#104: Welcome to WCS!
Friday, March 13th 2015
Quote of the Week

From the end 

spring new beginnings.


-Pliny the Elder

Katherine Update

After four years in the prison of my broken body, it makes me so happy to announce that I am
finally dancing again!

It started very slowly over the last couple of years - a single tango here, a single foxtrot there - but never anything more. The damage and the pain was too great.

But following the strict orders of the doctors - quitting the routines circuit and quitting all social dancing - has paid off.

I'm not just dancing ballroom, I'm finally dancing WCS! And it feels wonderful! It started last Fall with an hour or so a month, and now I'm up to two hours a week!!!

Praise God, Hallelujah! Your prayers worked. My spine moves more and more with every dance - even in ways it hasn't since the first horrible accident in 2004.

I hope we can start traveling again at the end of the year, so I can start running into you all at the blues clubs across the nation and the world.

Events used to have t-shirts that said "Dance Because You Can!" I hope I never took that for granted. But I sure won't ever again... 

See you on the dance floor!
xoxo, 
Katherine

ps- I really want to emphasize the part about listening to your doctors. I have learned that, had I stopped dancing altogether when the accident first occurred in 2011, I would have healed in 2 years instead of 4! Listen to your body and to your doctors. Concussions are nothing to sneeze at - nor are injuries to your spine! (or feet, or knees, or shoulders... you get my drift!) Be smart! And it will pay off in the long run... I am proof!!!
The Only Starting Point

Don't have the books? Then you don't know jack! Get your WCS knowledge on today...

tellingtruth
Telling the Truth

dancersfree
Setting Dancers Free

  


Happy New Year! Okay, so taxes are almost here, so the year isn't all that new, but I hope you're having a great one anyway.

I love you & I've missed you, so it feels great to say 'hello' again. I've put an update on my personal life in the side column, but today's focus is on a newly published podcast for the newcomers out there... I'm so excited to finally share it with you! 

As always, 
xoxo, Katherine
Welcome to WCS!
Nick & Katherine
Announcing the 'Welcome to WCS' Series!

Last summer I mention a new series of videos I was working on. I'd finished taping them but they never quite made it online. The timing just didn't work.


 

But that's all in the past! I'm happy to announce that Part One of this four part series is up online on my YouTube Channel, GetSwingin. If you are already subscribed, then you've probably seen the announcement already!


 

But if you're not subscribed, let me fill you in...

 

SPEAKING TO THE NEWCOMERS

 

As you know, I've moved on to greener pastures. But in the process, I found myself questioning whether I had really said all that needed to be said...

 

Did I leave enough bread crumbs online for people to find their way through WCS without Weekly Notes still arriving every Monday? And the answer was... "Kind of...?"

 

Because I realized I hadn't left anything for people brand new to the dance. Everything I'd written was for those already in the community - those already submerged and lost in the dark, muddy waters. I wrote to pull them out and into fresh air.

 

But what about those arriving to the pond? Those who know nothing about WCS, so they dive in head first, not knowing the controversy, wars and conflict they would eventually face by doing so - what about them?

 

And so I recorded an entire series for them. It ended up being four parts long. I call it the "Welcome to WCS!" series, and I hope you share it with everyone you know first coming into the dance.

 

My goals? To give TOOLS to newcomers so that they can have FUN and SUCCEED in WCS - whatever that looks like for them.

 

-Do they want to compete? I outline what to expect and how to win/be successful.

 

-Do they want to social dance? I outline where they can find places to do so.

 

-Do they want to dance WCS or Abstract Improv? I tell them about both and leave the choice up to them... 


 

Here is an outline of the Four Part series:

 

WELCOME TO WCS!

Part 1

  • Why the podcast exists
  • The three major groups in WCS
  • The largest group of WCS
Part 2
  • The two other groups (yikes!)
  • How & why it's so important to know about each one
Part 3
  • Terminology!
  • The crazy terms you'll need to know to survive
  • Getting Lost
Part 4
  • Names! Who's who in WCS
  • How to keep your WCS experience a positive one

PART ONE

 

I'll share more with you next week, but for now, go ahead and listen to Part 1 of Welcome to WCS! and enjoy. It's jam packed with info for those in WCS as well - you don't want beginners to know more than you, do you? 

WELCOME TO WCS! Part 1 - For EVERYONE NEW to West Coast Swing!
WELCOME TO WCS! PART ONE


 It's a wonderful start, right? I'm SO glad it's finally up online.


 

Love & joy to you all,

Katherine