As the person providing, entirely without charge, these website videos of Kim's Happy Valley Dance demonstrations, I prefer to stay anonymous, except that members of Kim's class know me, of course, and in case you want to contact me now and then, I'll tell you that Don is my first name and derick@ucla.edu is my e-mail address. My son Roddy, a computer expert extraordinaire who quietly backs me up, is similarly anonymous.
The videos appear here in honor of Kim's skillful teaching, and to help members of her dance class (including me) practice effectively at home. Some class members help me find out how to deal with computers that initially refuse to play the videos; so I can provide good instructions here. Other members help in other ways that will be discussed from time to time.
For information about Kim's dance classes, see www.happyvalleydance.net
USING THE VIDEOS
The videos on this web site show demonstrations provided by Kim in her Happy Valley Dance lessons at the Skagit Valley Grange (near Sedro-Woolley). Without the videos, it is too easy to forget, when practicing at home, exactly how to do particular dance steps. With the videos, every motion is in plain view.
The videos are enclosed in folders. A folder marked "West Coast Swing" contains several videos of West Coast Swing demonstrations, for example.
Each video is labeled by the type of dance being demonstrated, and comes in two versions. The version of each video marked Bg (big) is normally the one to use if you have a high-quality Internet connection, because it gives you a larger, clearer picture than the version marked Sm (small). Use the small version if you are in a hurry (it downloads fast) or if you have a very limited Internet connection.
Depending on your computer application, you may be able simply to click on a video, once you have it on your browser, and play it right there, rather than downloading it. If you play it on your browser, however, you probably won't be able to enlarge it.
A more reliable way to use the video is to download it to your computer and use it there.
To download a video onto a PC computer, right-click on the file on the website, and when you get the "SAVE TO . . . "
indication, pick the desktop as the destination of the save, or if you prefer some other location on your computer, indicate that.
On a MAC computer, all you normally have to do is double-click on the video that you want, at which point it will download onto your MAC computer.
After the video file has been saved to some location on your computer, open it there to play it. Once the video file is on your computer, furthermore, you can probably enlarge it when you play it (depending on your computer), and you can copy it to a CD (if your computer so permits), keep it in that handy form, or give it to a friend who lacks good Internet access. Some computers will let you copy a video to a DVD.
Videos can be obstinate. What works on one computer, with one application, often refuses to work on another computer, or with another application.
In case your PC computer won't play the videos, try the free CODEC video-application that Steve, a member of Kim's class, has discovered. The CODEC application seems to work well on PCs. To download CODEC from the Internet: (1) Go to this website: <http://www.freecodecs.net/K_Lite_Codec_Pack_download.htm >. (2) When you reach the website, download the "standard" version of the CODEC pack. (The website directions on how to do that are a little tricky, but they work well when you figure them out.) (3) Use "media player classic," which will be installed along with the CODEC pack, to play the video.
Rose, another class member, explains another strategy to try if you have PC problems:
"While uploading the newest iTunes software onto my new Windows Vista notebook so that I could convert my music collection to a format suitable for the iPod . . . , I stumbled on an easy solution for the issues I was having when viewing the dance lesson. . . .
"Along with the free iTunes software download came the latest version of the QuickTime viewer - QuickTime 7.3.1 for Windows XP and Vista. Like magic, once that latest version of the QuickTime viewer was loaded onto my computer, all the dance lesson videos started playing perfectly!
"Here's the link to the free download - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/"
If for some reason neither of these two procedures lets you play the video on your PC computer, please contact me (Don) at <derick@ucla.edu>, telling me:
* What type of PC computer do you have, and what version of the system (e.g., Windows XP) are you using?
* Are you reaching the website by using Internet Explorer or Firefox? Do you know the version number?
* What, exactly, did you click on or do?
* What happened?
I will do my best, consulting with experts, to find a solution to your problem.
Since the videos on this web site were made on a MAC computer, they should play easily on almost any recent MAC with a reasonably recent QUICKTIME PLAYER once you have downloaded it. There are exceptions. If your MAC computer won't play the videos, e-mail me (Don) at <derick@ucla.edu>, telling me what version of MAC computer you have, what computer system you are using (OSX, for example), what video application (name and version) you are using, what steps you take when downloading and trying to play the video, and what happens at each step. I will do my best, again, to find a solution to your problem.
You may hear an announcement in your Happy Valley Dance class, from time to time, that you can order a CD or DVD containing a collection of these dance demo videos, for a nominal fee to cover the costs of having it made. Just follow the instructions given in the class and you'll soon have the video in your hands. Since I (Don) am too overloaded to make the CDs and DVDs myself, that task is undertaken by other members of the class. Please be sure to thank them.
Those of us who cooperate in making dance-demo videos available on this website and on CDs and DVDs are constantly trying to improve our work. You can help by telling us what you like and what you don't, what problems you encounter, and how, in your opinion, we can do better. Contact me (Don) at derick@ucla.edu, and I'll tell the other members of our team. We'll greatly appreciate your comments.
HERE ARE THE VIDEOS
(§click
on that ), READY TO PLAY!
When you want to come back to this page from the page of videos, click on PARENT DIRECTORY.