Three tricky parts to it - Johnny & Serap

October 14, 2005

L-R hold for ladies styling (men are doing basic)

ladies styling footwork – Serap uses this all the time
1,2,3 basic
5 L foot cross over in front of R foot keeping weight on R foot during 5 and 6
6,7 L foot cross over behind of R foot with flourish (elevating L foot as much as knee-high in the process of crossing over) and switch weight to L foot on 7
1 R foot cross over behind L foot with weight shift to R foot
2 L foot in place and shift weight to L foot
3 R foot forward (back together with L foot) and be ready for cross body lead, etc.

getting back to men’s lead
during the second 1,2,3 above get into cross body lead position
5,6,7 lead follower to a 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic (optional) open hold
1,2,3 pivot turn 3/4 clockwise with R-L high to get into cross body lead position (L-R is behind leader’s R waist while R-L is in front and ready to point towards follower’s line)
5,6,7 lead follower to cross body lead and turn 1/4 counterclockwise with both arms outstretched while being positioned back-to-back with follower
1,2,3 L-R is used to lead follower to turn 1/2 counterclockwise using a rather wide sweeping counterclockwise motion starting on 1 and going over leader’s head near the end while leader turns 1/4 clockwise as follower completes the turn to get into cross body lead position [NOTE: I always found this move problematic, and to me it feels more dangerous compared to other advanced routines when used with new dance partners. If this is led without care and with too much force on an unsuspecting follower, I think that this move could cause a severe injury for the follower – although similar thing can be said about any complicated move led very roughly. Thus, if I sense that this part of the move is not going to work, I immediately disconnect L-R and chock it up to experience. In fact, I don’t even try this move unless my dance partner seems comfortable with pretty much everything I throw at her. Even then, this move fails about half the time. Now and then, my dance partner would realize what the lead was supposed to be immediately afterwards and would ask me to try it again; in these cases, the move usually works second time around. I think it would help to try to use follower’s counterclockwise momentum from previous 5,6,7 to help with this part.]
5,6,7 lead follower to a 1/2 traveling clockwise traveling turn with both connection kept intact throughout to get back into open position (with a variation of crossed hold)
1,2,3 open break on 1 and get into essentially a reverse cross body lead position with R-L pointing forward (or direction from which the follower came from) and L-R at level with follower and kept high
5,6,7 another tricky section (at least it was tricky for me) – lead follower to a 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn as done in standard Copa (leading follower back to where she started from on 1) while keeping all connections – I think the trick might have been to lead R-L straight forward on 5 (towards where she came from) and when she takes one step, L-R goes down to her waist level and stay there while R-L stays high to lead follower to turn – get back into open position on 7/8 with L-R behind follower’s back R waist and R-L lowered on 7/8 as well
1,2,3 L-R can be released at any time – walk underneath R-L (raised briefly to allow this) and turn 1/2 clockwise to get into open cross body lead position
5,6,7 lasso (for better or worse, this really depends on the follower being willing and able to stay close to the leader – otherwise, keeping to the line will be very difficult – of course, the line could be ignored assuming there is a lot of space (good luck with that!)) – by the way, lasso = give a whipping motion of a lead with R-L kept low to lead follower to a full counterclockwise turn with R-L ending up wrapping follower with connection located at follower’s front R waist
1,2,3 lead follower back on 1 and to right on 3 while walking underneath briefly raised R-L on 1 and stepping to L on 3 to get back into open cross body lead position again (as was done in previous 3/4) – if follower was kept close, best footwork would be L foot cross behind R foot on 1, but be prepared for a different makeshift step
1,2,3,5,6,7 lasso again (exactly the same as before)
1,2,3 get back into open position as was done last two times
5,6,7 like lasso, but lead follower to a free turn (release R-L) and catch her on her back to get back to closed hold (and probably cross body lead next)

This was a very good night of dancing for me – the best evening this month in Cambridge. In some ways, I liked it even more than the SOS trip earlier this month.

On a completely different topic, Project Bachata – Tony Lara & Claudia is looking much more promising all of sudden. Vishal decided that this was for a good cause and offered to let me, as a friend, have Club Salsa on November 21st (Monday) for free. I asked how much I should pay someone to look after the bar, and 30 pounds is apparently what Vishal gives to his bartender(s) each night. As I stated previously, this is going to be a non-profit one-time-only event for me personally.