Horrible week continues – Johnny & Serap Advanced

July 8, 2005

There was nothing wrong with the lesson. The problem was no one was competent enough to follow it well to give me proper feedback. I wonder if I will be able to retain this. Johnny quipped later that this type of routine is common in London.

R-R hold
1,2,3 open break, then overtake with R-R slightly outstretched (towards my front and to left) – leader and follower are more or less next to each other shoulder-to-shoulder
5,6,7 circular motion with R-R to lead follower to a clockwise walk – ending behind the leader and slightly to right (R-R goes under my raised L arm)
1,2,3 open break on 1, L hand (L arm is arched) is offered at about armpit level very close to body and follower is led forward under L-L
5,6,7 follower is led (with R-R) to right and behind under arched R-R
1,2,3 let go L-L and do a half pivot counterclockwise turn and reconnect L-L high (R-R is behind my back at waist level)
5,6,7 lead follower to counterclockwise walk for half turn – pull L-L backwards first then raise it over follower’s head to have it land behind follower’s head on her L shoulder
1,2,3 lead follower to the R side and letting go L-L (follower is moving counterclockwise again going bend me)
5,6,7 lead follower forward to reverse turn (1 1/2 clockwise turn) – so lead follower forward on 5 with R-R then turn on 6,7 – preferably after the first turn, get L-L low and have it follow R-R to end with crossed hold with L-L over R-R
1,2,3 pivot turn (half counterclockwise turn) ending with reverse Titanic (men in front) – probably best to keep hands pointing up
5,6,7 step forward on 5 while drawing R-R closer to body (neck really) and let go while doing a full counterclockwise turn (idea is that follower ends up with half counterclockwise walk to end in open position)

Club scene looked promising at start but was ultimately a big let down with very little satisfactory practice of today’s lesson. I’m already looking desperately forward to the end of August (but it's still long away and it may not lead to any improvement). I figured out who Crystal (Angelique’s sister with stitches) is. Dancing with Nancy (predominantly Rueda based) was the most successful to date.

One suspicion I have (hopefully just paranoia) is that I'm developing a reputation for leading too many difficult moves indiscriminately. Some people seemed a little wary or even scared. I don't know if Crystal tells everyone who she dances with about her stitches (so as not to overstrain her). Even Angelique seemed to need a break before dancing with me (and ultimately left without a single dance together). Or maybe my lack of confidence or irritation (brought upon by a poor week followed by a rather frustrating lesson) showed through. Even though Serap commends me for smoother leads (thanks to Sergio, Ivan, Dee and other LA style instructors) and improving timing (thanks mostly to Rueda - Rhona, Helen, Cinzia, Peter, etc), these improvements are not universally appreciated (or seemingly even liked sometimes). Towards the end of the evening, I was looking at some people who were using medium fancy moves but with poor timing - not differenciating between dancing on-1 and on-5; however they seemed not to notice and seemed to have had a great time.

This was the day of the great frog escape in the car park. 19/20 recovered.