Jarrett Anderson

What is Social Dance Mastery?

Social Dance Mastery is a new class concept created after five years of participation in the social West Coast Swing community in Huntsville. Over the years I've seen beginners asking the same questions and struggling with the same technique concepts over and over.

Huntsville has plenty of group lessons for West Coast Swing, but lessons require an additional weekday commitment that is prohibitive for many people. Group lessons also tend to prioritize new moves and tips for leaders over followers, which can feel unhelpful for those just wanting to improve on the social floor.

I started Social Dance Mastery as a way to meet what I see as an unmet need for a class intended to help beginner dancers become more comfortable, adaptable, and desirable social dance partners—all of which can be achieved without needing to memorize complex patterns or specific styling tricks. During class, we'll discuss adaptations to help your technique feel clear and comfortable with any partner, no matter their skill level.

Click here to register for the next class!

Who is Social Dance Mastery for?

This class series is designed for first-year West Coast Swing social dancers. If you've been social dancing for a while now, but haven't had the chance to attend any actual lessons for West Coast, this class is for you. You'll get even more out of this class if you've spent a few months learning the fundamentals of this dance in a group class setting.

More than that, though, this class is intended for people looking for a different kind of dance class; one that goes beyond simply teaching the dos and don'ts of dance, and which directly addresses the realities of how our dance adapts and changes on the social floor. We'll start by building skills and techniques, but we'll conclude by making sure we understand how and when to use these skills in realistic situations to make all of our partners more comfortable, and all of our dances more enjoyable.

I've done my best to make the class accessible for everyone by choosing a weekday afternoon as my time. I'm also offering a two-hour class for $25 per person, which is less than the average price of an adult dance class in Huntsville.

How is the class structured?

In my experience, one hour isn't enough to both introduce a new dance skill, and to also practice that skill enough times that it becomes comfortable and usable socially. Oftentimes classes will spend an entire hour covering new material and leave it up to the students to make time to practice the material later—but when life gets busy, all of that material is at risk of being lost and forgotten.

To address this problem, Social Dance Mastery classes run for two full hours, and contain a roughly equal balance of learning and guided practice time. The lesson is interspersed with guided practice periods, so that everyone gets plenty of time to practice new skills and ideas in a realistic social-dancing context during the learning process, not just afterwards. The intention is to record the skills we cover into your body and your muscle memory by time you leave class, where you'll actually be able to recall and use them at your next social dance.

Where is this class held?

I've partnered with The Rocket Westies to make use of their studio space to teach these classes. The Rocket Westies studio is located inside Huntsville West, a co-working space near Lowe Mill. See the map here for help on where to park, how to get inside, and how to find the studio once inside.

On the day of class, I'll arrive early and stand around the east side entrance until five minutes before the start of class. If you've never been to the studio before, consider arriving early so that I can greet you and help you find your way inside.

How do I sign up?

To ensure that everyone can receive some individual attention from me, space is limited to six leaders and six followers. Registering in advance ensures that you get one of those twelves spots, and it also really helps me to be able to plan ahead.

I use Partiful as my registration service for events. Click on the banner image below to go to the event page for the next SDM. If the link is broken, odds are I haven't finished scheduling the next one yet - check again later!

Classes are $25 per person. I'm happy to accept payment in person, just before or after class, but if you'd like to arrive prepared, feel free to send your registration fee to @Jarrett-T-Anderson on Venmo. I can also accept payment via PayPay, Zelle, and plain old cash.

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