It's gotta be the shoes (maybe)

October 2, 2006

Intermediate with Joe

1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold R-R on top – lead follower to stationary clockwise turn with L-R to L and repositioned so that follower’s arm is over leader’s arm and essentially behind leader’s L waist on 7 and R-L at about leader’s forehead level (leader’s forearm is just above leader’s eyebrows) on 8 – leader could be doing a preparatory type of movement on 5,6,7 (facing R, then L, then R)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns clockwise under R-L with L-R tending to go higher behind leader’s back on 1,2,3 – 5,6,7 was a filler in place
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start (in this case meaning open break then R-L going over follower’s head) then lead follower to Copa turn (counterclockwise) letting go L-R and stopping follower after full counterclockwise turn with hands on both of follower’s shoulder
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare follower on 1,2,3 (I believe letting her step forward on 1) and lead her to overall 1 1/2 clockwise stationary turn – leader can turn on the spot as well – and get back to closed hold

1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hold with L-L connection in anticipation for Copa – Copa start followed by a fake so that follower is led into a 1 1/2 clockwise traveling (minimize traveling by bringing R-R back close to leader’s body on 6) somewhat like reverse cross body with L-L high and going over and behind leader’s head and R-R going around (in clockwise motion – the movement of R-R is in front of follower on 5 then brought back towards leader on 6 and continue moving in clockwise motion at follower’s waist level to move follower into a new lane at level with (and probably not quite behind leader) – R-R is more or less disconnected by 8 and leader’s R hand is probably on follower’s L hip/waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 bring follower forward around leader (behind leader seems more or less accurate) l,2,3 with L-L being brought low - lead an over and under for a 1 1/2 clockwise turn for follower with follower’s L hand ending behind her R waist – leader can do a swivel turn on 7 and switch to R-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa and free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn for follower

There were more men than women at the intermediate class once again. Joe played the part of follower. In many ways, I found him to be the most challenging follower for me to lead – at times a source of physical pain.

The club hour was on the quiet side. Not horrible, but a bit sparse. I had a myriad of dances at many levels - all quite fine.

Probably the most interesting dance I had tonight was with Sam – thanks to a grand convergence of planets. Kidding. I think it was because we were feeling the music in a similar way while being familiar enough with each other’s tendencies and having tons of space at the same time. In short, good luck. Within a minute of starting it was pretty clear that it was going to be a very good dance. Sam thought the dance worked nicely because the music was good. I’m less convinced that this song (not familiar to me) is inherently fantastic (for one thing – it felt a bit disco, which in my opinion is generally bad – although it’s possible that I will dance to it again and end up getting more nice and interesting results), but I was able to ride her enthusiasm for this song for this particular dance. I was surprised – in a good way of course – because it seemingly came out of nowhere and was heads and shoulders above all my previous dances with her. Maybe it was because of the shoes. It apparently looked pretty good to others according to reactions and comments glimpsed and gathered during and afterwards. The bad news is that many of my next dances with Sam may seem pedestrian by comparison because of increased expectations. The good news is that dances of similar caliber probably will happen again now and then when conditions are right.

Adam earlier in the evening had offered to videotape me dancing (apparently the one he recorded a while ago of me and Mimi was too dark to see much of anything and was not kept), and I suspect this one might have been a good one for recording. Oh well. You just never know when lightning will strike. Okay, enough with boring wordy analysis...

There isn't all that much else to write about. I almost forgot about the Cuban night starting tomorrow - not sure if I'll make an appearance. If so I probably should stick to Rueda or something like that. No tangible update on the Tony front.