Expert lesson - Tango and East Coast Swing

My studio had a travelling expert (Urs Geisenhainer from "Dancing with the Stars, 2009  as well as other credits) in town, and (along with an amazing demonstration tango he danced with the lady instructors), he held a workshop and private lessons; I participated in both.

The workshop focused on tango and was attended by students of all levels.  Herr Geisenhainer managed the challenge of teaching different levels of students well; He introduced new steps, worked on basics, and provided styling advice all in the workshop.  Despite the fact that as I write this, I'm not sure how he could have possibly done all that, it actually flowed very smoothly and didn't feel overwhelming.  Plus I mostly learned a variation of shadow rocks that I'm anxious to work on.

My (our) private lesson was East Coast Swing, and was shared with my East Coast Swing partner.  After watching him dance Tango and teach Tango, I was tempted to stick with Tango (which would probably have been fine with my partner, as she's the biggest pusher of Argentine Tango you ever met), but of course I didn't.  He helped us with several elements of our ECS, at first it was mostly styling, and let me tell you, this guy can swing.  I've been having trouble with my walkaround turns (typical guy - I'm OK unless I'm asked to spin...), and not only did he fix that (I still have to practice, of course), but he really helped me see how to make them appropriate for swing (his demonstration of swing vs cha cha styling in walkarounds was very vivid - the Cha Cha walkarounds were upright and snappy, but with the appropriate hip movement, where the ECS walkarounds had a completely different hip and body swing that I can't describe...  Big hip swings, rather than the comparatively subtle Cuban motion from Cha Cha...

But, man, it swung.

If you ever get a chance to watch, or better, learn from Urs Geisenhainer, take it.  He's an awesome dancer, an insightful and enthusiastic teacher, and a genuinely fun guy to learn from.

Here's a Viennese waltz (my favorite), which he performed with several other dancers.