Pretty easy … too easy? – Johnny & Serap Advanced

August 5, 2005

Parts of it still takes a knowledgeable follower, so too easy may not be right. Anyhow, on to the routine...

closed hold
1,2,3 basic and raise L-R on 4
5,6,7 lead follower to a pivot clockwise turn, keeping R hand on follower’s waist – let go L-R on 8
1,2,3 open break on 1 using R hand on follower’s waist (palm on front waist and fingers on back waist), overtake on 2,3 with R hand shifting (palm on side and fingers on front waist) with the follower turning not quite half turn (but more than quarter turn) counterclockwise
5,6,7 lead follower to a double clockwise free turn with a waist lead and do a hook turn myself
L-R hold
1,2,3 open break or prepare follower
5,6,7 lead follower to clockwise turn with L-R high initially and letting go as 1/2 hook turn is performed and R-R connection is made (on 8 both facing same direction with leaders in front)
1,2,3 open break and R-R goes over followers head as L-L connection is made and is extended forward so that both hands are outstretched on 4
5,6,7 on 5 is like a block, hold position as followers sway
1,2,3 L-L goes over in front of follower’s head and back to get back into extended arms position
5,6,7 lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn to my R side while letting go L-L (question – does clockwise turn work also? I’m not completely sure if counterclockwise turn or clockwise turn was led here)
crossed hold R-R on top
optional basic
1,2,3 full pivot clockwise turn with R-R raised and L-L ending behind my waist
5,6,7 use my R-R elbow to disconnect L-L and end with crossed hold with L-L on top
1,2,3 start of cross body lead
5,6,7 lead follower to full counterclockwise turn keeping both hands level around top of follower’s head
1,2,3 continue turning follower counterclockwise for 1/2 turn keeping R-R high and L-L low and turn 3/4 clockwise while getting out of the way to open up a lane on the right side like cross body lead postion - L-L ends behind my waist – let go L-L
5,6,7 lead follower forward on 5 and lead follower for a 1/2 clockwise turn (inside turn)

Very crowded. I’m getting a pretty good practice of dancing in tight spots. I had fair number of good followers to dance with, and improvements in my ability to dance in tight spots came in pretty handy. I sort of panicked and couldn’t remember a lot of things to do with Sally (of Ivan & Sally) but had a pretty good dance with her otherwise. I actually had another pleasant dance with Serap also (my second one ever! supposedly she didn’t stop me at any point because I was doing a good job of keeping in time). I also had several other competently done dances (especially considering lack of space). Maybe I’m mistaken but I got the impression that Sally enjoyed dancing with me more than some others who I thought may only tolerate dancing with me. Perhaps this depends in part on how much break one gets? Maybe this is because people find Sally too intimidating (as often is the case when someone who is less experienced worries about asking someone they consider to be much better than them - I was a little nervous too when I first asked her for a dance)? [added Oct 1, 2005 - Another possibility is that Sally is so much better that she is relaxed enough to display pleasure even when she's having only a just an average dance.] Still, there were so many good dances (many of which got encores although not with the best followers) that occasional bad ones were a bit more jarring and surprising than it had been last several times. I somehow even received a peck in the cheek from a Spanish girl presumably for giving her a nice although simple dance; my reciprocation resulted in my nose landing on her cheek however (I had never seen her before tonight). There were several possible factors for this happening: (1) she’s from another country, (2) the actual dance was preceded by two very short but friendly exchange earlier, (3) in the middle of the dance, I brushed some hair off her eyes spontaneously when it landed all over her face after a turn. I wonder if I’m getting too reckless in asking anyone and everyone to dance with me in my quest to get better at leading many different types of followers of different level of skills. How would this work out when and if I were to try to settle on a regular dance partner?

I asked Vishal about Thursdays and Rueda and found out that Rueda will stay on Thursdays except not 2 weeks from now (due to another private party). I asked Johnny whether he was going to the UK Salsa congress and the answer was probably no (he would want days off on Friday and Monday to fully enjoy the congress). Sean made a return appearance after a prolonged absence and seemed to have difficulty getting back into the groove.