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.

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.

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.

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...