Hyperreal

Been to JJ’s tonight, but it wasn’t so good.

I’ve got a sore ankle. Not sure how… Think it was from practicing spins in my trainers…

So I didn’t dance as much and stopped asking for dances half way through the night. Danced with ladies who asked though…

I’m sure it’ll be fine… it doesn’t really hurt so much as it just doesn’t like it when I put it under stress. Was planning on taking Wednesday off from dancing this week anyway to prepare for my Grand Tour, so I’ll be able to rest it for a couple of days.

So, apart from that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?

Some good moves tonight… Bit of a blues theme…

• Yo-yo into blues position #2. Start as yo-yo, but rather than turning to face, step back (turning 90º) on right to bring the girl right round into a sort-of sway position, but in front and to your right rather than just to your right. There should be contact with your right hand, arm and shoulder, and outside of right thigh to lead the girl into a few left-right sways, slow or fast. The left hand can pick up the girl’s left to help lead, or add style or whatever. By leading back into your body on this L-L hold, you indicate to the girl you’re about to lead her out into a crossed hands face-to-face hold.
• Lady’s shower of combs. Lead girl in and comb with upper hand, letting go, then other hand, letting go; and if you use your spare hand to catch the girl’s spare hand again, you can keep going forever. Alternatively, you can lead a step-back from a hand-hold, or from the hip. (We did if from the hip with left hand to get L-R hand-hold.)
• Half pretzel. Tonight’s classic move. Signal right hand behind in nelson, lead girl to left, she takes spare hand; lead her behind you, raising right and lowering left … then I can’t quite remember, but it ends we’re facing the other way, right to left and we use a spin to go back to right-to-right.

Took a while before the blues move felt at all smooth. Varied a lot with the partner – e.g., with one, she always wanted to step forward to end up in front of me rather than front and side. Also, the lead out could be tricky. I think the biggest problem here was a level of anticipation in the swaying into the exit by many of the girls which led to a messy move. But the basic problem was mine – I wasn’t leading it well. Didn’t do this move in freestyle.

Did the comb a few times, but not much. It’s quite nice, but a bit cheesy. At least one girl in the class did not like it at all. Though I think she was concerned about sleazy guys and said my combs were good. As I hardly ever do combs anyway, I’m not sure how much this move will get used. I really should try a few close moves sometimes.

The half-pretzel, although I can’t remember it now, I could do fine in the class. Again, I did it a few times during freestyle, but not much.

My dancing performance was way down tonight. I was tired, I was wearing my trainers, and I had a gimpy ankle.

Not my best night, but still had fun. Cheers guys!!!

As I said, I’m off on my Grand Tour on Thursday… I don’t know how much time I’ll have to keep my blog up-to-date while I’m out travelling, but I’ll try my best. Wish me luck!

That was my first real, proper Edinburgh party night. And it was good.

Last time I wimped out early as I wasn’t enjoying it – I couldn’t dance very much, if at all, and I had just had to get home. If truth be told, that was probably my worst day of this year so-far, for a few reasons.

Any wonder I was apprehensive? Of course, all the reasons to worry have sorted themselves out pretty much, and I really had nothing to worry about. But don’t you worry, I came away with new things to worry about!

I had hoped to make it over in time for the class, but only caught the end of it. It looked like fun though… Based on the evidence of killingtime’s blog (good to meet you at last!), Edinburgh seems to teach more leans and dips than I’m used to in Glasgow. No surprise that there was a dip taught tonight then…

Especially as I’d missed the class, my dancing initially was quite poor – not a lot of style, not a lot of interesting move. It seems to take at least half an hour before I’m really enjoying myself and maybe an hour or so longer before I’m on fire!

This worries me with the competition coming up next week. I hope I get the chance to turn up the fires in me before I’m asked to perform.

Anyway, once I got going I had a magic time. Much of the music was fairly fast, which suits me fine. There can still be room for interpretation in some fast tracks. Only was a couple of times when I found myself dancing to music I’d rather not have been, and there was only one song that I sat out specifically for that reason. That said, I’m ashamed to have found myself dancing to Shakin’ Stevens and Cliff Richard.

Most of the dances I had were somewhere on the scale of good to brilliant. There were a few maybe at the lower end of good with difficult beginners, but I still managed to enjoy them. There were a few beginners that were a joy to dance with – one lady was dancing Ceroc for the very first time that night, but did really well. She explained she had previously done “rock and roll” dancing, and while it’s really a different dance, there’s enough overlap in the concepts that she should be a pretty good Ceroc dancer in no time at all.

One constant I’ve found though is a far too high a percentage of beginner women use a vice-like grip on my hands. (In fact, there’s also too many experienced dancers who should know better who still seem to want to have a go at breaking my fingers.) I think the relaxed hand-hold needs to emphasised more in classes, with exercises to help reinforce it. I know I’ve got faults in my dancing, but hopefully I’m mostly painless to dance with. And if not – please tell me now!!!

I’m in two minds about the venue… On one side, it’s got everything you need, with a good floor and air conditioning. However, it’s not a particularly nice place. And it gets so crowded that the air conditioning doesn’t seem to be able to keep up. Oh, and it was that crowding I’d blame for the number of bumps and bashes I both gave and received. You try your hardest, sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it the other person’s, but either way it wouldn’t happen so often if it wasn’t so crowded. Also, moving around the room when you’re not dancing ain’t easy either. Overall, I think I prefer Glasgow’s Henry Wood Hall (on a cool night. )

One of the best things about the night was meeting dancers you maybe don’t see so often, but you know you’ve had good dances with them and are keen to repeat the experience. There were lots of those people there. Had some cracking dances with some good friends. Of course, it’s also nice to discover (new to you) quality dancers from far-off places like Edinburgh, or even further!

Talking off people from way, way, far-off places, it was really cool to meet The Long One tonight. Nice guy, and from what I saw and heard, a quality dancer too.

Anything I’ve forgotten??? I could talk about my experience with various moves I was playing around with, but it’s probably not what you want to hear from this report… I’ll just say that I almost dropped yet-another girl on the floor from my not-lean move, but I’ve tweaked my lead a little to hopefully stop it happening as often.

And so I must thanks all the dancers I danced with. I had a brilliant time. I wish I could have danced with you so much more, even if I danced with you lots. But as The Shamen put it, “Life is never enough (but it’s all you get.)”

Oh, and a Special Thanks for those of you that especially deserve it – just for being you.

Hey guys,

This is the updated version of the “short, quick post” I did last night…

Dancing: very good.

Music: very good.

Moves: very good, but dizzy!

• First move walk around wrapper – First move, in, out; turn the lady ACW where she’s standing as you walk around to her other side. Keep your right arm round the lady’s waist to guide and support her. She’s turned 360 and you’re in the first move position with just enough time to “snap” her in, if need be. Then repeat, twist out; turn ACW while walking around back to FM position. The end is up to you – all the usual FM exits are available.
• Man’s wrap – tonight’s classic move. Catapult entry, but as girl come to right rear, bring hand down and turn ACW to face with right arm in half-nelson with a bit of tension (oh, and make sure left arm is kept in so you don’t elbow girl in face.) Left hand onto girl’s right upper arm to lead her round CW in a wee walk around… and as you come around unwrap. This leaves the girl ready for a ACW spin as you’re “prepared” R-R. Instead though we’re going to lead the girl straight into a …
• Sway – we all know how this works. In this case we just sway back, and sway forward, but don’t exit.
• Sway tornado – instead we sway back, switching hands (bring L round girl to collect her R from your R.) Will need to have swayed back on right foot to stand a chance of doing this. Exit is single ACW unwrap into further ACW turn. Both these turns are in a single beat.

First move made me a bit dizzy. Second move made me very dizzy. I’ve talked about dizziness before, so let’s just leave it at that.

Most of the times I do a sway, I hold on with both hands on the exit and go into a two-handed yo-yo, exiting finally with a fancy step across. I should try ordinary sways more though. And find something else to do with crossed hands. Like a hallelujah!

The sway tornado (also called the sway change-hands turn out, or something boring like that) is cool, but like other moves which involve passing the girl’s hand between your hands on her far side, I’m just not good at it. What are the others I’m thinking of… the neck-break and the ??? can’t remember… :? Maybe I should practice one and that’ll make the others work better.

During freestyle i did the FM walk around thing a few times, mixing it up with a similar move where you turn and then step across, under the girl’s arm. They combine quite well together.

Did quite a few sways too. And managed to remember some of the moves from Tuesday to practice them again.

With the side-to-side lean we learn on Tuesday, and not lean variation, I tried the not lean version a few a times and in one case had problems leading the wrap (which was my old problem) or in another case had to stop a woman from going straight into a lean which I didn’t think I was leading (which is my new problem.) The momentum carries her straight into the lean, but it’d also carry her through the unwrap if she would notice that that was what I was trying to do.

So, something to practice, and in the meantime I’m looking for an easier-to-lead lean. I know I’ve got at least another couple in my archives I should dig up…

One last thing… Saw a cool wee move… In the basket position take L-R arm and comb the lady. I tried it once, and it works! Though I didn’t find the exit as easy. Need to watch to see if I can get some more inspiration from the master…

I had lots of fun with all the wonderful ladies there. Was good to see the regulars and the not-so regulars. I hope to see them all again soon. Oh, and it was good to see Franck back from his hols too.

Today is my 6 month anniversary.

And to celebrate I went dancing!!!!

Let’s get the moves down, as I need to get an early night…

• side-to-side shoulders lean - like my old favourite, the s-t-s s wrap, you let go, catch right to left, and wrap the girl in. Lean, back out and typically lead some sort of spin to get back to right hand.
• accordion sit - Accordion, but from the left lead the girl, sort-of sway fashion, in front of right leg. As you then bring left hand (which had been left high to the left from the accordion) down towards girl’s waist, you twist a bit clockwise and sit to bring the girl to sit on your thigh. Back up and out, still two-handed, return…
• hallelujah - to get back to normal two-handed hold.
• wrap-around - tonight’s classic move - totally new to me. Two-handed, lead with left hand girl to your left side, and around to front; some sort of spin or turn is usually called for at this point. It’s important to get out of the girl’s way as she walks around you by moving first to the right, then to the left…
• almost-pretzel turn out - pretzel signal, but pull hand away as girl goes for it ; still holding on l-r, turn clock-wise into half-nelson, sort-of facing lady; offer right hand high near face for girl’s left; step a touch forward, letting go of right hand and lead acw turn to bring girl back to where she started (you’ve naturally followed her round.) again, some sort of spin to get back to girl’s right hand.

These were all really cool moves!!!

I also learnt a drop when a girl thought I was doing a lean but I wasn’t… Naturally, it was my fault , but I caught her before there was any harm done (except for a scraped ankle, but I’m tough, I can take it… )

In the past I’ve found the side-to-side let go and catch r-l, and wrap hard to lead, but it seemed to be working much better tonight. I mixed this up with the lean version as taught tonight and things mostly went smoothly. I guess this means I must be getting better.

The accordion sit didn’t go well until I actually crouched down a lot more than I had initially. As quite a few girls during the class said they didn’t really like this move and I thought it a bit cheesy, during freestyle I just missed out the sit and did a classic accordion.

The wrap-around (not sure about this name?), the couple of times I tried it freestyle didn’t work well, with the girl turning as she stepped to my left-hand side. Not sure what’s going wrong there.

The almost pretzel thing I didn’t do during freestyle. Maybe I should have. During the class it was quite often difficult to keep hold of the girl while I was half-nelsoned. As I’m about to let go I’m not sure it matters…

Anyway, had a really good time – don’t think I missed any dances, though if I did it was only to get my breath back.

Six months… Who would have thought it…

Went to a wee dance party tonight.

It was excellent!!!!

So many great dancers in one room!!! (Plus me. )

Had some magic dances. Had some lovely things said about me. Had a kiss on the cheek from a beautiful lady.

I don’t think I could have had a better night.

But ultimately it was sad.

We were saying good-bye to a couple of great people, one of whom is my favourite dancer anywhere.

We’ll all miss you…

Come back soon!

Tonight was the GUU class.

Which was unusual, in that there was no teacher… Un-surprise!

Instead we had an extended freestyle session. Which was good for the intermediates anyway…

Not so good for the likes of my friend I’d brought along for the very first time and didn’t have a class to do.

Fortunately we had an excess of taxi dancers (four rather than two) and they took the beginners for an impromptu beginner’s class elsewhere.

It was quite weird going straight into freestyle without a class to warm us up – a bit like the party night in fact, and it took me a while to get into the swing of things…

As things went on I did have some good dances though.

There were several things that I’m unhappy about in my dancing however…

I think I’m filling up my dances with too many “filler” moves – man spins, back-passes, that sort of thing – all mortar, no brick. Especially as we come to the end of the dance, and I’m having problems thinking of any more cool moves to use, reasoning that I can’t do such-and-such a move as it’ll take to long and the song might end in the middle of it…

This goes back to my thing about needing to work on the intermediate moves I’m being taught each time, but quickly forget. Which again takes me to “partner” territory, but I don’t think I need to say anything more here.

Another bad thing was that a move I’ve been using for ages has started to fall apart on me. I think what’s happened is I’ve been taught another move that overlaps with the first one somewhere in my head and so I get a single confused move which tends to always go wrong.

Slightly related, I’ve found recently that quite a few of my partners have been letting go of my left hand while going into a basket (as if it was a “Lady’s Breakthrough” part of an octopus.) I actually noticed this first during the party on Saturday with one partner in particular, but I fear now that it’s been going on for a while with quite a few dancers. I really don’t know what the problem is…

The last thing I’ll moan about tonight is that I don’t seem to be able to lead beginners half as well as some other people. Of course, it’s simply because my lead isn’t as good, but I’m curious what’s intrinsically different. Is my lead too soft for some beginners? Or is it something else? I dunno… :?

Hopefully this goes a little way to balancing out all the praise I was indulging myself with after the party on Saturday. Maybe I am improving, but it’s a slow, slow process, and there are lots of speed-bumps.

One last thing about the freestyle… I was taught the windmill by a couple of friendly dancers. That one will get you dizzy fast – especially when it’s being led on you by a lady who seems to be out for revenge against all the guys who have windmilled her until she’s falling over!

Lots of good music, though I sat out quite a few… either just plain tired, or chatting with my friend. Talking of which…

My friend, despite “just wanting to go home” when she heard the class had been cancelled, stayed, went off with the taxis, and came back a dancer! She was very unsure at first, but after a dance with me, and a good few other sympathetic guys, she seemed to me to be much happier.

She still doubts her ability to become a good dancer, but I was impressed at her ability after only one sort-of class. She’s talking about coming to Jumpin’ Jacks next week, so I think we might just have a new convert!

All we got to do now is find a class for her to go to near Grangemouth, where she’s moving in a few weeks’ time.

And I think that’s all I’ve got to say about tonight.

Happy Dancing!

Tuesday… JJ’s…

We had the same guest teacher(s) as last Wednesday, so I didn’t want to miss this class night. But I did managed to miss the start of it anyway… I was running late heading home from work and the underground was off. Fortunately it was back on 10 minutes or so later, and I was maybe only half an hour or so late…

I got there in time for the end of the beginner’s class… It’s cool the way our teacher uses a move or moves from the first class and then complicates them for the intermediates later.

So, the arm-jive swizzle became the Granada Mangle (I thought this move was just the mangle?); and the first move push-spin became the first move elbow-hook (arm hook?). The third move, I don’t know if it had a proper name, as it was just a return, male turn and comb.

Here are the moves…

• I’m not going to try to describe the mangle here, as it’s way too complicated, and I’ve got it written down elsewhere. But it’s just a fancy way of getting into a basket-style hug (though a different arm is upper-most) with the girl in front by taking both your arms over her head.
• First move elbow hook. Starts as first move. On the swing out (making sure to step back on right!!!) bring right arm around girl’s back to hook onto her elbow which should be accessible as you’ve made sure to lead that arm back far enough with your left arm. Let go left and lead her back into a clockwise turn from her elbow; turn clockwise to watch her go round; and as she comes to face and you both step back, your hand will slide down her arm to end up in a R-R handhold.
• comb thingy. Return the lady, after she’s back to face, don’t step back, but keep arms high and increase tension to make sure girl also stays in; turn clockwise, watching elbow (try to keep it in front of your face); then comb. Step back and take spare hand for mangle.

I liked all the moves, but I’m still finding the mangle a challenge to do comfortably. I must be doing it mostly-right as I was getting (mostly) appreciative words from my partners during the class. I think part of the problem is I need to be closer in when taking the arms over – especially the second one. Not sure.

The elbow hook was a bit tricky at first until I figured out I needed to step back on the right or else neither of my arms were long enough to get the girl “hooked”. It’s one I’ll want to try again, but I didn’t have the confidence to try it during freestyle, despite, again, appreciative comments during the class. I’ll maybe try it tomorrow night.

The comb thing I found difficult at first – but just with my turning. Was wobbling all over the place. :? That took a bit to bring under control. Didn’t try it during the freestyle at all – probably because I never do combs. Well… almost never…

I don’t know what was wrong with me during the freestyle, but I never really felt I got into “the zone”. Had some really great dances, but even those should have been better, and, I think, would have been better back on Saturday at the party. Are these the post-party blues?

Was really getting tired towards the end, and it did show in my lead – I could see it, and at least one partner noticed it.

Music-wise, found myself dancing to quite a few tracks that were a bit beyond my interpretative skills. There were some nice ones with interesting changes of tempo that I always like, plus I got to dance to “Call on Me” for the first time that I recall.

I was actually disappointed that Madison Blues didn’t have the normal false ending – especially as I’d been coaching my partner all through the dance to be prepared for it!

Quite a few songs were totally new to me, which presented its own challenge. Overall, a good mix.

Not my best night though… Hopefully tomorrow will be better… I’m bringing a friend along, so that will be interesting in itself.

Cheers to our teachers and all the dancers. Sorry to those I danced with… hope to do better next time.

Just back from an excellent night at the monthly Glasgow party. The place was buzzing. I had so many brilliant dances, and had so many nice things said to me, I’m dead chuffed.

Let’s take it from the top…

I arrived in time for the class, but unfortunately the class didn’t happen – no teacher. Bit of a mystery there…

Instead I was individually, and as a group, collectively, told off from bringing our own drinks into the venue.

Hmm… I only started doing this for two reasons… First, the bar has a habit of running out of water way too early in the night. And, second, when they do have it, it isn’t always very chilled. Plus in the past the bar staff have been strangely deaf when asked for water. :?

Oh well… Not going to let that bother me.

On with the dancing!!!

I danced loads. Had lots of truly wonderful dances. OK, maybe there were a few not-so-great one, but they challenge me to find ways to make them great. And just so long as they’re in the minority, I’m very happy.

Nice things said to me:

• nice shirt (from a few people – this was the stripey green-ish one I didn’t wear last time)
• nice shoes! (from a few people more)
• I can really see the improvement in your dancing (one or two people)
• my friend says you’re really getting good (or something like that)
• you’re really cool (unfortunately meant only temperature-wise)
• thanks for a really lovely dance (said twice in a I really mean this manner)
• would you like to dance (every time someone asks me to dance, it’s a compliment)

Thanks to everyone who said such lovely things! Just as well the Henry Wood Hall has big doors!

(Aside…

It’s a really fantastic venue, with only a few wee problems that come to mind…

• no cooling of any kind
• no, not even a window that can be opened
• a slight slope to the floor (which is really just a quirk)
• a “hole” in the floor, right bang in the middle of the place (I think it’s actually a power socket)

We shall not have its use after the end of the year though. Not sure why, and also curious where we’ll end up… Hopefully somewhere equally local for me!

There’s a “Farewell to the Henry Wood Hall” party at the end of the year (the day before my birthday, if anyone is interested ) which should be really good.

End of aside.)

As ever, it takes a while for me to warm up, and so the first few dances always tend to be a bit rubbish. But as the night went on I got more into it, remembered some cool moves and started impressing people. Enjoyed doing some of the moves I learnt in the past week or so, which is beginning to give me greater confidence in my ability to actually retain some more some days after they have been taught to me. I kept messing up the (lady) comb and mambo steps on one of them. Of course the comb was fairly easy, but I maybe only once or twice got into the mambo footwork properly. Once, because I was looking down at my feet to figure out was going on, I ended up getting a wee bash on the head from my partner. You really shouldn’t look down when you’re standing so close to girl for at least two good reasons, and both of them can lead to injury in some way or other.

Because of fluffing the mambo steps, I’m usually a bit flustered on my exit of that move and I haven’t got my exit sorted out at all. Another exit I need to work on is from a basket flip-flop. Never quite sure what to do once I get bored of flip-flopping. Hmm…

As I said earlier, I had lots of wonderful dances – but some were just awesome. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but I find many of the girls I dance with quite similar – good, but nothing that marks them out as special. (They probably, maybe even hopefully, think the same about me.) Then there’s a few that just blow your mind. Dancing with them makes everything go better. You remember more moves, they work, and you do things you just never knew you could do. Things flow and it’s like magic. You just don’t want the music to stop!

I have to force myself to ration my dancing with these ladies – don’t want to spoil myself!

One has just the best eye-contact ever. Another one or two are expert hijackers. They all make leading them such a wonderful experience.

Should mention the music… I commented to one partner, “if I heard this music on the radio I’d turn it off.” This was probably true for a lot of the tracks. However, I also said about the same track that it was great to dance to. So, music that I don’t want to listen to, but do want to dance to – I don’t know how to resolve this… just as well I was dancing most of the time.

In fact, the dance floor was pretty packed all night, so the DJ was doing his job, keeping the punters happy. So thanks for a great night.

Big thanks to everyone else there – all the people I danced with especially. I had a fabulous time.

There were a few people I missed tonight for expected or unexpected reasons – I’m sorry that you couldn’t make it.

Hope to see you all next time!

Cheers!

Not long back from the GUU…

Our wonderful DJ played Madison Blues especially for me, to see if I would be caught out by the false ending. Well despite what he thinks happened, I wasn’t – unfortunately my partner was. After we had talked about it too! I still think it’s evil and it was doubly evil that he played it. I’m sure me saying that will make him grin even more though.

Anyway, it was a great night. Had special guest teacher(s) tonight which was cool. Variety is good, but these teachers are just great. (I should explain, it was a couple of teachers, though only one of them teaches the class, while the other acts as a demo.)

I had no duff dances – right across the range from a beginner who’d only done three classes, up to one of the teachers. Sure, there were lots of things going wrong now and then, but I don’t let it worry me too much, though when it was appropriate I’d ask my partner if they knew what was going wrong, or could help. Some volunteer advice, which is cool too, especially if it’s someone you know, and can trust to give useful comments. So thanks to all advice givers!

Wouldn’t like to blow it out of proportion – I don’t think I’m making that many mistakes, but it’s something I’m becoming more conscious of as I try to add more musicality and style to my dances. Like a baby learning to walk, complete with lots of falling on my face (figuratively speaking.)

I was also wearing my new shoes – very slidey, very shiny, lots of admiring glances, though I didn’t point them out to so many people, and when you’re dancing you shouldn’t be looking at your partner’s shoes that often anyway. Thanks though to the folks who said such nice things.

I’ll need to figure out my suede brush as they were getting a bit too slidey towards the end of the night.

Music-wise, it was pretty good. The only song I deliberately sat out during was “All That Jazz”. Just too much work! Otherwise, all the music was good to dance to for me… Would have been good to dance to music more to my taste, but it doesn’t look like that’s ever going to happen.

Let’s talk about the class…

Beginners’ was your typical fodder. Arm-jive spin-spin, comb, step-across, basket. Our normal teacher has a fairly different style to our guest, who maybe gave greater emphasis on some of the basics of technique and movement than we’re used to. Interesting. Unfortunately I find myself pretty much going through the motions during these classes and I don’t know how easy it is for me to pick up useful advice. Still want to have a go at following in a beginners’ class to see what that can teach me!

Intermediate was different. Rather than four moves, we did only three, the first two fairly simple, and the last one rather complex. Made quite a good routine when put together, though all the new stuff in the tricky move means that it’s unlikely I’ll have much success repeating it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! What were the moves???

• Step across stutter. Like a beginners’ step across, but as you step round on right foot, stop the lady by applying tension against her right hand (need to make sure it’s a palm-palm hand-hold with palm in a good position to block – thumb down, fingers pointing away to rear, palm facing direction of your travel); step left foot forward to meet right, and another wee stutter; allow move to finish as normal. Do a travelling return, going double-handed for next move…
• Basket pull. Done this one, or something like it before. Starts as normal basket, but on the way out, still with the same low hands on girl’s hips, “project” her forward, stop her and pull her back; let go RH, get out the way(!), lead her backwards and turn to face her, holding L-R, another (travelling?) return? to re-connect R-L double hand-hold for the tricky move…
• Arm hook mambo with a twist (?) – lots of new, difficult to describe stuff here! On the step in, hook right elbow inside top of girl’s left arm – this step in works best right foot first, which means it’s better to have done a step back on right, but I find it difficult to make myself do that, but did (I think!) somehow manage to get on the right foot for this part of the move. With other hand (and maybe hooked arm?) lead the girl to turn clockwise, turning in to face her (now facing in opposite direction!) hook other arm, but let go hands and place left hand on girl’s shoulder blade. (Can do same with right hand if it’s easier.) While doing this we should find that we should already have done the left step forward of a mambo walk! Do the step back (but only a bit) and find the girl’s right foot between your own. Now twist ACW quarter-ish turn crouching down a bit so our knees sort-of inter-lock, and then back up. (I guess a different thing to do here would be to go down further and do a seducer and/or sweep???) After coming up, either do a body roll with your partner, or just mark time, placing hands to top, front of lady’s arms. Push back left (and a bit on right) to open up a little, still right arm on shoulder, but now L-R handhold. From here a simple lady’s step across back, ready for the start again!

Cool but complex! As I never seemed to get my feet in the right position for the mambo walk, the twist rarely worked. With the breakdown of the move at this point, it was difficult to recover it. This is definitely a move that needs lots of practice to perfect, but if you can, it could be so worth the effort.

The other moves… The step-across I found went well with some partners, but not so well with others. As I had no feel for how well I was executing the move, beyond that some partners had problems, I figure it was my lead that wasn’t working – I was never really convinced by my own footwork for the move. The basket pull was good, but it leaves a nagging sensation of “was that it”??? Over too quick, and the end of the move seemed to lack much impact. Felt the need for a spin or something.

Anyway, practised this basket move and most of the moves from yesterday during the freestyle. The side-to-side block thing caught out every girl I tried it with who hadn’t been to JJ’s the night before. Found I had to make sure the girl’s spare arm was up, out of the way for the block. I really like the move though – keeps the girls guessing!

Hang on… time I was in my bed! Don’t think I’ve forgotten anything important, but who knows???

Got a busy weekend ahead of me, with two or even three possible dance things to do. It’s going to be great, but I really better get some sleep!!!! (The time on these posts, if you can see it, is normally when I start editing, not when I finish. It’s now just past 1 am.)

Cheers everyone who was at the GUU tonight and made it such a great night. Especially our very cool DJ, and the fabby teachers.

Fantastic night at JJ’s!!!

I was wearing my new shoes!!!! I got lots and lots of compliments from the girls when they either noticed them or if I pointed them out.

I’ve got to say they were fab to wear too! Nice and slippy without being over the top, and quite comfy, though my feet aren’t used to wearing hard-soled shoes, so it’s not so much a case of breaking the shoes in as breaking my feet in.

Had lots of good dances, was jumped for a second dance by a lovely lady who can spin like a ballet dancer (probably because she’s studied ballet dancing…) Was also forcibly escorted to the dance-floor by another lovely lady for … was it our third dance of the night? This makes me feel good.

What were the moves? Let’s skip the beginner’s… Unsure about the order of these moves…

• wurlitzer – classic move of the night.
• secret hatchback lady nelson mambo? – Hatchback/yo-yo start with spare arm offered behind; after turn out, bring arm over head, stepping to side; lead lady forward with left-hand kept low, right-hand high, stepping back and turn her CW into half-nelson L-L, and lady comb R-R, stepping into the comb to start mambo steps back and forward. Couple of them and then push off left, spinning the girl (maybe with a bit of lead from the RH?) clockwise. Travelling return…
• first move push spin to rear block something?? – from the travelling return go straight into first move (push spin) position (snap!) Push spin to rear (need to use right hand to make sure girl goes back as you step forward); stick out right hand behind to block girl’s right arm as she finishes her clockwise spin; send her back to your other side and, stepping back, lead her back to the front of you, spinning her clockwise again. Finish with a return.
• side-to-side shoulders block travelling return? – normal side-to-side, then go for a “let go” finish, but block on girl’s right hip as she comes past. Push her back, reconnecting L-R, and then a normal travelling return finish going double-handed for the wurlitzer.

Liked all these moves, and with the exception of the first move variation, practised them all during freestyle and felt more-or-less comfortable with them.

I’d never done just the wurlitzer on its own, and so it was good to isolate it and be able to practice it without the complication of something stuck on the end of it. I like it – but why is it no longer a beginners’ move???

The hatchback mambo was easier to freestyle into than I thought it would be. I found that every time I was trying to do a simpler, but similar move, I ended up doing this one instead as it was fresher in my mind. Had problems in the class making sure I was on the right foot for the mambo bit (right foot stationary, left foot back and forward), but in the freestyle it seemed to go better, though once or twice I just missed out the comb and mambo and just led a step-back from the nelson position.

The side-to-side variation is easy enough to do even with beginners, I think I’ll try to keep this move!

The first move thing didn’t go so well in class, though I’m not exactly sure why… I didn’t manage to get a good connection with most of the girls for the part of the move behind the back, and reckon it’d be hard to lead the rear spin unless the girl’s expecting it.

Anyway, like I said, it was a very good night, with lots of good dances!

Downsides… we’re losing a taxi! Still making loads of mistakes.

Other upsides… it was a friend’s birthday which was cool. She was mega embarrassed by everyone singing her happy birthday!

Overall, it was double plus good. Tomorrow it’s the GUU with a couple of guest teachers – looking forward to that!

Wednesday… GUU…

Wow, what a change! The place was packed! Lots of the regulars back from where-ever they were, plus lots of people I didn’t recognise. I’m told there was a lot of “LeRoc” people there tonight, so maybe that’s where they had come from.

On the forums you mainly here about the LeRocers of Bristol, and I’ve never heard any talk of the Scottish LeRoc world. I wonder why not…

I wish the change in the GUU had been reflected in my state of mind since last night, but alas not. Someone once told me that intense tuition in dancing actually tends to make you a worse dancer – temporarily. What happens is that your dancing suffers as you struggle to apply all the new stuff you’ve learnt, until it becomes ingrained.

I think this has been happening to me this week. I came away from the workshop on Sunday with my brain ready to explode. Yesterday I was complaining I couldn’t get things right because I was trying to remember and apply the stuff from the workshop, plus the stuff from that night’s class.

You won’t be surprised to hear that tonight was more of the same. It’s like my brain has been draining away until I’ve only got the dregs left. Those dregs being the half-dozen of so moves I’ve got so hardwired into my muscles, I could do them not only in my sleep, but probably even in a coma.

So tonight early on in the main freestyle I decided to stop thinking and just dance. I’d like to say it made all the difference, but it didn’t beyond that I stopped making as many mistakes as I was doing mainly simple moves. Which allowed me to at least get some enjoyment out of my dancing.

But overall it was a knock to my confidence I didn’t need. Plus I (felt that I) got much fewer requests to dance tonight compared to an average Wednesday night. Maybe it’s because there were lots more better dancers than me. So once or twice I sat and watched these great dancers and felt my confidence slip further away.

I know what you’re thinking – don’t let it get you down… you’re getting there… you got to give it time… everyone has off nights/weeks/months/years/centuries.

Sure, but the human mind doesn’t work that way, or at least mine doesn’t. It’s difficult to separately evaluate how things are now compared with how things were in the past, and even more difficult, how things will be in the future.

So, please let me wallow in my bout of self-doubt for just a while, please?

Anyway, maybe some people are interested in the night moves, yeah?

Beginners’ class: arm-jive swizzle (no return); octopus; first move push-spin (catch R-R); back pass.

Intermediate class:

• arm-jive swizzle around the world and back – after the swizzle, duck under out-stretched girl’s arm move to the right and bring the girl’s left arm over your head to get to an mirror-image of the original swizzle. Reverse the motion and on coming back to the start point, spin/turn the girl fast twice anti-clockwise.
• open neck-break – neck-break intro, but turn to face as you do the switch of hands, into a double clockwise fast turn (girl wraps in on herself) and return.
• back-pass turn comb (?) – simple back-pass, but when the girl’s right arm begins to pass your left arm lift it up for a arm/arm (wrist/wrist?) fast turn (a bit like a half-windmill, but arm-to-arm.) Still L-R, do a left-handed comb, but turn all the way round to face away. Drop hand from left hand on right shoulder down to right hand and step away. (This comb, drop, thing is just like a shoulder drop really.) On the step away offer left hand clearly in front, right-hand side.
• reverse catapult – from where we are we have already done the start of the catapult and can now do the pull forward with both hands, turning girl clockwise as you let go of R-R handhold. We are now pretty much facing opposite directions, holding left-left at a fair distance. Turn in ACW, bringing right hand to meet left, and right forearm to meet girl’s left forearm. Switch to R-L hold, keep turning and throw her left hand away fairly sharpish to make her turn CW, back-to-back with your ACW turn. Coming out of the turning, take hold L-R, and do a return, taking up a double-handhold for the arm-jive again…

Wow! No wonder my brain broke down!!! Talk about complex!? I’m amazed I can remember them so well.

Didn’t like the arm-jive thing – felt a bit wishy-washy to me. Open neck-break was fairly easy. I don’t currently have any neck-break moves in my standard repertoire, but this might just make it – it’s not as complex as the standard one.

On one of my DVDs they teach a move called the “Kissing Break” where you kiss the girl on the way out of a simple neck-break. Bet they never teach that in JJ’s or the GUU!

The other two moves were a little too complicated for me tonight. I managed to get through them in class, but I don’t see me doing them freestyle any time soon. I’ll no-doubt have forgotten them by the morning.

And that was pretty much that.

As I said before, once I stopped trying to think I enjoyed my rather limited dances much more. I found some of the things I had been trying to learn on Sunday paying off in fact. I hit every break in “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)”, though not always in time to do anything clever, and my partner didn’t seem to expect the sudden stopping of my lead and was never sure what to do… On a couple of other occasions I didn’t catch from a spin, and instead just stopped to enjoy the music, maybe clicking my fingers or some other subtle body movement, again allowing the girl time to do stuff, but again both my partners were unprepared (kind of like “OMG, I don’t have a hand to hold, what shall I do?!? ”) and so not much style came out of that…

I think overall I was more aware of the music, allowing it to dictate more the choice of move, and certainly influencing how I danced. I didn’t get caught out by any false endings, ever recognising the evil tune I mentioned recently with the really killer false ending. I wasn’t dancing to it at the time though, but I think I’d have got it. It’s The Madison Blues and it should be banished from dance floors across the world!

So now I think about it, I have something to show for the workshop, and hopefully as my brain recharges I’ll get even more out of it, and I might even be able to do some of those fancy moves we were taught.

Isn’t it nice to finish on a high point?

JJ’s tonight…

Good night in general, but what with trying to perfect tonight’s moves, plus work on the moves we did on Sunday, plus cope with various other distractions, there was lots going wrong.

I arrived a bit late, even though I thought I was going to be on time, not a good start. But I was there in time for the start of the beginners’ class, just missing the Ceroc Essentials. Moves were Yo-yo; Slo Comb; In-and-Out; Basket; Man Spin. All pretty cool. No really disastrous partnerships, despite a few first-timers going through my hands. Felt pretty good.

Intermediate moves were…

• Yo-yo spin (?) – simply a yo-yo, but instead of turning and blocking, turn and spin CW.
• Ceroc spin barrier repeating (?) – R-R, “prepare” for a ceroc spin RH, stop and prepare again LH, and again RH, and again LH, and finally do it from the RH. Except we never got a chance to do the last RH and spin, cos the girl would hi-jack on the LH and ceroc spin the guy.
• First move basic – Classic move of the night. Open first move, hand up between shoulder-blades, lift elbow and lead girl forward and turning around (dropping elbow) back into open FM position, repeat. Finish up by closing back up dropping right land back to hip, and Push Spin (no return.) The footwork for the guy is forward, turn, back, back; and for the girl, forward, forward, turn, back. For added fun and effect, turn the steps into two sets of triple steps.
• Catapult throw away (?) – regular catapult, but don’t spin out, instead keep arm low and turn girl into half nelson L-L, collect R-R, to the left, but discard the hand immediately and turn girl out ACW from half nelson as you turn CW to get back to the lean away position again. Same bring the girl round, half nelson, collect R-R again, but this time, do a little pull in and then push away, letting go left hand to get back to a R-R hand-hold ready for the yo-yo. (Can’t remember if we did a return here, but if we did, it’d be the old one of the routine!)

I liked these moves. Yo-yo thing I’ve probably done by mistake before. Simple enough. The Ceroc spin and hijack was cool. I liked the hijack, and it was a chance to practice my spins. Got caught by one lady anticipating her spin. Naughty me! A few of the girls I partnered weren’t very keen on the hijack for some reason. I thought they’d love a chance to take over! As I’m not very much into Ceroc spins (I just hardly ever think to do them,) I didn’t get to practise this move in freestyle.

We spent a long time on the first move basic. I really liked it. I got to practice some of the stuff I’d been taught at the workshop about leading travelling move, plus it was just a cool move. It got a bit tricky once we’d added the triple steps, and it’s really difficult to do them to the music too, so although I practised it in freestyle triple-stepping, maybe next time I’ll just do normal steps. It’s also a difficult move to practise on a crowded dance floor! What was really good about this move was how fast I got it, and how then a couple of girls I then partnered said they couldn’t do it, but once we’d gone through it, were like “hey, that’s how it’s done!” Too often it’s the other way around!

Catapult-y thing went OK. Wasn’t very inspired by it though, but did it a few times in freestyle and we’ll see if it sticks.

Freestyle was a bit mixed, for the reasons I said up the top… I was trying to remember stuff from the workshop, both technique and moves; the cool new moves of the night; take on board feedback; and give my partners good dances. Plus I danced with quite a few (relative) beginners with whom I am not good enough to lead these more advanced moves with. A bit frustrating.

So I made lots of mistakes (even in a few of the beginner moves,) and messed up lots of the leads of these trickier moves. But I still had fun. I enjoyed every dance, bar none.

I’m in two minds about some feedback I got. The particular problem doesn’t seem to happen at least with the few other ladies that I’ve asked, which makes me wonder if it’s only a problem with this one person, or with only some partners and not others. Either way, I’m a firm believer in the “it’s always the guy’s fault” rule, so I must be doing something wrong. I just wish I could figure out why it’s going wrong, and how to fix it. :?

So, much to think about…

Overall, a good night, but one that’s left my brain a bit frazzled. Hope it can recover in time for tomorrow.

Cheers everybody!