My head is still spinning - Ivan & Sally

January 19, 2006

Intermediate

1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic and change to crossed hold with R-R on top
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead followed by full clockwise traveling turn for follower (lead with L-L first followed by R-R) and leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise for reverse Titanic
1,2,3 open break and leader turns 1/2 clockwise with all connections intact for hammerlock for leader (with L-L behind leader’s R waist)
5,6,7 bring follower under R-R arm and then under L-L arm (follower is traveling along a line) and into another hammerlock for leader (this time with R-R behind leader’s L waist)
[note: I’m not certain about this – at one point, I think I was doing a basic on 5,6,7 followed by an open break on the start of next 1,2,3 followed by bringing follower under R-R and L-L arms on next 5,6,7. It’s probably okay to lead it either way.]
1,2,3,5,6,7 pivot turn full clockwise for leader and 1,2,3 and back basic (all connections intact)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and into reverse cross body lead and lead follower forward (thus not in-and-out or true Copa) and into up to 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic as crossed hold with R-R on top is re-established
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower into a touch-and-go stationary double turn (just one touch-and-go rather than two) followed by a flick of R-R to get R-R back on top
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead start and lead follower to a stationary full clockwise turn to return to cross body position [note: leading this was problematic as pretty much everyone was making a traveling turn – not sure what kind of adjustment in leading is needed here.]
1,2,3 step back along follower’s line on 1 and back into cross body position
5,6,7 lead follower into Titanic with full counterclockwise traveling turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower into 1 1/2 stationary clockwise turn to get back into open
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3 cross body lead start but with full counterclockwise turn for follower on 3
5,6,7 lead follower forward on 5 and into a half clockwise turn or 1 1/2 clockwise turn (traveling)

Improvers - Taste of Cuba

1,2,3,5,6,7 Back basic (cross over to left for clockwise rotation on 2 and step to forward left on 6 for more clockwise motion)

1,2,3 Enchufe (with L-R only with or with disconnection of R-L delayed as long as possible)

1,2,3,5,6,7 Into hammerlock position from open break (R-L high) and out of it

(not completely sure about timing below)
1,2,3 Into hammerlock position from open break (R-L high) ending with back to back
5,6,7 side-to-side walk to exchange position (L-R goes high and over)
1,2,3 followed by unwrapping of follower
5,6,7 leader wraps himself (L-R behind leader’s R waist)
1,2,3 L foot cross over to start rotating as a couple
…
5,6,7 release L-R and lead follower to turn clockwise with R-L and into open position

1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and turn as a couple (with couple’s legs positioned alternately so that the R legs are inside) with R foot going back on 5 and 7 and L foot going forward on 6 (and optionally 8)

Thursday night might seem a bit cliquey to outsiders because a large number of hard-core dancers who stay behind longer seems to know each other pretty well and have been dancing within the same group for a long time (even if this means merely 3-4 months). I would consider the level of complexity in dancing on Thursdays higher than Wednesdays and Fridays, but this is largely because few beginners and not many students stay behind for dance for long after the class. Hopefully, more people will improve quickly and stay longer to make the group larger without bringing down the overall level too much.

Second biggest highlight of the evening – I asked someone for a dance and she declined. Shortly thereafter, Ivan asked the same person and she declined him too. Hey! It’s not just me!!! I went back to her to talk about this, and we had a good laugh over it. I did not ask permission to talk about this, so I hope this doesn’t offend. I think it’s useful for people to know that even the best dancers get no’s and to know not to get too bothered by it. Personally, I never said no although I sometimes ask to wait until the start of next song if I think the current song is more than half over or is not Salsa, etc.

I danced tonight with fairly large number of people yet again with inspiration and enjoyed the dances thoroughly - even if I still was making technical mistakes now and then.