Ballroom Dancesport A Combined: Week 1

July 2, 2008

Those On2 classes at Slug and Lettuce stopped me from continuing with Ballroom classes. I thought it might be a good time to get back although I wondered if Dancesport combined A will be teaching Foxtrot, which is the dance that I am most interested in.

I avoided most of the warm-up dances, which included a Waltz (expected and skipped as I wanted to ease my way back), Quickstep (unexpected and skipped my least favorite Ballroom dance), Cha Cha (three?! at least I could do this without getting stressed out), and Jive (ugh… is it going to be all tests? I started but gave up quickly).

Waltz

1,2,3 R forw, L forw turning clockwise as unit, R together
1,2,3 L back, R together as turning sharp clockwise (about 1/2) as unit and getting into promenade position, L forw promenade
1,2,3 R forw promenade, L forw promenade and start to bring follower in front turning counterclockwise, R forw continuing to turn counterclockwise (overall turn is about 3/4)
1,2,3 L back, R back hold position and bringing follower’s R shoulder slightly towards leader’s left side (?) – I guess this allows switching feet next
1,2,3 L back bringing follower around turning clockwise sharp (about 3/4 rather than 1/2) but keeping follower in front this time as opposed to promenade and R together, L side left
1,2,3 R side L, L side L, R together (I suppose smaller steps on 2 and 3?)
1,2,3 into whisk L side R (back towards direction came from in previous bar), R side R same direction, L cross behind R same direction with full weight transfer
1,2,3 chassis R to L then chassis to L
1,2,3 (I think with feet apart, start with R foot)

Not too bad. I had reviewed most of my notes earlier, which was definitely helpful. Everything should be leadable.

Cha Cha

2,3,4,6,7,8 New Yorker both ways
2,3,4,1 L cross over and back and cross over and back
2,3,4,6,7,8 New Yorker (with what I would consider optional different kind of chassis with L making a half circle to cross behind R on 3 and moving R ahead of L and finish chassis to side) followed by leading follower to walking clockwise turn on 6,7,8 and bringing her to chassis forward at the end (with leader getting out of the way and turning 1/4 clockwise)
2,3,4,6,7,8 essentially cross body lead but starting with turning follower half clockwise first on 2 and finish breaking apart at the end of cross body [this for me is somewhat new]
2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1 forw stepping into follower’s line on 2, in place 3, back together on 4 and lead follower to free clockwise turn (keeping L-R low throughout before leading the free turn)… next is what I consider choreography -- L cross over forw and back cross over forw and back [follower is doing the same steps for next couple of bars]
2,3,4,1 R cross over forw and back cross over forw and back
2,3,4,6,7,8 half clockwise turn then chassis, then half counterclockwise turn then chassis (follower finishes without chassis to get back to her timing – I told you this is choreography)

Whew! I get to ease back into Ballroom classes. Quickstep and Jive together would have been the worst-case scenario for me. Thanks to the choice of dances tonight, it was a nice relaxing session for me and only mildly challenging. I must say that the class did not seem any more technical than the regular Ballroom classes as I was led to expect by Paul.

Apparently Foxtrot is firmly in the plans for this course. In fact I might have talked the instructor Bruce into teaching it next week.

It wasn't a huge class - probably enough to break even, however. I'm guessing it might be down to diehards as I recognized surprisingly large number of people even after having been out of the scene for two terms. After all school's not in session during summer.