So many people taking classes but not staying afterwards

September 11, 2006

Apparently Tiz was not feeling well so someone named Adam filled in as a one-time deal. I'm not sure if this was Adam Lainani or some different Adam. The other teachers were Joe and Aiste.

Intermediate with Adam

I was late for shines. It looked like they did two shines that lasted 2 bars long each. The first one was like a double spiral (turn 1/4SuzyQ-kick-SuzyQ-kick-turn 1/2-SuzyQ-kick-SuzyQ-kickandturn1/4) and fairly simple. The second one had some kicks as well but I did not get a very good look – it didn’t look too tricky because of high degree of symmetry.

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with leader facing away from follower’s line with 1/2 clockwise turn with L-R behind leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in with R hand showing early to connect R-L for 1 1/2 clockwise turn for follower and letting go L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 3/4 clockwise turn for leader connecting L-R low – lead follower forward on 5 (I think L-R could be the primary initial lead here before letting go) and lead follower to full traveling counterclockwise turn switching to L-L (in front of follower’s R waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 two versions... Simpler version involves leading follower straight back on 1 while leader steps into follower’s spot on 1,2,3 facing away from follower and making R-R connection (either on the side or above shoulder). More complex version involves leader stepping into follower’s spot as in simple version but also doing a stationary clockwise turn and ending with R-R connection above leader’s shoulders or on the side) – on 5,6,7 lead follower to a CBL finish (primarily R-R) lead with leader turning full counterclockwise to end facing follower (there might have been a drop catch or drop underarm catch with R-R to end with crossed hold with R-R underneath L-L)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa [this was the end of the first hour and start of second hour.]
1,2,3,5,6,7 followed by around the world preferably turning full counterclockwise as unit on 1,2,3 and finishing with simple CBL [leading follower forward on 1 is necessary in order to make it 360 in my opinion – I probably will need some more practice to get this right]
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-R hold to start – open break and bring follower in making R-L connection as well and overtake on R and lead follower to turn 1 1/2 clockwise with hands together with leader turning 3/4 counterclockwise with drop catch for L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in behind leader keeping R-L relatively high and lead follower to 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn (lead her turn first then turn around counterclockwise to face follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 counterclockwise motion to toss follower’s R hand up in air with leader turning 1/2 clockwise with R-L up to catch follower’s R hand high for R-L/R – lead follower to turn full clockwise stationary with leader turning back to face follower again

There weren’t as many people from the core crowd tonight, especially for the class. There were plenty of people taking part in classes. I am continually amazed by vast number of people I don’t recognize coming to the beginners and improvers classes. So few of them stay long enough to become recognizable – ones that last more than a month are rarities.

A comment that I enjoyed hearing but was not surprised by was that dancing CBL style Salsa with me is easy and nice for people who usually stick to Cuban style. For a long time, I actually often enjoyed dancing CBL Salsa with some Cuban people more than with dancing with supposedly good CBL people (although I suppose this was more about some people being simply better followers regardless of style and perhaps about there being better dancing chemistry with some people). I doubt that there’s anything special about the way I lead except perhaps I am more willing to lower complexity and dance with people with large spectrum of abilities than most others.

Another amusing statement (made half in jest) was that I am a dangerous man because of my blog and that one may want to be careful about what was said in my presence. As if I haven’t shown enough restraint from revealing what appeared to be private secrets or embarrassing details about other people... As I have stated before, people can always tell me to not mention something when in doubt. It’s all very funny and silly considering how gossipy the English are.

Yet another amusing note for today involved me making an excuse for the instructor having a rough or perhaps too-forceful lead. That may have been a first. Aside from the fact that the material today was too much of long-sequence type as opposed to placing emphasis on technique (with caveat that he did allow and push for fair bit of practice), I liked the material and may try practicing some parts more later.

A notable newcomer tonight included someone who supposedly has 10 years of Latin dance experience. Sometimes it feels as if everyone has 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 or more years of dancing experience.

I mentioned to Vishal once again that I don’t have any Merengue in my collection. I thought it would be useful to drill the fact to him for Friday(s).

Quote of the day - "It doesn't look like you're dancing with her."

Well… there was no music on. Or did you mean that she wasn't being yanked around roughly enough?