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New Features of the Online Courses!

In case you’re curious, I’ll be going over some of the distinctions between the old Online Classes and the new and improved Online Courses:

If you take a quick peruse through the “Course Features” page, you’ll notice that 5 new “Modules” will soon replace the 119 Weeks of Online Classes that I created and distributed over the last 4 years. If you haven’t already seen these Modules, they are:

  • Footwork Mastery (Expanded and Revised)
  • Floorwork (Volumes 1-2)
  • Loft-Inspired Freestyle
  • Jacking Style
  • Groove Series (Hip Hop and House grooves)

Each Module is its own complete, structured, progressive series, where specific things are worked on and expanded upon each week. In other words, each week we build upon the material offered to you in the previous week(s). Once you have a strong foundation of the basics for that particular style, I hand you more building blocks until you have everything you need to develop your freestyle, so that by the end of it, depending on how thoroughly you go through the material and how committed you are to doing the homework (literally, I’ll be assigning weekly tasks and challenges), you’ll know how to freestyle footwork or floorwork or jacking, and so on.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, for starters, I don’t know where else in the world you’ll be able to learn how to dance house in such a premeditated and methodical way. Pretty much any dance studio that offers house classes that you can drop into whenever you want for about $15 a class (which comes out to about $60/month) will most likely be covering the same sort of general information every week – some choreography, some new moves, and basically just a bunch of busy work that doesn’t really guide your growth as a freestyle dancer so much. The reason for this has nothing to do with the skill level of the instructor, but rather the nature of open (drop-in-anytime) classes, where the instructor has to juggle newcomers, “irregulars” (students who show up to class every now and then), and intermediate to advanced students. Trust me, I know how that is – I taught at studios in the San Francisco Bay Area for nearly 15 years! And the whole reason my online tutorials began in the first place was because I was tired of having to teach the same beginner steps every week. So I made my first online tutorial videos for my in-studio-class students so that they could practice them at home and allow me to move on to the more interesting stuff.

Eventually I stopped bothering to teach beginner stuff altogether and began teaching intermediate-level classes, no matter who came to class. I found that most students enjoyed a challenge and a work out. But while some students excelled in picking up my choreography, I found they weren’t growing as much in their abilities with respect to freestyle. Therefore, I created the Footwork Mastery Style Course, which helped hundreds of students learn to freestyle quickly.

So what’s the difference between these new Online Courses and the Footwork Mastery Style Course? Actually, they’re based on the same principles of teaching. I discovered that the most helpful thing for students learning freestyle is not to throw a bunch of moves and choreography at them, but to help them understand how the moves fit together. These new Online Courses, much like the original Footwork Mastery Style Course, are centered on theory and methods in freestyle. Only now, I’ve decided to create a course for each technique (e.g. floor work, grooving) and sub-style (e.g. footwork, jacking, lofting-inspired, etc.).

With all that said, here’s a more comprehensive list of new features that are coming with these Modules.

1. New Warm-Up Videos – my original 5-Minute Warm-Up video on YouTube has always been such a favorite that I haven’t needed to update it in 6 years. But now you’ll get a new one every month!

2. Cool Down Videos – In addition to new warm-up videos each month, we’ll also do post-workout stretches to maintain or increase your flexibility during the learning process!

3. New Music – No more generic, monotonous music! No more mind-numbing drum loops! For these new Online Courses I’m collaborating with a few amazing house music artists to make sure we warm-up, drill, and practice to real, dope house tracks.

4. Freestyle Practice – You and I will go back and forth in freestyle practice exercises I’ve specifically designed so that you can get used to integrating the new moves and concepts you learn every week into your dance.

5. Drill-Along Combos – Repetition is a necessary part of improving your technique and remembering your moves. Now you won’t have have to do them alone, as I will be drilling along with you. Not to mention, it makes for a great cardio workout!

6. Musicality Training – Every few weeks we will dive into a new lesson on musicality. Develop your ear for house music, refine the feel and quality of your movements, and explore the different ways your body can express what you hear.

7. Lessons in Styling – In addition to musicality training, I will also get you thinking about elements and concepts that can give focus or direction to your freestyle. Remember that freestyling is simply “instant composing.” These concept-focused “styling” trainings and exercises will expand the way you think about creating!

8. Homework & Feedback – Each week you and your cohort will be given homework assignments, some of which will ask you to upload progress videos of yourselves to the Secret House Society forum (accessible only to students in your cohort). You will get feedback from me through private messages. But also, you and your fellow classmates can provide helpful comments on one another’s work for extra credit points!

9. A Collaborative Learning Environment – Unlike the old online classes where you could sign up anytime, these new courses open registration only twice a year: once in the fall, and once in the spring. Therefore students who enroll start the course at the same time and go through each week together.  Each Module’s assignments are designed to encourage students to work in partners or groups through the learning material.

10. Secret House Society – You may have noticed the new “Community” forum page on the website. While most sections of the forum (such as Events and Practices, Music, History, etc.) will be open to the public to join, the Secret House Society will be viewable and accessible only to enrolled students!

This will be our spot to exchange with one another. As mentioned above, for some assignments you may even be asked to partner up and work collaboratively!

Well, those are all the new features I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by more as we move through the Courses! Anyway I hope you’re feeling as excited as I am to begin this new journey together! Please let me know if you have any questions and feel free to leave comments.

Peace!

-Jardy

    12 Comments

  1. August 1, 2019
    Reply

    Hello) i have some question about your online course. I liked it so much and i want to be a part of it. So… The first question is how it will works? I mean i will have all information from the beginning or you will send it every week? And how much it costs?

  2. User Avatar
    August 1, 2019
    Reply

    Hi Nina! I open up enrollment twice a year, and once enrollment is closed (usually after 10 days), classes start for that group of students. It’s $79 a month and classes get sent out every Monday. Let me know if you have any other questions!

  3. User Avatar
    August 5, 2019
    Reply

    Hi Jardy, I want to know if the fee is paid by month or by semester? Once you finished the semester do you still have the access to the study materials? Sorry for my broken English

  4. User Avatar
    August 5, 2019
    Reply

    Hey Terry! Fees are paid every month. And yes, once you finished a course (the longest is 15 weeks), you’ll get full access to it. The first semester has two courses, Footwork and Floorwork. 🙂

  5. User Avatar
    August 7, 2019

    Thanks for the reply! I’ve already had some courses about footwork before, so can I start from other modules, like floorwork or lofting style?

  6. User Avatar
    August 13, 2019

    Hey Terry. The program works as a whole, and past classes are referenced in future ones, so I wouldn’t recommend it. Also, because of how the site works, I wouldn’t be able to do that just for one person, sorry. Anyways, I can pretty much guarantee you that you’d learn something from the Footwork Style Course, I have a very different way of teaching the dance, and even advanced dancers have learned some unique things from the module. 🙂

  7. March 18, 2020
    Reply

    Hi,
    Interested to join.
    I m based in UK is that ok ?
    Could you confirm the new full course is 4months in total ? ( so price $79×4 ?)
    Content is given every Monday and then I have them for myself after the course ?
    Is there different level course or just 1 ?
    Many thanks in advance,
    Julie

  8. User Avatar
    March 18, 2020
    Reply

    Hi Julie! Yes, you can totally join from the UK. All the information you said was correct, and there’s only one 50-week long program that’s separated into 5 courses/modules. After you complete the first module (4 months long), you automatically continue on to the others. The other modules are 7-10 weeks in length. You keep every module you complete and you can cancel at any time. Please let me know if this answers your questions! 🙂

  9. March 31, 2020
    Reply

    Hi !

    I am trying to buy the online courses but i dont find the link on the webside.

  10. User Avatar
    March 31, 2020
    Reply

    Hi Lola! Did you go to the enroll link? After that there will be an enroll button as well. Let me know if you still are having trouble finding it 🙂

  11. User Avatar
    September 13, 2023
    Reply

    Hi, I’m thinking of enrolling as I’ve done lots of online videos for different steps but now want to progress to be able to combine moves, but my worries are:

    1. Falling behind the rest of the group (I had this problem when I went to in-person classes before, which is why I’ve quite liked online videos that I can do at my own pace)
    2. Time commitment – how much practice time do you think will be needed each week?

  12. User Avatar
    September 20, 2023
    Reply

    Hey there Tom! Thank you for your patience, I just saw your comment. This course is very flexible and you can do it at literally any pace that’s comfortable for you. The lessons are prerecorded, so there’s really no falling behind. The time commitment you put into the course is up to you. There have been students that stayed with the course for months before finally doing the lessons. Whatever works for you!

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