how are your lessons going? thread II

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For whatever reason, I've always had trouble maintaining a nice stretch from elbow to elbow. After (yet another) coach pointed it out to me and did a lovely manual stretch of my arms to produce it, I am actually managing to incorporate it when dancing. To me, if feels fantastic, though I suspect I'm doing about a 10th of what I actually need to do. ;) She also solved some conundrums along the lines of, "How come I sometimes do this brilliantly and sometimes pretty much fall on the leader?"

My next competition is in a week, and Pro has declared that we are using the newer VW figures. One of them is becoming enjoyable, the other one is a tad more questionable, but getting there. The way he has the VW laid out at the moment, those are what we are beginning with, however. :rofl:
 
The grrr: Pro is changing my days again for family reasons. I can't really be peeved about the reason (which I do know the details of), but I can be peeved about the change (the second in as many months) and the proposed solution (which is less than optimal). Waiting a few days to decide if this is just a reaction on my part or a real feeling. And if I can schedule wiggle to make it happen on my side.

On the positive side: new waltz choreo, swapping out an old short wall and a bit for something new and decidedly more complicated. It's awesome, and I like it a lot, and it gets rid of the 2 spots in my routine that I had expressed less than "I love it" feelings for (1 "boring", 1 that I've just never liked). Goodbye misc. basics with tumble turn and forward contracheck into standing spin, hello way more fun chasse roll, shape, ronde with tricky entrance and twist turn. After one lesson, half of which was spent making it up, the video tells me its nearly comp-ready. Apparently, it suits me :)
 
rhythm rounds - closed and open last night. they were ok, but i got tired quickly. i'm a bit done with this knee pain, too. fixed a few little things in cha cha and bolero that were bothering me.
 
Lessons have been a bit sporadic due to my coach competing, but the ones I have had have generally been pretty solid (although I did have a particularly unproductive one after pulling all nighter due to work and school). A couple of people who take lessons at the same time I do mentioned to me that they could see a noticeable improvement in my dance which was really nice to hear.

Still focusing on quality of movement but the notes have gotten more nit-picky which lets me know I’m generally on the right track. Also started adding in new content which I have to admit I’m probably unreasonably excited for. I’m still stilling the basics every day, and I’m committed to making what I already know better, but it is nice to have new stuff to work on.
 
I think we can dance our routine in the showcase now. It won't be pretty, but we'll get through it. We have four weeks to refine. Counting down...
 
Pro let the following slip:
1) The new choreo we've been tinkering with is something he's wanted to put in his pro routine for a while (he hasn't been competing due to aforementioned family reasons), and he finally went 'well, I know FF can do it'.
2) Students have been coming to him because of how I dance, especially once they hear I'm not a transplant from another studio. I've apparently been cited a number of times since nationals as 'I want to dance like her'.

Concrete signs of progress :dancingbanana:
 
smooth and rhythm lessons last night - rounds to prep for comps. Went well, which was very nice! also fixed a few more nagging things. Knee is getting a cortisone shot tomorrow. I tried to avoid that, but while it's getting stronger with PT, the pain is not lessening enough. saw my new new showdance choreo and it is HILARIOUS AND AWESOME AND I AM SO EXCITED I CANNOT HANDLE IT
 
Had a lesson for the first time since July.... tweaked the waltz routine I learnt (new) back then - I had remembered it all, just a few alignments to tidy up and adjustments to make due to no dancing WITH someone. Then I asked to learn the foxtrot for that level (Gold).... when I got back to my accomodation I wrote down what I thought was right and then looked at the video - I got the first 16 figures right, missed one, got the next few, then was vague - I remembered there was a lunge, twist turn, hover cross and hover telemark but not the in between bits. So I remembered over half correctly. Very pleased, and also pleased at how it looks - the bits in waltz that felt good also looked OK and where I was thinking hard my frame and arms dropped a bit. I am OK with that. Also did a few group sessions during the week - Gold and above New Vogue (yikes, very out of practice but some kind partners were very patient) then beginner New Vogue, where I partnered as man (much to the surprise/amusement of some of the guys from the previous advanced class). I was able to dance with around 5 different ladies - great for all concerned. I can repeat it all again this coming week and then have to be patient again until I get back to this city in 6? months time.
 
comp week this week! rhythm was ok last night, but i feel confident in my routines. knee pain is gone in rhythm due to the cortisone shot! but the real test is smooth tonight, eek. Looking forward to competing! my comp video from last year March popped up on my FB, so i hope to see improvement from that.
 
I learned all about runarounds yesterday! Seriously... very good session on aspects of frame, head position, balance, transitions, and all in all, how to do a runaround that's actually coordinated. Applicable to many other things. Now I have muscle isolations I need to work on...
 
well, smooth was not painful. but I was tentative dancing through it, since i didn't have my brace on, and i didn't know how far i could push my knee without it really hurting. Turns out i can dance full out! so that bodes well for competition. watched my rumba performance from last friday - i think it looks better than previously, but it's not what i thought it would be.
 
Nice lessons today with New(er) Guy. He and I hadn't danced tango together for a long time and he could tell the progress that I've made. I'm planning on competing with him in May or June, so we went through everything in all four dances, and we were both pleased. Overall, I'm getting much more consistent. I'm also (finally) getting better at error recovery.
 
Looks like no lesson tomorrow night... we're right in the middle of the "enhanced" blob on the convective forecast. o_O
 
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