Hyperreal

JJ’s tonight… not a bad night, though a bit weird…

Arrived just before the intermediate class… The moves were a yo-yo barrier, sway flip-flop, tea-pot, and first-move spin-through. Not going to bother with long descriptions that no-one reads…

The key thing this week was leading from the girl’s hips. Some important things to remember here – in particular when leading through the arm, there’s lots of give, lots of time to react to the lead. When leading from the hip, it’s much more direct and instant, so a greater subtlety and gentleness is typically required.

At the start of the class there were about 20 spare women – by the end there were 2. I’m not sure exactly why this was - it certainly wasn’t the result of 18 guys suddenly turning up – but something’s a bit screwy there…

On to the freestyle…

After having danced so much in June, I felt weird coming back to JJ’s, a full week having passed without any dancing. I even felt a bit nervous…

First dance out of the class wasn’t fantastic, and I wasn’t feeling inspired. Skipped the next song (thought it was a bit weird anyway) but then got up for a much more lively tune with a much more lively dancer.

Immediately felt better.

The rest of the night was a bit like that… On and off… Some great dances, some just totally uninspired. The balance was definitely in the positive though.

Anyway, the weirdest thing happened at about quarter to 11. The music stopped. And that was it, the end, there is no more. We’re all used to the house DJ coming on after Franck’s finished and trying to kill us all with fast and/or hard-to-dance-to music. Didn’t happen. No DJ. No more dancing.

Seems JJ’s has decided it’s not worth the bother opening on a Tuesday night (at least, not during the summer), so once we’re done, they just close up.

Kind of gives an anti-climax to the night that is not normally present.

But you can’t have everything.

So I had a good night, with some good dances (including with a girl who hadn’t danced for two years, but got back into it rather quickly) and generally enjoyed myself.

What more could you ask for?

See you tomorrow at the GUU if you’re there!