Is there anyone else who finds these lessons useful?

April 24, 2006

Intermediate - Latin Collective - Joe Davids with Russell

1,2,3,5,6,7 High cross pass ending with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold L-L under R-R, prepare and lead follower to a double turn (not touch-and-go) keeping wrists together – leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise keeping hands high throughout when follower is done with her turn (on 7/8 preferably) – end position is something like reverse CBL open position with crossed hold with L-L on top [note: without leader’s turn R-R should be pointing upwards… not sure what the exit from that position would be…]
1,2,3 bring follower forward immediately on 1 into crucifix position by 3 – leader ideally should be directly behind or even to slightly to left … although this could be fudged with a modified lead next (bringing follower slightly to right)
5,6,7 bring follower straight back (mostly with R-R?) – leader moves to left arm/hand of follower (all connections released) and spin around follower’s L hand counterclockwise into CBL position and getting into R-L wrist hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 in place for CBL, bring follower forward on 4 using R-L on follower’s L wrist – L hand on follower’s L waist (slicing motion was suggested by Russell) to signal free 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn for follower – I think leader does a clockwise turn before getting back to closed hold

Improver - Joe Davids

1,2,3,5,6,7 low cross pass ending with L-R behind leader’s R waist with leader facing away from the line
option 1
1,2,3 open break (look to follower on R), bring follower in and get L hand on follower’s R waist for Copa (look to follower on L)
5,6,7 lead follower back for Copa (free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn - look to follower on R) – keep R arm straight along follower’s returning line with palm facing away to get back to closed hold (followed by CBL)
option 2
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn (and get back to closed hold for CBL)
option 3
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn and leader does a full counterclockwise turn before getting into closed hold (followed by CBL is fine)

The class for the second hour was the largest thus far. Despite the Scala this weekend, the Monday class will not be cancelled next week as Vishal originally guessed. Next two weeks may give a good indication as how Monday classes will shape up. For a few weeks now, Joe has been talking about possibility of bringing 3 teachers to run three 2-hour classes simultaneously. Today he repeated the idea as well as bringing up an idea of a half an hour absolute beginners class starting at 7 PM (free of charge? – I’m not sure about this). I have no idea how or if the financial arrangement would be modified with 3 teachers. I also have no idea how a change in class format would jive with the so-called 20-week plan. Personally, I don't mind the current setup at all because the first hour is something of an exercise, which I don't think I could duplicate on a real dance unless I could find time, etc to practice, whereas the second hour has fair bit of immediately useful material (although I must say that some of these are getting more challenging and possibly foreign to large number of followers). By the way, I think we must have gone through 10 weeks thus far and I’m fairly certain that I am the only lead who has attended all 10 lessons (I don’t think anyone else is even close and perhaps around half dozen other leads have attended more than half of the lessons).

The class ended with a short 5 minute Merengue lesson. I suppose it was a bonus instant gratification material for a large contingent of total beginners who showed up today.

Dance afterwards was pretty fun. I danced with about half a dozen followers. I seemed to be in a pretty bouncy mood for a number of the songs/dances. I probably looked like a total idiot bouncing around, but I couldn't care less about looking silly. Even if I looked silly, I had a blast.

Somewhat like last Thursday, part of the evening was spent reviewing Tony’s workshop material with some friends in an effort to get the moves seen in the Cambridge Salsa scene. Planting the initial seed is going to be the difficult part.

new shine (name?)
1,2,3,5 basic Mambo
6 slide forward with L foot
7 R toe behind L foot
8 R step behind L foot
1 L toe crossed in front of R foot
2 step slightly back with R foot
3 L toe crossed in front of R foot
4 L foot step in place
6 R toe crossed behind L foot
7 step slightly forward with L foot
8 L foot toe (like bunny hop?)
1 basic Mambo

Many of the short shines used at SOS at the end of the class this Sunday was identical to the short shines taught by Joe Davids over last few months. This is not exactly a surprise since these short shines are probably considered fairly standard. SOS people don’t go over what they are doing at the end (or not to my knowledge) for reasons unknown to me – their approach seemed to be, “If you could follow what we’re doing, that’s great. If not, try your best to follow along.”

Also while I don't want to go back to making disclaimers all the time again, the routines and shines described are my interpretations and may not reflect instructor's ideas. The reason why mention this (belatedly) is because Tony Lara saw my interpretation of his shine from February and said that it looked like I completely reinterpreted it and his shine is rather different looking. I'm fairly sure that I do bunny hop differently from Joe Davids.