No easier than SOS level 3 - Ivan & Sally

January 12, 2006

1,2,3,5,6,7 basic with L-R prepare as styling on 1,2,3 (seemed to confuse a lot of followers)
1,2,3,5,6,7 New York preparation on 1,2, and turn follower full clockwise on 3,4 thus leaving 5,6,7 for styling by both (body isolation type – new for Cambridge … for that matter, I don’t’ recall getting body isolation styling in any of my London classes either)
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn (standard L-R lead)
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 1 1/2 clockwise turn for leader with L-R high and ending on leader’s L shoulder on 1,2,3 then release (flick) L-R and connect R-R at leader’s R waist
1,2,3 open break and R-R goes over follower’s head to land on top of follower’s R shoulder while L-L connection is made in front
5,6,7 both move forward on 5 and leader uses R-R on follower’s shoulder to bring her backwards and spin full clockwise (L-L is released early and is not a part of the lead here while R-R is released after the turn is led – R hand ends up on top of follower’s R shoulder at the end again while L-L connection is remade after the spin)
1,2,3 both move backwards on 1 then get back to original position (open cross body position) with all connections staying constant
5,6,7 lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with L-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3 pivot turn for leader with R-L high and L-R somewhat lower and released during the turn and reconnected at the completion of the turn
5,6,7 L-R is pointed towards R and R-L is flicked underneath L-R late in the count and reconnected up high above L-R (this L-R reconnection could be made during next 1,2,3)
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead and lead 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower with all connections intact
1,2,3 open break (high) and R-L goes over follower’s head while L-R goes over leader’s head and end back-to-back with arms outstretched
5,6,7 lead 1 1/2 turn for follower (not sure which direction it went)

My reaction to this routine was that I have had a number of easier classes at SOS level 3 compared to this. I suspect very few (if any) will get much useful routine out of such a difficult class until they get used to it. This will almost certainly take at least couple of months. It’s very ambitious. I was thinking about staying behind during the second hour (not necessarily to partake in the class but use it for some practices), and I ended up taking the second class, which was much more manageable and possibly immediately usable if I weren’t working on fixing my cross body lead technique.

Second class (improver level = I think it’s a stretch to call it improver but whatever)

1,2,3,5,6,7 1 1/2 clockwise turn for leader with L-R high and ending on leader’s L shoulder on 1,2,3 then release L-R and reconnect L-R at leader’s L waist
1,2,3 open break and follower is brought forward on leader’s left side with L-R side by side and hooked so that leader’s L arm is positioned to L of follower’s R arm (optional: L-R connection can be released at this time)
5,6,7 lead follower forward into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn (optional with L-R released is footwork styling – one suggestion was R foot slide to front R and then to front L – this is followed by both stepping back on next 1 and back to place on 2,3 to get back to finish this move as written here)
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic on 1,2,3 and lead follower to a pivot clockwise turn with all connections intact on 5,6,7 (pivot turn or 12 o’clock turn for follower works fine here)
1,2,3 open break (high) and R-L goes over follower’s head while L-R goes over leader’s head and end back-to-back with arms outstretched (optional: open break could be made low for styling and then to do a simple basic on next 5,6,7) - remember the triangle
5,6,7 lead 1 1/2 or 1/2 clockwise turn leading with R-L and thus letting follower carry on through to the direction she was going
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic with hold changed to L-L over R-R at some point (can be done as early as 8/1 after follower’s turn in previous bar]
1,2,3,5,6,7 reverse cross body lead ending with Copa with R-R on follower’s R waist to help indicate in-and-out nature of the lead (although Ivan says even R-R on follower’s R waist does not mean that it will end up being a standard Copa).

Because of my cross body lead technique issue, I refrained from too much dancing yet again. I ended up dancing only with two people after the class; with one of them serving mostly as practice for both of us at the time – it worked out really nicely. On second thought, there was one other time when I led someone as well but I wouldn't call that a dance. The SOS shines, in particular from last time, were corrected and polished thereafter whenever I was getting bored with leading air.