Hyperreal

Week 5 of beginners’ Salsa…

We’re getting on really well… According to our teacher we’re now doing moves which she’d normally be hoping to teach in the last week of the 8-week course (this is week 6 of the course, by my 5th week) or even at the start of a level 2 course.

I think we’re all actually doing quite good, but I fear that the pace we’re going at may result in us forgetting some of the basics as we push ahead towards more advanced moves. I’m sure our teacher knows by now how best to pace a class, but I am still surprised that we are still only doing moves called out by the teacher, and not being encouraged to have a go at trying to do our own thing.

This week I didn’t need any encouragement. At one point, once at least I had got bored of repeating the same couple of moves over and over again, I tried to mix in some of the other moves we’d been taught. It was good fun, but didn’t go fantastically well… I was pleasantly surprised by how well my partner could follow my lead (as she’d probably never been asked to follow “random” moves before) but I was frustrated by how few moves I could remember, and ended up just repeating a couple of moves, in and out of a closed position – a bit like if I could only remember the First move in Ceroc. I also had to stop quite often when I ended up not knowing where to go next… Another problem was when I found myself doing the “1,2,3,-” part of a move during the “5,6,7,-” of my count (which I think was keeping time with the music). I haven’t yet figured out how we’re meant to get out of this apart from just stopping for a bit.

My partner’s reaction was mainly bemusement. Better than puzzlement or boredom, but not as positive as I’d have hoped. But then she wasn’t especially communicative with me all the time we were together, so maybe bemusement was all I could have hoped for.

Rather than the rueda wheel we had last week, the class stood in a semi-organised rabble, with only a couple of changes of partners – very much fewer than last week. As a result it’s hard to know whether when there’s a mistake being made if it’s your fault or not. (OK, maybe the usual “it’s always the man’s fault” works in Salsa too, but I can’t be entirely responsible for my partner’s footwork.) One girl I worked with was only attending for the first week… Not so helpful, though she did remarkably well I thought.

We did a few new moves tonight, though they were all variations on the same thing – a CW turn for the lady. I think this was called Dita – it’s whatever is Spanish for finger, as we were told you can do this move just with a finger (I think!) We first did a left-handed version, then a right-handed version, then a right-hand-into-crossed-over-double-handed version. The double-handed version was called the Sombrero, and finished up with cleaver-type position (one arm each behind the other’s neck, facing the same direction.) Quite liked that.

During the warm-up the teacher started throwing in new, unfamiliar footwork, and wee jumps that I have problems following – I don’t like jumping and didn’t want to with my eye still feeling sensitive. Then at the end she showed us some fancy footwork she wants to do with us next week, and put some of it into the “Teacher’s Track” line dance at the end. I found them very difficult to follow. Don’t know how I’ll get on when she tries to teach them for real…

There was greater emphasis on leading this week, but less on following – perhaps because again our teacher was dancing as a woman for most of the class and so had more feedback for the guys… The couple of times I danced with her briefly I think I did alright, though there was a very clear back-lead going on which as an unsure beginner helped me, but I hope isn’t a common trait in experienced Salseras.

My first partner of the night had been mainly learning as a leader in previous weeks, so found it difficult to get the moves and follow my lead without anticipating or leading herself, but I think she got better as we went on. I really do think that Ceroc has it right by asking beginner women not to lead and doing frequent rotations.

Think that’s all I there was of note tonight. Next week we’re back in the usual venue, which I have mixed feelings about… But make sure and come back then and find out how I did.