Cycling and Still Dancing Pt 3

20070511
Started work around 5am and decided to go on a bike ride during lunch time. Went on my 12 mile ride from Yorba Linda Regional Park Down to the Pond Honda Center. Only took an hour, but was a rush. Held a 95 cadence and was doing better than that on the way back with a nice wind-assist. I really love the riding and need to do it more often.

Night at Atomic Ballroom
Chatted with Nicole from the Sunday OC Swing class during the class on the Madison that Jerry runs as a warmup for the Friday night dance. I don't think Nicole and I have danced for a couple weeks, and we don't that night either. But I do dance a lot. A lot.

The best follow I danced with all night was probably Jasmine, an Asian gal I remember seeing at the OC Swing Monday Jam. And I think she was Dave Graybill's follow during the intermediate lesson when I first went to Lindy Groove. At any rate, she's an amazing dancer. I don't have the skills to do her justice, but I think she was without a partner during a great Indigo Swing song, and I stepped up. She has a characteristic that I've noticed in some of my favorite follows, responsiveness. Mark's comment about driving a Ferrari comes to mind (I think he was talking about another great follow, Amy). I only needed what seemed like the lightest frame lead to start her moving, and the lightest lead to get her to stop or change directions. Very cool experience.

I ended up leaving some time after 1 am. Annoyance: I'm on my way out as Trish is on her way in. She asks me to come back in to dance with her, then bails as the rock-block starts. I wait for a couple songs, then leave. A pretty blah ending to a great night, but what can you do? Not come back, next time! *grin*

Classes earlier in the evening:
Darren teaches the Balboa class, and really tries to jam the content in. He teaches a variation on the basic where instead of just kicking, we kick-switch. Interesting.

Smoothing out the kinks: My kink right now is the Apache swingout, so we work on that. I also ask to work on facing-away from the follow moves, which we do.

Sit dip: This class focuses on follows and their ability to control themselves during a dip (and not be a the mercy of the lead). Jenny takes us through four different variations. Reminds of me the weight support that Shesha is teaching in his Sunday Drags and Rags class.