New Studios - group Salsa classes

I danced Salsa at a couple of new studios fairly recently.  No particular reason - I just had a free spot in my schedule, wanted to learn some Salsa, and my "home" studio didn't have anything scheduled, so I went looking for group classes elsewhere I could just walk into.

The Downtown Studio I tried was a lot of fun.  Did a 1 hour beginner's class followed immediately by a 1 hour intermediate class.  Started with basic, underarm turn, cross body lead, so the same progression I was used to.  The class was about 8 men and 7 women (or thereabouts).

The intermediate class got into cross body lead variations, including leading from a handshake hold, and a cross body lead variation where the lady does a full spin rather than the normal half spin, ending up stopped (briefly) in a shadow position (I don't remember the terminology for this, I want to say it was a stopped cross body lead, but I'm not confident of that).  I've since tried that move, and don't have it even remotely down.  I think I'm not clear on how to differentiate the lead.  The last few minutes of the class were the teachers demonstrating all the variations possible with just the underarm turn and the cross body lead.  Fun time at the downtown studio, and they were cheap and friendly, and the male teacher was pretty funny.  He made a comment about his frustrated stand-up comedy career that I came to suspect was more serious than it sounded at first.  But it was fine, he was funny enough that you didn't mind it at all.  Maybe not Seinfeld funny, but, then he's probably a better dancer than Jerry, anyway.

The Northside studio was also cheap and fun, but does half hour lessons.  The teacher managed to put a lot into the lesson, and it didn't feel rushed.  One advantage here was it was me and one woman (just by chance), so it was basically a mini-private lesson - I love it when that happens, though the teachers/studio probably doesn't.  I suppose it's better for them than nobody.

The woman at Northside was a club dancer of some considerable experience, but little or no "official" instruction, and wanted to learn a move where "He combs my hair".  I had no idea what that meant, but the instructor knew immediately.  He asked me what I knew, and I said basic, mambo basic, underarm turn, cross body lead, open break, ... whereupon he stopped me and said "that's enough".

The sequence he taught us was 1 basic, alternating turns, then the "hair comb" lead into a cross body lead.  I'm probably getting the terminology wrong.  Anyway it went well, though I hate turning - avoiding turning is the best part of being a boy, in my opinion.  I mentioned that and the teacher very diplomatically reminded me that in Latin cultures, men are more expressive and showy.  I knew that, and it's not an insecurity or "real man" type of deal, I just get dizzy and fall over.  Yes, even on a little salsa step turn.  I'm sure I'll get over it, but...

Anyway, we worked on the sequence and got it down.  The fact that the lady was a club dancer was pretty obvious to me as we were dancing - her frame was way looser than I'm used to - that's not really criticism, by the way (well, a little...), it was just a very insecure and unpredictable feeling compared to what I'm used to.  I don't know of any way to deal with that except to try to get used to it and adapt to it, (which is my responsibility as the leader), or to try to figure out a polite and helpful way to ask for a firmer frame.  I suspect this is an consequence of the fact that I'm a noob and the really solid mutual frame is my training wheels.  Not that mine is all that wonderful, Mini-Teach is constantly reminding me not to drop my right arm, and rightly so.

I also felt like she was maybe rushing the walkthrough on the cross body lead a bit.  The teacher had pointed out that she could step fully forward, not stopping her back foot parallel to her front, and she had a hard time getting that into her body (I feel for you, sister, when I need to alter my semi-automatic body habits, it's a hell of a challenge for me, too).  Anyway, I didn't feel like my lead was as in control of the timing as I'd have liked as a consequence.  I've been trained that the sidestep back and away by the man (on 3) is the lead (and only the lead), and that the lady walks through on 5-6-7.  She was powering through on 3 or 4, and I didn't feel like I was out of her way enough, as I hadn't back rocked yet.  I'm not sure if she was following my lead or just doing the sequence on her own.  I'd like to lead that better.  And of course, I need 500 or 1000 repetitions.  On the other hand, I think I could work this sequence out with a new partner in a couple three dances at most.  The instructor was very helpful and explicit and clear when I asked how to differentiate the "hair comb" lead from underarm turns and other figures.

Anyway, good times.  At some point I'll post studio reviews, but I want to try several lessons at each before I do so, and time and money will make that a longer term project.  In the mean time, if you want a studio recommendation despite my limited experience, contact me.

Update:  the proper terminology for "Hair Comb" is "face loop".  Of course.  For a guy that's incredibly verbal and spends most of his time all up in his head, I sure have a hard time learning terminology.

Expert lesson - Tango and East Coast Swing

My studio had a travelling expert (Urs Geisenhainer from "Dancing with the Stars, 2009  as well as other credits) in town, and (along with an amazing demonstration tango he danced with the lady instructors), he held a workshop and private lessons; I participated in both.

The workshop focused on tango and was attended by students of all levels.  Herr Geisenhainer managed the challenge of teaching different levels of students well; He introduced new steps, worked on basics, and provided styling advice all in the workshop.  Despite the fact that as I write this, I'm not sure how he could have possibly done all that, it actually flowed very smoothly and didn't feel overwhelming.  Plus I mostly learned a variation of shadow rocks that I'm anxious to work on.

My (our) private lesson was East Coast Swing, and was shared with my East Coast Swing partner.  After watching him dance Tango and teach Tango, I was tempted to stick with Tango (which would probably have been fine with my partner, as she's the biggest pusher of Argentine Tango you ever met), but of course I didn't.  He helped us with several elements of our ECS, at first it was mostly styling, and let me tell you, this guy can swing.  I've been having trouble with my walkaround turns (typical guy - I'm OK unless I'm asked to spin...), and not only did he fix that (I still have to practice, of course), but he really helped me see how to make them appropriate for swing (his demonstration of swing vs cha cha styling in walkarounds was very vivid - the Cha Cha walkarounds were upright and snappy, but with the appropriate hip movement, where the ECS walkarounds had a completely different hip and body swing that I can't describe...  Big hip swings, rather than the comparatively subtle Cuban motion from Cha Cha...

But, man, it swung.

If you ever get a chance to watch, or better, learn from Urs Geisenhainer, take it.  He's an awesome dancer, an insightful and enthusiastic teacher, and a genuinely fun guy to learn from.

Here's a Viennese waltz (my favorite), which he performed with several other dancers.

Argentine Tango and Lindy Hop

I took a couple Argentine tango classes, which are real eye-openers.  I've mentioned I'm a slave to the beat, I can always hear and hit the beat, even when there are other beats in the air.  I'm not steady enough to be a drummer, but I can get back on the beat pretty well (yes, I did play trumpet back in the day, why do you ask?).  Anyway, those Argentines consider hitting the beat an optional extra.  But god, it's beautiful and passionate and intimate, and it looks to be all about feeling where your partner is at, and communicating what you want.  Without the crutch of the beat.  Sensitivity and Leading.  Apparently Argentine is the original tango, American/Ballroom tango is the derived form. Yet another dance I have to learn.

I also ended up in a lindy hop class.  I was afraid it was too advanced for me, but it turns out it's just a jitterbug with kicking.  Actually, apparently, lindy hop is actually the original dance, and jitterbug is the later sub-form (which makes sense, it's easier).  Thank you wikipedia.  Anyway, it worked out well, because I feel pretty good about my jitterbug.  Plus, it's like the happiest dance ever.  Impossible not to smile.

I'm such a sucker for a Waltz

Spent some focused time waltzing last night in preparation for an upcoming seekrit projeckt.  Some notes to myself.

Turning your box happens on side-together (2-3 and 5-6), not the forward/back steps (1 and 3).  I have a tendency to curve my backstep in particular.  I don't even think about it, now I have to.  Which resulted in some confused leads yesterday evening.

Leading on twinkle is a lot about rise and fall and planting us both on the landing on count 3, creating an opportunity for my partner to change weight and be on the proper foot.  My partner kept ending up on the wrong foot, and having a hard time distinguishing between my leads for twinkle and for promenade hesitation.  You'll say (and I was tempted to) "well, can't she count, can't she pay attention to what half of the box she is in" and the answer is yes she can, and maybe she should.  But If I'm going to become the dancer I want to be, my leads must be definitive and unmistakeable, and I have to know at all times what beat we're on and where in the box we are, and tell her all of that with my body.  Being indecisive and unclear is not acceptable.

Leading promenade is about right turning action with my right arm, and possibly about a little positive pressure with my left to snuggle her in as my right arm rotates.  Plus, I really, really need to consistently lead or signal with my head.  Not only does it help my partner, but it looks fabulous.  And we want to look fabulous.

And I'm still working on automating rise and fall.

I'm listening deliberately and consciously to a lot of waltzes these days.  Thank god for amazon mp3 sales/downloads and for YouTube.  There are just so many waltzes I love, and so much of the music I love, and react most emotionally to, is waltz music.  I'm starting to really wonder how much the song, the lyrics, the instrumentation even matters - whether it's just the waltz rhythm and the feeling of motion and flow and romance it inspires in me.  In other words, I thought I liked, and was moved by particular songs, but now that I notice they're all waltzes, maybe it's not the individual song I like, maybe it's the category "waltz music".  To wit, some of my favorite waltzes include:

Saturday Sun - Nick Drake - Most of Nick Drake's stuff is pleasantly depressive and morose, but this piece is wistful and romantic and hopeful.  Turns out it's a waltz.

Sweet Baby James - This seemingly simple song is surprisingly moving, and turns out it's a waltz.

Play me - Neil Diamond - There are about 4  or 5 Neil Diamond songs that I like moderately well.  This one is by far the most moving.  It's a waltz.

Valz after Jan-Olof Olsson - JPP   JPP are a Finnish folk group that I ran into at a folk music festival I attended with a friend.  There are a bunch of fiddlers, a bassist, and they often use a nyckelharpa, which is like a keyed fiddle with drone strings (I swear it's true - google it) that make it sound a lot like a set of bagpipes.  Plus, it looks like a bear to tune.  Anyway, these guys were fiddling along and I was enjoying it moderately well, but nothing particular was standing out.  Then they started this tune that began with a lone nyckelharpa singing out wistfully, and when the other fiddlers and  bassist joined in, it was like blown-away man.  The sound and emotion hit me in the chest and woke me up and I was suddenly and very emotionally engaged.  Turns out the Finnish word is "Valz"...


Take it to the Limit - Eagles - I'm a big Eagles fan, this is one of my favorites.  Waltz.




Blue Spanish Sky - Chris Isaak   I'm a Chris Isaak fan too, but favorites... Waltz.


If you Don't Know Me By Now - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, or Simply Red, or Seal, or many others.  Let's just say I don't even know any other songs by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (I don't think...), but...   Waltz.

Nothing Else Matters - Metallica  Far and away my favorite Metallica tune.  Waltz

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot.  I didn't know I cared so deeply about the Great Lakes maritime tradition, and the risks that merchant mariners take in the name of commerce.  Maybe it's just the fact that it's  a waltz.  Actually, it's a *Viennese* waltz which is like the triple espresso of waltzes (so are a bunch of the above....)

The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the frog.  Seriously?  I'm getting a little emotional over a song by a muppet???  I blame the waltz.




Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
Come Away with Me - Norah Jones
Moon River - Andy Williams
Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
(I can't help) Falling in Love with You - Elvis
Eidelweiss and My Favorite Things - The Sound of Music (Viennese, naturally)
Lara's Theme - Dr Zhivago
Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce
Kiss From a Rose - Seal
Que Sera, Sera - Doris Day (Viennese)
You Light Up my Life - Everybody
Three Times a Lady - Commodores
House of the Rising Sun - Animals
Annie's Song - John Denver (Viennese)
Themes from Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather, The Cider House Rules, even Finding Nemo

If you want a romantic, wistful, moving, flowing song with a lot of momentum (emotional and physical), you want a waltz.

Let's play "name that Dance tune"

I've started to get a few dances under my belt, which means I always want to play "name that dance" every time any song comes on.  My friends are quite patient with me and haven't busted my chops too hard for playing a quiz game nobody else can play.  Or wants to.  Or even wants to watch me play by myself...  One friend encourages me and actually asks questions occasionally - if he's not careful he's going to end up in a dance class...

Of course, when I say "a few dances", I mean it.  Nearly everything sounds like a cha-cha (which I don't even dance at all, really, but it's a very versatile and common rhythm), or an east coast swing, or a salsa or a rumba.  Except the waltzes, of course.  Anyway, I definitely need more breadth of dances.  Of course, I really want to get a lot better at the dances I actually do dance.  More lessons! 

One of the instructors mentioned how useful cha-cha was with rock and pop songs, and I started hearing that (and couldn't stop...). I'm also loving Jitterbug and east coast swing - I come closer to getting out of my head with those than any other dance, so I'm hearing those a lot too.  Cha-cha and East Coast swing cover a similar range of tempos and both have a triple step in them, so a lot of the time I hear both.  Sometimes I think of East coast swing as a pair of Siamese cha-cha twins joined in the middle.  That probably is a 100% private joke...  As well as politically incorrect.

For me, the distinction between a cha cha and and East coast swing comes down to feel - the more latin a song feels, the more likely it is to be cha-cha; if  it's got a straight-ahead rock swing it feels like East coast swing.  My current examples are "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 is a cha cha, and "My Body" by Young the Giant feels more like an East Coast Swing. Lots of songs feel like they might be either one. Of course, if it REALLY swings (and it's a bit slower), now we're talking foxtrot.  But you don't hear many of those out in the world,  or at least I don't.  Maybe I ought to hang out with the hipsters, they appreciate Sinatra, right?

Salsa and rumba overlap a lot in tempo too, I'm somewhat surprised to notice how fast a rumba can get and still fit.  The classic rumbas are "And I love her" by the Beatles, or "Stand by me" by Ben E King, but I just heard "I kissed a girl" by Katy Perry and it seemed like I could rumba to it (though I did not rumba around the restaurant and test it out...)  But most of the overlap here, for me, is tempo.  In rhythm, syncopation, and feel, songs are either rumbas or salsas.   "black horse and cherry  tree" by KT Tunstall is playing right now, and it feels much more like a salsa than a rumba.

OK, they followed that up with "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO which reminds me that all house and techno everywhere ends up being a merengue.  Probably not the most appropriate dance, but it's the dance I know.  Every Day I'm Shufflin'.

Turkish Rumba

I went to a Rumba group class taught by the young Turk recently.  He's a piece of work - he started at the studio after I did, but he was dedicated, focused and single minded (I'm generally... not so much), and now he's an instructor.  He's clearly a natural athlete (which I am not - more about that later) and a natural or very learned performer (also, me, not).  Don't get me wrong, he put in the time and worked his ass off and deserves it.  He's also a good teacher.  Lots of natural athletes can do it right after seeing it a few times, but can't break it down, analyze and articulate it, and talk about it to a nerdy, all-up-in-my-head learner like me.  Lest you think I have a crush on him, I'll just mention he talks really really fast.  Maybe he's talking as fast as he learned.  I kept waiting for my brain to catch up with his words.  Not even the concepts or an understanding, just the words.... 

It was an intense class - we definitely got our money's worth. He expects you to learn fast too.  He covered a fairly long series in a single class.  I felt like I was a little behind and never quite catching up all class, but I never felt like I'd completely lost sight of him.  As soon as I started feeling like the footwork was coming along he was talking about frame and leading and using the floor and cuban motion.  But if we started thinking about that too much and lost the basic footwork, he dropped all that, declared it optional, and hit the basics again.  Intimidating, but we really did cover a lot of ground.

I also took a class on "dancing with emotion" that he taught.  He says it's a class he finds challenging to teach, and it's incredibly challenging to learn, for me personally.  I'm usually up in my head and thinking about footwork, leading, frame, floorcraft, and a million other things.  I've gotten feedback on my dancing that uses words like "distant" and "platonic", and I was not dancing with my sister at the time.  I have a very easy time getting up in my head and a very hard time getting in my body.  And an even harder time getting out and making a connection with my dance partner.  Having a million details that want to be in my head and aren't automatic in my body doesn't help.  The only thing that's automatic is beat, and I still manage to get onto the wrong foot and have to restart that once in a while.  But all this is between me and my partner.  There have been a couple of exceptions, but...

The Turk used Rumba which he characterized, wonderfully, as "the pillow talk dance", and Argentine tango.  The point of the Argentine tango, I think, was to free us from the straightjacket of rhythm, and let us move and feel, feel and move.  Of course, for me, rhythm isn't a straightjacket, it's a comfy tee shirt I wear all the time.  On the other hand, the rhythm in my body is definitely something I lean on, and not having to think about rhythm isn't sufficient to get me out making a connection with my partner.  Maybe knocking away that crutch was helpful.

Of course, I've had no Argentine tango, so for the most part it was just a new set of footwork for me to distract/occupy/obsess myself with.  Not good for connecting to my partner.  But that's me, I'd have found another excuse not to connect.

And connecting with a partner is very much the point, and the challenge for me.  If she's not there and real and human, and I'm not aware of her body, I can't lead, I can't respond to where she's at, I can't guide and protect and display her as I should, and desire. And we're both missing most of the fun.

Not to mention, connecting with my partner is the point in other, deeper ways.

Samba Workshop

I attended a Samba workshop, though Samba is not on my current curriculum.  Well, at least it wasn't. 

Like all human endeavors, dancing is fractally detailed. There is an infinite amount to learn about a near infinite different kinds of dances.

There's no time to learn it all, unless you learn awfully fast.

Waltz - Promenade and Twinkle

So here's the data dump on my Waltz group class the other night.

It was a fairly full and almost perfectly balanced class, we were short one lady. We spent the first half of class working on promenade - most of us had some familiarity with the move, but we all could use work on it. The latter part of the class we spent on twinkle and left and right twinkle (or as we called the move, "George"...) I hadn't been exposed to twinkle and left and right twinkle, but I managed to pick up the basics and footwork fairly quickly. Just the last half of promenade, starting at the other end of the box, on the other foot. The nuggets I was most in need of were those having to do with my frame and lead.

The mantra "nose and toes" is something I'd heard before, and my interpretation is that the point is to signal definitively with your head and toes, without getting your hips too much out of square. I definitely have a tendency to not lead the promenade with my head, and one of my partners really helped me understand how important that is to her following, because she just had a much harder time following when I got sloppy with my head. The other thing I need to remind myself is that it also looks fabulous.

The Young Turk really helped us pay attention to what the leader's right arm was doing during the "nose and toes" setup phase of promenade/twinkle. I'd been elongating my frame somewhat, but TYT pointed out that the gentlemen should actually be executing a right turning action with his right arm, resulting in a lady that's slightly more behind in frame, and slightly pivoted open - set up perfectly for promenade. Plus she ends up cradled in your right arm which gives her the stable, supportive structure she needs to really cut loose on her develope'.

The other thing that seemed to help a lot is my focusing on maintaining a positive connection with my left hand. The right turning action and frame elongation often felt like I was taking away the strong connection we had, and a positive left hand connection made that feel much more secure and definitive. This also made it feel like I was shifting slightly inside a strong, stable frame rather than it feeling sloppy.

Social dancing and group classes

So I haven't been blogging for a long time much at all. I keep wanting to make these deep, thoughtful, insightful posts, and there's not a lot of that going on in my dancing. Maybe there never was. Lately, I've been dancing a lot (which is better than blogging about it, I think you'll agree), but I'm trying to keep all the action in my body rather than being all up in my head. Or at least, these are my excuses for not blogging. I've got drafts of nine "deep" posts, I swear.  But then, I've had them all for months, so...

I've decided just to blog everything and quit holding out for significance. So here are some random notes from recent group classes.

Lately, I'm trying to participate on all the group classes that cover what I think of as socially useful dances: Salsa, Rumba, Country, and (to a lesser extent) Swing and Foxtrot. How is this different than just going to ALL the group classes, you ask?

Well, first of all, I'm not going when the dance is totally new to me, which happens with what strikes me as surprising frequency. There's a bunch of dances in the world, and they offer most of them. Cha Cha, Samba, Quickstep, Paso Doble, Jive, Hustle, Argentine Tango, Viennese Waltz and Bolero are all stuff I've recently skipped. I probably should add Cha Cha at some point relatively soon, as there's a lot of Cha Cha-able music out there - lots of pop and rock, which surprised me.

Secondly, Before the "Socially useful" dance push, I was spending most of my time on Waltz and Tango, just because I love them so much. And down that same path I could see Viennese Waltz, Argentine Tango, and Bolero looming. Since my one of my main goals is explicitly social, it was clear I needed to emphasize the social dances more than I had been. Tango is definitely a "dancer's dance", and though waltz is fairly social, I need more venue options than Italian weddings. I think I have a lot more to say about the social vs beloved dichotomy, but if I let this post go to long, I'll trap myself in a rewriting/editing cycle, so set that aside for now.

Two Step: It was a small class, I was happy to know about two figures that my partner didn't (not bragging - the score was about four figures for me versus her two). I tried them on her anyway during warm-up, on the theory that if I timed them right, and led them definitively enough, it would all work out fine. That was interesting and instructive if not totally successful.

We did basic underarm turn right, and underarm sweetheart turn (which was new to me). We also did Promenade (new to me, very fox-trotty, unsurprisingly) and a couple of un-sweetheart turns (hey, it's my blog, I get to invent terms for things that have official names if I want to. Especially if I don't remember them). Anyway, I pretty much know one easy, basic way to half turn my partner out of sweetheart, and I've been briefly exposed to a much flashier, turn and a half version, but I know I couldn't do it without at least referring to my notes and maybe not even then.

Rumba class:  This was a pretty full class, and everybody there was pretty experienced, for a basics class. There was one person who was even less experienced than me, but he was game and so Dance-Sama took that as permission to pile on a bunch of stuff. We are working over several weeks toward an extended series, that starts with Basic, Cross Body Lead, Open Breaks, Underarm Turn / 5th Position Break, Swivel Promenade. Yes, she covered all that in one class.

This was a lot for me to take in, but it's starting to make sense, I'm starting to have some body intuition regarding dancing. I've done cross body lead in Salsa and Rumba, and it's starting to make sense that in Rumba I need the forward step that precedes the Salsa version in order to get the forward and back motion that Salsa gives you for free. Doesn't mean my body will remember to do it, but it's a start.

I'd seen most of the other figures before, so nothing earth shattering, and I certainly could use all the practice I can get. The Swivel Promenade was new, and we barely got to that in the time we had. I stayed after and practiced a little, with a partner initially, then alone.

The other insight was Dance-Sama made me feel the correct posture (or at least a better posture) for Rumba (and probably for life - I tend to have the typical nerd's horrible posture). Shoulders back, everything else in and up and slightly forward. I'm working on making that habitual.

Waltz class tonight. Social and beloved. A two-fer!

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a Viennese waltz.

It came on pandora and I just clicked.  If not for dancing, I never would have realized that.

Certified to Rumba in the State of New Mexico

Actually, more than that.  I recently passed a checkout (like a belt test in karate) for Rumba, Waltz, Salsa, and Tango.

Now this was the first checkout, so it's just basic basics - basic footwork patterns and a couple of figures for each dance.  Plus basics like rhythm/beat keeping, etc.  There was no traffic so floorcraft wasn't an issue (whew!)

I did well (thanks Teach, and Mini-Teach!), and got some comments on my body position and line (mostly positive), my rhythm and timekeeping (not a problem for me...) and details on footwork like which dances I should be stepping with my heels, midfoot, or toes (or any of the many subtle variations in between).  I'd forgotten all those details within 15 minutes of finishing the lesson, except I remember that Foxtrot was given as a contrary example, as all my dances above don't use "hard heels", while Foxtrot does.  Of course, that's the one I'd remember.  Not only is Foxtrot not on the list of dances above, it's not even a dance I'm studying currently in private lessons (hey - I had to draw a line somewhere - I didn't figure I could learn all dances simultaneously.  Kind of a shame, as I love Sinatra and all that Swingin' Foxtrot music...)  Later, Noob, you'll get to it...

I had done some drilling to prepare, mostly alone, on two or three occasions based on notes I'd taken when Mini-Teach and I prepped for the checkout.  It turns out my notes were incomplete - I missed making notes on a crossover figure in salsa completely (so completely that I don't even remember the name of the figure now, and I'm not totally sure it was in Salsa...)  When the examiner asked to see it, I had nothin'.  I spent a couple of measures rooting through my memory for something, anything, but to no avail.  It didn't keep me from passing, and in fact didn't even drag down my score much, as the examiner explained that it wasn't used much, it was in the syllabus for a future reference in another figure.  Still, I kind of think I should have been marked down more for the mess up, but I suppose I *AM* a paying customer.

Anyway, yay!

Tango Face. Waltz Face. Noob Face.

About face

Dancing is so much about the details.

Tango face:  Tango is dramatic and passionate and serious.  Grinning takes away from the drama of the performance.  So you'll hear things like "get your tango face on!" from dancers.  It's encouragement and correction.  It's a light-hearted funny little in-joke and they're mostly kidding.  Mostly. 

It's just one of the hundreds of little details that you have to learn and get right if you're going to be any good.  Or even decent.  I love the hell out of the Tango, and whenever I'm tangoing, I'm grinning like a fool - I can't help it, I'm just having too much fun.  When some one tells me to get my tango face on, I laugh.  It's on my list of things to work on, I swear.

I only think about my tango face because it's a running joke.  I'm sure my facial expressions while dancing include "thinking too hard", "not getting it", and the ever popular "Please stand by while smoke comes out of my ears and my brain reboots".  Occasionally, "Hey, this is a lot of fun!" and "that went pretty well"  and "I actually know how do do this - mostly".  And, of course "wow, that was amazing!"  and "I really, really want to learn how to do that" - These last two while watching others, of course.

But in general, I have no idea what my face is doing while I dance. For once in my life, I'm not watching myself, censoring myself, monitoring myself and judging myself.  Mostly.  Most of my time I'm very self-conscious, and occasionally on the dance floor, or in the dojo, I'll just let myself be whatever I am.  Not often, I'm way too cautious for that.  But if I get busy enough, or am thinking hard enough, or am distracted and engaged enough, I quit watching myself, briefly.  The point of Dancing (one of them), is getting out of my head.  Sometimes I make it out.

And then they pull me right back in.  In a recent group Waltz class, we had a full, unbalanced house and two of the gentlemen had to take turns sitting out or dancing solo while the rest of us danced with the ladies there.  I was doing the dancing solo thing, I need all the drilling I can get.  Then we rotated and I got a partner again.  The Young Turk (who's a much better dancer than I, because he practices like a fiend) was partnerless, and was amusing himself by watching the other dancers.  Including me.  I was working the figure with my partner and was getting it, I thought.

He laughed and said "You just had the dorkiest expression on your face!".  My partner laughed, too, which I took as agreement.   Dang, I need to figure out my frame, footwork, leading, floorcraft, rise and fall, timing, and now I need a waltz face?


Apparently.

Thanks, buddy.  Thanks a lot.

Teach is gone, Welcome Mini-Teach

My teacher has left the studio, and is being replaced by a miniature.  I'll let you know how it goes....

Update:  Mighty Mini Teach is awesome.

Drilling Wins

For me, learning a dance move always starts with a moment of "this is so cool!", usually followed by weeks of "How did that go again?"  It's frustrating.  I need to drill.

Awesome art by Hugh MacLeod, gapingvoid.com

In group classes, my instructors will cover something until everyone has basically gotten it, then move on.  That's the most efficient use of the instructor's time, and that's awesome. But it's not enough for me to make the transition from head knowledge to body knowledge.

In private lessons, I definitely want to cover as much as you can, so once I've basically gotten it, we move on.  I do often ask for a bit of review either at the beginning or end of a private lesson, but doing that for the whole lesson is like learning to drive a stick shift in a Ferrari.  You can do it, it's just a shame and a waste.

During practice parties, there's a lot going on - you have to find a partner, your partner may not have learned the move you just learned, you have to worry about floorcraft and traffic management, and if you're lucky you get three or four minutes of whatever dance you learned this week.  For me that's not enough.  I need to do a move probably 20 times in a row for my body to start feeling it.

Every instructor will tell you to practice at home, and I do, but only a little, and not enough.  I'll claim it's because I want to work with a partner, but that's mostly an excuse.  I'm rarely home, and when I am, there are a ton of distractions and diversions.  I love working on my house, and it's old enough that there's always more to do.  Not to mention (and much more common), I still need to get caught up on Mad Men, and there's always Tivo Guilt.

Plus, I really want to work with a partner.  :-/  Different partners if possible.

So I finally bit the bullet and approached several women from my classes about meeting at the studio and drilling.  I also checked with the staff to make sure it was OK if we found a corner of the floor and practiced.  I've had my first session already - we drilled a flair promenade that I learned in Tango, and I definitely feel I have a better handle on it than some of the more basic stuff I haven't drilled.  Fifteen or twenty minutes of repetition made all the difference in me getting it (mostly) out of my head and into my body (somewhat).

So if you're a fellow dance student, set aside some time to drill - I'll be doing so again (and I'm always looking for drill partners - email me!)

20 minutes is the difference between "huh?" and "Yeah, I can do that...."

No way to say

One of the wonderful things about dancing, for nerds like me, is the social protocol.  There's an accepted way to interact.  But no protocol covers everything, and there's some important things you just can't say.

There's an accepted etiquette for asking another person to dance, leading and following are recognized roles (and skills), you learn how to signal a turn and how to share the floor with other couples.   It seems like at least sixty percent of dancing is communication with your partner.

I get a lot wrong, but I've got really strong rhythm.  I forget the steps, I can't get out of my head, my weight often is on the wrong foot, and my hips - the tragedy of my hips is monumental.  I'm often doing completely the wrong thing, but I'm generally doing it on the beat.  I can always hear the beat, I know when to start, and I know when I'm off.  My teachers have commented on it, and they're not kidding.  If the music that happens to be playing is wrong for my lesson, the lesson is twice as hard.  Currently, my whole rationale for dancing is "She ought to feel the beat in your body".

I danced with a new partner recently and we couldn't get in sync.  The rhythm I was hearing and the rhythm I was feeling in her were just off.  I'm not talking about swinging around the beat, the way jazz does.  She was just off and, worse, inconsistent.  I restarted a couple of times.   I said things like "I think we're out of sync" and "I don't think we're on the beat".  I tried to lead bigger. I tried to firm up my frame.  I counted in my head.  I counted out loud.   I tried to ignore the music.  I tried to dance to her beat.  But I never managed to get synced up with this particular partner.

Late in the dance, visibly frustrated, she  said "you're not on the beat", and she honestly meant well by it, was trying to help with all her heart.  There was no doubt in her mind.  I try really hard to take criticism well.  Everybody there has been dancing longer than me, and the list of things I haven't learned dwarfs the seven I have. 

But she was wrong.  She was the one off the beat.  I didn't want to argue with her and I wasn't going to be able to really help either of us.

What can you say, other than "thanks for the dance"?

Day of Dance competition (Updated)

On Feb 25th I went to the Lovelace Hospital "Day of Dance" - A Health Fair and Celebrity Dance competition, like "Dancing with the Stars" (which I haven't seen - should I?)

Anyway, Local Dance Studios volunteered to work with local celebrities and put together a dance routine, and Saturday was the show and competition.  There was also social dancing, and a health fair.

The official results, and my brief reactions:

Third Place: 
Will Carr of KOAT TV with Patti Smith of CSP Dance Studio - Viennese Waltz.  Very enjoyable and inspiring, I'll have much more to say about this shortly...

Second Place: Elias Gallegos, Fox TV and Charity Toya, Arthur Murray.  East Coast Swing.  Elias is a good looking and fit young man, and that doesn't hurt.  He has a very athletic style, and definitely got the "Elvis Leg and Hips" going well (after some effort, apparently).  The only thing I saw was they seemed slightly out of sync at times, but if I could pull off the performance they did, I'd be thrilled.

First Place: Heather Mills, KOB TV and Chip Hindi, Enchantment Dancing - Cha Cha. Heather apparently has some dance background, and it showed, both in her performance and her degree of comfort on stage.  I see why the judges gave them the highest scores, Heather was clearly having fun, and to my eye she got a lot of details right, her poise, body position, "spotting" her head during spins (I think I'm getting that term right).  Really a very beautiful dance.

Now lets talk about what I found inspiring personally.

Marissa Torres KOB TV and Joe Moncada, CSP Dance Studios  Cha Cha.  Marissa and Joe went first, which has got to be intimidating as hell.  I think it also affected their score, unfortunately.  I saw a few bobbles, and I'm sure there were mistakes I'm not experienced enough to even see, but it was certainly a performance that both dancers could be proud of.  The scoring from the judges put them down in the pack, but it seemed to me that the average scoring crept up significantly over the course of the competition, which was unfortunate for Marissa and Joe.  Near the end one of the judges said something about wishing one could go back and give more points to earlier couples and I think this is the couple that the judge had in mind.  Judging has got to be a hard job, and I don't fault the judges, they're on the spot and don't have the luxury I do of several days to think about it.

But here's the important thing to me.  Early in the routine, Marissa looked very nervous and apprehensive.  Excited, and happy to be there, but just not sure how it would turn out.  And partway through the dance I saw her just let that go, and laugh to herself, and just abandon herself to the dance.  That was very inspiring.


The same apprehension, joy and abandon were on display with another couple - Annette Lindeman of Lovelace hospital with Randy Piatt, the Dance Studio
Fear and enthusiasm and excitement.  This was the single most impressive performance to me because Annette went from a mix of major anticipation and apprehension to total abandon and joy.  This is a very human drama, and that drama is what having non-professional dancers out there is all about.  I don't have words to express how humbled and happy and inspired this made me feel.

That's also one of the things I loved so much about Will Carr's performance.  He wasn't a perfect dancer, but it was a performance to be proud of on purely technical grounds.  And he showed and overcame some apprehension, and visibly had fun doing it, though more subtly than Marissa or Annette.  But Viennese Waltz?  Man, that takes some stones.  I don't even attempt the Viennese waltz in the security of the dance studio (and when I do, I'm just a roadblock for the good dancers).  Will Carr, apparently with no dance background, goes out there and dances one of the fastest, most technical and most challenging dances possible.  Will and Patti took a big, big gamble, and must have worked their butts off, and it paid off.

The other thing I admire about the risk Will and Patti took is that a lot of the audience probably didn't even know how hard it was.  In my total noob opinion, there are a lot of dances (Swing, Salsa, Rumba, Cha Cha, my favorite, the Jitterbug) that are much easier to get a handle on from a standing start than Viennese Waltz, and few or none harder.  Maybe Tango?

The Judges knew this, and the teachers knew this, but a lot of the audience probably did not.  I wouldn't have known if I hadn't taken lessons and been exposed to really good dancers doing a Viennese Waltz.  I love Waltz (music and the dance), and I made the mistake of thinking "wow, that looks like a very wonderful flowing, fun waltz, let's try it", followed shortly by "I've got a blowout - damper three...  Pitch is out, I can't hold altitude....   She's breaking up, she's breaking...."  Until you've crashed and burned on the dance floor, you don't know how risky the Viennese Waltz can be.  It just looks smooth and flowing and fast, it doesn't look difficult and dangerous.  But it is.


UPDATE:  Chip Hindi of Enchantment thoughtfully reminds me that his partner, Dawn Davide not only met the same challenge as the other performers, but did so with a broken arm, still in a cast.  Once he reminded me, I do remember that fact being mentioned at the time, and I remember that it looked like they were having a lot of fun swing dancing together.  I didn't mention the broken arm because I barely saw it and literally failed to remember it.  Dawn pulled off the performance so well that I literally didn't notice.  Once again, as I learn more, I'm just more impressed.  Thanks Chip.

UPDATE:  In a very kind email from Patti Smith of CSP, she points out that even the judges may not have appreciated the degree of difficulty that the Viennese Waltz represents.  She's certainly right that that was an assumption, and if it was inaccurate, I apologize.  I shouldn't assume that everyone understands this difference.  If you'd like to learn more about the difficulty of the Viennese Waltz, I strongly recommend this page at dancing4beginners.com which has video that shows the difference much better than I can describe it.  Thanks Patti.



Links:

Lovelace Hospital Day of Dance:
Performers:
Lovelace's YouTube Channel, includes several years' worth of video: 


Dance Studios:

Enchantment Dancing
Arthur Murray
CSP Dance Studios
The Dance Studio


News stories:

A Longer look at our KOB dancing stars
2012 Day of Dance
Join our Heather Mills and Marissa Torres for a 'Day of Dance' 
Lovelace 'Day of Dance' Feb 26

Ballroom Dancing

Waltz vs Viennese Waltz (incl. Video):  - highly recommended!

The Party

So I mentioned that I was signed up to jitterbug in public. It went well, not least because it was a much easier and less stressful situation than I had imagined. I was definitely jitterbugging in public, but it wasn't "all eyes on me" as I'd feared. I was in a crowd of other noobs jitterbugging at the same time. I tried really hard to get out of my head and just have fun and see what happened, with mixed success. I did notice that I didn't attempt the double arm lift / arm slide combination that I just barely feel I have a handle on. If I had tried that (even if I'd failed miserably), then that would have been something. I tell myself that it's totally appropriate to avoid a technique I'm not sure of in a performance, but honestly, it's not like it really would have mattered. I'm happy that I'm at least doing some stuff mostly by body reflex rather than thinking my way through, but I'm not thrilled with my tendency to play it safe. I am happy that I didn't let down the team.

My enthusiasm for the waltz led me a bit astray (again) during the party. I heard a waltz starting up, and found a partner and asked her to dance. As we got out there everyone started spinning and moving and flowing and I realized that this was a Viennese waltz, which (as I've mentioned) is currently out of my depth. And the music didn't feel like the slow waltz was an option. At least I have some coping strategies to mitigate the problem caused by my dancing limits. I headed to the middle of the dance floor so as to minimize the obstruction we were about to become, had a chat with my partner that was equal parts apology, explanation, and brainstorming, and we clunked our way through it despite my error. She was a very good sport, made a few suggestions, and then just locked in to try to follow whatever I was trying to do. Since I was making stuff up, this was a considerable challenge.  Respect. By the end we were doing something that was more or less keeping up with the music, but I honestly couldn't tell you what my feet were doing and there was nothing else going on, other than focusing on footwork. I don't think any toes were lost in the escapade.

This all was part of a party the Dance studio was throwing for students. It was a much, much bigger thing than my little bit, with workshops, and performances by students with lots of feedback from itinerant experts as well as the staff, lots of social dancing, good food, and dance demonstrations from the staff pros. It was a really good time. The pros did some awesome numbers with complex choreography and snappy costumes, and those were very fun to watch. I'm sure I'll be even more impressed as I learn just what it is that's going on.  They're a long, long way from quick, quick, slow....

The other thing I'm very impressed by is how hard the staff worked to make sure everyone had a good time. It had to be a very long day, and they were dancing their feet off, and they kept hitting it hard right to the end. In one small example, during the awards ceremony at the end of the day, the men at the dance studio were making a point of escorting their female students up to receive their awards and recognition, in a very gallant and chivalrous way - Making it a little flourish. Not in a show off, "look at me" kind of way, but in a wonderful, masculine, generous "Look at her" sort of way. It was considerate and admirable, and it looked good too. It's a joy to watch a man who's really in touch with his body move, and it's wonderful how much can be communicated by every movement.

I want that too.

How it all began

I never thought I'd be taking dance lessons. I've been on a pretty deliberate self improvement kick for a year or two and dance lessons weren't on the short list. They weren't even on the long list. They weren't on ANY list. If you'd have suggested them, I'd have reacted like most men I know - like I was going to get cooties. And I'm not kidding - people HAVE suggested dance lessons to me in the past, and I sneered and ridiculed them. So I owe all those people an apology now - if you're one of them, find me and remind me, and I'll apologize and buy you a coffee or something.

So as a warning to other young men, here is my story. Here is how they suck you in and trap you in an experience that will enrich your character, expand your horizons and change your life.


I was eating dinner at a club one night, and instead of the usual karaoke or kickball crowd (really, I swear, they have tee shirts and everything...), people began showing up. People dressed to go out. I notice these people are pretty fit and slender, which is, sadly, rare enough to make them stand out. One lass shows up, and this girl is Put Together for an Event. She's got the sexy heels, and is in an actual dress which is also, sadly, rare around here. Whoever she's meeting will definintely be glad to see her. She heads over by where the DJ is set up, and where I now see a big happy guy in a Hawaiian shirt. I'm a nerd, so I'm not sure, but "Hawaiian shirt" feels different than "dressed to go out". If she's there to meet him, they didn't coordinate that much...

Anyway, the DJ is spinning Latin beats and these people start dancing. Like for-real dancing, not random twitching, You know, spinning and turning and stuff. Coordinated movement between two people. Like that. Hawaiian shirt guy gets even happier, because he's the only guy there so far, and he's in high demand, he needs one of those "take a number" machines. To me he doesn't look like he's the best dancer in the world - some of the time he's not moving his feet at all, he's just concentrating on spinning his partner. But when he moves it works, so he's got some kind of training or practice in his background. What he's doing looks totally doable. And he's having as much fun as is permitted by law.

Of course (as I would learn in my very first lesson), Dancing isn't about the guy, it's about showing off the lady. And these ladies are having fun and showing off. Put Together Woman (who we will now call the DanceEvangelista, for reasons which will soon become obvious) is a really, really good dancer. In my experience, there are two levels of good in most things. There is level one of good, which is totally obvious if you know something about the activity, but which is often lost on the outsider, and there's level two good, which is obvious even to an outsider, and as you learn more about it, just gets more and more impressive. The DanceEvangelista is level two good, and it showed even to my untrained eye in the span of about 15 minutes.

Some other Gentlemen show up, including Mustachios and Slender Latin Fella, and these guys are clearly better dancers than Hawaiian Shirt is. I 'm starting to see what is possible, but Hawaiian Shirt keeps reminding me it would probably be pretty easy to get started. And everybody is just having too much fun.

Of course, I'm too self-conscious to actually try anything, or ask any questions, but I am very much enjoying the show, and it's dawning on me why my Mom and everybody else kept saying that I should take Dance lessons. People come in and out, everybody has a different style, but the theme is "fun".

I get ready to leave, and I'm disappointed to notice that the DanceEvangelista has apparently left. Oh well, I guess I won't be learning to dance after all. I could ask one of the remaining dancers, but they're all the way Over There and the door is Right Here... (yes, I make excuses. I'm aware. Deal with it.)

Still, a pretty good night, all in all. Maybe I'll find out about dance lessons someday. I get in my car and head out.

And lo and behold, I drive past the DanceEvangelista and her boyfriend getting into a car in the parking lot. Sometimes the Universe is willing to give you ANOTHER hint. What the hell. I roll down my window and say "You guys were having too much fun, that's great" ... "Thanks" ... I ask "how would I get started ...?" And that triggers the DancEvangelista like she's an attack dog that just got the command. She more or less shoves the boyfriend out of the way and tells me "I'm an instructor at such-and-such studio, we have an introductory package that ...." I swear if she'd had a business card on her, I'm sure it would have been flicked into the center of my forehead like a ninja star. "Uhhhh... Thanks and good night".

In a couple of days, I make an appointment at the Dance Studio and show up to see what's what. I chat with a very pleasant, confident, mellow guy, and then he hands me over to Teach for my intro lesson. Teach asks me enough about myself to get a feel for how I learn, and immediately gets the fact that I'm a nerdly type that lives all up in my head. Not that I hide that, but it's cool that she's trying to reach me where I live. I'm not the first nerd they've taught, of course. I end the lesson only fractionally better than I began, but that's actually pretty impressive considering my total lack of experience or even a mental framework for any of this.

And there are other dancers there, Instructors and students, moving with grace and style. Inspiring, and awesome, and enviable. And some students that are on the wrong foot or locking up in confusion, or asking questions, all of which I've already done, and will clearly keep doing for a while.

And then the DanceEvangelista grabs me and gets a chance to do the OTHER thing she does really, really well - selling. And I say this with the highest respect - in a previous job I was the designated nerd for our sales staff, and I know second hand how important and difficult a job sales is. A good salesperson helps you see what's possible and shows you how your life can be made better, and makes it real to you. And the DanceEvangelista is hitting it out of the park, in addition to literally being a walking advertisement for dance awesomeness. (I'm starting to kinda hope she doesn't read this - wouldn't want her to get a big head....) It helps that she really, really believes in her product, and the staff, and the program, with good reason. It's frankly overwhelming. I know I'm a dilettante that's likely to lose interest and wander off after a while, and this is clearly her Life's Purpose (tm). That's intimidating to those of us who don't have one, and aren't likely to. But intimidated or not, there's fun and challenge and masculinity and grace over that horizon, and so I'm in.

Waltz, Rumba and Salsa lesson notes

Tonight I had a private lesson, we worked on Rumba, Waltz and Salsa. Some of this was review, but a little new stuff. This post is mostly just my lesson notes - Converting this stuff into words helps me remember it, but probably keeps me too much up in my head. So if lesson notes sounds like an uninteresting post, you'll want to click ahead.

Waltz:
We worked on Promenade. I've done Promenade in Tango, where it is similar, and, frankly, trickier. I need to remember to elongate my frame, and I think I'm opening my hips too much in promenade. The hesitation during promenade felt very natural, but then I'm a slave to the beat.

We also did an open break - underarm turn combination. Aaaarg, the critical details are already fading!! Let's see, 1st half of a normal box then sidestep? is that right? Then back rock step Left, and lead the turn, back rock step Right, (turning...) then another hesitation before we're off to the waltzes again. I'm starting to love the hesitations in the waltz, they're subtly dramatic and they're what makes it human and to me they add so much to the flow of the dance. Without the hesitations, it could be done by clockwork dancers (which I probably resemble, but not for long....)

Salsa:
We reviewed cross body lead, and I needed the review, I wanted to start it on 3 (back step), but it needs to be set up on 2, otherwise my partner can't feel it coming. We also did a double face loop, I tend to hang on too long, in which case I tend to turn my body out, but that's not the end of the world, it's a decent set up for a cross body lead. I think getting into the Right-over-Left handshake hold to start this all is probably my biggest problem right now.

We also reviewed coaster action, which I was fine with, but I had a surprisingly hard time knowing what to do with my right foot after my left foot comes up. I need a thousand reps, as usual.

Rumba:
We also did an open break, underarm turn combo, Teach is obviously building on the Waltz lesson. I need practice rolling my left hand from the closed grip to the low open grip. And I think I am often too high with my Right arm - Teach very insightfully helped me understand that if our arms aren't nice and straight, I can't provide a strong lead. I'm starting to get my lead together on the "close the door" finale to this combination (the same motion also completes the cross body lead), and I love the way that feels when I'm leading it confidently.


The DanceEvangelista has drafted me into a little dance competition on Saturday. I'm the token noob on her team, and we're going to do a Jitterbug. I'm pushing my comfort level here, Though I'm decent at Jitterbug for all my noobness, if I do say so myself. But I'm nervous about the spotlight. Making mistakes in the middle of a crowd of other people who are all working through their own dance issues is one thing. All eyes on me and no other distractions is intimidating.

Dancing with civilians

Well, I had a fun time last night. Learned some stuff.

Ballroom vs combat
OK, country dancing seen from a ballroom perspective is one thing, and what happens out in the world is entirely another. I'm used to only getting only momentary glimpses of the basic footwork under all the variations and enhancements when I watch the advanced students at the dance studio. But some of these folks were just doing basics and the footwork was different than anything I've seen. Now I'm not a dance historian, and it feels like the definitions are pretty loose (what I call the progressive two-step you may call a Texas two-step or a country two-step), but I sure couldn't figure out most couples' footwork even when there was a couple that was just basic-stepping around. It reminded me of High School, when I took Spanish so I'd be able to eavesdrop in the hallways, only to discover that the Spanish in the hallways and the Spanish in the classroom had almost nothing to do with each other. Maybe the lesson here is that it matters less than I think - I do tend to geek out on the details.


Traffic control
At one point a fast song came on that I thought I could jitterbug to. I ended up dancing with a friend who's pretty darn good, and we had a good time, but I foolishly started out kind of in a corner and of course we wandered into the line of dance. One couple in particular very nearly ran us over twice. It felt like a jerk move on his part, but maybe he was trying to make a point. I know better than to be doing a spot dance anywhere but right under the disco ball (in this case, a mirrored saddle, which every country bar should have).


Risk
I need to be much more willing to lead a spin and take some other chances. I spent more time than I like just motoring around the floor with basic footwork. Some of this is just me being timid in a new environment. Some of this is I'm not sure what my options are. Some of it is that stuff felt a lot less secure and more "wrong" out in the world, because of insufficient...



Frame
Dancing with civilians (versus folks at the dance studio) was a real eye-opener. Ladies, you need a frame too. The man you're dancing with needs your frame. It was like trying to steer a jello - it doesn't actually fight you at all, but you can't tell what's happening. It was much harder than it had to be to even tell if we were in sync, which means for the most part we weren't. I ended up having to be much more assertive than I'm used to at the dance studio. One sure way to move a jello is to just bulldoze it - but that barely counts as dancing. It appears that some gentlemen have decided to solve this problem with a giant dose of...



Chutzpah
Another pattern I saw a few times is that brazen self-confidence and unself-consciousness is frequently substituted for Rhythm and skill. There was this one dude, that wasn't doing any recognizable dance at ALL, whose beat had nothing whatsoever to do with the music, and who frequently got too busy yanking his partner through spins and flips and loop de loops and immelmanns to move his feet at all (she loved it). He was doing his same, very dynamic moves at the same brisk pace to everything - slow country, fast country, country rock, blues. And when his rhythm happened to mesh with the song, he didn't even keep that, particularly. He wasn't the only one, another fellow had a less advanced case. It was the bastard child of two-stepping and moshing. There were some very good and controlled and elegant dancers there, and at first I admired the professionals and disdained the guy who was mosh-stepping. But here's the deal. He was having as much fun as they were. And so was his partner. Possibly more. I ended up envying his lack of self-doubt. That's the kind of confidence and joy and exuberance that I hope Dancing will help me to express. Eventually. I doubt I'm temperamentally suited to the "get drunk and jump around" approach, but the dude had something wild and raw and cool going on.

Dance on.

Taking it on the road

I'm going two-stepping with friends tonight. After my last post I decided I needed to get over myself and go out and dance in public. So I set a date and invited everybody.

The Lull and the Jitterbug

Well, I'm feeling a bit of a lull in my dancing and enthusiasm. Just part of the life of a dilettante, I suppose. I do know that there's a fairly frustrating phase in any learning process where you can do the basics (poorly, and non-automatically, in my case), and you can start to see what's going on with people who REALLY know what they're doing, but you can't *do* it. Unfortunately, I still don't feel confident enough in my dancing to "take it on the road" - I'm too vain to dance anywhere except the studio, surrounded by my fellow students.

For the most part.

I've been working on the jitterbug a lot lately, and it's starting to feel natural. Of course, the footwork is dead simple, almost as easy as merengue, and the music is fun. I only know three or four "tricks" (my term for anything other than the basic steps - spins, etc), but I'm fairly able to fire those off at the right time, and I am starting to feel which spin or move "works" right now, based on our hand positions, etc. I still occasionally fire off the "wrong" spin or whatever, but it's actually fun in that it feels SO wrong. Which is huge for me, because it means that most of what I'm doing feels pretty right - that's new.

My other point of pride with the jitterbug is that, despite the pace, I'm rarely late making up my mind and leading my dance partner. In most of my other dances, I'm often firing of a lead cue just a fraction of a second too late for my partner. The fact that I have a feel for the right thing to do and the right time to do it with jitterbug makes me happy.

And I'm not so much thinking my way through the dance, I'm just dancing.

Cool.

Following and perception

I'm shopping around for different studios for dance instruction. Not that I'm unhappy with my original outfit, just because I'm a dilettante.

I had my second session with a new instructor recently. Our first session was only half an hour, and in the process of trying to understand something about my hips and center, I related it to Aikido (that NEVER happens....) and mentioned I'd had class just before my dance lesson.

So I show up for our second session a week later. Five minutes into our dance lesson, she interrupted herself and observed "Why didn't you have your martial arts tonight?"

Woah. How did you know?

"You're moving differently".

At this point I've only spent about 35 or 40 minutes with this woman TOTAL.

I guess that's what years of following on the dance floor will do for you.

I'm still gobsmacked.

I need the music

At a recent lesson, I was trying to Tango without music and ended up foxtrotting. My brain just totally locked up. I need the music, particularly for the Tango - though I seem to be able to Jitterbug to imaginary music just fine - even just sitting here typing about it, I've got "Rock around the clock" running in my head. Maybe I just need a signature Tango tune in my head.

One of the more interesting quirks I've found from taking dance lessons is how often the music is missing, imaginary or wrong. There are several private lessons and other activities taking place in the same space, and so Teach and I usually just count out the steps with no music whatsoever - which is a great way of focusing at one thing at a time. Occasionally we put on an appropriate song and dance with music. Of course, the other couples sharing the space also do so, so somebody's playlist is always playing, but it doesn't have anything to do with your lesson. At one point I was Tangoing, the music was Salsa, and the singer was singing about "La Rumba". Ignoring the music feels like trying to ignore an itch...

I'm a slave to the beat...

The Frame, Again

Quickies from a recent lesson:

Your frame - Resilience vs stiffness:
Your frame is all about the relationship between your elbows and spine. Your elbows need to move together, constant distance between your elbows is desirable, having them flapping about is bad, MMmmmkay?. Feeling the relationship between your elbows is how your partner gets signals about rotation. I don't remember if my instructor said this or if this is just my Aikido perspective, but rotation comes from your core, through your hips, back, and then frame. I do remember my instructor made a big deal about the phrase Counter Body Rotation (I may have remembered that phrase wrong - when you google it, you get lots of skiing and snowboarding references...)

Supporting your frame
Your frame should be supported by your lats and traps in your back, supported from below (as much as possible. At least, it should feel that way). I think of it as being like a couple of rubber bumpers in your back that your shoulder blades rest on. My mistake has been to "hang" my frame off my shoulders and collarbones and upper chest. This puts tension in your shoulders, chest, and upper body that you don't need. Apparently this one of the classic blunders men make. Supported from below via your back is the way to go. Rotating your shoulders back is a huge part of this. Start with your arms straight overhead, lower them (still straight) until they are pointing directly ahead of you, roll your shoulders back, then open your elbows out to establish your frame. This helped me feel what I should be doing. A decent frame is also going to demand better posture than I typically have.


There's a difference between getting this mentally and being able to DO it, but at least I have a mental model to start from. Now to get it into my body.

Music you can dance to (Part 2 - Latin)

As I began exploring in part one, learning to dance is making me approach music from a new direction - What dance is this? For a band nerd that's used to being behind the music stand, this is a new and fun thing.

This time I'll explore Latin dances and rhythms. I've always enjoyed Latin music, particularly where it crossed over into Big Band - Bossa Nova, etc (there's that Band Nerd thing again), but I ended up not listening to it all that much. I'm beginning to suspect that what I needed was a context, specifically, a context of dance. I'm getting one.


Tango - another favorite dance, and one that also has music distinctive and dramatic enough for me to recognize easily. I love that passion and the sexuality of this dance, and seeing "Scent of a Woman" didn't hurt one bit, either. I'm not sure I'll end up with a rose in my teeth at any point, but so far, I'm having fun with Tango and looking forward to more. Of course, this dance, more than any other, sacrifices my social goals for total passion. The only people I'm going to meet tangoing are going to be people in the tango club, and it's not something you just go out and do. In the US, it's a niche dance. Oh well, Art for art's sake, I suppose. Tango tunes: Nothing that's ever been played on Pop Radio in North America that I can remember or imagine (see? There's that niche thing again!), but the other night I danced a Tango to a piece with Lyrics in German, but I don't know the name of it. Funky. The Internet claims you can tango to "Roxanne" by The Police And "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers, but they both feel like they're a big stretch to me... What do I know.... The whole POINT of tango music is dancing to it - since I haven't danced, is it any wonder I don't know any Tango tunes?? Edit - "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets) by Sarah Vaughan" is a tango.


Rumba - One of the many uses of the box step, I think of this as the slow, sexy end of the Latin dance continuum. But there's a lot of Rumba music out there that you've heard, and a lot of it doesn't sound Latin to me - "And I love her" and "In My Life" - The Beatles (which have a bit of a latin feel), and "With or Without You" - U2, "You've got A Friend" - James Taylor, "Stand By Me" - Ben E King, "One of These Nights" - The Eagles, "Let's Stay Together" - Al Green. The large menu of musical choices and the obvious social possibilities of a slow dance make it a serious contender for the Dance short list.

Salsa - We've spent some time on this in class, in fact this is probably the dance I'm farthest along in - which is not that far! I've gotten the footwork options in my head pretty clearly, and we worked on a cross-body lead and spin combo in group class last week, which I almost got, need to drill it another 1000 times or so... The social possibilities of Salsa are quite good in New Mexico (maybe elsewhere too, I dunno...), and the music is a hoot, even if not much of it is stuff that I ever listened to on the radio (this is probably mostly a comment on my pedestrian musical tastes, rather than on availability). Salsa is all about the clave. Salsa tunes I've heard of (maybe you have too) are "Livin' La Vida Loca" - Ricky Martin, "Mambo #5" - Lou Bega and "Tequila" - Champs. Interesting (to me anyway) that Salsa beats seem not to have been adopted as widely in Pop music as Rumba rhythms, but Salsa keeps that Latin Fire even on the "crossover" hits, where as Rumba sneaks in and pretends to be pop. And as far as the dance, this is one of the more fun and energetic dances out there - I definitely get why so many people end up wanting to dance Salsa - it's fun even to watch.

Merengue - This is the first Latin musical style that I was able to distinguish from Salsa once I started dancing and it became important to pay attention. Salsa tends to be 4/4, and the characteristic Clave rhythm makes it swing, where Merengue is (or feels) much more 2/4 and more straight ahead, and it has less swing, more urgency. Merengue as a dance is so easy, even
a caveman
I can do it - we've spent maybe an hour on it, and the footwork is locked for me, and as far as I can tell, it's so straightforward that you can pretty much do anything at any time - which doesn't mean *I* can pull it off yet, it just means I'm not having to ask myself "Is this the right time for a spin? (or any other move)" With Merengue, the answer is always "Yes, it's a fine time!". This Dance feels like something you only spend a few hours learning, after that you just need practice. Lots and Lots of practice. Salsa, Rumba, Foxtrot, Tango all get basically fractally complex very fast, where as Merengue at least starts out as basic and regular as a brick wall (which doesn't mean you can't build tall and complex dances on top of a Merengue, clearly). "Hot Hot Hot" by Buster Poindexter is a Merengue, but my favorite surprise Merengue tune is "(Nothing but) Flowers" by the Talking Heads.

Bachata - Initially I had a hard time telling a Bachata tune from a Salsa (maybe I still do, let me know!), but thanks to Amazon.com, I ordered a few CD's to listen to, and I think I've got it. Bachata is slowest, Salsa is Medium, and Merengues tend to be faster. In Salsa, the Clave is the signature percussion element; whereas Bachatas tend to have (or feel) the slow, classic guiro scrape. The other characteristic of a bachata (to my Wikipedia-informed ear, at least) is that the lyrics tend to be forlorn and heartbroken. I have vanishingly little spanish, but I can hear it in the melody and delivery - understanding the lyrics is apparently optional. I've only spent about 20 minutes with the bachata as a dance, so far, but all I can say is: Hip bump. The only song I can think of that feels like a bachata to me is "Guantanamamera" (particularly the slower versions), but that's a Cuban classic, and Bachata hails from the Dominican Republic, so I'm not confident of that. (Edit - the more I think of this, the more I doubt it. Maybe a Rumba???)

Cha Cha - I've spent very little time on this in dance class, and not a lot of listening time, but to me Cha Cha music feels like Bachata's faster cousin. I often hear the same Guiro figure as Bachata, but, well, faster - though the Cha Cha Guiro can get a lot more complex, as well. The other difference from Bachata music is that there are a bunch of cha cha's you've heard, most of them feel pretty Latin, but there are a few surprises..
Oye Como Va - Santana
Smooth - Santana/Rob Thomas
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
Soak up the Sun - Sheryl Crow
Barbie Girl - Aqua
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3
Guantanamera - Los Lobos (this version is a little faster, feels like a slowish Cha Cha to me....)
Walkin' on the Sun - Smash Mouth
Short Skirt / Long Jacket - Cake
Spill the Wine - Eric Burdon & War - (This one feels like it's got one foot in the Cha Cha camp, and the other in Bachata...)


So that's my take on Latin music you can dance to. I'm sure I'm off base with a lot of this, please chime in, the point of all this is to help me figure this stuff out...

Music you can dance to - (Part 1 - Ballroom & Country)

OK, one of my current problems is that I don't yet have clear, separate mental categories for different dances. My other problem is that I am having a hard time picking a few dances to focus on. As you might expect, these problems interact a bit, resulting in confusion. Maybe if I blog about this, I'll start figuring them out. Here's hoping...

One of the things I'm liking most about learning to dance is that it's making me approach music from a new perspective... What dance is this?? How would I move to this??


Here are the dances that I've tried and remember, and the music they need:



Waltz - one of my favorites dances to watch/learn, and the distinctive 3/4 time signature makes it one of the few I recognize immediately, and always have. Of course, it turns out that the really fast, impressive, fluid, beautiful Waltz that I most want to do is the Viennese Waltz , which is not something you try without a bunch of instruction and practice. It's like a chainsaw - don't pick it up until you know what you're doing - somebody will probably get hurt. OK, that may be a bit of hyperbole, but honestly, you'll just end up in the way, blocking the grace and flow of the real dancers. Trust me, I know. So I'm learning the "Slow Waltz" also known as "Waltz for normal people". But Viennese Waltz is coming, just as soon as I'm a Dance God (tm). In the mean time, Slow Waltz and Country Waltz are recognizable, and something I'm interested in, both because they seem beautiful, fun, and reasonably social. Waltz tunes that surprised me a bit: "Take it to the limit" - The Eagles, "Kiss from a Rose" - Seal, and "Natural Woman" - Aretha Franklin (though once I noticed they are Waltzes, it was obvious...) The All time Classic Waltz: "The Blue Danube" - Strauss (Actually, a Viennese Waltz, it turns out...)

Two Step - So far, this is two similar dances (in my head, at least). Progressive two-step, which I learned at Dance Class (a little!), and some other two-step (Texas two step?? Not even a two step?? - dunno...) that I picked up one evening in about 3 minutes of totally unprepared combat dancing / faking it at my local Saloon and Dance Hall (hey, she was REALLY cute, and I warned her that I didn't know what I was doing... ). Socially, this has a ton of potential - I'm clearly going to meet a LOT of different people two-stepping, and experience indicates that one can probably learn it well enough and quickly enough that you can just show up on the dance floor, in public, totally unprepared, and just "monkey see" your way through it. Not that instruction and practice wouldn't help, but... Maybe that argues for spending time on it in dance class or maybe it's about just hitting the dance hall regularly, but it clearly needs to be in the mix, one way or the other. It seems like every country song ever written is a two step (unless it's a country waltz. Or Texas Swing. Or...). Anyway, Two Steps I've heard: "Guitars, Cadillacs" - Dwight Yoakam, "Past The Point Of Rescue" - Hal Ketchum, "Every Time You Say Goodbye" - Allison Krauss, "Amarillo by Morning" - George Strait, "Life is a Highway" - Tom Cochrane/Rascal Flatts/Chris LeDoux, "A Better Man" - Clint Black, "All My Ex's Live In Texas" - George Strait


Foxtrot - OK, I've danced this one a bit, and I think of it as an bent progressive two-step or an abbreviated Tango, (which tells you how much I'm focused on my feet right now. And Confused...) My other mental image is a Knight on a chessboard (feet, again...) Fortunately, the music styles are distinctive enough that I rarely try to Tango to a Foxtrot, but I have been known to Progressive Two-step when I should have been Foxtrotting (which almost works OK, though the feel is all wrong, or would be, if my either my foxtrot or my two step had any style - I really need to foxtrot to foxtrot music). Speaking of which, there's a lot of foxtrot music out there. "Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond, "It had to be you" - Harry Connick Jr, "New York, New York" - Sinatra (lots of Sinatra, it seems to me) "Moondance" - Van Morrison. If it Swings, it's probably a foxtrot. This is a dance I didn't think I was interested in until I started to realize how much fun, swinging foxtrot music I've heard through the years, and there's lots of social/meeting people potential here. This is not helping me narrow down my choices....

Jitterbug and Swing - We're deep in the Mental Gray Area, here. Jitterbug, East cost and West coast Swing are a jumble for me - as dances and musically. Maybe there's not a great deal of difference, or maybe I've just got a lot to learn. Lots of Fun music in this general area, though. 50's rock, doo wop, beach boys, Elvis (Presley, not Costello...) Such as: "Crocodile Rock" - Elton John, "Footloose" - Kenny Loggins, "Hey Ya" - OutKast, "In the Mood" - Glenn Miller Orchestra, "Old Time Rock and Roll" - Bob Seger, "Lido Shuffle" - Boz Scaggs, "Rock around the Clock" - Bill Haley and the Comets, "Heat Wave" - Linda Ronstadt, "Good Lovin'" - the Young Rascals, "What I Like About You" - The Romantics, and "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison.

OK, better head South before my ignorance embarrasses me severely... And explore my ignorance in a whole new culture! In Part 2, Latin...