Dances: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, and Quickstep
CD in my car today: Pirates IV Soundtrack (has a great tango)
Those are actually lyrics to a ballroom quickstep...believe it or not. Jeff has this absolutely eclectic collection of ballroom music, and there is this one quickstep that is called "Going to the Supermarket" and goes on about turkey spam and shopping carts and who knows what else, but always has me in stitches practically before the first bar is over, and is undoubtedly the corniest quickstep on the planet. Just to mess with me Jeff decided we should dance quickstep to "my favorite song," but we couldn't even finish the long side because we were laughing too hard and it was making our connection get really bumpy! I thought we should work more on quickstep because I think it's our weakest dance, so Jeff naturally teased me about having no faith in the partnership and said he'd just show me how well we could quickstep...only we'd have to end practice if we got it perfect. So we ran it all the way through, and we never get that far normally, but when we rounded the last side I lost it because we never do the transition from the end to the beginning and I did something stupid, not sure what, but Jeff didn't lead whatever it was and it was totally my fault.
We also ran through the waltz a couple of times, which felt to both of us unusually good today; lots of power and control and very together, and we keep surprising ourselves by how much movement we're getting. Some of that may be thanks to our foxtrot self-torture exercise. I am also becoming a big fan of the left whisk, especially since Jeff has gotten much smoother with his lead for it recently and it just feels cool. I also like how I can time my run around coming out of it differently depending on the music; there was one I did kind of syncopated because I felt that it just fit musically, and it doesn't affect what Jeff is doing, so it's fun to see what works. I can't leave waltz without admitting that, much to Jeff's chagrin, I love the hover. And unfortunately it's the very last figure in our routine, which means we often don't get to it...and um, yes, Jeff usually hears about it. What can I say? It's my one big chance as a follow dancing a syllabus routine to show what I've got, in terms of extension, beautiful shape, and grace. We danced a balanced hover tonight...life is good.
Foxtrot was more of the same, but we are so much better at dancing to a metronome than when we started. Now the project is doing the exercise with our actual routine versus just a few basic steps. It's still tough though, and it's hard to make it carry over once we dance to music. I feel like it's helped us just take more time on the slows more than anything. Once we dance to normal tempo foxtrot music, a lot of the precision we get from breaking it down so minutely is lost, but I think the major concept is sticking.
Tango was just a run through, and it was okay. I'm too stiff in tango, and Jeff wasn't really breathing. Actually, I think we could both breathe more; it would help relax our dancing quite a bit.
So that was basically it for tonight, except that Jeff kept promising me that I'll have Trogdor arms because he knows I worry about developing muscular arms if I lift weights. That'll look gorgeous with my new sleeveless standard dress, won't it? Speaking of which, I spent about 5 hours yesterday making a pattern and cutting out part of a ball gown. I don't know why it had to take that long, but it did. It will all be worth it in the end though, because this dress is going to be epic.
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