San Diego. July, 2012. IDEA World Fitness Convention. I was a classical ballet instructor eager to
expand my horizons in both the dance and fitness worlds. This convention would provide many useful and
enjoyable sessions, but my “raison d’être” for traveling thousands of miles was
to take a half day workshop with none other than Dancing with the Stars pro/ballroom rock star, Louis Van Amstel. His session was entitled “LaBlast – Dance like a Star!” and promised to make me “the star of my own ballroom”. As a budding Ballroom Teacher’s College student at Dance Bethesda,
this was too good to resist.
The morning of the session I decided to arrive early so that
I would get a good spot on the floor. As I walked into the room, I noticed a
number of class participants seated on the floor chatting amongst themselves,
and to my utter amazement, all on his lonesome stood Louis at the front,
setting up his equipment and reviewing his notes. Not only was he not being mobbed by adoring
fans - not a soul was even talking to him!
I froze; excited by the possibility of meeting Louis in
person but not wanting to bother him with my tongue tied ramblings. After all, I was a complete ballroom newbie.
What could I possibly say to him that he hadn’t heard a million times already? So….I chickened out and sat down in a corner
of the room and watched as someone else walked over to talk to him and get a
picture taken. Immediately I began
kicking myself. If I could face the
examiners at American Ballet Theatre, or dance on stage with Bono in front of
20,000 people, surely I could at least introduce myself to Louis Van
Amstel!
I screwed up my courage and strode to the front of the room.
I hovered patiently, palms sweating, until the other fan left and it was my
turn. Then Louis turned his gaze to
me. I was immediately struck by how
unassuming and affable he is. He beams from ear to ear and seems genuinely
pleased to be talking to you.
I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I introduced
myself as a ballet instructor who was preparing for bronze level ballroom exams
and I told him how much I was looking forward to his session. To my amazement he seemed quite enthusiastic
about my interest in ballroom and recommended I take the upcoming LaBlast
teacher training in New York - the first teacher training on the east coast. Following our conversation, I walked on rubbery legs (grinning from ear to ear) back to my spot in the room and the workshop began. We learned the basics of LaBlast, and Louis led a number of interesting group discussions about dancing and teaching. One of the highlights of this session for me was the discussion of dynamics and how to change our movement from light to heavy, our timing from sustained to sudden, our use of space from flexible to direct and our flow from free to bound. The dynamics are divided into feminine and masculine qualities of movement. We practiced the LaBlast steps using these dynamics and trying to create a balance between the energies.
Louis is quite the showman with a raunchy sense of humor. He expertly showed us how to highlight our feminine sensual zones. There are five, and he had us touch and/or emphasize each and every one of them in order to create more femininity in our movements. This resulted in a great deal of laughter and some blushing!
At the end of the workshop, Louis led us in a LaBlast master
class. By this time, I was hooked.
Needless to say, I would graduate with the first class of east coast
instructors one month later and I’ve been sharing my enthusiasm for this
program ever since. I am thrilled to be
teaching LaBlast at Dance Bethesda starting in September. It’s a great way for
experienced ballroom dancers to get a great cardiovascular workout in a style
they already know and enjoy, and for newcomers to feel at ease dancing some
basic ballroom steps in an easy to follow fitness format that works up a sweat!
A “blast” is guaranteed for all! See
you in September!
Yours truly,
Jessica
