Another stylized cross body lead and others - Johnny & Serap Adavnced

August 19, 2005

Another stylized cross body lead
on 7 get to angled position for normal cross body lead start with R-L hold
1,2,3 L foot slide behind R foot on 1 and slide to L on 3
5,6,7 lead follower to complete cross body lead and get into angled position again on 7 keeping weight on R foot
1,2,3 L foot slide behind R foot on 1 and slide to L on 3 – ready L hand at shoulder level on 3/4
5,6,7 lead follower to 1 1/2 traveling turn (counterclockwise) with L hand starting on follower’s R shoulder on 5 and ending around her back on 7/8 – go past follower’s path
1,2,3 R hand on follower’s stomach on 1 as stepping towards 1 or 2 o’clock and pivot turn (half clockwise)
5,6,7 keeping R hand on follower’s stomach and get back into open position

R-R hold
1,2,3 start cross body lead
5,6,7 lead follower to a full counterclockwise turn and halt (decelerate might be better) further turn with R-R on follower’s R shoulder
1,2,3 lead follower to turn around clockwise to get into another cross body start position (more of an open position with both facing forward towards the line)
5,6,7 lead follower forward on 5 and into a 1 1/2 clockwise turn to get back to open position
1,2,3 open break on 1 and overtake on 2,3 with R-R extended (maybe about 10 o’clock)
5,6,7 move a little forward and to right on 5 (to give room for follower to turn) as R-R does a wide swinging clockwise motion to lead follower to a 1 1/2 (?) clockwise turn and do a hook turn (half counterclockwise) at the end to get back to open
1,2,3 R-R is used to give follower a hat while getting into cross body lead position and making L-L connection
5,6,7 lead follower to a full counterclockwise turn ending with R hand on follower’s R shoulder – both facing same direction with follower in front on 8
1,2,3 open break on 1 and overtake on 2,3
5,6,7 hook turn and switch hands from L-L to R-L
1,2,3 start pivot turn on 1 as R-L is switched back to L-L then switch back to R-L on 3 as pivot turn (about 5/4 turn and getting over follower’s line) is completed
5,6,7 R-L is extended along follower’s line on 5 and tossed backwards on 6 to lead follower to a free counterclockwise (traveling) turn – meanwhile complete a full counterclockwise turn of my own to get back into open position

Space was not a big issue during the club hours. Vishal played well over dozen salsa songs to begin the night, so the start of the night was brilliant; it was almost like being at SOS. Things sort of petered out after midnight however; in fact most of post-midnight dances were at beginner level or worse. Best dances were with Serap and a woman from the Salsa team. I was asked by another person about my blog; this is the fifth person ever I gave my blog information - 1) original guy who inspired me to launch this blog, 2) Sean, 3) Peter, 4) Johnny, 5) this person. Later in the evening, an unknown tall lanky woman asked me for a dance, which became a bit of a fiasco because she was making little effort to follow. Another good leader also had similar trouble with the same person, and we shared a chuckle about it. I was overhearing some comments along the lines of "professional" possibly referring to me from some bystanders - this and other things (like some more experienced leaders indicating that I find Johnny & Serap's lessons easier than he does - of course, I've been taking classes with them for much longer) means I probably can categorize myself as advanced level (probably beginning advanced) salsa dancer (at least by Cambridge standard).