Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

There is nothing like a new year to inspire some changes, and here at Lancaster Lindy Circle things are no different. We’re going to be doing things a little differently this year to try and improve on the wonderful success of 2015!

Lesson Structure

Our main classes will continue to beheld on Thursday evenings at Trinity United Reform Church, on High Street in Lancaster, LA1 1LA. Make sure you don’t go to the Trinity URC in Bowerham – we’re in the middle of town! Here’s a summary of what we’re doing differently this year:

  • We’ll start with improvers at 7.30 pm as usual, but this class will now run for 55 minutes to give us more time to cover more material.
  • We’ll be asking people to pay as they come in each week (we’ll have a little station by the door) so we can streamline the process of getting everyone’s payment, meaning we can have just a short 5 minute break between classes.
  • Beginners will start at 8.30pm, and this will still be a 45 minute class. We’ll finish at 9.15, giving us plenty of time for social dancing until 10pm.
  • We have a New Years resolution to be strict on timings this year, so please arrive in time to start at 7.30 or 8.30 sharp 🙂

Lesson Levels etc

With so many new members joining us in 2015, we’ve learned a few lessons about how our levels are working, and we’re going to try a few new things to help things run a bit more smoothly for everyone. Here’s how we’re going to do that:

  • Our beginners classes are going to run in themed 4 week blocks of classes. These will be called: Beginner 8 count, Beginner Swing Outs, Beginner 6 count and Beginner Charleston. We ask that if you’re new to lindy hop and would like to come along, you join us at the start of one of these blocks. Dates etc will all be on here and on our Facebook group. This means that we can develop a theme over each 4 week block, and can also accommodate new arrivals better. The material isn’t changing, just the way we structure it to make sure we have the best learning experience for everyone.
  • To join our Improvers classes, we are now going to require everyone to have covered all the material in each of our 4 beginner blocks. So, if you start in January 2016, you will do 16 weeks of beginners classes and then move up to Improvers. If you’ve been coming to Improvers for a while, just continue as you were, and if you started in September 2015 and came to most of the classes you should be fine to come to Improvers from January 2016. If in doubt, come and ask Jen, Kate, Suzi or Chris for advice on the right level for you!
  • We encourage everyone to keep coming to beginner classes, even once you’ve graduated to Improvers. Good basics and fundamentals of Lindy hop are important for all dancers, no matter how experienced, and it is easy to fall into bad habits. So, just because you’ve nailed that Texas Tommy in Improvers or you can Tandem Charleston for England, don’t imagine you won’t gain something by coming to beginners and really honing your technique.
  • Improvers will also run on a 4 week block system, covering a different theme each block. Themes for early 2016 include: Variations and Looking Fancy, Spinning, Turning and Rotation, and Catches and Changing Momentum. We will develop knowledge over these 4 weeks, so it is advantageous for everyone to start on week one, but as everyone will have the required knowledge, we won’t be as strict on this as we will for Beginners.
  • All of our blocks will have their own Facebook event so you can keep track.

Lesson Prices

We’re updating the prices for our lessons from 7th January, and also introducing a student/concession rate. So our prices will be:

  • £4 for one lesson, or £5 for both. You can stay for social dancing whether you’ve done one lesson or two.
  • For students or concessions, the price will be £3 for one lesson, or £4 for both. Just bring student ID or have a word with one of us for the concession rate (e.g. if you’re currently unwaged, in receipt of benefits etc).

Loyalty Bonuses

We have lots of lovely members who come week in week out, and we really want to do something to thank you for all your dedication. So, from January we are introducing a loyalty card scheme. For each Thursday class you come to, we will give you a stamp on your new shiny LLC card. Collect 10 stamps and you can a) claim a free Thursday class, b) claim free entry to one of our social dance events or c) save it and claim a discounted entry price to one of our workshops. It’s totally up to you. Magic 🙂

Social Dancing

We have decided not to run the Jam Circle in its current form for the time being. We know Monday isn’t the best night of the week for everyone. We know that some of you will be disappointed about this, but we may well start it up again in the future, and we’re going to have lots of other things to make up for it. We are currently making plans to hold a big social dance event once a month. This will be a bigger event, and will be held on a Friday or Saturday night. We might have live music sometimes, people can wear their glad rags if they want to, and are hoping that we can tempt some dancers from further afield to come along and swing out with us as it will be at a weekend. We’re currently finalising venues and dates, so watch this space for details! First event is likely to be held in February 2016 and will be monthly after that.

Other things

As we won’t be running the Jam Circle each week for the time being, we’ll have more time to organise some other nice things. Keep an eye out in 2016 for:

  • Intermediate classes.
  • Balboa classes or workshops.
  • Workshops with wonderful teachers from other parts of the UK.
  • Solo jazz workshops.
  • Events for World Lindy Hop Day.
  • Flash Mobs/Lindy Bombing.

Lots of Love and Swing Outs

Suzi, Chris, Kate and Jen x

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