Gary

Right well; that's decided. I'm moving all my dance related blogging to Blogger. It's going to take me absolutely ages to transfer all my previous posts across but I will do that (along with changing the layout and such). That leaves this blog for everything else like talking about life... well when life isn't in some way connected to dancing. So not a whole lot here then. I'll lose things like the Mood button. I suppose I can just post my mood though. I do ever so much enjoy creating new blogs :D.

I shall make tonight my first new post there.

Tags: ceroc, dance, salsa

Current Mood: good

Well my third week of Salsa in my current class. Unlike last week were we didn't really learn anything in the way of moves we learned quite a few this week. Since there is a long intermediate class after the beginner and nothing for us beginners to do but watch or (yeah right :)) chat then I didn't wait around for freestyle. As such I didn't really get to practice any moves or enjoy a freestyle :(.

Right salsa it is. First of I found out that we are doing New York (Cross Body) style of salsa. Given that I don't know anything about the Cuban style that's popular I'm not really sure where the differences are. Anyway first they teach an interesting dancers frame (higher arms elbows out) and leading with the shoulder for a spin. Apart from my lack of balance I was finding I could project myself through a double spin occasionally. Had totally forgotten the left hand turn from last week. I think the key point being that I kept trying to put a spin into it (there really is only a pivot). I probably asked less people this week than I did last being content to chat to people. I really should have danced with more people though. At times I also find trying to get the correct beat in the music difficult and in moves that are prone to falling out of beat I often don't correct. I'm also prone to rushing through the silent beat as well.

They did do a good job at telling you about using the balls of your feet rather than heels and how to distribute your weight; frame technique and such. Even if I can't, at the end of it all, still get that salsa feel I think I'll still walk away feeling that I've learnt a lot. They teach a good grounding in the theory of dance :D.

Anyway we did a cross body lead which involved using the first part of a left turn but stepping out to the side creating a gap for the woman to walk through. Guide her with the frame (so pushing on her high back and pulling with your left hand) then turn her to face and move back into "the line". Revisited some of the stuff from last week. I also lead a left turn using the ladies left hand and a right handed turn for the lady where you break her turn with a flat right hand (to her left) and turn her around for a left hand turn. The intermediate class did a multiple cross body lead that I tried to shadow with a friend. Basically its the cross body but rather than pivot to face your partner you pivot to the other side and keep an open line so you can cross lead your partner again then do the same again (you are transfering momentum at this stage) and release into an open hold. I'd say that I successfully did it about 25% of the time :(.

I've got a backdated ceroc entry nearly ready to go. That will appear before this post.

Went to a Salsa class tonight which I'm trying out for a while. Went to the absolute beginner's class even though I have done some salsa before. Last time I stated that I did enjoy my dances even though they felt as hopelessly limited as my Ceroc did when I started that. Well this time it was worse. There were lots of very experienced dancers there tonight and I felt that I gave them some really dull dances. I also found some of the music a little challenging to pick up the beat on. Like the first time I went I still had a little difficulty not trying to start something else on the 4^th beat. Anyway even though I danced a little ceroc at one stage (only because the woman was interested) I'm still looking forward to giving it another go.

Moves; like the last time. On twirling a woman you take your left hand left, right then up (on each beat) to indicate she should go into a spin (it feels a bit like trying to execute an uppercut on Streetfighter) where she'd perform a right spin which consists of a step forward (left foot) pivot on both feel to face the other way (second beat) and then push with the left foot spinning 180° on right to face partner. We also did a spin as a man that when stepping back on right (5th beat) you pivot on both feet swapping the woman's hand to your right hand behind you then spin clockwise to face. We also did the Mambo step with a high frame with right hand on shoulder blade and left in a ceroc like hold. Finally we also did a left turn which takes a full eight beats. Start left forward; tap right; left back to behind the right and at an 90° to the left. Cross step the right over the left to turn away; tap left and straighten it (to be able to put your weight on it); spin using left foot 180° to face partner.

Tags: dance, salsa

Current Mood: tired

I fancied a dance over the weekend and nothing really happened to plan so I went to a Salsa class. I had previously read Widipedia's entry on Salsa as my basis of knowledge about it. It was really quiet (which I hope for the lovely instructor's sake isn't a regular night). It took me a while to get into the feel of the footwork which is something like:

The basic movement occurring in the dance patterns of the various salsa styles is the stepping on the beat of the music. Salsa is best grouped in pairs of 4-beat patterns counted "1-2-3-...-5-6-7-...". The leader (male) starts on count 1 by stepping with the left foot. On count 2 and 3, he steps with right and left, respectively. On count 4, he pauses or makes an optional tap with the right foot. On counts 5, 6, and 7, he steps with right, left, and right, respectively, again followed by a pause on count 8. As a standard, every step must be taken with full weight transfer. The follower (female) part is identical, but with left and right reversed. In all patterns and styles, the leader starts with the left foot and the follower starts with the right foot.

Salsa Dance; Wikipedia

So though I'm not going to make it a regular thing we went through the Mambo, Sidestep, Backstep, Backstep Across and, Mambo Twirl. I kept planning on changing moves mid sequence (i.e. on the fourth beat); which I couldn't do. However I did enjoy my dances even though they felt as hopelessly limited as my Ceroc did when I started that.

On top of the Salsa we also learned Merengue which was great fun. It's sort of like a march. It was interesting to see move similarities. The twirls were odd where it takes a full four beats to get around and the woman would do it and then the guy (under the same arched hands). There was also a double hand hold twirl were both people went under their hands and then lifted the other hand while dropping the raised one to complete a circle. There was a move where you turned opposite facings while lifting your hands over each other's shoulders and sliding down the arm into a hand hold (similar to a few ceroc exits just with it taking a bit longer and marching occurring at the same time). There was a move like a Basket as well except you started walking backwards when in the hold. All in all it was most interesting. I hope I can and least try a bit of Salsa at some stage in the next few weeks and see if I can still do the few moves I learnt :D.

Tags: dance, merengue, salsa

Current Mood: crazy