Misquotapalooza

October 9, 2006

Intermediate with Joe

1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hold prepare and lead follower into stationary double clockwise turn ending with pizza waiter position for both
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and Copa start but follower is asked to stay in place while leader occupies her previous place and spins clockwise to do effectively a drop catch to end R-R by leader’s R waist – leader is facing away from follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 check follower over L on 1 and turn around on 2,3 with R-R raised to just above follower’s head and L-L connection made low (follower may have started turning clockwise a little by 3) – leader is stepping forward starting on 5 and moving around follower in clockwise fashion while follower is led to turn more or less on spot clockwise with L-L raised (but not really above follower’s head) and R-R lowered – a possible position on 8 is that leader has effectively turned around full clockwise while being positioned behind follower while follower has turned around about 1 1/4 clockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 follower is led to complete her clockwise turn to make it effectively a double turn starting from previous 3 – I think the main lead must come from R-R low to complete this turn (I found it a little tricky after the class when trying to lead it with people outside the class) ending with L-L hold only – 5,6,7 is basic, which is a possible source of confusion – in class followers were suggested to do a kick shine on 5,6,7 followed by CBL with turn and a hat finish

1,2,3,5,6,7 L-R hold prepare and lead follower to double turn with leader turning 1/2 clockwise for drop-catch to end R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in making L-L connection and R-R going over follower’s head – R-R is brought straight up and down along follower’s line from 5 to 6 while L-L is left in place in front while waiting for R-R to meet it and L-L and R-R together or L-R/L is used to lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn (something like a windmill motion) with leader (optionally) turning clockwise at the same time
1,2,3,5,6,7 break back and toss follower’s hand up in the air so that she goes into diving position and with hands on follower’s waist lead follower to free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn – leader can turn too

I'm dispensing with simple moves like CBL at the beginning and end. All notes are liable to have mistakes (as is the case always) and are likely to be gibberish for most readers.

Ivan made a surprise appearance – maybe he’s trying to build up his stamina. He gave me the skinny on the results of the team trials – congratulations to the seven couples who made the team. I was delighted to hear about friends who made the cut and also look forward to seeing some new members. No names here arguably for privacy reasons (although I suppose no one would care) but more because I don't know the names of all of the leads. Ivan seemed pretty excited about guiding the new team.

I think I saw the Penguin – not completely sure if it was a single specific shine with a signature arm/hand motion or a shine with dozen variations with similar footwork with or without what I thought might be the defining arm/hand motion.

The music was quite nice early in the evening. I’m not sure if Joe picked all of the early songs. Gordon picked out Merecumbe (was it Los Titanes version again? it wasn’t Johnny Colon – at this time I don’t have any versions of this song) as a song he liked except he wanted it played faster. Many people have difficulty with slow songs for some reason.

Apparently my quote of the day from Thursday was not verbatim accurate. Oh well. I did say that my memory is not perfect (whose is?).

New and probably inaccurate quote of the day – “I like to mix it up and try different nights.”

It’s like box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. It’ll always be up and down depending on who’s there and who’s not. I suppose the biggest constant for different nights and venues might be the DJ – with caveat that the DJ situation on Fridays seems quite fluid these days.

I would rate my form tonight as fine but not exceptional – missing an element or two. There were plenty of good dances though. Maybe I’m a little spoiled by having too many highly memorable nights recently. That could become problematic because not every night can be unusual or exceptional. At least I still feel like I can see tangible progress from a month to next if not every other week or so. Now that I said it, all may go wrong now of course.

Apparently SOS yesterday was very crowded but not necessarily because of unusual number of exceptional dancers according to two independent sources. That’s a first – and hopefully not something that will become typical. I had briefly entertained the idea of going to to SOS yesterday after having tried to talk myself out of it for most of the week. Maybe I’ll go next week, but I also could foresee taking a 3-week break as a possibility.

Vishal seemed more serious about possibility of organizing a coach for the next Scala all-nighter on Oct 21. Apparently he will act as one of the DJs that night, so I suppose he has extra incentive to organize something. It may all come down to organizing car-share in the end however. I don't know what to think of Scala. Their floor is not great and the floor layout is not to my liking. There is also the question of whether it will be too crowded or too sparse. Music at least should have decent variety and proper sound quality. So…should I stay home or should I go?

RE: iDJ Tony. A date has been suggested but confirmation is taking a very long time.

Quote of the day "for real" - "I'm going to play one more song then call it a night… No. He just bought a beer. I'll play two more songs."

Disclaimers make a comeback - I don't carry a tape recorder around. Also short term memory is the first to go. Senility is setting in. Quotes may not be exact.