A packed and wet Thursday

September 14, 2006

Intermediate with Chris

1,2,3,5,6,7 open hold into CBL – lead follower forward on 5 with both connections pointed forward and complete follower to turn 1/2 clockwise on 6,7
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break bring follower in on R side as R-L goes over leader’s head – lead follower to walk around leader in clockwise motion (leader steps to R on 5 and perhaps back on 6) to get back to open position
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader does double right turn, first turn with L-R high and second turn with L-R low to end L-R behind leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 make R-L connection in front (as early as previous 8) and leader turns full counterclockwise on 1,2,3 (letting go L-R giving followers options for styling) with R-L placed on follower’s L hip/waist – leader walks around follower from her L side to get behind her on 5,6,7
1,2,3,5,6,7 with R hand starting on follower’s R elbow area, allow follower for preparation as R-R connection is made and brought into pizza waiter position with R hand gliding up follower’s arm – lead follower to a stationary clockwise turn (1 1/2) with R-R going above leader’s head with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise at the end – R-R ends by leader’s L side possibly under L arm
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break (leader is in front of follower facing away from her) and bring follower in on leader’s L side with follower’s R hand trapped under L arm – leader does back basic on 5,6,7 as follower is led to walk around leader in clockwise motion with L hand on follower’s back – at around 7, follower’s R hand is trapped under leader’s R arm
1,2,3,5,6,7 forward basic for leader on 1,2,3 as follower is continued to be lead to walk in clockwise motion in part with R hand on follower’s back – follower is continued to be lead into clockwise walk with leader turning 1/2 clockwise on 7 to face follower and end with R-R hold

Very often the material taught in the intermediate class is very similar to the ones taught in the advanced class. Not tonight. I volunteered for the intermediate class because there was a large surplus of leaders for the advanced class and large surplus of followers for the intermediate class. I have done such thing once or twice before – I think I’m the only one among leaders who has done this thus far. It’s possible that taking such action is easier for me than some others because I don’t consider doing a lower level class as a sign of weakness or of lacking confidence. Below is the reconstruction of advanced class based upon demonstration from Sean and Cyrille.

Advanced with Sally

1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead standard vanilla triple turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start with L-R ending behind follower’s L waist and R-L in front of follower – leader steps into followers space and turns 1 1/2 counterclockwise to face follower and switch to R-R and L-L (follower needs to keep hands where they were left)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower to turn 1/2 on 5 so that L-L ends behind follower’s R waist and R-R in front of follower – leader steps into follower’s space and turn 1/2 clockwise (?) to face follower and switch to R-L and L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break but probably need to stay in place on 1, step far forward on 2 past follower and step to R of follower (or towards L as leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise) on 3 – step back on 5 to bring follower in and lead follower to free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn

During the second hour, I managed to practice and demonstrate the intermediate class material from both leader and follower’s point of view as well as get an idea of advanced class material (although I must say that the material from the advanced class seemed quite challenging and that I would have needed a lot more practice to take proper notes). I also managed to remember, deconstruct and practice Monday’s material a little. Rather large number of people including Sean, Clare, Alison, Ivan and Charlotte were involved at various point with Cyrille and Anastasia taking the bulk of demonstration, practice and discussion with me. Cyrille seemed impressed with the material from the intermediate class tonight.

The club seemed even busier than it has been for last several weeks. According to Sergio, some half dozen Cuban people from the Catholic Church Hall days 3-4 years ago were in attendance. I’m not sure if the upcoming Cuban classes on Tuesdays had anything to do with their surprise appearance. I think there must have been some on-2 dancing tonight as well – although I don’t know for sure. The only problem was that there was a flooding that affected only the lower main floor – apparently the water seeped in from underneath. It was another strong night – ending around midnight.

It was a pretty good night for me for dancing until I started to get hungry and low in energy. Lunch and snack were all fine today so it wasn’t like I had absolutely nothing. Rather it was that I just exerted too much energy. I think I was quite all right at least until El Quinto De Beethoven (Cesta All-Stars/Charlie Palmieri) and maybe few songs thereafter. Maybe I’m just getting old (everyone else complains of this so why not me?). Or perhaps I spend more energy into individual dances than I used to. Or maybe I am out of shape.

Quote of the day 1 – “The thought never occurred to me. Wait. That’s not right. I did think about it but only as an (excellent) example of something not to talk about.”

Quote of the day 2 – “Too bad I don’t know how to lead two people at the same time.”

Quote of the day 3 – “I could hear the scream from over here.”

As for tomorrow, I probably will play songs as if I had not played on several Mondays over last few months (mostly because the audience will be mostly different). Expect more classic sound. I’ll probably look for opportunities to play couple of (short?) Cha Cha and larger number of Bachata, and I may avoid playing more than one non-Salsa song at a time. I’ll leave Merengue and Reggaeton to Vish.