Here We Go Again...

Dances:  Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Arms and back at the gym.
Current City:  Seattle, WA (Home at last!)

After almost two weeks on the road, I made it back to Seattle in one piece.  It's good to be home.  While the weather in L.A. is absolutely wonderful, it's a bit too hot for my taste.  So now that my brother is settled into his new apartment, it's time for me to settle back into my old routine.  On my travels, I actually got to visit the 24 Hour Fitness in San Mateo (the one I used to workout at) as well as another one in Glendale.  The San Mateo one is still the best by far, and as Sarah and I got started on our workout, it was painfully apparent how far behind the Bellevue facility is.  That aside, we got a good workout in.  It was then time to see if we both remembered how to dance.

We started out with Nightclub 2-Step to warm up then proceeded with a round.  I gotta say, parts of it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but one thing was curious about the whole round.  As a lead it's amazing how quickly your memory lapses.  Ten days was enough to have me second guessing myself as to with figures came next in our routine.  This lead to a few brain farts and having to stop and start over.  But after the round things started to snap back into place.  In my entire dance life I've taken breaks before, the longest one being more than a year.  As a lead I'd advise on NEVER doing that.  Keep dancing just to stay on top of your investment (which I'm sure is considerable).  It never ceases to surprise me as how quickly you can rusty.  Amalgamations seem to have this knack of falling out of your head, not to mention just being a little less coordinated that you remember being.  On top of that, your frame seems to also suffer from non use leading to awkward situations with the opposite sex.  Dance requires a surprising amount of upkeep.  My advise, do it unless you're willing to give it all up.

After our round Sarah and I decided to work on the subject of our last lesson: Viennese Waltz.  It went really well taking into account the fact that we never had a chance to practice after that lesson.  I focused on not dipping into my Natural Turns and using my knees more in the Reverse Turns while Sarah focused on her head position as well as swinging through me.  All in all it feels awkward right now but we do have a lot more power to work with.  It's like climbing into your car after some major modifications have been done and you're not sure how to handle all the new found horsepower.  This can lead to some dangerous situations.  I'm sure if we keep it up it'll feel normal again.  Better than normal actually.  We'll travel more efficiently across the floor.  Though I brought to Sarah's attention that the new efficiency would probably hurt more than help at our usual social dances.  One negative side effect to this new way of moving in this dance is that Sarah's longer legs have become almost painfully apparent.  More than once tonight she's come DANGEROUSLY close to kneeing me where it counts.  I'm sure everyone has hilarious stories involving this type of tragic injury.  Comes with the sport I guess.