Thursday, October 20, 2011

25% Dress Reheasal w/ Red Ballgown - Alpha

Dances:  Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Legs at the gym.

My workout today was KILLER.  I really pushed it to the limit.  I'm not sure why I did it, but it happened.  The end result was me hobbling into practice.  Much to my surprise however, my legs managed to summon some extra strength and energy from god only knows where for our round.

Today's round was a little different.  Sarah had brought in the ballgown she had been working on these past few months so that she could see how it would flow and if the lengths were correct.  I gotta say, Sarah definitely knows her way around a sewing machine.  The gown (while only in the alpha stage) looked GREAT!  I didn't really get a chance to look at it in motion, for good reason, but I'm sure it looked amazing there as well.  Can't wait to see the finished product.  I will say though, that Sarah felt a little heavier and more solid with the gown on.  Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I don't think so.  That gown has got to weight in at about 6-7 pounds right now and when it's finished with all the stones and other pieces will probably come in at about 10-12.  That has got to make a noticeable difference not to mention the tail suit I'll be wearing.  I think it'd be wise to do a week or so worth of full dress rehearsals before our first competition to make sure we're used to everything.

After the ballgown test we started our practice.  With Tipsies yesterday that meant (you guessed it) Rumba Crosses today.  One of the consistent problems we face in all our dances is our shaping.  Not that either of our shaping is really that bad, but they don't match.  I'll shape one way and Sarah will shape another.  Kora pointed that out along with the fact that in this case Sarah needs to really make sure she follows whatever crazy shape I decide to lead no matter how crazy it is.  Otherwise we'll look really odd and broken.  It makes sense though.  Assuming I lead a REALLY bad and crappy shape, it would look better if we did the REALLY bad and crappy shape together and matching.  Luckily for her, I don't think any of my shapes are altogether that atrocious.  In the Rumba Cross, Sarah and I have discovered that this concept of matching shapes is EXTREMELY important.  Not that it isn't in any other figure, but then again you don't run the risk of seriously wiping out in any of our other ones.  Any inconsistency in how we're connected will result in something unbalancing itself in the Rumba Cross.  So today we focused on making sure we were in sync.  Half of the time taking it painstakingly slow and other times running it near full speed.  In the end it was getting better.  All the way up till the point when my legs had just had enough.  It'll be nice if we can finally kick Quickstep in the pants like we do the Waltz.  Until that day comes though, we'll keep at it.  Overall a great practice.

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