Cutting down - Johnny & Serap Advanced

July 22, 2005

It looks like I'm cutting down number of salsa classes to about 2 per week - Johnny & Serap classes on Fridays, Casino Rueda on Thursdays if I have time to spare, and occasional trips to London on Sundays - at least for next month or so. I suspect I will be learning less and less from Casino Rueda class, which is still good deal of fun mostly because the participants are of reliable quality (ranging from fair to very good). There is plenty to learn from Friday classes, but unfortunately there are precious few who could follow the lessons in Cambridge to help me practice the routines from the class. The club scene on Mondays at Po Na Na has been quite atrocious for couple of months, which led to me to take a break from going there (even though Peter is informative and helpful and Cinzia is really nice to dance with - then again I'm not even sure if they're still there). I never liked Sundays at Greens, and Wednesdays lessons at Club Salsa are too inconvenient for me to be worth making effort to go every week.

open hold
1,2,3 pivot turn 1/2 clockwise with R-L high and L-R low – R-L goes over my head to end on the R side while L-R is at my back R waist and both facing same direction – this is essentially another way to start cross body lead meaning I need to clear space on my R side so that the follower can pass through on 5,6,7
5,6,7 lead follower forward on 5 and lead follower to a full counterclockwise turn with R-L high and follow follower near the end of the turn for a 1/2 counterclockwise turn of my own and end with both arms outstretched (essentially reverse Titanic or Titanic with leader in front)
1,2,3 continue L-R in a counterclockwise motion over follower’s head, then L-R comes towards my head and over it (while keeping L-R at my R neck as my L arm goes over my head) and get into another cross body lead position

version 1
5,6,7 lead follower forward on 5 and then lead follower to a 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with L-R high and letting go R-L and end with open hold

version 2
5,6,7 R-L makes a hat for the follower as follower is lead forward on 5, then when hat is completed, lead follower to a reverse turn (clockwise) while keeping R-L on follower’s R shoulder throughout (and through the next 1,2,3,5,6,7 as well)
1,2,3 open break then move forward while keeping R-L on follower’s R shoulder, which ends up being a neck wrap
5,6,7 lead follower backwards
1,2,3 cross body lead (slide to R or a.k.a. future forward direction for follower on 5,6,7)
5,6,7 lead follower to a 1 1/2 reverse (clockwise) turn with L-R high and letting go R-L

Some of the followers for the lesson were decent, so I more or less learned the routine okay. There wasn’t all that much opportunity to practice it much afterwards except with a small number of people from the class and with Serap and one other from outside the class. There were some good dances, one in particular stood out, but I would have enjoyed it more if there had been another half a dozen like it (a la SOS the other day) so that I could really get into the groove. When I tried today’s routine with Serap during the club hours, I (intentionally) did the first version first, which led her to think that I made a mistake, and things degenerated as usual; it’s always difficult to please your instructor. Despite Johnny's (encouraging although not quite accurate) comment couple of weeks ago, "your technique is perfect," dances like ones with Serap is a good reminder that there is still a lot of work to do. By the way, Serap asked about this blog, and I’ll e-mail her the address tomorrow; hopefully nothing here will offend her sensibility. Although she didn’t reveal her source, it’s an easy guess as there are only ~5 others in all of Cambridge who are aware of this blog - hi Peter! There was a deflating but thought-provoking dance where my dance partner seemingly wanted my arms absolutely still except for minimum movement needed for leading. This is not exactly an unfamiliar sentiment because I also think that too many followers, who swing their arms wildly and unnecessarily to the point of distraction. I was trying my “act as I am having a great time” routine I used at SOS with most people I danced with, but this did not help with everyone. Rest of the dance was passable to laughable; I initially thought that one woman I danced near the end might have been drunk but her later dance with another good leader seemed to indicate that she simply had no idea how to follow simplest LA style moves. I received a ribbing from one of the regulars that I had become too good when I told him that I wasn’t feeling especially inspired to dance. I mentioned possibility of getting a regular dance partner and the same regular asked/joked from where I would be importing this person. Ha ha. Several of the regulars commented that salsa scene in Cambridge is not as good during summer; we shall see what autumn brings forth.