Just another manic Monday

July 17, 2006

Intermediate with Russell of Latin Collective (first hour)

shine
1,2,3 basic
5 R foot cross in front of L foot
6 R foot slide to R
7& R foot together while L foot slide to L

1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
8 L foot slide to L
1 L foot slide to cross behind R foot
2 R foot slide to R
3 R foot slide to cross behind L foot
4 L foot slide to L
5 L foot slide to cross in front of R foot
6 R foot slide to R
7 R foot slide to cross in front of L foot
1 basic

1 basic
2 hop
3 land to get L foot cross behind R foot
5 R foot slightly back (behind L foot)
6 L foot slide long forward
7 with R foot slide following L closely

1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold R-R on top – lead follower to stationary clockwise turn and end with R-R/L hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL and lead 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn for follower staying with R-R/L hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader’s pivot clockwise turn into CBL position and hat for follower into closed hold preferably with head and body roll for full effect – finish with simple CBL
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower into double clockwise turn ending in hammerlock (R-L high and L-R low)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Cuban exchange of places and R-L toss of a hat
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL and switch to R-R – lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn continuous into next 1,2,3 with R-R ending behind follower’s neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 from previous bar, finish 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn for follower as leader gets into CBL position again – lead follower forward and into 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hat (keeping R-R behind follower’s head) for follower while getting into CBL position – block on 5 to lead follower backwards
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo jazz and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn with L-L high (and R-R let go)
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL position and with hands on follower’s hips – lead follower to full traveling counterclockwise turn with R hand ending on follower’s R hip/waist and L hand ending on follower’s back (have fingers pointing to R)
1,2,3,5,6,7 allow follower forward (or twist) and lead follower into free stationary 1 1/2 clockwise turn (but what was the timing?)

The intermediate class was fairly short on leader this week. I had an inkling that Russell might have been slightly surprised by some people finding the first hour’s lesson being a piece of cake and was compelled to add more and more material at the end to keep people challenged. Aside from the very last part (which for me was more dubious than difficult because of confusion over whether the lead for follower’s turn should come on 3 or on 5), the first hour was very easy for me. Cyrille too found it very easy and he was talking about not taking part in the second hour of classes. He changed his tune though and stayed for second hour probably because of Mimi.

Intermediate with Russell of Latin Collective (second hour)

1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold R-R on top – prepare and lead follower into double (or triple with some followers) clockwise turn touch-and-go to end with L-L on top
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and into LA style Copa position with arms outstretched – block move to R on 3 and block move to L on 5 and lead follower straight back (to R) on 6
1,2,3,5,6,7 double right (clockwise turn) for leader (bring L-L to leader’s L waist during the first turn) finish with normal open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL with L-R high and lead follower into traveling 1 1/2 clockwise turn to bring follower into hammerlock position (R-L behind follower’s L waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and into back-to-back Copa position – lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn with R-L across front of follower’s waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 turn follower around on 1,2 1/2 clockwise with stiff R-L pointing forward into follower’s line – lead follower into free traveling 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with leader stepping across follower in preparation for around the world during next 1,2,3
1,2,3,5,6,7 around the world and finish with simple CBL

And then again, a couple of leaders were completely unfamiliar with leading touch-and-go during second hour. Russell was apologetic over the second hour’s material being a bit too spin heavy for followers. My best estimation is that it was mildly challenging at most for some followers, challenging but perfectly appropriate for some others, and arguably overly challenging for some.

It should be interesting how Russell will plan his next intermediate class given what he saw this week. Three teachers from the Latin Collective have been far from monolithic in their approach to teaching the intermediate class; I wondered how much discussion they had before the instructor switches. Both Joe and Tiz had been claiming to follow a syllabus while this was not at all clear with Russell. Joe’s classes have been the most compact and with greatest punch and most demanding for the leaders – especially recently. Tiz’s classes compared to Joe’s have been simpler in particular during the first hour while incorporating more number of variations.

Vishal seemed very keen on getting me to help him out with DJing possibly on Mondays and/or Thursdays. I was quite reluctant because I consider both evenings my best dance and practice nights at Club Salsa. In my mind, I also wonder if I would indeed be of more help for him by DJing as opposed to dancing and keeping some of the better followers occupied. In any case, I agreed to bring my music collections on those evenings so that I would be able to pop in if need arises. I am guessing that this involves DJing for perhaps half an hour and almost certainly no more than an hour on a given day, which would not give me much opportunity to experiment and thus probably would be less interesting – unless I were to take an approach of not playing any song more than once a month (I’m not sure if anyone’s going to like THAT).

A quote from Joe – “This young man will organize the trip to the London Latinfest so you should talk to him if you are interested.”

Huh? What? It’s amusing at multiple levels (including spats we had at londonsalsa.co.uk forum). For whatever it’s worth, a couple of people have approached me about it between last week and this week. As I said last week, I have little interest in workshops, but I would be open to the idea of coordinating a trip for the party on Saturday and/or Sunday. Some people are considering going to the workshop and one of the parties with no help or input from me.

Dancing was pretty good if not exceptional – about 12 dances in course of slightly under one and half hour. I was able to get some feedback and suggestions by Danie on the way I was leading some moves I took from Sergio.

Vishal had to vacate the DJ booth for about half an hour so he left a CD. He had suggested that I could use his music for DJing but I declined because I figured that it would be difficult without knowing the songs he had in his collection. I would have hated to limit myself to things both he and I have (which would have severely limited possible song choices). As it happened, I thought the songs in the compilation CD were decent enough.