Telemarks and Stars of Shininess

Part: Follow

Dances: Night-club 2-step, Waltz, Foxtrot

Hovers: 0

After the usual Thursday arms and back workout, Jeff and I headed in to practice. There was some more new music to try, so we danced some night club 2-step to get things going. After that is was back to the practice plan.

Foxtrot was the focus, and in particular the hover telemark and just entering promenade in general. This particular figure gave us a lot of trouble last week; I was dropping my side and gaping very badly in the hips. Somehow it was much better this time; I figured out how to track my left side, hip, and leg with Jeff's throughout the rotation and shape, and it worked out so much better. That was really all I thought about, and as a result I think I rushed less. It also kept me behind him so I didn't tip the whole thing forward.

Jeff also pondered the meaning of the word telemark. I really don't know where it comes from in dance, but the first thing that comes to mind for me is Norway, because they have East Telemark and West Telemark counties. I just Googled the term and that's the first thing that comes up, so not bad! I still don't know how it related to ballroom, though. Perhaps it's related to the cross country ski turn of the same name, which I'm sure derived from the Norwegian name since skiing is practically Norway's national sport. I have Norwegian family heritage, by the way, so I should technically LOVE telemarks. Actually, I only like the hover version.

Here's a skier "telemarking" in Norway:

Jeff also coined a new moniker for rhinestones, though not intentionally, which I intend to use henceforward: "stars of shininess." I am planning to stone my new dress with at least three packages of "stars of shininess." So much more glamorous than simple "stones," for sure.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time on the foxtrot since it was going better than expected and Jeff was feeling pretty sore. Lead and follow in waltz followed, but for some reason Jeff kept deciding he was dancing foxtrot and starting doing back-feathers and curved feathers and feathers of all varieties in any number of places, and then bemoaned how hard foxtrot is on the quads. I reminded him that he didn't have to dance foxtrot to the waltz music if he didn't want to...we laughed and that was pretty much it for practice. In good news, I think I followed okay considering that it wasn't anywhere near our typical waltz routine, though our usual hip gaping problem evidenced itself again. Overall though, a shorter but positive practice.