Erik Novoa has been dancing for 20 years, starting with ballet and continuing through jazz, modern dance, musical theatre, tap and, finally in 1998, west coast swing. In the last two years or so, Erik has moved up to the Champion Division in west coast swing and recently took second place in the Champion Division with Deborah Szekely at Swingin' New England. In addition to being a champion Westie, Erik is a champion hustle dancer. One year after taking up hustle (two years after starting west coast swing), Erik won the Professional Division at Hustle USA 2001 and then repeated his victory at Hustle USA 2002. Thus, Erik may well be the best person in the United States to teach on both West Coast Swing and Hustle, as well as the relationship between the two. Erik is also a great follower and, with Jim Becker leading, won the hilarious "bookends" competition (WCS) at the 2004 Boston Tea Party. Erik has an infectious dance and teaching style which you won’t want to miss.

Schedule of Events (prerequisite for classes: basic West Coast moves)

3:00 - 4:00 Connection -- the Basics of Partnering

A great partnership is all about the clear, efficient, and caring communication. In the basic partner dance world we learn one of 2 roles, the Leader (Speaker) or the Follower (Listener). Both roles are equally important and equally as difficult in unique ways. The success of any dance partnership derives from how well each person does their respective role while still accommodating the needs of the other.

In this class we will use weight sharing partnering exercises that are used by professional dance companies and within professional partnerships. These exercises will begin to open up the most important aspect of connection communication – understanding your partner's point of view. You must understand that point of view in order to “speak” or “listen”.

We will progress this class with exploring how to use the Anchor-Step (the last two beats of a pattern and generally a triple step) to create the next type of movement. The connection through the Anchor-Step can actually premeditate the next lead which will allow the follower to “hear” the message of movement almost a full beat earlier. To a follower, that’s the difference between receiving the information by Fedex instead of Snail Mail .

The themes of this class will permeate the rest of the workshops and will be critical for the flow of the day….think of it as our connection (clear, efficient, and caring communication) with you.

4:15 - 5:15 Spins & Turns Fundamentals for Partner Dancing

Erik & Anna are proud to present a workshop they have presented and refined many times. We will use special centering movements to get you on top of your leg and will break down the more common types of turns for WCS. We’ll break down the two-footed turns called Chaine (pronounced "shee-NAY") and the one footed turns called Pirouettes, both to the right and to the left.

Do you really need this workshop? Yes. Working on turns is an integral part of your dance experience. From beginners to professionals, dancers are constantly working to improve their turn technique or the number of turns they can do. Even though we’re teaching the class, Anna and I are constantly weaking our technique to improve our own turns….come to this workshop to improve yours.

Erik will also focus on technical leader issues which emerge with followers of different spinning abilities.

5:30- 6:30 Moves with Spins & Turns

I hope you didn’t miss the “Spins & Turns Fundamentals” workshop because this is where all the tips you learned get utilized.

We’ll explain how these steps are incorporated into WCS and how to lead/follow them properly with great connection. We’ll help improve the troublesome, but essential, Whip with the Double Outside Turn. We’ll get the leaders spinning to help them stand out and add virtuosity to their dance. And we’ll start you on the road to Finger-Spin "Fuete" Turns

6:30- 7:45 Homemade Gourmet Dinner

Romaine and Cherry Tomato Salad with Cashews, Thai Chicken Soup with Chinese Black Rice, Tomato Cheddar Soup, Beef Bourguignon with Noodles, Tom's Special Cookies, French Baguettes, and Colombian Coffee

7:45 - 8:45 Making Your West Coast More Exciting (the simple way)

One of easiest way for a leader to have a great dance is to not make it too hard to follow. In essence, a leader should not use “words” that are too complicated for the follower to “understand”.

This class is designed to take simple patterns and dress them up so it looks more exciting by using simple syncopations, hand changes and spins/turns. These variations will give a different look even to the basic patterns and will capitalize on the “communication” skills that have been developed during the previous workshops.

9:00 - 11:30 Dance with DJ Tom Johnson