A Weak Kneed Waltz

Dances:  Nightclub 2-Step, Waltz
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Chest and shoulders at the gym.

After last night's short practice, due to Sarah's knee giving out, we were back in the "ballroom" to try it again.  Sarah was gingerly testing the waters out and that was really apparent.  Her timing was off and her drives felt pretty weak.  I can't blame her though.  From time to time my knees can give me grief as well.  I guess we're all just getting old.

That being said we worked on the Outside Spin Turn into a Natural Spin Turn into a Turning Lock in Waltz.  Overall I feels like I'm getting better at realizing when the connection in our hips is gapping.  It's a tough problem to solve.  With all that rotation and slipping back and forth from outside partner to closed, it's really easy to give up either your frame, connection, head position, etc.  All that aside, I really like this section of our waltz.  I don't think we dance it too poorly either.  I remember when I was first introduced to the Outside Spin Turn.  It was disastrous.  Everything about it was tough.  But after a while I was able to dance it with my partner, then a little while after that I had figured out how to lead it socially.  On the social side, it's a tricky move.  Usually you get a surprised look and reaction from the follow.  However my success rate is pretty high now for that figure.  For social dancers, I think the key to success here is the exit.  You have to make sure to get your driving leg right in between her's to do the Natural Turn coming out of it.  If you don't, BAIL.  Other than that, the amount of rotation is really up to you.  If she moves pretty well you can get a lot of rotation in.  Otherwise just tone it down.

That section of our Waltz leads right into a Contra Check.  I still struggle with that check.  Mostly it comes down to getting all the moving parts to move simultaneously.  Usually I leg goes out for the check way before my upper body starts moving.  Awkward.  Give me a couple million more times and I'll probably have it down.  Until then...

Recovery Day

Part: Follow

Dances: Night Club 2-step, Waltz

Hovers: 1

Tuesday night was going to be a sort of testing the waters practice for me after my injury Monday night. I can walk okay, but my knee feels a bit stiff and hurts and feels really shaky when I bend it with too much with weight. I've found that after these injuries though, the sooner I can get over my fear of using that leg and my body's innate tendency to guard the injury, the quicker I'll be back to normal, as long as I don't do anything crazy like hit up the stair master, run, or dance low in the knees tango right away.

After warming up with night club 2-step, we started in on waltz. I could tell I was rushing through any part that required my left leg to be bent, and Jeff could definitely feel it. I also slipped up on the turning lock at the beginning, which Jeff pointed out I have never done, I think because I lost footing. It got a little better as we went on, but the injury was definitely affecting my dancing. All the same, I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and dance myself back into my usual form, because otherwise I'm just postponing the problem. I'm going to be scared to put weight on it no matter when I start up dancing again, so I might as well get over that sooner rather than later, as long as I'm careful.

We worked on the outside spin into natural spin turn into turning lock bit, focusing on keeping out connection low throughout. Towards the end of practice, I thought it was feeling quite good, especially the smoothness of the transition in the figures going around that corner. I also figured out that to keep from going too far outside Jeff when I go outside partner for the outside spin, I need to focus on keeping my hip connected and not worry so much about where the frame is. Again, sometimes I think I follow the frame too much in determining my direction, when I should really be following the body and leg movement. Still, the greatest challenge on this step is making sure my feet stay together on the spin part...it's so easy to cheat on that! At least our position felt a lot better by the end of practice.

I also experimented a bit with straightening my left leg more as I go down into the contra check; normally I am very split weight (which is correct), but the front leg is very bent while the back leg is extended back. In the video I posted recently and in others I've seen of top pros, I noticed that the lady usual has more of a long leg line with the left leg to match the frame, lengthening th leg as she extends. I'll need to do some more research though to see if that is an across the board thing or more of a stylistic preference. It's a bit harder to maintain the split weight when the leg is straightened, but it does look nice.

We ended with a waltz run through to "Moon River," the slow piano jazz version. I wasn't feeling quite ready to test my luck with the tango lead/follow I had on our practice program.

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!