Hyperreal

First visit to JJ’s since being off from dancing, ill. And first time with my new shoes.

Not a bad night – I even arrived early! (-ish. )

I arrived during the beginner’s class, but not with the intention of helping out (hot-shot!) but just to make sure I didn’t miss any freestyle. At least I think that was the reason… Couldn’t really work out why I had made sure to be early. Maybe I had simply missed the place.

Freestyle-wise, I found it difficult to get back into the rhythm of things. Took me quite a few dances, and well into the main freestyle before I felt comfortable with my dancing. Over the past few weeks my dancing has changed in some ways, with some new moves appearing in my repertoire – not deliberately, I just let these things happen – and was glad when one of my regular partners noticed.

I thought there was quite a high “rock’n'roll” factor in the music tonight – which is OK… some of it is fun, and I get to do a more “Ceroc-style” dance compared to my normal style with slower music. Wouldn’t want it all the time though…

To go with the “Ceroc-style” music, we had some of what I consider to be very “Ceroc-style” moves. Basically these are (in my mind) more complex arm-twisty, cheesy, and in some ways old-fashioned. Not saying this is how everyone thinks of them, but that’s the impression I get…

• Train. Choo-choo! Cheesy and old-fashioned. (Old-fashioned in that it suits older music.)
• Half-windmill. Arm-twisty and old-fashioned. (Old-fashioned in that it used to be a beginner’s move, but is no-longer.)
• Wurlitzer Pretzel. Arm-twisty. A bit cheesy. I don’t do pretzels much, but at least this is a way into a pretzel without a signal.
• Basket into American Spin (?). Much nicer move. Basket wrap-in, then immediate wrap-out to behind taking both hands above girl to end double-crossed hands. ACW spin out. Didn’t find this flowed nicely from the basket position at the end of the pretzel though. I do something similar to this move occasionally. Maybe we’ll see some other variations from there…

At around 10pm I had a break from dancing to take some photos. On the forum we’re having a “Forum Photo week”, where we take photos at 10pm from different venues across the country and post them up. Got a few good ones, and a few that will never be seen again.

Anyway, not a bad night. A fair number of good dances, but I think I need to dance more with people I don’t know, or don’t dance with very often. We’ll make that my goal for next week.

Cheers everyone!