Cliché At Work

Dances:  Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Nightclub 2-Step
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Arms, back, chest, and shoulders at the gym.
Number of Dancers At 24 Hour Fitness Today:  6

After taking Monday off due to just getting old, we were back at it on Tuesday.  I'm not sure if I'm just getting old or what, but after my trip last week I've been off my game a little bit.  Constantly tired.  Though I really can't complain since recently my life has been a series of trips out of state as well as parties at friend's houses and social dances.  Not a bad life.  Having taken Monday off, I had some catching up to do with my workout routine and I managed to hit all body parts in one day.

When Sarah and I finally made it into the practice room, we found two other couples already in there.  Caroline and her new partner practicing Latin, and this other couple practicing a show piece Bachata.  It's nice to dance with other couples.  Somehow it seems to keep me more focused if I have a distraction.  I think the distraction keeps me from getting too serious during practice and as a result increases focus stamina.  This phenomena occurs in all aspects of my life.  As I'm writing this blog entry I have the TV on in the background.  I seem to write quicker in this kind of environment.  Weird, I know.

Tango was the main dance for us today.  I'm still battling the invisible problem of my frame tilting.  It's really hard when you can't see or feel the problem.  But in an attempt to prove Sarah wrong about something in the Reverse Outside Swivel (which did not end in my favor) I had grabbed a weight bar from the rack and placed it on top of my frame.  The famed cliché of the broomstick style practice had finally made an appearance in my dance career.  To our surprise, it seemed to solve A LOT of problems right away.  The main one being the fact that I could actually SEE when my frame was tilting!  This lead to us using this practice technique for the rest of the practice.  It also solved the issue Sarah was having during the Reverse Outside Swivel where she claimed she kept getting left behind.

So another successful practice for us.  I won't say we invented another practice technique since this one is quite famous and stereotypical.  But we did find a way to deal with major pain in our giant bag of bad dance habits.  I foresee a lot more work with the "broomstick".