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...