What You See Is What You Get

Dances:  Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Chest and shoulders at the gym.
Number of Bags Carried Into the Gym:  5

Today was a big day.  It'll be the first time Sarah and I take videos of us dancing and see how bad we really are.  After a good chest and shoulders workout we headed straight for our inevitable doom.

First things first though.  We started off with metronomic Foxtrot.  I'm glad to report that it all came screaming back to us after a few minutes.  It wasn't as hard getting used to it this time around, but still pretty damn hard.  I have to say that our balance is very much improved since the last time we did this.  There tends to be less "falling" into the next step.  I attribute this not only to our hard work in practice but also to the weight lifting.  Our whole bodies are quite a bit stronger than when we first started.  As a result, it's becoming easier and easier to hold any position without great strain.  So overall satisfied result for our Foxtrot.

Next came Quickstep, again with the Tick-Tock Timing.  I think it's slowly getting better.  Sarah and I plan to continue to increase the speed gradually until dancing it at competition tempo is just second nature.  One thing I did notice today was that our Double Reverse is getting better.  I'm getting better about settling myself right into the middle of it so as to maintain my balance and Sarah is doing a better job of propelling the partnership around the required amount of rotation.  Another good thing was that we actually got through the entire routine and was able to loop it back to the beginning.  This is a pretty big step for us since I usually cut the final linking part out.  The floor is just too small for the last short side into the connecting piece to the beginning.  But I took a few liberties tonight with alignments and was able to make it work.

Finally the moment of truth.  I had setup the camera on a tripod in the far corner of the room and after a few adjustments we were ready to make history.  I have to say, other than Sarah getting her dress caught on her shoes we danced really well.  We did a full round of all five dances.  Then came the painful part:  watching ourselves dance.  To be honest, I was really happy with the result.  I didn't cringe at any parts, but did notice the spots I need to work on.  All in all it looked almost exactly like it felt.  That's great news in my book.  I'm going to show the videos to our coaches and see what they think.  I'll update once we get our report card!