Catching Up With Dance

Dancing in the last half of April was a bit of a blur, but I'll try to recap the classes that stick out in my memory.

20070417
Smooth Lindy
We take the bounce out of our dance by exaggerating the pick-up of our feet and knees. Interesting styling that doesn't take a lot of effort.

20070427
The Eggroll
This is a Rag of sorts and can't really be led, just choreographed. From open, the follow does a 180 rotation and leans/falls back into the lead's arm support. Leads arms are straight forward while follows are straight out, continuing the shoulder line, allowing the lead's arms under the armpit area for support. There's a slight bump up to get the follow's weight centered on her own feet, then the lead twirls the crouching follow counterclockwise. The first half looks like this, (but not the swimming part; replace that with a crouching spin):


Not exactly social, but it sticks out.

20070429

New OC Swing Series starts today. I get to Avant Garde Ballroom in time for the beginner class. Lots of new faces, lots of new follows.

Rags and Drags is very interesting. It's a blues dancing class, and we learn a basic front-to-front drag, with two entries: closed and open, though I don't remember the open one. We cover a bit of basic blues dancing rhythm and footwork, and I'm reminded again that blues dancing is a lot closer and more intimate than swing (even swing in closed or cuddle). The last two dancers I'm with are Nicole and Francis, among the better follows taking the class. I have to adjust to Nicole's height a bit, and Francis' awesomeness.

Intermediate class starts a new routine (which I forget, but Mark remembers)
6-count pivot step (x2)
Swing Out
6-count Right Shoulder Spin (end right to right)
Inside Turn
Side Pass

There were some tap-steps in there somewhere, but I forget where.

Spins and Turns workshop is interesting, but it seems like a lot of solo homework is in order. Now I understand why I see Will working on spins on his own.

When I make it over to Atomic, the 5:30 class is in it's last 20 minutes, but Jerry waves me in. Jenny's added on several moves to the end of where we stopped in last week's Bal/Shag Routine class, and they catch me up (though I'm perpetually behind). Danie is the only other person in the class, though Trish shows up at the end.

The Social Patterns class is pretty interesting,

8-Count Circle
Reverse Swing Out
Swing Out
6-Count Pass to Closed
Reverse Swing Out with Inside Turn
Swing Out with Double Outside Turn (changing to right hand between first and second turn)

During the Technique class, Jerry has us set up the follows to do hip swivels on a swing out. Trish and I have problems doing this and Jerry comes over to tweak my swing out. The results are ... amazing. During the 3 & 4 counts of the swing out, he has me under-rotated with my left hand at an angle to my body instead of perpendicular. On the 5 count, I'm stepping with my right foot, but not moving the follow. On 6, I'm stepping onto my left while moving the follow to my right. As a result of this late rotation, we both over-rotate to my left. This can be used to set up a swivel on 8. The feeling of this new timing is just awesome!