After 1 1/4 years, I still can't do cross body lead properly

January 6, 2006

Johnny & Serap Level IV

open hold
1,2,3 open break and overtake on left side while L-R goes high and around counterclockwise to turn follower 1/2 counterclockwise – at this point positioning can be like cross body lead so presumably this move could end with a conventional cross body lead also although perhaps this is asking too much out of the follower
5,6,7 (instead) leader’s hook turn while letting go L-R
1,2,3 open break and overtake on left again but this time with R-L parallel to ground at chest level and pointing to left fully extended
5,6,7 lead follower into a free clockwise turn (1 1/2) – leader could do a turn here as well
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead (optional – I don’t think it was called for in the lesson)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower into a stationary clockwise turn with L-R and leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise to face away from follower and switch to R-R at leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward on 2,3 with R-R extended outwards and L-L connection made at leader’s R waist (thus L-L underneath R-R) by 3 and lead follower into traveling full counterclockwise with R-R staying low and L-L going over follower’s head and landing on follower’s L shoulder while leader is positioned behind and to right of follower
1,2,3 use L-L to lead follower backwards and step in front then cross over to right and back while bringing follower around to leader’s right with hold switched to R-R at the end
5,6,7 lead follower to a free traveling 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn

I was wondering the other day where all the beginners have gone. The answer turned out to be Friday evening at Club Salsa. It was a welcome sight in some ways but then again it wasn't very fun dancing with many of them either. I suppose this is not surprising.

It really didn't matter very much in the end because I haven't been in a good form since mid-late December. Ever since I was told that there is a flaw with my cross body lead technique, I have been preoccupied with wanting to fix it but not being able to do so. Thus far trying to fix it during social dancing has been difficult. Knowing that I am constantly making mistake while doing a common and essential move also leaves me less able to concentrate on other parts of leading and less confident. I don't know how I'll fix it, but I better try to get it done as soon as possible.

Having this blog sometimes causes my interactions with people at Club Salsa to become surreal. Sometimes a conversation I was going to start would be completed before it starts. Sometimes contents of this blog or mere existence of the blog allows the other person to talk about some information as a given even though I did not know this because we never talked about it before. Sometimes the other person does not even need to have read anything I wrote in the blog, and I don't even have to write certain information on the blog. The effect can be very unnerving and disorienting because sometimes I am surprised by things other people know about me and sometimes I am left to wonder if certain things happened because of what I wrote in the blog.

This blog amplifies everything about me and makes me a public spectacle. I suspect some people like me more than they otherwise would have because of the blog while others dislike me more because of it. It also gives people an illusion of knowing me very well based upon my writing and how I try to portray myself.

One more fact about this blog - I think it made me become more obsessed about Salsa than I would have been without it.