OSD One Day Workshop: Charleston!

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charleston workshop

Charleston, Charleston, made in Carolina….and taught to YOU in Orlando. In this all-levels workshop, you’ll dive into the art of that 1920’s dance: The Charleston!
This is the workshop everyone has been waiting on, and we’re going to make sure you get what you asked for. By the end of this one day series, you’ll know enough solo Charleston to dance an entire song, if not an entire night. No partner will be required.
Are you unsure if solo dancing is for you? Good news! What you learn in this workshop you can use in your partner dancing. You won’t be alone – you’ll be in a studio with encouraging like-minded peers, eager to grow and dance.

SAFETY
Our priority is you and your safety. Spots will be limited in the studio space and dancers will be spaced out 6 feet apart. These restrictions mean we have limited room to accept a limited number of students for this workshop. There will be places to wash hands and use sanitizer. Students are encouraged to bring whatever protective wear they feel safest in.

PAYMENT
Registration is open now! Register online for only $40 for all 4 hours of classes or $50 at the door. For your safety, class spots will be limited and social distancing will be encouraged throughout the class experience.

Sign up: https://osdjunecharleston.dancecamps.org/

TEACHER
Aaron “A-A-RON” Seals started lindy hopping the summer of 2011 and fell face first into a beautiful, joyful, musical, arm flapping adventure that’s taken him across the globe. He has won various swing competitions across the U.S. and in Europe and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. He values creative expression and individuality that comes from the early jazz dances, as well as the important, shared partner experience that makes every dance rich and unique. Aaron loves to help people and believes everyone should be allowed to dance. He seeks to create fun, learning environments where students can learn successful dance technique and be given the tools to be their true self on the dance floor.

SCHEDULE:
11-1pm Charleston part 1
1-2pm Lunch! There are a variety of food options near the venue.
2-4pm Charleston part 2

Part 1
To start your journey, you’ll get introduced to some classic Charleston shapes and will learn the fundamentals needed for you to solidly dance solo Charleston.

Part 2 & 3
Now that you have your classic steps down, it’s time to dive into the language and moves of Charleston! You’re going to get a whole bunch of dance vocabulary for you to use solo. By the end of this section you’ll have enough to dance a whole song and an entire routine.

Part 4
There are ways to dance with someone without a physical connection. In this section we’ll teach you how. Once you’re connected to the music, we’ll go through some fun exercises so you can dance with your fellow soloists. For some, you’ll find a deeper connection with these drills than partnered on the social dance floor.

Stay connected with the Facebook Event!

Tuesday Live Charleston Classes

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It’s still the 20’s. Your Charleston journey starts now.

Every Tuesday at 7pm join us live on your screen for an adventure in Charleston from the 20’s, 30’s to today. Expect new moves, a growing understanding of the Charleston, and lot’s of fun. While the primary focus will be individual movements this will spice up your social and partner dancing.

$5 suggested donation per class or simply pay what you can.
PayPal: paypal.me/aaroncseals or Venmo @able_A-A-ron

Each week look for a class description. A ZOOM link will be provided before each class.

Let it be known: Tuesdays are for Charleston

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Your Online Lessons for Now

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Private lessons with Aaron Seals

Your dance journey doesn’t need to stop or even slow down. During this season international swing dance competitor Aaron Seals will be providing personal lessons right to your screen.
What can you do in these sessions? Whatever you want!

Some ideas:

  • Break down a video of your dancing – Let’s encourage your strengths, help you overcome your challenges, give you next-level opportunities, and equip you with the tools to achieve what you want out of dance.
  • Break down moves and solo Jazz/Charleston steps to get them working for your body.-
  • Have questions? Let’s talk musicality, music theory, DJing, Balboa, Lindy, Solo dancing, competing, shapes, choreography, aesthetics, and intentionally dancing by design.

20 min live video sessions with Aaron – only $25. You’ve been given extra time – what will you do with it?

Contact Aaron at orlandoswingdance@gmail.com

SOLO II: Jazz Strikes Back

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Since you can’t come to us, Orlando Swing Dance and The Cat’s Meow are sending Dominic and Aaron to YOU!
Where? Everywhere you are!
When? On April 11th at 11am.

This Beginner-Intermediate (Begintermediate) solo Charleston/Jazz workshop will take your solo movement to intergalactic levels with fun musicality, new rhythms, crazy shapes and variations! As always, expect a few surprises and lot’s of laughter.

Only $35 for the full pass

Check out the event on Facebook!

How can you attend?
First – register for the event. You have until Sunday, April 5th to get the early bird price of $30. After that it will be $35 for the full pass. This workshop will be hosted on ZOOM, with a link emailed 5 minutes before the class begins to all registered attendees.
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You can sign up for ZOOM (for free) here.

SIGN UP HERE

–CLASS TOPICS–

1. Tapping Into Our Potential:
Solo jazz history is tap history. Tap as a dance form predates Charleston by almost two decades. By the time jazz dancing came along, it used a lot of tap influence in a majority of its shapes and rhythms. Here, we’ll take a handful of movements that you know and love, and unveil their origins, not only shining a light on challenging rhythms, but the why of these fantastic pieces of movement. No tap shoes required!

2. Squats to Jump – This Isn’t CrossFit, it’s Charleston!
Our second class is designed to get you and your Solo Charleston to the next level. We’ll briefly touch on our basic and how to make sure it’s looking tasty, before we move onto those two brilliant moves, Squat Charleston and Jump Charleston. We’ll use Leon James and Al Minns as our main sources for inspiration for Squat Charleston, and inspect why their versions have stood the test of time, and how you can find yourself in the movement, while for Jump Charleston, we’ll explore direction, leg isolations, and syncopated sweeps to keep us on our toes (literally) and leave our audience wanting more!

3. Sliding and Gliding
Lunch is done – welcome to the wonderful world of slides! We’ll be going through a variety of slick tricks to really spice up your moves. Slick shoes or socks on smooth floor will be your best friend for this class.

4. How The Elders Tranky Did It – Choreography:
Have you always wanted to come up with your own choreo but didn’t know how? Here, we’ll break down the structure of Frankie Manning’s Tranky Do, (no previous knowledge of it required), and discuss why it works. Then, using this knowledge, we’ll create our own pieces of choreography which will be as easy as 123, or should we say, as easy as 5678.

REGISTER NOW