Nelson And Veronica With Lessons

August 22, 2008

After making an effort to drum up interest, I arrived maybe a minute after the lessons started. Also taking part in classes were Jane, Andrea, Rajiv, Steve, Sharon, Gabriela among many others.

Intermediate/Advanced On1 with Nelson Flores and Veronica Castillo

The warm-up / shine bits were turn combo (L turn, half R, half L, prep and spin R and prep and spin L), double spiral, and kick L on 7, R crossed over L on 1, turn quarter right with R to R on 2, swivel half left and with L on heel on 3, turn quarter right L crossed over R on 5, L back in position on 6, step on R on 7 slightly forward

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL inside turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 forward basic slightly to left of follower while giving L-R haircomb for leader getting follower’s R on leader’s L side (thus leader’s L is on leader’s R side) on 1,2,3 and lead follower to right turn on 5,6,7 with leader also turning left at the same time with newly established R-R hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R copa free turn for follower (R on hip lead) with leader turning R with hook step/turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 back briefly to closed hold then CBL ending L-R open
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break into Apache (bringing follower’s R behind her L waist – connect R-R and lead her into travelling clockwise unwinding turn) – switch to L-R after follower is through approximately full and have half turn more to go with leader doing something like a hook turn (on 7?) to face follower with L-R behind leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 offer R high with fingers pointing 9 o’clock (thumb down) – lead follower to double right turn stationary with R-L lead (touch-and-go for L-R low)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turn half left during 1,2,3 then leads follower forward and back on 5,6,7 bringing follower to leader’s R side – L-R comes up and R-L goes down during 5,6,7
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo jazz start at sweetheart position (I think I’ve referred to similar position as wrap elsewhere) and lead follower to travelling clockwise turn with R-L – free L hand on follower’s R hip around 7 while R-L starts high and comes down and brought behind follower’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic on 1,2,3 bring follower slightly forward on 5 and lead her to turn half counterclockwise catching R-R early to end in crucifix position
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare R-L-R then lead follower to stationary right turn – 1 1/2 or more

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL high cross pass
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-R haircomb for leader with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise on 1,2,3 (I kept muffling the haircomb here for some reason – then again I have not yet incorporated high cross pass into my repertoire either) – get R under arm and lead follower to CBL with leader turning full counterclockwise on 5,6,7 (yeah… that move… I don’t have a good name for it even though I now use it all the time) - end by placing follower parallel and facing the line
1,2,3,5,6,7 continuous CBL (okay… that’s a new name for another move I have been using a lot)
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL and lead New York Walk with L-R (another new name for old move – follower turn half clockwise while travelling)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 clockwise on 1,2,3 switching from L-R to R-R low and lead follower to 1 1/2 windmill turn (clockwise travelling) R-R going low-high-low-high-low
1,2,3,5,6,7 double switch R-R to L-R to R-R during 1,2,3 while leader does another half clockwise turn and then lead another windmill travelling turn with leader probably doing something like hook turn on 7 with R-R switch to L-R behind leader’s waist (I ended up making this a drop catch)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa free turn for follower using L hand on follower’s hip for lead
next there might have been some move, which ended with L-R behind leader’s waist – otherwise start with L-R maybe after CBL … in any case
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower straight forward while disconnecting L-R connection (as opposed to Copa as I initially led Andrea – nice thing being that Andrea correctly read my mislead) – get behind follower hands on sides of follower’s hips
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic and lead follower to free travelling turn (I think the version here was clockwise – only a slight change in timing of turning lead between the two)

I liked the routine. Not too many spins - or spins for spins sake. Not overly twisty. Generally easy for me because I am quite familiar with many of the moves in some variation. However, many were of variations I had never tried or use regularly so it was a good exercise. Pretty much everything felt natural and it should mesh very well with type of moves I routinely lead. Quality teaching (followers holding their own weight, musical timing, etc). Nelson also made fun of exceedingly slow practice music.

This time I managed to get a dance with Veronica afterwards. It was On2 and mistake-filled. After 5 or 6 mistakes, I stopped counting. It was a little annoying, but nothing much could be done about it. Maybe I was a little tired yet not properly warmed up. Music didn’t help (including some skipping). It was the only On2 dance of the evening for me.

Nicola, Sally and Lindsey showed up later. Ditto for Cristian and Louise. There was a birthday dance for David from Saturday. Also some dances with a visitor from Norwich and some newbies and other visitors were notable. I opted not to DJ tonight and dance more instead. The only drawback from this was that my fingers were feeling a bit sore with dancing with followers with too strong frame/tension/whatever.