Pre-congress boom?

January 25, 2007

Sally Intermediate (assisted by Mark)

open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower to 2 1/2 stationary clockwise turn with R-L high and L-R low (touch-and-go like) ending with R-L draped over follower’s head on her R side (to help with deceleration)
1,2,3,5,6,7 continue to decelerate or perhaps prepare to R on 1 and bring follower back 1/2 counterclockwise to leader’s L side – lead follower forward on 5 and into 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with R-L high and L-R kept low (so that L-R ends behind follower’s L waist where she’ll keep it there through next move)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader steps forward on 1 turn 1/2 clockwise on 2 on step back (letting go L-R) and spin full clockwise between 3 and 4 on R foot (for 1 1/2 clockwise turn overall) – lead follower to turn full clockwise stationary leading over leader’s head with R-L and leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise and reconnect L-R behind her L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL position (after or while draping R-L over follower’s head and keep it there) and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn (downward initial lead using L-R before it comes up and stays together with R-L)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns double counterclockwise (walking turn) with all connections up to start with and with R-L coming down during second turn so that R-L ends behind leader’s L waist [note: starting position is the same as if follower was led to a single clockwise turn from open hold]
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break (or allow follower to step back on 1) and bring follower forward and get into back-to-back position – R-L goes up and over (in a line in between leader and follower) smoothly and comes down on 5 (meanwhile leader has turned 1/2 counterclockwise – follower is probably just doing a rocking step ending with simple CBL finish in terms of footwork) and L-R comes up on 6 to lead follower to CBL finish but ending with a wrap (R-L across follower’s stomach and at her R waist)

I would have been perfectly happy if the routine ended here… but there’s more

1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo jazz and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise unwrapping turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL - fake lead R-L high on 3 before leading follower into full counterclockwise traveling turn with L-R high and R-L low ending in a wrap
1,2,3,5,6,7 allow follower to step slightly forward on 1 (or prepare) and lead her back around clockwise to leader’s R side to unwrap (keeping connections at same height thus far) and lead her into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn and with leader turning counterclockwise to get back to open position (Mark did some hand position trick to make the movement a bit fancy, but I didn’t catch the detail – it might have involved R-L resting on leader’s R? shoulder briefly before combing it over
1,2,3,5,6,7 from this open position, there might have been a short move starting with open break – done perfunctorily as it was getting really late

Cyrille seemed happy with the routine. After talking about another dinner tomorrow (no Italian), he left to get something to eat and said he would return. He didn’t. He didn’t seem very energetic at the start of the evening – maybe he’s still feeling tired.

While I was talking with Anastasia during the second hour of classes, I noticed that there were some new up-and-coming leads. One of them according to Anastasia was taking improver classes as recently as before X-mas. It is nice to see some new promising faces. Good Cambridge-grown leads are too rare.

I didn’t think the Thursday from earlier this month could be topped, but I think it was tonight. There were several people I had not seen for a while. Some non-regular Thursday people showed up as well. I danced at least as much as I have been in recent Thursdays yet I ended up not dancing with anyone from the team. I also missed dancing with some others from the class I would normally make an effort. Many of the dances were a bit messy technically because I had not danced with many of my partners for a long time or ever (and they were not familiar with many of the moves I led). Also I was probably guilty of being over exuberant especially earlier in the evening.

Wow. That’s two very lively nights in a row. A scary thought is that I think it’s possible that Thursday could have even bigger night (based upon counting who were not here tonight). Okay. I need to recite that mantra again – keep expectations low – it won’t be exceptional all the time (by definition).

Dances between Lindsey and Sergio are getting more interesting and intricate. Apparently little tips given at slower pace is helping. I tried to emulate some of the things Sergio was doing when I got around to dancing with Lindsey – probably poorly. The dance did succeed in drawing some laughter from Lindsey – there are worse thing than being amusing.

Suggestion of the day by Sergio – Let’s take a little trip to Hong Kong. He says it only (?!) costs £99 each way plus taxes via Oasis Airlines from Gatwick. It would beat cleaning the house. When I heard the idea initially, I was dismissive, and who knows how serious this suggestion was. It certainly would be an interesting thing to do – I would not have thought of doing such thing on my own. I might take a look if I have time tomorrow or more likely Saturday.

I almost forgot... "Cambridge" Salsa Forum (quote mine) - You all know about it already - I'm not sure if I'm going to delve into it heavily - I wanna stay out of trouble. Also there appears to be an amendment and possible changes to the Britfest workshop schedule, but their PDF file is screwy and will freeze Explorer or Firefox browser at the moment...