how are your lessons going? thread II

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Solo lesson this week; partner is on vacation. This showcase routine we're working on really places a premium on partnership; that's intentional. But I did struggle a bit to figure what I could work on without partner present. I told the instructor there were some bits I didn't want to work on because when I do them with him, they don't feel the same. We spent a lot of time with him working with me to understand what a follow gets out of different kinds of a lead's body motions, and consequently what types of body movements (and contortions :wacky:) convey which leads to the follow.
 
Lately my lessons have been somewhat brutal, and with mixed results. We went back to some basic technique to knock out some bad habits I've picked up (and actually successfully too). I was using way too much energy for relatively simple moves, which I definitely blame on being tired causing a lack of focus. We did a small showcase... and watching the video I can actually say I even enjoyed watching me dance.

Cal said:
Struggling to find a motivation to keep doing this.
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Maybe a little break is needed. Maybe a week... just find out why you started doing this in the first place. It always seems to help me gain perspective.
 
Instructor and I continued with International fox trot choreography for Frank Sinatra's "I Like to Lead when I Dance" for the upcoming fall showcase. Slow fox is typically "dry" and "boring" to watch especially if the subleties of the dance aren't really appreciated. However, Mary and I are striving to insert "personality" into this number to compensate. For wry humor, we have several lead and follow reversals, a play on the "I like to lead..." theme of the song. But I think that my warped sense of humor has corrupted my teacher and coach. At her suggestion, we are going to redo the first wall well into the dance. But THIS time, she is going to lead when I did the first time, and I am going to lead when she did the first time. Is this warped or what?! She is out Kevin-ing Kevin. I am delighted! :clap:
 
I've had lessons less frequently lately than usual, but they've been really helpful. We've been focusing on breathing into and through the movements. Not only is it helping me to not hold my breath (a really bad habit), but it is indeed making the movements smoother and more "alive" looking. Yay.
 
No pithy quotes this week. We spent a lot of time working on how to dance such that the partner can actually perceive what we're doing. Lots of mechanics. Seems like a lot to remember sometimes. :oops:
 
Post comp lesson. Without alcohol - go me! - though pro did offer.

Context: This past weekend was not my best, and I was avoiding my video, the marks, and in general acknowledging that it had happened. Pro had said a few things immediately post-scholarship that were not the nicest about a rather large and uncharacteristic mistake that I had made... he's since apologized (!!), but it hadn't left the greatest taste in my mouth about the comp.

When pro arrived, I was in the kitchen drinking tea and playing candy crush on my laptop (he was late), and without changing or putting down his bag, he walked in and declared "movie time!" Lesson was as follows:
  • We watched my video. (I peeked through my fingers, and hid my whole face when I knew the big mistake was coming).
  • Then we watched it again. (I watched the whole thing).
  • Pro made me look at my marks. (They were better than I expected.)
  • Then we went dance by dance, watching my previous comp, then this one looking at the changes. (Thankfully, by this time I was desensitized to watching it, as we had 3 pros in the kitchen by the end.)
  • It's then move to the ballroom time, with a pause for pro to change. We were technically 'fixing things', but mostly, more talking and analysis ensued.
  • I informed pro I'd be taking the month off from ballroom - not because of comp, but because I'm tired. (I had actually decided weeks ago.) He took it surprisingly well. I promised to continue the gym-yoga-ballet part of my normal routine so I don't get horrifically out of shape, and to watch a few videos he'll send me, but it's no practices or lessons for this girl for a bit.
Grand total spent dancing during lesson: 3 minutes.
 
FancyFeet said:
Context: This past weekend was not my best...
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That's one of the things that makes not competing frequently difficult. I used to race a sailboat and during the sailing season we raced a minimum of once a week, sometimes three days a week, and sometimes with multiple races per day. It was easier to recover from a not-the-best race because we were doing it again soon. I've tried to figure out how to come close to duplicating that type of experience with dance and haven't yet.

Enjoy your break!
 
Today we worked on Cha Cha after not doing for a few weeks (it was interesting....). I learned Foxtrot and Tango and I've learned that things in shadow are my worst enemy. Pivots in Waltz look like a train wreck and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I was counting my routines and I forgot the timing of every dance, that is the most frustrated I've been with myself in a while. o_O
 
New Foxtrot step with Pro that was fun. How I describe it to myself: twinkle, don't hit Pro, find Pro, up and down hill, follow & follow, huh? "Don't hit Pro" and "find Pro" involve some turns, "follow & follow" is shaping, "huh?" involves (maybe) a fallaway slip pivot, which pro pretty much just led. Smooth New Guy broke it down for me today. Part way through the lesson, SNG liked how it was going so much that he asked if he could "show me off" and we did the foxtrot for his extremely nice dance partner. :D Work on the waltz elements continued with both Pro and Smooth New Guy. Bolero with Rhythm New Guy, lots of detailed work on a few elements. I got absurdly excited when I realized that I needed to apply some of what I had been learning with the waltz elements to the Bolero elements.
 
Pro worked on me bringing character/flirt gal to foxtrot and watching him girl flirt to show me what he wants was just too much,,,meaning lessons was good, but he did that way too well...hahahaha
 
Lesson was at a new studio yesterday morning because nearly every single studio in the area was closed. My pro and I mostly were doing run throughs of our routines with small corrections here and there to make it impact a bit more.

We got stared at the entire time this whole Latin group class that was in the same room the entire time. It got to the point where it was creepy. This isn't our usual studio, so I doubt we'll come back anytime soon. Just a weird situation. o_O
 
Very cool lesson with Pro today. Foxtrot, more work on the step he taught me last time. At one point he asked Smooth New Guy to come over and lead him so that he could show me exactly what he wanted. My real reaction was, "you cannot possibly expect me to be able to do that". When he broke it down for me, however, to show me how to produce the shaping and how to use/respond to the lead to generate what he had been doing, it turned out that I could kind of sort of begin to do it. :jawdrop: I told him he was amazing. :) Trust me, we'll be working on it for a while. Then some bolero and he complimented the part that Rhythm New Guy had worked on with me and moved on from it. (Both :jawdrop: and :)) He made me very happy by showing me how I could apply some of what we had been doing in Foxtrot to what we were doing in Bolero. Next comp is about six weeks away. I told Pro that I was too excited about everything that I'm learning to get nervous about the comp.
 
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