Lesson #13

Dances:  Tango, Foxtrot, Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Nightclub 2-Step
Part:  Lead
Workout:  None.
Popsicles Consumed In 24 Hours:  8

If the stigma of the number "13" is true, our lesson number 13 definitely reflected that.  Ok, it wasn't THAT bad.  But it was interesting.  Tango was the subject of today's debate.  Simeon had us dance through it before beginning his dissection.

Again, not to any one's surprise, the first long side was the issue.  But before we even got to that Simeon wasn't too happy with how slanted my tango looked.  It's not new news to me that I'm "calibrated" wrong.  I naturally have a curvature to my spine so that leads to a slightly slanted frame that feels straight to me.  Add to this issue the problem I have of dipping into promenades and it amounts to a fun challenge for my coaches.  At least now I know where it's present and not correcting for itself.

Another interesting issue that showed up yesterday was the speed of Sarah's head.  I've never noticed it before but it was very apparent how slow it was yesterday.  Sarah had mentioned that her neck had been sore for the past few days so I'm sure it wasn't at peak performance levels, but it was slow even with that in mind.  Simeon was pretty funny, first he thought her head was too slow, then he thought that my head might be too fast.  In the end he settled on Sarah's head as the culprit.  I have to agree since it appears so when she's dancing with either Simeon or I.

We ended on our first long side with all the Fallaway Reverse and Slip Pivots and the cursed Reverse Outside Swivel.  I was told I needed to work on my timing on that section a bit.  I'm rushing certain parts of it and need to be more clear of each of the sections.  Another disturbing tidbit Simeon decided to share with me was and I quote: "This side will never feel easy.  Ever.  It never has to me (Simeon).".  Let me tell you how inspiring that was.  :)

One thing worth mentioning is Simeon's trademark Compliment Sandwich.  It's hilarious.  He always gives you a tiny (and I mean microscopic) compliment before body slamming you with his real thoughts.  This is then followed by another meaningless compliment.  He's tricky too.  His compliments aways make you think.  They are structured in a way that make you think you're really not doing too bad and actually making progress.  A good example of this was the time he told us we had a really "convincing preparation step".  He said it looked great!  So it took me a split second to realize that what that really meant was that the rest of the dance sucked.  I called him on this and of course he tried to explain himself.  Sarah and I don't even get the full sandwich anymore.  We get an open-faced sandwich.  The inconsequential compliment followed by the spirit crushing truth.  But we're onto his game now.

All joking aside, Simeon's a wonderful teacher.  We give him so much crap about the Compliment Sandwich because he's so blatantly obvious about it.  We all get a good laugh every time he attempts to bamboozle us.  I guess that's what it's all about:  Having fun with friends.