Knowing When To Stop

Dances:  Viennese Waltz, Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Arm and back at the gym.

Today's workout was awesome.  In a short amount of time I was able to stretch, get my heart rate up and keep it there by lifting the weights.  I went into practice with my arms and back pretty well spent.

So lucky for me, the room was foggy again...  I wouldn't categorize myself as a clean or neat freak.  I'm close but not over the edge.  However, every time the room is in that state it grosses me out.  To make things extra awesome, the floor was really sticky as well with drops of sweat everywhere.  Our agenda for this evening was the last short side of our Quickstep.  It took me a surprising amount of time to remember what we actually do on that side.  That's not a good thing.  It means we haven't practiced it for a good length of time.  Finally, everything did sink back in and we prepared to get our elbows dirty.  We didn't get too far though.  After maybe a few runs through it, one of Sarah's knees gave out.  Crazy as she is, she tried to continue practice.  I finally had to put my foot down and tell her to go home.  I could see the disappointment in her face.  It was a combination of that and knowing how right I was to stop practice mixed with the craziness to actually want to continue.  *sigh*  Sometimes you need to know when to quit and when you don't hopefully someone is there to MAKE you.  :)

Knee Bust

Part: Follow

Dances: Viennese Waltz, Quickstep

Hovers: 0

Last night was hardly worth blogging about, but since we did get a tiny bit of dancing in, I thought I might as well keep the ball rolling.

When I entered the practice room (after getting dumped on outside by a downpour), I found the mirrors all fogged up again, loud music playing, a new zumba girl doing her thing, and Jeff. Well, the new zumba girl got intimidated (or so it seemed to me, just a conjecture) by us stretching and getting out our dance gear and ended up leaving shortly thereafter.

Jeff was going through some more new music, and we ended up warming up to a Viennese Waltz. We really only got around the room once, but executed a set of fleckrels with the transition from reverse to naturals quite well, with a clean entry and exit. A good start!

Then it was on to quickstep, which I had selected for our practice program, along with notes to work on our last short side that we rarely get to in practice. We were going to work on keeping the connection consistent throughout the rotations and inside and outside partner that happens in quick succession, but that is when I bit the dust. After a few tries, and after Jeff finally remembered how to do a tipple chasse (he wouldn't believe me at first), we went for a run through of that side in an more compact position to try to feel where we needed to be. As I went for the reverse pivot after the quick open reverse, my left knee collapsed from under me and I was left clinging to Jeff for dear life...luckily he's been weight lifting so I didn't fall, but I would likely have. I've had knee problems ever since I was 12 or 13, and essentially it's because structurally I'm set up for them, and this exact thing has happened before, where my knee basically falls apart under me if I torque it the wrong way. Then it usually hurts for some time after and I can't put weight on it and bend it at the same time. I think this time it was partly due to the fact that I was overdoing it with trying to run again (always hard on the knees), and yesterday particularly I had used the elliptical machine for longer and a bit harder than usual, and I had been sore. Lesson learned. I'm sure the super sticky floor due to the humidity in the room didn't help things either. I would like to blame the reverse pivot, however, if I can get away with it.

So that ended practice for the night, since although I tried to keep going, not being able to bend your leg when it is bearing weight is kind of a problem for standard. I'm now taking the usual measures...ice, elevate when possible, keep moving, and hopefully I'll be back in the game tonight, or at least very soon. No more running for a while...I don't think I'll mind too terribly!

The Inaugural Flight of the Fleckerl

Dances:  Nightclub 2-Step, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Waltz, Cha Cha, Hustle, Salsa, West Coast Swing
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Mowed one lawn and chest and shoulders at the gym.

Wow.  We actually got through all five days this week without missing a single day of practice.  Not that I'm really a stickler about that sort of thing.  I think it's important to balance your life with your hobbies and pursuits.  That means that you're bound to miss days here and there.  I can tell Sarah is the type that feels uncomfortable about missing days.  I tease her about this all the time while having to remind her that it's the missed day that's the problem.  It's the fact that you risk breaking a good habit.  I think she's coming around to that realization slowly.  :)  So after a lawn mowing in the rain (which came suddenly half way through) and a chest and shoulder workout, I was ready for our last practice this week.

Sarah was smart in planning Fleckerls in Viennese Waltz for today's focus.  In a way, Viennese Waltz is another one of our 20% Time Projects along with the Nightclub 2-Step.  Since Friday night practices are usually short and unfocused, Fleckerls were perfect.  I think we got in a great practice even though it was short.  By the end of it we were dancing Fleckerls fairly consistently.  That meant getting into them and getting out.  Now most of the time Sarah can't read when I execute a Fleckerl and I usually can't get out of them.  We both know what needs to happen but something always goes wrong along the way.  Either we get our footwork wrong, or the timing is off, or we just crash into each other coming out of it.  In watching some YouTube videos of Arunas, Victor, Mirko, Simeon, etc. I noticed a common trait in the exiting of Fleckerls.  It seems like all of them "slow down" a bit to exit that figure.  So I played around with that idea a little bit.  Finally I think I figured out what it was.  The figure doesn't slow down per se, but rather the lead lessens the amount of rotation right at the end so the spinning slows down enabling a smooth exit.  I tried this a few times and it worked beautifully.  No more destroying of the knees.  I think this process of figuring out how to lead figures is crucial to a lead's development.  I'm always thinking about what I need to do to increase my changes of successfully leading a figure and exiting one.  A lead's job is never done.

After practice we headed over to DanceWorks for the party.  The turnout was good.  A lot of new people.  The floor was pretty crowded, but we navigated it well.  An older gentleman actually came over and told me how awesome we were at dancing our advanced figures and routines amidst all the other couples while not disturbing any of them.  A good sign!  Last but not least, they played one Viennese Waltz that night and I took our new Fleckerl out for a test drive.  It was a success, other than almost taking out another couple as they shot by us, everything worked as it should.  I'm sure it still looks terrible based on competition standards, but we're finally dancing them.

Rotating Madly and Making it Look Good

Part: Follow

Dances: Night club 2-step, Viennese Waltz, Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Salsa, Cha-cha, Hustle

Hovers: Lost count! Probably about 4-5.

Friday night; that means we're tired and have social dancing after practice. Fortunately, I had thought of this when preparing our practice plan; I picked something basic that we both kind of enjoy even though it needs work and that is relatively simple to practice. That would be Viennese Waltz, focused on flekerls. After our intro night club 2-step, we got to work. I had noted that we should work on the transitions in, out, and between the flekerls, as those are consistent problems for us. I'd been having difficulty realizing that we were in the flekerls before it was too late, and then getting the memo too late on the exits and usually crashing into Jeff's leg. It's tough, because the rotation in the fleckrel is the same direction as the basic step that follows or precedes it; the subtlety come in in gauging the difference in the amount of rotation. I did discover, however, that if I realize I'm off at the beginning (get the memo too late), I can just keep taking baby steps crossing in front, even though it will be a little awkward of course, and then I'll always be ready for the contra-check and can get back on after that. We did have some little triumphs in this practice though; Jeff figured out how to lead the exit, and after he started doing whatever it was I found that I wasn't crashing at all and the exits were feeling very smooth. He said that it had something to do with stopping or slowing down the rotation. In any case, it definitely worked! Yay! The exits have always been the worst part for me until now. As for the entries, it's getting better. The one thing I think we'll still need to work hard on is the contra-check, as I think we're still crossing in front of each other too much because of the rotation. I need to be more left and less crossed.

Practice was short but effective, and marked the end of a full five day work week of practices, and all pretty good ones at that. I am quite happy with how we did this week. Although our practices were perhaps shorter, they were more focused and we feel like we accomplished something. I'm definitely going to go ahead with practice plans for this coming week.

Next came Friday night social dancing. I thought we danced very well. My focus there was to relax, not strain my neck, and, as I was dancing, think about nothing but keeping my left side, hip, and leg connected to my partner. That was it, at least for standard. Jeff mentioned a few posts back that he feels like I shape a lot more and go a bit crazy with my extension when we're social dancing versus when we practice. I was thinking about this last night, and I think that part of why I do this is because of the way we have to move on tight social floors. I really wasn't nervous at all last night, but I found myself shaping more than maybe I would in practice in waltz and foxtrot for example, yet it seemed to be something that just happened because of some of the exaggerated movements Jeff has to lead do to the interesting floor crafting situations: sudden turns, over-rotated figures, etc. I use my head weight and body weight to help me bank into sharp turns, and complete exaggerated rotations, not really consciously, but because if I don't we'll pull apart or I feel like I'm being dragged around. I have to respond to power with my own momentum or else it feels bumpy for me. Then there's the fact that music does something to me in that if I'm not being self-conscious about what I'm doing, movements just happen...in waltz or foxtrot, something with the head and extension perhaps, in salsa or cha-cha, something with the hips or arms, maybe. Apparently this happens when I play the piano too...my arms, head, and upper body react or become involved in interesting ways, though I've been told that this isn't a bad thing. Jeff thinks it's conscious on my part, but in many cases it's not. It just happens, but the problem is that sometimes (or maybe often) it's a reaction to the music or the vision of the dance in my head and not to him.

Sometimes though, we're in tune with each other, and it works out beautifully. There was a waltz last night that had a lot of strange variations in speed that Jeff did a good job of matching, and, I am happy to say, we moved as a unit through those variations smoothly and gracefully. So I think we're making progress. My job as a follow has been to continue to work at tuning myself to my partner versus the music, my mental image, or anything else. This is going to be my focus for a long time. As a very introspective person, this may be harder for me than others at first, but I know that with lots of practice and mental retraining, it will happen.

Oh, and I mustn't forget to add that we had one sequence of fleckrels in Viennese during the social dance that went so smoothly, the entry, the contra-check, the exit...except that we almost creamed another couple on the exit, so sadly we had to stop short. Probably our best set of fleckrels to date.

Since I was talking about slowed down waltz, I just have to share this gorgeous video that I recently found. It is a slowed down video of former world champion Mirko and his current partner Edita (former amateur champion) dancing a waltz demonstration. Seeing their movement in slow motion, their footwork, everything in such detail is a such an inspiration as well as a wonderful resource.