Not particularly. Many of these are on videos which the club already owns.
And this week, we are expecting an entire technique video on "Body
Isolations", which covers more ripples, waves and rolls than Grant's tape
does, and explains them in more detail. How do I know? Because I have
watched Grant Austin's "West Coast Sleaze" tape several times.
>Well, it's all part of Grant Austin's "West Coast Sleaze" videotape! The
>description says: "Learn to combine body isolations and tastefully suggestive
>patterns to dance the way the music tells us to dance (sleazy).
The real name of this tape is "West Coast Swing, Volume 3-Sleaze". The
"Volume 3" part means that it is "the third and most difficult of Grant's 3
tape series." The purpose of the DI video program is not to buy tapes that
only the advanced club members can use, when the majority of the members
can't even do the basic correctly. We already have 3 WCS tapes full of
challenging material. This week, another basic level tape will arrive, as
will 2 different WCS syncopations tapes, for a total of 6 WCS tapes in the
video library. There are no plans to purchase additional WCS tapes for a
while... and if there were, the tapes we'd get would be the excellent
series by Jamie and Gail Arias.
>Also emphasizes musical interpretation and hitting the breaks.
Grant's tape only "emphasizes musical interpretation and hitting the
breaks" if you memorize the routine presented and dance it to a song with
the same set of 32 beat phrases with no bridges. Weeks ago I contacted Bob
Ford of B&S Video Productions about the availability of a real "Hitting the
Breaks" tape which honestly teaches you how to do this, and he said that
there won't be one available for another year. Until then, the BEST
resource for learning about hitting breaks can be found on the world wide
web:
http://www.math.ucla.edu/~eijkhout/lead_follow/faq.html
in the chapter on Hitting the Breaks.
>This tape is available for only $20. Think the club should own it? Lobby
>prez/librarian XXXX XXXXXX at YYY-YYYY or ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
This week because of my efforts, we are expecting 2 tapes (mentioned above)
that a nationally-known Swing dance instructor donated to our club. Since
you say that Grant's tape is so inexpensive, feel free to purchase it and
donate it to the club too. The Dancing Illini will be happy to accept it.
But until then, please send all "Lobby" emails to /dev/null.
Thanks, and good luck on your exams everyone!
Mark