Shiver with antici-pation

June 29, 2006

Advanced – Sally assisted by Chris

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with semi-open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward on leader’s L side and R-L to leader’s R waist and leave follower’s R hand by leader’s waist and leader does 1 1/2 clockwise turn on spot [a question – follower’s footwork is simple CBL but how is this lead communicated? why would the follower turn around?] – end with L-L hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL start and lead follower into traveling double counterclockwise turn ending with leader’s R hand on follower’s R shoulder to prevent further turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead here is all with R hand (keep L-L neutral) – lead follower forward on 1, back on 2,3 then back again for 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn over and under and switch from L-L to R-L and get R-L behind follower’s R waist (leader is positioned to R of follower on 8) [note added later: I think there may not be a switch to R-L here… may want to stick with L-L throughout]
1,2,3,5,6,7 both step backwards on 1 (this is leadable) and lead follower into 1 1.2 clockwise traveling turn – end with crossed hold R-R on top
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to stationary clockwise double turn touch-and-go
1,2,3,5,6,7 drop L-L underneath R-R on 1 then drop R-R underneath L-L on 3, then lead follower to broken left turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 clockwise with all connections intact – lead follower forward and into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn with L-L (let go R-R) ending with L-L on a neck wrap and follower to L of leader (leader will have to travel with follower during her traveling turn)
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower forward on 1 and into full clockwise turn as leader walks around ending in 1/2 turn of his own with R arm ending on follower’s R shoulder and L-L in front of follower – then lead follower forward and into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn

Perhaps it was the improvement brought upon by competitive inhibition/exclusion treatment in the RSF or being asked to review GW’s abstract for his progress report or a leftover amusement and euphoria from an e-mail couple of days ago from EM. In any case, I was feeling pretty uppity and was looking forward to seeing how tonight unfolded. I felt that I had to fight against antici-pation and keep telling myself that nothing has changed. My prediction? August. Never mind what else was said. For better or worse, nothing really has changed and it will not change anytime soon.

I would not have considered tonight a great night – too many men and not enough women – although it didn’t really affect me very much. Despite never having solved my spotting issues and declaring that I was "crap" at spotting, my form was pretty good. By usual recent standard, overall level of followers was not exceptional. What I ended up doing was to dance with pretty much everyone in sight (unless they left before I got a chance to ask them). Amusingly (and perhaps I shouldn’t think myself highly about the whole thing including writing about it) my dance partners this evening included couple of pre-teenagers. Maybe people will throw stones at me for saying this but I thought the older of the siblings in particular had quite good tension/connection and timing (or at least stay in timing with my lead if not with the music – I suspect that it could be both). Hilarious - jokes about waiting in line for 10 years from now aside. In any case, I didn't hurt anyone's back or cause any type of injuries.

Miscellaneous. Lighting works continued today. Apparently there will be a conflict of birthday parties for Sally and Vishal on July 28th. Drew said he like "fusion" as music of choice for tomorrow - whatever it means.