Goodbye tension, hello musicality

August 3, 2006

Advanced with Sally & Chris

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with open hold or L-R hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward on leader’s L side with follower’s R hand being placed on leader’s L shoulder for a drop – leader does 1 1/2 clockwise turn on the spot (hook turn is okay here) – follower is supposed to drop her R hand along leader’s rotating body while doing a simple CBL finish to face leader
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hold open break and bring follower forward on leader’s R side and at least even at body level and with R-R behind leader – lead here onwards was described as lasso-like keeping the hand on same horizontal level and circling … also leader is better off facing the same direction without turning his body on 1,2,3,4,5 – follower is led into 2 1/2 clockwise turn while leader turns full counterclockwise and end with drop catch to end L-R. I found this exceedingly difficult. In the intermediate class, this move was simplified apparently so that follower does 1 1/2 clockwise turn while leader does not turn at all. Leader still does something of a lasso-like movement for the lead but instead of having R-R behind leader on 3, R-R is across in front of leader’s body at about his L shoulder level on 3. End position is leader facing away from follower and slightly to her right with L-R connected by (behind) leader’s L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward and lead her into free 1 1/2 (or optional 2 1/2) traveling clockwise turn – with leader preparing on 5 and doing a quick L turn with R foot going forward across follower’s position on 7 for around the world move next
1,2,3,5,6,7 initiate around the world move on 1,2,3 (Sally suggested to me that I should be more firm with my R hand – I would not be surprised if I am in the minority for being at fault for having too-relaxed R hand as opposed to being too forceful) – L hand on follower’s R hip by 3 – lead follower forward on 5 and into free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn (this move can be led with L hand on follower’s R shoulder just as easily I think – not sure which lead would be preferable for followers). The intermediate class did this move without an extra turn on 6,7 for follower.
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead “touch-and-go” from normal open hold (as opposed to a more typical touch-and-go from crossed hold) for stationary double clockwise turn for follower with leader doing a full counterclockwise turn – get follower’s R hand in pizza waiter position before leader turns if possible so that it ends with follower’s L hand in pizza waiter position at the end of the turn for easy hat on next 1,2,3. Intermediate class led a single turn for both follower and leader but ending with a hat for leader.
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-L hat follower follower as leader gets into CBL position – lead follower into 2 1/2 clockwise turn with L-R ending under leader’s L arm (keep it as low as possible to make it more comfortable for follower) – again it’s better if leader does not turn towards follower at any point during this move – follower ends to L of leader and slightly behind
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower forward (like marriage ceremony) – leader’s suggested footwork was to step on 1 (L foot forward), on 3 (R foot forward), on 5 (leader now turned somewhat toward follower while L foot is crossed behind R foot) – lead follower forward on 5 and lead her backwards on 6 (with straight backwards lead with a definite follow-through for a toss) for free traveling (backwards) 1 1/2 clockwise turn (here some leader should be able to do counterclockwise turn – this was not a part of the class but I found it fairly easy for me)

I spent some part of the second hour of class taking a look at the intermediate class version of the routine – as an observer, coach, leader and follower. I also played with being led into a double stationary clockwise turn.

As for the club hours, I tried to put into practice things talked about at the LDA couple of days ago. Some of the objectives included doing more basic and trying to keep it easier for the follower (less spins, etc). Also I continued to try to fit the dance better with the music (this is something I have been more consciously trying to do for some time even before the LDA lecture – although now with additional emphasis on reacting to breaks in the music among others now).

I knew that fitting dance to the music was going to be difficult. However, I had not realized that keeping things more basic and easier for followers was going to be so difficult as well. Doing basic steps (forward and back) satisfactorily turned out to be exceedingly difficult too often tonight. Placing more basic and simple fillers in between turns did not seem to make turns any easier. In fact, building up the pace, easing up on the pace and going up and down with level of difficulty seemed to throw most people off. I wonder if this is caused by people (including me) being too used to dancing at a constant speed (at same level of difficulty) throughout a given dance.

I would not call any of my dances tonight as being very good in terms of having interpreted the music appropriately (except in some instances where the music was very undemanding – doing a casual easy-going dance to an easygoing tune is pretty easy for me, especially with competent dance partners – at least I like to think so – I might think differently in another several months). I suspect that it will be a while before I could do this satisfactorily even occasionally, so this in itself was not a surprise. What was more disappointing was that I felt that the number of opportunity to try to make a decent effort for it was exceedingly small (and that simply lowering the level of difficulty of moves for the followers seemed to do very little to remedy this situation).

At one point, I exclaimed that things are just getting more and more difficult – by this I wasn’t referring to learning more difficult moves but rather using the set of moves which I considered “easy” and using them in more satisfactory manner to dance to the music. I suspect that learning to lead new difficult move satisfactorily and getting pleasure out of it is going to be considered a piece of cake compared to being able to incorporate musicality well (I might add that until now I had been considering simply struggling to try to incorporate musicality to my dances as a cool and interesting thing to be tried only with some songs and some partners).

Songs played tonight included – La Pantera Mambo, La 33, My Favorite Things, Mambo Diablo.

Quote of the day - "Please stop molesting my hand."

I can’t wait for some people to reappear. Hopefully no later than next week – maybe Thursday?

Regarding the title, I don't mean that tension is unimportant - just that it's now of less concern because it's not much of mystery ... at least at subconscious level.