Showing improvement

September 14, 2007

Natasha said, “You have much improved.”

At first I was amused. Then I was really pleased. It certainly was the best dance I ever had with her and arguably the first one ever without a major complaint from either of us.

Here’s the context.

Of people who are still in the scene, Natasha arguably has known me the longest – ever since I was a beginner. I am not counting the people who are or were acting in instructor or assistant type position (e.g. Johnny, Serap, Mauricio and Lorraine) of course. Nanak and Mike hardly count because they appear rarely and dances seldom even when they show. Sean has not come for social dancing since February or so. Michelle is also infrequent visitor. I suppose I do remember some of the real old timers like John, Charlie, Mohammed, Ashrafi, Gordon, Rajiv, etc, but I almost certainly was invisible to them for the first several months (a case point a reverse - I chatted with briefly with a guy named Joffee (completely unsure about spelling) tonight. I noticed him for past 3-4 weeks or so, but supposedly he has seen me around for a year or so at Club Salsa). Digressions aside, in those almost three years I never had good time dancing with Natasha despite the fact that Natasha and I were quite friendly with each other for quite some time.

So at first when I heard her comment, I thought I should be the one who spoke those words. But you know what? This dance was better not because of improvements made by her but because of what I was doing differently compared to 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 2 years ago. This is not to say that Natasha has not improved in last 3 years - this is far from true. So what changes have I have made? It definitely was not increased repertoire of moves because leading a whole lot of super-fancy super-difficult moves would have detracted rather than added to the experience being pleasant. Improved technique was more important. Trying to feel the music and dancing to fit the music helped too. Just as important was to know what and how much to take out so that the dance became easy for both of us. There are other intangibles, much of which could come under the heading of technique except teaching it would be difficult (e.g. keeping a very measured distance between you and your partner – sometimes as close as possible but not always). Like many things everything takes months and years of practice and only way to get better is a lot of social dancing.

Tonight I arrived shortly before the end of first hour of class. I had no definite plan of taking part in the class, but I saw that the beyond beginner class (Sharon giving instructions) was short of leads. It also looked like I could be helpful by taking the class. I gave instructions to whomever I was partnered at the time but kept to the material in class and with minimal improvisation to avoid distracting Sharon. One thing I noted about the class was that the practice music was played at normal speed – relatively slow songs were picked. Usually this meant a sudden increase in speed during practice without music and practice with music – a little jarring. Probably a good thing to add is to do a couple of practices without music at a faster pace before starting practice with music.

Beyond Beginner

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL switch to R-R (and connect L-L underneath)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns clockwise first with L-L low and R-R high, flick L-L with R arm and get L-L over R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 sombrero and CBL into open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower to clockwise turn with L-L

I took my music with me tonight in case Vishal wanted a break, but I found him listening to music during the class getting ready for the social, etc. I decided not to bother asking as he seemed keen to have fun playing his music. The most surprising choice was Aguanile – not sure if it was Willie Colon-Hector Lavoe version. I tried to get Serap for a dance to this song, but she was committed to another Rueda. I got her later for Nina Y Senora instead.

Two beer and a bottle of water night. The social started decently enough although the crowd thinned by around 1 AM once again. I’m guessing I might have danced with ~70% of people there including Cinzia, Anastasia, Kate, Melania and rather large number of people I noticed taking part in the class (but not my beyond beginner class). The only one from the dinner club was Sebastian. Still I quite enjoyed myself - even when a girl declined my request for a dance and causing her friend to become astonished. Why did I enjoy getting a rejection? Because I really liked my reaction - an immediate thought that came to my mind was something along the lines of "She has her priorities right - friends over dancing." That is how normal people behave - as opposed to people who become obsessed with dancing. Well - maybe I was a little surprised first, but it was a nice quick comeback.