Hyperreal

Hey, JJ’s tonight…

And my second week as a follower…

Moves were first move push spin, yo-yo, comb, step across.

We had done the fmps last week, so it was OK. The yo-yo was a different story. I was shocked at the intensity of the lead and block. Even when my leader toned it down a bit, it was still woooo!!! The comb was fun. The step-across is very easy for the follower, but I was surprised how much difficulty it presented to my lead. I think maybe it’s because such a simple move for the follower it makes it harder for a follower-turned-leader to apply her learned knowledge to it.

I had two major problems through-out though… Ones that I had anticipated…

• I can’t spin for toffee. My new dance trainers make spinning easy, but maybe it’s because of the extra inch or so that I was flailing all over the place in all my turns. (Who out there is saying “a poor workman blames his tools”?? Grrr.)
• I apparently have spaghetti arms. When I’m leading it’s easy to know how much tension (I think) I need to use. Much, much harder when following. I think I improved a little on this just by having it drawn to my attention, but it’s something I’m going to have to work on.

Minor problems like where I should have my spare hand during first move and yo-yo turn-outs can wait.

Much later we had a go at dancing during the freestyle, which was a lot of fun… But the music was a bit too fast I think and we struggled a bit.

But that was us skipping way too far forward… let’s skip back to the intermediate class…

• 5 beat first move – starts the same… on the back in, keep LH low to the hip, small lead in to give the girl a clue what we’re about to do and then lead the girl directly out using both hands equally to make sure she doesn’t try to turn or spin or anything.
• Back-hander – classic move. I’ve no doubt described this before… LH, lead the girl in, bringing RH to girl’s hip, and taking her RH round behind her (low) until she’s in a nelson, when you can put her RH into yours. She’ll have turned at least half way CW by this stage. Keep leading her with RH on hip (not by pulling her hand) for full turn out of the nelson, and then another CW turn by raising RH above her head. She should be dizzy but smiling at this point.
• Comb push spin. Return into standard comb, but as you’re leading a slow sway, holding her arm onto your shoulder with your LH, bring the RH up and when it’s clear what it’s there for, push-spin her CW with it. This would also be a good time for the guy to spin ACW. Catch L-R. (Think we stuck a return in here?)
• Block turn (?) Lead her straight in, like you were going to do a turn or return, but bring her to a halt with LH up in flat-hand style. Want to have an assertive stance for this. When you’re good at ready a small ripple/nudge from the heel of the LH should lead the girl into a CW turn. From here, you go straight into another one, do a return, step back and in and block again, whatever…

The move I had the biggest problem with (and always have) was the back-hander. The bringing the girl’s arm round is very difficult, especially if you want to keep your RH on her hip. So, the approach I took, and advocated by Franck if we were having problems, was just to forget about getting the hand all the way round the back and caught. At that point all the lead in in the RH on the hip, and you can reconnect R-R for the final turn when her hand comes round anyway.

During the freestyle I kept wondering why the place was unusually quiet… Then I remembered – there was at least six girls away on a dancing holiday, but that just allowed me to dance with some of the other girls that I guess I may sometimes overlook. The novelty was good, and hopefully I’m smart enough to dance with them more often in the future…

I’ve got to say I found my new shoes really good on the floor tonight, and my feet are feeling pretty chilled compared with what they normally feel like. I’m so happy I bought them, and wondering why it took me so long… :?

Cheers everybody…