A full yet barren Thursday

March 1, 2007

Advanced/Intermediate with Sally and Chris

1,2,3,5,6,7 open hold CBL 1 1/2 turn counterclockwise for follower with L-R high and R-L low for wrap is dragged into 2 turn counterclockwise with leader adjusting his position at the end to get the last 1/2 turn with wrap intact
1,2,3,5,6,7 follower is led to leader’s L side on 1,2,3 (L-R goes down while R-L comes up during this exchange) and led into double stationary counterclockwise turn with L-R doing the lead (and good luck with this and the next move) and R-L released – leader turns ~1/4 clockwise and make R-L connection low by leader’s R waist at the end
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower back on 1 (starting position is close to back-to-back or leader facing away from follower’s line – I usually ended level with follower … I’m not sure that open break is the best move here – then again, I don’t think I managed to lead this move very well at any point this evening) probably with L-R straight back towards follower’s direction on 2 and L-R coming up straight over the line between leader and follower on 3 (with leader and follower now facing same direction – leader has turned about 1/4 clockwise while follower would have turned about 1/4 to 1/2 clockwise) and lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn into another wrap (R-L low)
1,2,3,5,6,7 turn as unit 1/2 counterclockwise on 1,2,3 then lead follower forward and into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn with L-R high with leader turning 1/2 clockwise and switching to R-R (this could be like a slam dunk)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward on leader’s R side with R-R going over and L-L connection made in front and going high early – lead follower into over and under to get follower’s L hand behind her R waist with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise at the end and switching to R-L – make L-R connection in front
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward into 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn (going by leader’s R side again) with L-R high – leader steps into follower’s previous spot and turns full counterclockwise and switches back to R-R by leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward by leader’s R side with windmill lead to get follower to turn 1 1/2 clockwise while keeping finger pointing up for the final turn to get both R elbows pointing up at the end – leader turns full counterclockwise on the spot and switches to L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward and close

This routine seemed … a bit ambitious - perhaps overambitious. I could do the second and third part only with select people who were primed and to very slow music. If I were a much better lead, I might be able to do those parts with high intermediate level follower by what I would consider London standard while social dancing. Then again, I noticed that the improver level during the second hour with Mark and Charlotte had followers doing a double right turn and leaders doing a 1 1/2 left turn – worth a raised eyebrow. I thought more emphasis could be placed on technique, tension and timing and getting people to flail about less - I don't know what is best though - my opinion and method change all the time anyway.

Did Sally download whole lot of new songs? Songs played included Mundy Baja (El Gran Combo), Mambo Mongo (Mongo Santamaria – 70s version), some Afro-Cuban music used in Frankie Martinez Isolation DVD (not really suitable for dancing Salsa), My Favorite Things (New Swing Sextet), Philly Mambo (Cal Tjader – Live at Funky Quarters), Hacha Y Machete (Alfredo de la Fe), La Salsa Nunca Se Acabo (Susie Hansen), Pa Los Bravos (Grupo Latin Vibe), another familiar sounding Latin Jazz (familiar to me as more straight Jazz), Sun Sun Babae (Tito Rodriguez Jr?), etc. It was generally rather Mambo and Latin Jazz heavy.

The lineup of people in attendance was - somewhat unusual. The lessons were packed - a record high. A fellow student (Olu) from LDA last summer was present tonight. Yet dancing afterwards was a little below norm. It felt like there were more men than women – or at least more unexpected men and less expected women. Ivan was seen giving his jaw an ice treatment after an elbow blow - too much same gender dancing - more male than female. No On2 partner work practice for me. I did some On2 footwork with Sergio pointing out that I seem to be too fast on the beat 1 and too slow on the beat 2. There’s weight transfer issue to be resolved as well. It could be worse – I could have forgotten most of the instructions. There were other people dancing to On2 count.

Some of the dances tonight were alright although none were thoroughly satisfying – I suppose I never or rarely have thoroughly satisfying ones – with better ones tonight were danced to Mundy Baja, Mambo Mongo and Pa Los Bravos. More than anything else, I was disappointed with lack of imagination on my part foremost and imperfect control being another sore point sometimes. Probably the best bit of dancing was done during a 30 seconds segment during the break between the first and second hour of the classes. Otherwise, simply staying in time was a struggle for a large part of the evening.

It was frustrating not being able to find suitable dance partner for many songs. I was especially disappointed to miss Philly Mambo because I have never heard it get played anywhere – with caveat that there are not many people in Cambridge I would want to try to dance with to Philly Mambo. I also missed My Favorite Things (although this is not so bad because I have heard this many times in many places), Hacha Y Machete (only consolation of a sort was that my last dance to this song at SOS was a bit crappy), La Salsa Nunca Se Acabo (this gets played fairly often by Sally) and couple of other rare (for Salsa clubs) Jazzy tunes. If I heard these songs in London (SOS for instance), I doubt I would have missed out on even one of them.

Out of top 7 songs I wanted to dance to tonight, I managed only 2 - Mundy Baja and Mambo Mongo. Mundy Baja and Mambo Mongo would have been in top 4 also so I could say 2 out of top 4 too. It could have been worse – I thought I was going to miss out on Mambo Mongo as well because I initially misheard Danie. I’m not sure what’s more frustrating - not having many songs I want to dance to or missing out on a lot of dancing when something I like gets played?