Back to the Dancing Dinosaur, Tokyo Swing Dance Society
Instructors:
Betina Hershey from New York City, U.S.A.
Betina Hershey is excited to be returning to Tokyo. This past summer while
touring as Anybodys in "West Side Story", Betina taught swing workshops in
Osaka and Tokyo. This time she will be teaching with Shawn Hershey, her
brother and an excellent dancer and teacher in the Boston swing dance scene.
Betina is proud of having inspried Shawn to start dancing. He has become
one of her favorite partners in the swing world. Betina and Shawn have
recently choreographed and performed blues/west coast swing, smooth lindy,
and fast lindy/Charleston dances. Betina discovered partner dancing in
1997. Already a professional dancer in the ballet, modern, jazz, and tap
dance communities, she was touring the USA with Phantom of the Opera as Meg
and started going swing dancing (lindy and west coast) and Argentine tangoing
after her shows. Learning much on the dance floor, she later studied with
Bill Borgida, Steven and Virginie, Paul and Sharon,Sylvia and Jason, Robert
Royston, and others at workshops such as Swing Out Newhampshire, NADC, a
Montreal workshop and others. She won First Place at the second Jack and
Jill competition (at the Dog House, NYC)she entered, but usually doesn't
compete. Betina has performed the lindy track with Mark Eckstein as her
partner in "Swing, The Musical" (same choreography as the version that toured
here in Japan), has co-choreographed and performed waltz, fox trot, Argentine
tango and swing routines for parties and events. She is a principle partner
dancer in the Julia Roberts movie, Mona Lisa Smile (look for her in the
wedding and college dance scenes). Betina is enamoured with partner dancing
and especially loves to combine contact improv and swing dance to widen the
possibilities of weight sharing, creativity, and body usage.
Shawn Hershey from Boston, U.S.A.
Shawn Hershey began studying Lindy Hop from Kerrin and Ravitte at the
Boston-based Lindybaby studio in 1999, where he later became an instructor with
Marilee in 2002. He has also taught Lindy Hop at the Brookline Community Center
for the Arts. Shawn has always loved and studied jazz music. His love of
music brought him all the way to the Eastman School of Music where he studied
trumpet performance. That same love of music is what immediately drew him into
the dance when his sister, arriving home from one of her musical theater tours,
danced for the whole family with a swing partner. He quickly fell in love
with the dance and studied extensively at camps and workshops across the US with
many nationally renowned Lindy Hop instructors, often dragging his sister
along so they could practice and perfect the material they learned. In addition
to being an avid social dancer, he has won awards at several national and
regional competitions, including First Place Jack and Jill at Swingin' New England
and Third Place Jack and Jill at NADC. He dances on the Boston It's All Swing
team, which has performed at Swingin' New England and at the Boston Tea
Party. He has also performed and choreographed Lindy to the music of Bach, and
recently choreographed several dances with his sister which they performed at he
International House in NYC. Shawn shares his love of music and dance
through teaching and social dancing and is very excited to be coming to Japan.
Dance Videos:
If you are using Windows operating system, down-load video files to your
computer at first using a right button of your mouse. Then, click the
file in your computer, and you can see the video with Windows Media Player
or Real One Player, et al.
Ella Fitzgerald - Honey Suckle Rose - fast tempo - Quality: High(18MB) | Low(11MB)
Nancy Wilson - Little Unhappy Boy - medium tempo - Quality: High(14MB) | Low(9MB)
Norah Jones - Title unknown - slow tempo - Quality: High(23MB) | Low(15MB)
Place: Seta Chiku Kaikan B1, 4-18-11, Seta, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Schedule:
Day-1: Sunday, May 2nd, 2004
13:15-14:15 Connection
14:30-15:30 Lindy Hop Fundamentals
15:45-16:45 Charleston (Intermediate/Advanced)
Day-2: Monday, May 3rd, 2004
13:15-14:15 Body Movement
14:30-15:30 Blues / Slow Swing
15:45-16:45 Intermmediate Lindy Hop
Day-3: Tuesday, May 4th, 2004
13:15-14:15 Musicality
14:30-15:30 Figures With Turns
15:45-16:45 Fast Lindy
Cost: 7,000 yen per day including three classes
13,000 yen for two days including six classes
18,000 yen for all the three days including nine classes
Signing up: not required
Contact: swing@impetus.ne.jp
You DON'T need to bring your dance partner.
Prepare your own drinks.
Appropriate exercise shoes and outfits for change are needed.
No sandals nor high heels for your physical safety.
No video cameras are allowed during the class.
Same price to watch the workshop.
Subscribe to the tsds mailing lists to get updates.
The schedule might be revised, so check it out again before you come.
See the Swing Calendar too.
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