Latest

What’s gonna happen to me .. ?

The theme of the studio up to Christmas is “Simple things done exceptionally well.”

To feel like you’re leaving the beginner’s ranks, and moving into becoming an intermediate level dancer, you need to have a general variety of steps that you can lead or follow to music with a variety of partners. You need to be able to intermingle these steps without bumping into others on the floor. You need to have some of the elementary skills of dance in place, such as rhythm, posture, balance and movement.

An intermediate dancer continues to develop these skills, and begins to incorporate the all important styling of each particular dance into their repertoire.

Perhaps the best way is to follow a check list …

Foot Position … Putting your feet on the floor in the correct places.

Footwork … Using heels and toes in the correct places.

Lead/Follow … can you do this with a variety of partners?

Timing … you HAVE to be able to dance to music. Tempo, timing, feel … otherwise what’s the point??

Continuity … A step is no use unless you can mesh it with other steps, and still maintain the integrity of the dance.

Styling … If you’re going to dance Tango, dance Tango. If you’re going to dance Waltz, dance Waltz. Don’t stroll
around the floor like one of farmer Brown’s cows.

Partnership … Can you put it all together in a palatable form for each partner you dance with, or do you tend to inflict your rigid diciplines upon anyone who happens to be in front of you? (Bit harsh, I know … but let’s just hope the shoe doesn’t fit ..)

Posted by Michael on Sep 22nd 2008 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Author

Profile
"Life is a cabernet, 'ol chum"

Syllabus from 22nd September, 2008

Monday        - to be decided

Tuesday       - Private Lessons

Wednesday - Argentine Tango 2, followed by Argentine Tango 3

Thursday     - Beginners.

First class is general dance knowledge. We’ll work on a simple introduction to a dance for 3 or so weeks,  and then change to another dance for another 3 weeks. We’ll probably cover about 7 or so dances.

The second class is Argentine Tango 1. - the essential basics.

Friday            - Salsa 1, followed by Salsa 2.

The group classes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday start at 7:00 for a warm up, and general preparation. (read drink, snack, chat, and warm up .. )  I’ll teach from 7:15 sharp until 8:00. Then there’ll be 15 minutes of practice, have another drink, etc. At 8:15, the second class will start, and will go until 9:00. Another 15 minutes of practice, and then I’ll play some general music for a while.

Posted by Michael on Sep 22nd 2008 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

What a Week!

Continue Reading »

Posted by Michael on Sep 24th 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized, Old Stuff | Comments (4)

Contact

Michael Madden’s LATIN DANCE STUDIO
8 Milton Circuit,  Port Macquarie NSW 2444

6581 1951
mkrm@bigpond.net.au

Posted by Michael on Sep 2nd 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Private Lessons

I teach private lessons between 5:00pm and 7:00pm each evening. (Group classes start at 7:00pm). At the moment a private lesson costs $60 an hour, and $30 a half hour. Up to 4 people can share a private lesson, but after that the group rate of $15 per person applies.

On a private lesson, you can learn anything you want. Actually, better make that anything I teach, but the range is pretty extensive. See here.

Posted by Michael on Jul 16th 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Lessons


Posted by Michael on Jul 14th 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Who, moi …?


I’ve been teaching for 35 years. I’ve taught in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Chicago , and Miami, plus numerous regional areas. I’ve competed, performed, lectured, demonstrated and toured as a professional. I was invited to compete in the World Professional Selection finals, where I promptly got my butt kicked by the then World Ten Dance Professional Champion, and the British Rising Star Champion. I’ve never forgiven either of them, and I consol myself with the knowledge that they suck at golf even worse than I do.

I’ve danced on stage and tv. Choreographed for both. I teach Waltz, Foxtrot, Viennese, Tango (Argentine & Competitive), Quickstep, Rumba, Cha Cha, Samba, Swing, Mambo, Bolero, and a few others.

I’m big on dancing with your heart. I couldn’t give a rat’s backside about your steps. (Although I’ll teach you hundreds of them, I just expect you to use them as vehicles to dance. They’re a means, not an end.)

The best quote I’ve ever heard about dancing would be …”Technique — bodily control — must be mastered only because the body must never be allowed to stand in the way of the soul’s expression.”  La Meri

That’ll about do it for now …

Michael.

Posted by Michael on Jul 13th 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (8)

Welcome to the Site

Continue Reading »

Posted by Michael on Jul 13th 2007 | Filed in General | Comments (15)

Questions


If you’ve got a dance question/problem, pop it in here, and I’ll see if I can help.

Posted by Michael on Jul 8th 2007 | Filed in Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Thoughts on Learning

Continue Reading »

Posted by Michael on Jun 27th 2007 | Filed in General | Comments (2)

Next »