Myles & Tessa WCS Training

Connection isn’t just tension… and I would never say “get the connection”, “resume connection”, or “have a neutral connection”.

The connection needed for authentic lead/follow communication is far more nuanced - it’s not a light switch you turn on and off.

When you understand the physics of partner connection, leads get cleaner, follows get more responsive, and dancing starts to feel like a conversation instead of a negotiation.

Yes, it is the most important aspect to WCS, but most dancers don’t get enough opportunities to really understand it.

This is what we built the Dancer Development Program for 🙌 DM us dancer to learn more 👏

After a weekend of personalized competitor critiques, this was the #1 missing or broken skill I kept flagging in the lower divisions. Missing or broken PITCH.

And it had a ripple effect on other critical skills:

Most people think good posture means standing tall and stacked, like a soldier. But that can make you rigid instead of mobile, or wobbly due to lacking core activation. Worse: leaning back and “tucking” your hips under, which locks up your legs before you even start moving and causes your biceps to instinctively lock up to prevent falling.

In reality, posture is simply being pulled up through the thoracic spine (not slouching).
But PITCH is a different skill altogether: hinging forward from the hips. It doesn’t take much, but it’s what every good dancer uses to be mobile and agile.

One shift, and everything downstream in your dance changes.

This is the kind of thing that’s easy to miss until someone points it out. What’s something in your dance you’ve been working on, or just realized you’d been getting wrong? 👇

Working on your solo and partner improv skills is great — but there’s something that happens when you’re learning choreography.

You start to really listen to the music. You train your brain to follow a plan. And after you’ve memorized it, you start refining it and building confidence expressing it with movement instead of just executing steps. That’s when your body starts to really “own it”.

And those skills transfer into your improv dancing.

Choreo isn’t the fastest way to improve your improv dancing, but it is a powerful way to train a different part of your dance brain.

This is why we like choreographing and coaching a “Routinetensive” like this one we’re doing in Vancouver this month!

LearnToSwing

I’m excited to be teaching a 3-hour Teachers Clinic at 🙌

This one is designed specifically for the experienced teachers:

Leveling Up: Building a Student Progression System
Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

This one goes deep on the real stuff: how to teach a room full of students who are NOT at the same level, how to keep beginners from getting lost and advanced dancers from getting bored, and how to build a progression system that actually moves people forward with confidence.

Register on the event website!
https://www.wildwildwestie.com

Most dancers in Newcomer division are working hard but have no idea if they are actually getting better and no clear picture of what they’re actually working toward.

What does progress look like? How do you know you’re on track? How do you know what to prioritize amongst all the tips swimming in your head? 🤨

That’s what we break down in Competitor Lab: Newcomer Division.

Not just competition tips. A real framework for understanding the dance at this level. What matters. What doesn’t. What to prioritize so you stop second-guessing and getting overwhelmed.

LIVE ONLINE | Sunday June 28

3+ hours + a personal video review from Champions Myles & Tessa 🙌

What you’ll get:

→ What judges are actually checking you for
→ The most common Newcomer habits that hold people back
→ A clear picture of what to work on first, and next

Link in bio: swingliteracy.com/competitor-labs

One of the biggest shifts competitors experience as they move through the divisions is realizing that effort alone isn’t enough anymore.

At the higher levels, almost everyone is taking lessons. Almost everyone is traveling to events. Almost everyone is putting in practice hours.

The question stops being “How hard are you working?” and becomes “How effectively are you using the skills you already have?”

Can you adapt when something unexpected happens? Can you create a strong partnership with different dancers? Can you make musical choices that feel intentional instead of automatic? Can you maintain quality under pressure?

These are the things that often separate good competitors from great ones.

If you’re dancing in Intermediate or Advanced, the next breakthrough is usually found in the details - not in doing more of the same.

We’re exploring those details inside the Intermediate / Advanced Competitor Lab, with a LIVE session this Sunday, June 21

Link in bio!l or here: https://www.swingliteracy.com/competitor-labs