adds another level of depth to any dancer.

However, this, in a way, brings us back to square one. Now, instead of a follow instructor, we have an amphirolic instructor (new word I made up meaning able to execute both roles). The truth is, at any level, people want "new moves". While there are tons of great concept classes out there, and there's always room for technique improvement, I truly think that our dance mindset is still so move-centric that follow instructors wanting to teach entire weekends are going to have to keep meeting on leaders' terms- for now, at least.

Thoughts to ponder:
The challenges of a solo leader
There are great solo follow instructors out there- how are they doing it?
The challenges of crossing the normal gender-role relations
How biased do you think the system really is? Agree? Disagree?

Upcoming Follow-Centric Weekends:
Southern Belle Swing Bash, September 19-21, Atlanta, GA: http://www.southernbelleswing.com/
Blues Muse Workshop, October 3-5, Philadelphia, PA: http://www.lindyandblues.com/bluesmuse

Tidbits:

Quotes:

--"While I Dance I Cannot Judge, I Cannot Hate, I Cannot Separate Myself From Life... I Can Only Be Joyful And Whole. That Is Why I Dance" - unknown

--"Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation." - Martha Graham

--"Whenever I have to choose between two evils, I always like to try the one I haven't tried before" Mae West

Factoid:

On this day in history: July 13th, 1835 - John Ruggles received patent #1 from the U.S. Patent Office for a traction wheel used in locomotive steam engines. All 9,957 previous patents were not numbered.

Just so you know: You should actually stretch after warming up. Casual athletes (such as us dancers) often start to warm up with stretching, which is less productive than stretching warm muscles. So next time you get to class early, run around the room, then stretch!

- Show quoted text -

Where in the World?
Where you can find me over the next few months

August:

8-10: Orlando, FL: Sunstate Jam

29-31: Dayton, OH: Workshop

September:
11-14: Virginia Beach, VA: Dirt Cheap Blues Exchange
19-21: Atlanta, GA: Southern Belle Swing Bash
26-28: Charlotte, NC: Blango Nuevo

October:

3-5: Philadelphia, PA: Bluse Muse Workshop
10-12: Minneapolis, MN: ULHS

24-26: Atlanta, GA: AVS


Hope you enjoyed it!
-Mike

Megan Adair and Mike the Girl: San Fransisco Workshop, May 25th

Mike (the Girl) Legett and Megan Adair, two of the top instructors in the Southeast, will be visiting San Fransisco. While they're here, they're offering a one-day workshop on Sunday May 25th, from noon-6pm.

Session One (noon-2:30pm): Lindy For leaders, this will be a lesson in how to have a seemingly infinite flow of comfortable, musical movement. For the follows, we'll take the mystery out of following, and put a lot of energy towards perfecting your technique.

Session Two (3:30-6:00): The Play of Blues: For both Mike and Megan, the biggest joy of blues is play- with the music, with our bodies, and with each other. Come to this session prepared to challenge your own movement and play- the way we do it.

Both sessions are extremely limited on space. Each session is limited to 20 people, so email Mike at immaculateconnection at gmail dot com to ensure a spot. Each session is only $35, or sign up for both sessions for only $60. Mike and Megan will also be available for private lessons all weekend long- $40/hr for 1-2 people ($35/hr for students), or 3-6 people for $60/hr.

Bios:
Megan Adair loves to dance to all kinds of music in all kinds of ways. She started dancing in 1997 and since then has learned from a variety of teachers including Steven Mitchell & Virginie Jensen, Dawn Hampton, Peter Strom, Sylvia Sykes. She considers lindy hop and blues to be her dance home, but she loves to explore other genres such as belly dance, hip hop, and African.



As a teacher, Megan refines her students' ability to move their own bodies in order to achieve better partner connection while remaining grounded in and moved by the music. As both a strong lead and a responsive follow, she has a wealth of experience and dance ability to draw from whether teaching private lessons or group classes.



Megan also loves to choreograph. It's not unusual to see her with a glazed look in her eye as a yet-to-be-manifested performance plays itself out in her mind as she listens to music of all sorts. Most recently she combined elements of African, Charleston, and hip hop into a performance routine for children she's been teaching at Community School for the Arts in Knoxville, Tennessee. She's also a charter member of the Hoodoo Ladies, a dance troupe who has entertained audiences from D.C. to St. Louis, and places in between.



Above all, Megan loves to dance, and she brings her joy, passion, and playfulness with her onto the floor.




Mike (the Girl) Legett began dancing in 2001 with the "new victims" package from a ballroom studio in Memphis, TN. She converted to swing in Knoxville a few months later, where she fell in love with Lindy and Blues in the winter of 2002-2003. She entertained an off-and-on flirtation with Tango for a while before really committing in Atlanta in February 2007. It wasn't long before she left grad school to become a full-time dance junkie, a position she still holds.


Mike's true loves in life are teaching, dancing, following, and music. She can't place them in an order, because for her, these things are intrinsically linked. She has taught at countless regional Blues and Lindy events in the Southeast, as well as national events such as Lindy Focus and Enter the Blues. Mike lives in the worlds of Lindy, Blues, and Tango (again in no order), but also attends the Eastern Balboa Championships each year, and even performed in an all-girls Charleston troupe at Camp Jitterbug's Jump Session Show in 2007. She has also performed in the all-girl solo blues troupe the Hoodoo Ladies at events from Capital Blues Cabin Fever in DC to BluesShout in St. Louis. Most recently, she spent one month as the Instructor-in-Residence for Philadelphia Lindy and Blues, teaching 2 workshops, a masters' class, a performance troupe review, a four-week series, and over 60 private lessons. She considers it to be one of the most challenging, educational, and rewarding experiences in her teaching career.

Mike combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music. She aims to help leaders create artistic compositions that are clearly led. She wants follows to have the ability to be the completely literal follow, and the inspiration and freedom to be an imaginative and dynamic contributor; in the classroom or on the social floor, she seeks a connection that involves active communication from both partners, to make a dance together.





Partial CV:

Performances: KLX 07, Camp Jitterbug Jump Session Show 07, ATLX 07, BluesShout 07, Southern Belle Swing Bash 06, Cheap Thrills 06, Capital Blues Cabin Fever 06.

Blues Instructor at: Burn Blue May 08, Friday Night Blues May 08, Built for Blues 08, Steel City Blues 08, Enter the Blues 08, Lindy Focus 08, Atlanta Varsity Showdown 07, Atlanta Regional tango Exchange 07, Buenos Aires Blues 07, Battle of the Cities 07, Valentines Uproar 07, Lindy Focus 07

Lindy Instructor at: Private Collection 08, Sunstate Jam 08, Tucson Lindy Bomb 08, Lindy Focus 08, Private Collection 07, Connection Campaign 07, Battle of the Cities 07,

Tango Instructor at: Atlanta Regional Tango Exchange 07, Buenos Aires Blues 08

Miscellaneous: March 08 Instructor-in-Residence for Philadelphia Lindy and Blues, Southern Belle Swing Bash 07 winner of the Ann Johnson Award for most inspirational follow


To register or request a private with Mike or Megan, email Mike at immaculateconnection at gmail dot com.

Cheers,
-m.

Brotherly Love

Welcome back, real life.

The factual summary of March:
I was Philadelphia, and Delaware (and Pittsburgh the last weekend). I taught 3 workshops, a choreography team lesson, 3 group classes, a 4-week series, and about 65 hours of private lessons. I did a massive amount of music research.

The seemingly irrelevant backstory:
In 2005, I spent 8 days in Edinburgh and 9 days in London. In Edinburgh, the scene is small. There aren't a lot of top-notch dancers, but those that are proficient in lindy are more than welcoming to newcomers. The west-coast scene is the same. In that week+, I became a part of the crowd, someone to contact if events were going on. I learned names took part in practice sessions. In London, the scene is huge. Many very talented advanced dancers, many more intermediates. One more dancer doesn't get noticed, one less isn't missed. There's a necessary anonymity. Given a choice right now, I'd go to Edinburgh and skip London altogether.

I 'grew up' in Knoxville. Knoxville in those years was a unique phenomenon- a small scene of dedicated dancers with fire for travel and a social scene that was synonymous with the dance scene... and it produced a crop of fantastic, diverse dancers. You could count on seeing dancers every day, regardless of whether there was a dance. As instructors, we got to watch students grow, and keep track of particularly able or dedicated students. We took dancers into the fold, and for all our drama, we had a collective sense of identity. We were proud to say: Yeah, Knoxville!

After one month of watching Philly's swingout change, one month of facing challenges with the organizers, one month of gaining the trust of and for my students, I found myself saying aloud: Yeah, Philly!

Somehow, somewhere along the way, I moved to a london. I don't know the students here- there are too many teachers to teach regularly without competing against other instructors. Don't misunderstand me- it's great for the students to have access to so many good instructors, and this town is full of wonderful people. But for me, for my need for community, it's just all wrong. I don't want to be the only teacher (heaven forbid), but I want to watch students grow. I want to say, "Soandso is really coming along- we should encourage them to travel to event x." I want the personal touch of a small scene.

There's no easy solution. I could leave, go back to a Knoxville or a Philly. I also have opportunities here- there are several tango leaders seeking the same thing I am. There are also lindy projects that hold some promise (although the goal there is me, and showiness, rather than students, and connection). For the time being, I'm going to solidly commit to the place I am. I want to find ways to get what I've been missing. Maybe there's a bit of Edinburgh in this london.

Or maybe not. Time will tell.

-m.

Reactions to an Article on Settling

This post is a reaction to the following article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200802u/gottlieb-interview

This was my response, a few days after I first read the article:

It's funny... it depends on how I interpret the article. When I first read it, I was... not offended... but put off by it. Of course I don't want to settle. I want to wait for love, and want to find someone who stimulates me, in a whole lot of ways. ; )

However, today I listened to a girl describing her romantic conundrum: she loves her boyfriend, but doesn't feel like he's what she wants; she has a great time with him, but he doesn't share her passion for local/organic food (although he supports it). And I found myself thinking, "Ah. Settle for less than your ideal. Her ideal isn't a real person, but this person she loves is." And I wondered if, in that sense, the idea of settling isn't a less onerous idea than I'd first thought.

So my current thought is that in a way, you must not settle- you must marry for love. But (funny how I'm echoing what I tell dance students) you must interact with the reality of your partner, not the ideal of what you thought you wanted. So in some sense, you have to settle, because there's not a "Mr. Right"- he's not coming in with red roses, a white horse, his shit together, and no baggage. He's coming from the same place you are: life.


-m.

American Football

Well, it's over. The Cowboys are out. Which means those blue Christmas lights I bought will have to wait another year to be superbowl lights. In case any of you aren't familiar with the intricacies of american football, I've written a layman's guide to watching.

1. Pick a team. I like to choose something with blue, or horses. Try to remember which team is yours. For example purposes, I've chosen the ponies.

2. The rules of the game go like this: Get the ball. Run like crazy, or throw, then run like crazy. If you're a wuss, kick it. If you lose the ball (shame on you), hit the other guy. If the other guy throws it, catch it, or hit whoever does catch it.

3. Be sure to shout a lot. Good phrases include:
when the ponies have the ball- "Run! Gogogogogogo!!" "Oh! go around! Throw it! He's wide open! Gogogogogogo!" "oh, no! ack! Gogogogogog!" "yeah!!"
when the ponies don't have the ball- "Get'im! Hit im! RUN! Catchim! Make'im bleed! Bite him! Gogogogogogogo!! Yeah!!"

4. If you get confused, or forget which team you've chosen, just shout "Run! Go! Yeah! Get it! Gogogogogog!" A lot.

See? Football is fun. It also helps to choose the team your friends are _not_ rooting for. It adds drama.