When NOT to Bother a Man

Dances:  Nightclub 2-Step, Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Arms and back at the gym.

Mondays are never easy as most people will tell you.  The whole cycle of work starts all over again.  That means arms and back at the gym followed by practice.  Today I had Sarah along for the workout.  She seems to like arms and back days.  For some reason those are the days she happens to workout with me.  Weird.

We warmed up with some Nightclub 2-Step.  It's probably our best dance, which is sad.  We've been joking that our first comp should be a Nightclub 2-Step heat and that's it.  I'm all for it.  After that we danced our round which was pretty good.  Rounds are easier at the beginning of the week.  I got through it with little trouble today.  Finally onto the meat of the practice.  Again with the Quickstep.  This time, the exit to the Rumba Cross section.  It involves a the second half of a Running Right Turn into a Closed Impetus.  For me, this section is pretty straightforward (other than the heel turn lead coming out of the Rumba Cross).  But for some reason, Sarah always feels lost to me.  It's almost as if she's guessing at what we're doing.  I'm not sure why.  I asked her and the answer didn't help.  I think it has to do with our positioning.  The Running Right Turn can be pretty brutal if you're off a little bit.  I found that out the hard way.  Sarah nailed me right where it counts for a man a few times today.

I had to explain to Sarah what NOT to do when you hit a guy's family jewels.  Don't ask what's wrong.  Don't ask if he's ok.  Don't try consoling him.  It's best just to leave him alone and NOT incessantly ask questions.  Though I have to say, it's really funny watching this all go down when it happens to someone else.  Luckily it doesn't happen often to us.  One of the many occupations hazards I guess.

Quickstep: Trying not to Die

Part: Follow

Dances: Nightclub 2-step, Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep

Hovers: 1

After an arms and back workout, we headed back to the practice room for our warm up nightclub 2-step, a round, and more quickstep work. For some reason my lower back was kind of messed up tonight, and my bad knee hurting more than usual, so that didn't help my form any. Yesterday night I had gone out social dancing (Jeff didn't go this time) and danced with a lot of different leads, some more successfully than others, and I think it took more of a physical toll that usual. I'm getting better about dancing somewhat "defensively" and being more adaptable, but there are still times when the leads want to try out all of their line figures and crazy turns on me and the balance and frame leave something to be desired, and usually my back takes the hit. There was one particular one in tango that I like to call "promenade floor" because the promenade is aimed directly at the floor...that whisked me into an involuntary sort of tipping eros line just to keep my balance. I've gotten very used to dancing with Jeff and the way our frame and his lead feels, comparatively speaking, but I need to make sure I don't get locked into a certain position because I'm so used to it. It'll help my dancing with others and with him if I continue to work on that flexibility.

Anyways, after the round (which by the way is getting easier stamina wise), we went to work on the section of quickstep following the rumba crosses, with the running right turn. Jeff says it always feels like I don't know what the heck he's doing, and to me I just feel sloppy in this section...just because of the way the balance and partnership shift, I guess. I also gave Jeff an unfortunate knee or two in undesirable places as I was trying to align myself correctly for the exit from the rumba cross. After dancing through it a few times, sometimes very slow and balancing, we finally got through the section a few times in a row that were quite passable. Jeff figured that was the best time to end practice as he knows how I hate to end on a bad note.

Jeff brought up a rather depressing thought yesterday, and it was that when we get to open level, quickstep will likely be the most drastically changed of our routines, and therefore the one requiring the most work. We foresee much more quickstep practice in our future. Once we get really good at it though, I think it will actually be quite fun. Once we get to the point where we aren't merely hoping to survive... Quickstep really is the all or nothing, make it or break it dance.

The Stressed Wrist

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

It's hard to ensure that your workout at the end of the week is equally intense as that of the beginning.  Usually by Friday I'm pretty torn up and ready for the weekend break.  Still, chest and shoulders are pretty important so I can't afford to skimp out.

Our round today was pretty average and not much to write about.  We not dying after them anymore which is progress.  My sadistic partner had decided of all the days in the week, Friday was the one to work on the Rumba Crosses in Quickstep.  For those of you who don't know, this step is intense (at least compared to the other ones in our routine).  Not only does it require absolute precision, but also a fair amount of energy each time.  Sarah has been having trouble getting her legs to naturally cross in this step.  For the man, crossing his legs is very awkward as well since you need to bring your right leg to cross behind the left.  On top of this, timing is an issue as well.  We're just not in sync enough here.  Sarah also kept running her knees into mine so an adjustment needed to be made.  We ran through it many times today and I think its slowly coming together.

One thing I've been telling Sarah is that my right wrist is really strained and quite sore by the end of our round.  I'm not sure what it is, but usually by the Viennese Waltz, that wrist is starting to die.  We really need to figure out what is causing this.  I'm sure one of our frames or positions is warped.  Sarah has this hypothesis that since our connection in the hips is getting better that means there will be less connection up top (since she can extend further out).  I can see how that might very well be the issue, but even then I think the follow needs to "follow" the guys frame.  If the hypothesis is true, my frame is tighter up top.  That means she won't be able to extend as much.  I'm not saying it's a good thing, but she shouldn't fight it.   It's like driving a Civic versus a Celica or Ferrari or BMW.  Each car has it's limits, and you can only push each one so far before you loose traction and spin out.  As the follow (in this example the driver of the car), you need to be aware of what those limitations are and drive only up to them, not past.  Hopefully in time, the car gets upgraded and the limits expanded.  For now, like Jerry Seinfeld says (in reference to medication):  Give me maximum strength.  Find out what will kill me, then back it off a little bit.

Stay in Motion Unless Directed Otherwise

Part: Follow

Dances: Nightclub 2-step, Waltz, Tango, Viennese, Foxtrot, Quickstep

Hovers: 1

Jeff opened up the practice plan on Friday night, and his face fell. "Quickstep? Rumba crosses? On a Friday? &%*$, Sarah!" We had talked at the beginning of the week about how we needed to really focus on quickstep for a while, and as a consequence I had put down quickstep as our focused dance for 3 out of 5 days this week, and since we weren't going out for the usual social dancing this Friday, I had left the practice plan in standard format. Jeff was not amused.

All the same, after our competition round, we started to dance through them a few times. As a follow, I'm struggling with that tough balance in those fast moving and rotating figures between not initiating the movements but also pulling my own weight and helping the momentum. Either Jeff feels that I'm causing the movement or rotation, or else I'm at a dead stand still. I think I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board and remember the analogy I heard often when I was just starting to dance, how the woman is like something that has been set in motion, and she keeps going until she is clearly directed otherwise, so that once in motion, the lead is required to stop the motion, rather than to continue it. I think my problem was that because I've told I rush, I was trying to wait for each movement to be led...but that results in choppy dancing and much more work for the lead. I actually wasn't thinking about any of these things as I was dancing...just trying to be more patient, but I think it was backfiring, and now that I think about it I think that I at least know what the problem is. Actually, when we danced our round, I felt our tipsies came out pretty well, pretty well for us, anyhow, and I think it's a good example of a place where I just go with plenty of energy in one direction until he changes the trajectory, and then I do the same, and so on. That gives us plenty of momentum and can be a little hair raising at the same time, because if he doesn't redirect me in time...we're toast. Same is true if I try to lead the turn myself, but I don't think that's been a problem in the tipsies so much.

In any case, I also found myself crashing into Jeff's knee after the feet cross in the rumba cross, and I thought it might have to do with alignment, though Jeff thought it might be because I was too early or late. I changed something with the alignment, and it worked out much better. Actually, now that I think about it, I want to analyze that figure more closely next time to see why I'm supposed to cross my feet. It doesn't feel natural and like I'm being led to do it, and I wonder what it is about the ending body position that requires it. I often fail to cross them because if I did I'd lose my balance, so something about my positioning (or our positioning) is off, I think.

We were both tired since it was the end of the week practice, so after dancing a rumba cross that came out passably, it was time to call it a night.