Fieldwork Diary Entry (February 23, 2013)

After the very useful editing lesson with Eulanda at uni today, I realise that a lot of my fieldwork photography and film footage is not up scratch.  Not for the way I would like to use the material anyhow. It is too late now to go back but I do wish I had known some of the things that Eulanda taught us today about story telling through editing before I started recording footage in the field.  It's all a learning curve however.  Next time.... 

I hear back from Sharon Davis this week. The body of her reply is as follows:

I don't know of any regular Charleston classes in London, but there are certainly irregular ones around town. This is a good page to find out all the different schools in London:

 

http://www.swingoutlondon.co.uk/

Most dancers serious about learning 1920s Charleston and other jazz roots styles, usually go to dedicated weekend workshops, such as the Paris Jazz Roots Festival, Stompology, or the Authentic Jazz tracks at Herrang Dance Camp. There aren't many places in the world where you can take regular authentic solo vintage jazz dance styles - there's just not enough of a demand for it. I mostly teach at festivals (here is my calendar: http://www.sharondavis.com.au/calendar).

If you're interested in taking a private lesson with me, my rate is £50/hour and you can come to my apartment in Dalston (N16 7XB). Just let know.

 

I have already contacted the people running the SwingOut London website and hit a dead end re Solo Charleston classes.  I wonder if I should use 1/3 of my fieldwork fund to go and have a private lesson with Sharon.  In truth I am a bit taken aback at her requesting me to pay for her time. It is not unreasonable for her to request this though.  I realise that  up until now I have been lucky so far in my fieldwork to have been the recipient of people's generosity with their time and knowledge, all of which so far has been given freely.  Sharon makes no mention of my request for an interview.  This is really what I would like from her, more so than her to teach me for an hour.  I email back offering to pay her £25 for 30 minutes of her time in an interview.

 

I wonder what the response will be?