how are your lessons going? thread II
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fascination
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6 lessons today...worked a good bit on breaking down the mechanics and dynamics of various spins as well as on learning more about not letting my body be square to a wall so that it can continue to move through a line
Lessons scheduled for 12:15 Wednesday, moved to Friday at 12:15 (pro exhausted from extensive travel and obligations), ok, Friday morning, lesson moved to 3, pro's wife and son received a "call back" from America's Got Talent and they wanted him too, for filming at CBS studios. He would call me when back on fwy to studio (ok, I already know how this is going to go), Pro calls, traffic is nightmare although on the road, won't make it back in time even for the late afternoon lessons. GREAT! Snicker, I'll be gone for May, next lesson, with any luck, mid-June. Sigh.
fascination
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boo...sorry to hear this
GGinrhinestones
Well-Known Member
Really good lessons today, but for a strange reason...due to a logistical challenge, we ended up working on carpet for most of the lesson. Yeah, it made it very challenging for a lot of things, but it also brought out some real trouble spots that are easy to cover up on a wood floor. Strange, but it turned out really well!
Dance Redeemer
Well-Known Member
Very good lessons this past week in Foxtrot. I felt like I was really starting to get the feel for the overall movement , but I knew I had when I realized my pro was bouncing on the balls of his feet saying "yes yes yes" under his breath. (Of course, Samba... not going so well, but I'll take progress where I can get it 
).
).Pro is out of town for the week, so lessons with New Guys. Team match is in a few weeks. Smooth is in pretty good shape so Smooth New Guy is concentrating on one dance per lesson with not-quite-rounds at the end. Yesterday was Tango. Dramatic clean up in a few places that really amounted to, "Hon, would you please dance this to your current ability, not to your ability 6 months ago?" Wonderful studio co-owner saw something less than optimal from the reception desk and came out to correct it. Rhythm is not so good.... Rhythm New Guy at one point, "That was so much better!! We got through it!!" I started laughing. "No, really! Nothing about it offended me!" My "fix VW" project is really working. Ended one lesson and began the next one with it (music was still playing and I still had on smooth shoes). At some point I'll have to stop just marveling at how much better it is (feels like a completely different dance than it had), but at the moment, New Guys and I are just enjoying it.
scullystwin42
Forum Master
Last lesson before thursday's comp, felt good, topline a bit free-er. closed smooth only on thursday, looking forward to it!
I was tired last night and it was not my best dancing, but still very productive lessons. Rhythm was Cha Cha, Mambo, and, of course, more about basics. We both concluded that I dance my best Cha Cha to "The Cola Song"--I've watch the video of Yulia performing to it a gazillion times. Smooth started with foxtrot. Best part was how quickly I was able to apply what we had been working on in the other dances with metronomic vs pendulum swing. "Automatically" would have been better, but this was pretty good. We then ran though the other dances. Pivot turns in waltz were much better after I had my, "Oh, these are actual PIVOT turns--that MOVE" moment. 
I was too tired to lead during Meringue class. It was Rhythm New Guy, myself, and two other women. The highlight was when he used me to demo a step and then told them it was called "The Comb". I asked him to lead it again (planning to demo why it's called that, and he realized my intent). He led it and he allowed the demo, but the "little boy letting his mother to scrub his face in public" expression was priceless. I promised to never do it again, and he explained how he usually prevents follows from running their hands through his hair....
I was too tired to lead during Meringue class. It was Rhythm New Guy, myself, and two other women. The highlight was when he used me to demo a step and then told them it was called "The Comb". I asked him to lead it again (planning to demo why it's called that, and he realized my intent). He led it and he allowed the demo, but the "little boy letting his mother to scrub his face in public" expression was priceless. I promised to never do it again, and he explained how he usually prevents follows from running their hands through his hair....
Female Pro said that my Bronze Standard is going pretty well, so she wants to start adding in more technique - we started working on areas in Waltz where I should be letting my frame "breathe" more and how it works with shape. With Male Pro, work on some footwork timing in Cha Cha, and in Standard picked apart a couple of figures in Tango and Quickstep.
Dance Mad Helen
Well-Known Member
So my lessons this week were fab! I spoke to my teacher about how I felt and it was a misunderstanding also he discussed which pro I want to dance with for Latin and he will not be offended if I don't choose him.
He told me to tell him if there is a problem and he has now sorted group classes to focus on dances for comps but focus on the fundamentals so provate lessons are working on more figures.
He told me to tell him if there is a problem and he has now sorted group classes to focus on dances for comps but focus on the fundamentals so provate lessons are working on more figures.
cornutt
Forum Master
This is a big problem for me in certain areas in Smooth. I unconsciously pull my right hand in, and then my partner can't shape properly and consequently can't swing forward. It happens most often when I'm going backwards and I'm trying to get my partner to step into me (lots of follows seem to be timid about forward steps), but then I get locked in that way. Lately I've been able to catch myself sometimes, and let the frame air back out again. When I do this with my amateur partner, I can tell the difference.
cornutt
Forum Master
Last Monday's lesson was foxtrot, and the instructor and I got into a philsophical discussion about how to interpret music in the dance context, which happens sometimes. It started with his putting on a slowish-tempo swing and asking us to do foxtrot to it, which we did. Afterwards I questioned the choice of music. He explained it thus.
His rule:
1. All foxtrot music is blues.
My rule, learned previously in my time as a musician:
2. All blues is, fundamentally, in 12/8 time.
I put those two rules together. Suddenly, foxtrot timing makes sense.
I had previously had an instructor (not my current one) explain it to me as like mambo, which I had felt since was closer than what I was doing previously, but still not quite right. But dividing the beat into threes rather than twos -- wow, that works. I get it. Now the foxtrot timing that I was sort of faking my way through before actually has a structure to it. Who'd a thought it.
His rule:
1. All foxtrot music is blues.
My rule, learned previously in my time as a musician:
2. All blues is, fundamentally, in 12/8 time.
I put those two rules together. Suddenly, foxtrot timing makes sense.
I had previously had an instructor (not my current one) explain it to me as like mambo, which I had felt since was closer than what I was doing previously, but still not quite right. But dividing the beat into threes rather than twos -- wow, that works. I get it. Now the foxtrot timing that I was sort of faking my way through before actually has a structure to it. Who'd a thought it.I don't *think* I pull in - I'll have to pay attention to that. My problem is that instead of letting the frame "breathe" to allow for shaping, I over-rotate the upper body - and, of course, that doesn't really give an opportunity to shape.
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