The Time Came - Part 2

What Happened???
The Final Answer

Drug addicts are no longer the people you love. -Dr. Brad Lander, The Columbus Dispatch
___

Dear Readers,

This is the second and final piece to my latest and greatest work: The Time Came. It's the much needed and lately promised follow-up to the article The Time Has Come, which first announced and defined the new dance of Abstract Improvisation a few years ago. More importantly, though, it warned that the price of complicity - that doing nothing would be the death of the dance called West Coast Swing. 

It was a call to arms. It struck deep and it struck hard. Its boom echoed across the world. And the WCS Revolution began.

#101: Preparing for the Big One

My Endless Frustration:
Yours Too?

Be the one that knows everything and everyone, and you will have the power to see things more clearly...  -Where Things Stand Now

___

I've been waiting to write a certain "super-big" article for six months now. The time has finally come to share it with you. Look for it this coming Monday. I hope it opens your eyes and quelches some burning hearts. People will be talking about this one, I know, but it will break some serious bonds we are all struggling against.

What article could be so big? Even today? After all I've said and after all that has taken place? What in the world will it answer? What have I, Katherine, not already covered in 100 Weekly Notes?

#101: Did I Hear That Right?

Choosing Another Track

The following is a sidebar article from Weekly WCS Note #101: Preparing for the Big One.
___

You might have heard that a few big names are changing their tunes. Yes, that's right. Big names in the church and the ten are suddenly teaching... gasp! Swing!

So what changed? Some of these names participated - heck, even LED - some of the most brutal online harassment our sport has ever seen... And now they're teaching WCS again? What gives?

#100: Real Swing (Bad Things Routine)

Bad Things/Last Dance Classic WCS Routine
Josh Clark & Katherine Krok Eastvold

'Cause when I'm bad, I'm so, so bad. -Donna Summer

___

Today I'm releasing the most requested video in the history of my writing: my fourth routine with my partner, Josh Clark!

We only performed it twice, once at Grand Nationals and once at the CA Swing Dance Hall of Fame Gala, where it was received with such honor and praise that we stayed up until well into the next morning celebrating and enjoying one another. It was such a wonderful way to wrap up a phenomenal partnership.

New Book Arrival: Dear Mr. Cosby

Re-learning the Lessons
of The Cosby Show

Dear Mr. Cosby is Katherine's fourth book and is available on Amazon.com in print and e-book format. Click here to grab your own copy today!
___

I'm so happy to announce that my fourth book has arrived! It was a beautiful journey, writing this book, and I hope you treasure it as much as I do. It's one that I look forward to reading with my children and their children as we watch The Cosby Show together one day.

Of course,  Dear Mr. Cosby might seem a little out of left field to you, but it doesn't to me. I have spent the last year watching The Cosby Show from the very start again... and found it's even more relevant today than it was then.

Nick and I learned so much, grew so much and laughed so, SO much harder than we have in a long, long time, that I found myself, for the first time ever, writing Bill Cosby letters after each episode.

#99: My Apologies & More

Healing is a choice. -Stephen Arterburn

___

I have some exciting news to share with you today, so I logged on to my newsletter site and looked up where I left off.

Ahhh.... I left off with quite the bang, didn't I? #83: MJ or Coke? then #84: Playing Monopoly, then #85: The Cult, the Council and the End and finally the topper... #88: Where Things Stand Now.

So I re-read Where Things Stand Now. Wow. What a piece. It made happy, then made me squirm a bit uncomfortably. I think I messed up. And I'd like to apologize.

Because here's the thing: you, my audience worldwide, is split between two groups. You all fall into either category. For the purposes of this letter, I will call them Group A and Group B.

The Basics of WCS

The Slot of WCS

The dance of West Coast Swing (WCS) is extremely unique in the world of ballroom dancing. If you've ever taken a class for any kind of partner dance, like East Coast Swing, Waltz or Cha Cha, you'll remember that you were taught one basic step at the very beginning.

That "basic," as we teachers like to call it, or "basic step pattern" to be technical, became the foundation of all the other steps you learned. Let's say, for example, that you took a Salsa class. Once the class mastered the beginning basic you were then taught little "extras" to throw into that basic pattern - like an outside turn or an open break.

But always, when you were done, you returned to that basic pattern. That one single solitary basic. How nice. West Coast Swing? Not so nice.

#85 2/2: The Cult, the Council and the End.

The Future, Here and Now

I knew how hard the fall would be from that place - and how high the hands would reach to catch and scratch at me if I called out, loud and quite clear... -Katherine Eastvold
___

This is Part 2 of Weekly WCS Note #85. Click here for Part One.

Saturday, February 26th 2011.

The date may not mean anything to you, but it means everything to me. It's the date of my very first swing intensive on something "more" than just swing. I didn't teach movement. I didn't teach basics. I taught history. I taught essentials. I broke away from the herd and I... I taught real West Coast Swing. 

It was treason. I knew it. But the right people had said yes, and the wrong people had said no and before I knew it...

#85 1/2: The Cult, the Council and the End.

Sins of the WCS Cult & Criminals

Weekly Note #85 has two sections. This is Part One. Click here for Part Two. 

___

Part 1: The Cult Culture of WCS
(This is the Rearview Mirror for #84: Playing Monopoly)

So let's talk names. There are about 300-400 highly active predators, criminal harassers and cyber-bullies in and around our on- and offline Swing Dance Council/Points communities of WCS.

Since their activity has largely gone unchecked over the last three years (cyber-attack legislation only just caught up with the times), they've grown even more aggressive - violent, even - to the point of not only recruiting other criminal elements to the sport, but driving out all healthy elements too.

They say they "love" WCS. They say everything is great with WCS- the sport, the community, the teachers... until someone voices an alternative opinion.

#84: Playing Monopoly

Naming Bill, Ethan, Mason & Jacob
+ Text Version of the Stories

Fraud is the daughter of greed. -Jonathan Gash

___

Last Fall I released a very powerful Audio Exposé called The Monopoly . It contains three large and in-depth stories of my time and interactions with people of various statures in the West Coast Swing competitive community.

The first story is about a well-played game of chess for the US Open teaching slots from the early 2000's.

The second is the bulk of the recording, a detailed description of a major WCS monopoly - one which created incredibly large changes in both the local community, and the global community too. WCS died in their kitchen.

And finally, there is the story of an event director and the silly promises they made - none of which are even possible today.

#84: Rearview Mirror - MJ or Coke?

The REARVIEW MIRROR Article for
#83: MJ or Coke?

Dear Readers,

I hope that last week's Weekly Note #83: MJ or Coke? helped you. I really do. It was a scary thing to write, of course, but once I was done... I couldn't believe how light I felt. I floated like a feather for a full day. The weight of my un-spoken knowledge must have weighed much more greatly upon me then I could have ever realized. 

For those of you who have always known, or who didn't want to know - I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you can stay silent without paying a heavy price. I know I paid one. I'm starting to feel like we Deep Water people are, if anything, great at keeping secrets. I no longer think that's such a good thing.

#83: MJ or Coke?

The Birth and Widespread Use of
Marijuana, Cocaine and Heroin in WCS

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism. -Carl Jung

___

In the famed movie The Labyrinth, which I still love to this day, the entire movie pivots around a single moment in Jennifer Connelly's performance. It's when she says, "You have no power over me."

She says it with such revelation - such surprise - as if she couldn't believe David Bowie's character ever did have power over her.

I understand that line now. I can finally relate to her. In fact, I feel as if that's me standing there, looking up with wondrous yet completely certainty at her abuser. You have no power over me... 

#82: Why the Hate Speech?

How "New" WCS
Dancers Hate

The WCS Revolution seeks to separate and segregate... but they only want to annihilate. Annihilate us not just from WCS events, but studios, clubs and anywhere else where we or the dance itself may be found. 
___

The quote above is the reason why we had to start the WCS Revolution. We certainly didn't start the war, like I say all the time, as I've often stated, but we certainly have to finish it.

We cannot let an entire culture, an entire dance, an entire community that's been around for 70 years just be burned to the ground, with no sign of ever existing, as they clearly so desire.

But I just have to ask... WHY is this true? Why do these contemporary-abstract-walk-walk-Vegas-thumping "dancers" want real WCS to "die already" as I've seen so many of them write in the comments sections of real WCS videos, instruction clips, and chat rooms, etc?

New Book Arrival: TOUCHDOWN

Read a Free Preview on
Amazon.com

Joy to the World! -Isaac Watts

___

Merry Christmas! My third book Touchdown, is HERE! Yaaaaaay!!!! Touchdown: How to Score Curiosity, Joy and Freedom in Adulthood. I can't believe it.

And I am incredibly proud of it. It's not about swing - it's about everything! Living. Living life the way it was meant to be lived - whole, happy and incredibly joyful.

Even in adulthood. It's possible! Oh, and I threw a few bits of danger in there too. Adventure doesn't really qualify as adventure without a few dragons along the way, right?

So Merry Christmas to you, and to all a good night. Enjoy my favorite gift to you... the best of me and my love for you - all in one place:

The History of SwingDiego - New Audio Exposé!

The Truth About SwingDiego's
Inception and Creation

Okay. So this post is for my broken and beloved WCS community. It's meant to do a little - no - a LOT of healing. But I won't lie. Some people are going to be unhappy with this podcast. Very unhappy.

Heck. I wasn't even happy having to re-live some of these stories for you either. But once I was recording... it turned exciting. Huge secrets leapt up, insights clicked and clacked and BAM! Pure gold. (with a heavy side of "dirt")

Like I said. Some people are going to be so, so, so, so very unhappy. But they never should have lied in the first place. Period.

See you on the other side folks! Buckle up nice and tight. Here ya go:

THE HISTORY OF SWINGDIEGO - WCS

A NEW KATHERINE EASTVOLD AUDIO EXPOSÉ!

What a finish, right? Share away with your friends. They'll love you for it.

And of course, these are all my own personal opinion, experiences and viewpoints.

xoxo,

Katherine

#81: Prepare to 'Touchdown'!

My First Non-Swing
Book is Almost Here!

You're sure to do impossible things, if you know where to start. -Don Bluth

___

I remember teaching a Critique Session workshop at an event a couple of years ago. There was a woman who clearly loved dancing, clearly felt a lot of joy and happiness once the music was on, but danced with her head down and her shoulders up.

I could tell she was wounded. I could tell it would be hard, emotionally, for her to drop her guard while she danced. It would be hard for her to stop hiding from her partner and only letting her excitement peep out down below in her legs through footwork.

It didn't make for good partner dancing at all. The behavior would have to go. She wanted to be better, but I knew that would mean she would have to be brave - she would have to let go, and let her partner in - let the world in - to her little world of excitement.