Dances: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, West-Coast Swing
Hovers: 2
Today I had some making up to do since I missed both practice and working out yesterday, so I did my cardio as well as weights today, but I think I ruined it all with a big bowl of Vietnamese noodles afterwards. I should be a little more careful about watching the carbs these days...don't want to overdo it.
It was back to the barbell again today with our tango, and after warming up with a west coast swing Jeff wanted to try and a waltz, we grabbed the iron bar and got to work. Jeff was trying to get it better situated on his frame, and this was hard to do since the bar is somewhat heavy and he needed to get his frame in a good place before setting the bar on top, so he asked me to assist. As I was trying to figure out how he wanted it and he was giving me instructions, I of course managed to bump him in the chin with it...and naturally that led to accusations of trying to incapacitate and otherwise simply take out my partner. In the end we got it figured out, and after we got the bar across Jeff's frame I got into position, but since the bar would have had my own left arm way too high, I instead put my right hand into his as usual, but just lifted my left arm and side up and forwards and just kept my arm up there. It was good practice for me at keeping my side lifted and the connection through the body, especially as we began to move through the figures. This way I really couldn't pull down on Jeff without feeling myself get heavy on the bar...so it made it obvious enough that I couldn't really do it. As difficult as is was, even with the bar, the fallaway-reverse-slip-pivots and reverse-outside-swivel felt worlds better to me, and so much more on balance. Then we tried without the bar, and it again felt so much better. I told Jeff afterward that, as much as he might hate me for saying it (he hates it when I make this comparison), he felt almost just like our coach when we danced that section...it was so balanced and straight, with the weight over the feet. It made my job so much easier, now that I'm not just trying to stay over my own two feet. I also personally focused my concentration on keeping my left foot, thigh, and whole leg in a proper alignment with his throughout the fallaway-reverse-slip-pivots, and I believe this improved the timing of my steps in relation to his lead as well as the foot placement.
We ran through our other dances, foxtrot and quickstep, and ended for the night with a waltz. Jeff was good enough to start just before the hover and dance the whole routine through until after the hover a second time...unfortunately they weren't the best hovers we've ever danced, but at least we danced them! Jeff teased me to no end again about the imaginary journal he accuses me of keeping of how much of each dance we get through, and how many hovers we dance. In fact, Jeff gave me a hard time about just about everything tonight, always in good fun (I hope)...but if you know us, you know that's par for the course. Then he somehow ends up with an iron bar in his face... Joking aside, that was an unfortunate accident and I'm glad Jeff wasn't seriously hurt. It's not exactly the safest practice implement we've employed to date.
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