WEEK 9 - April 23rd 2008

Hey Everyone!! Good to see you all yesterday!

We love that all of you are really getting the hang of the cross-body lead. As you can see, week after week, we have given you variations on the cross-body lead, so you can see that it's a really versatile move, with lots of room for creativity.

Last night, we kicked things off with a merEngue (NOT merIngue as my autocorrect function would have me believe!) warm-up. Merengue is a great dance for getting confident and getting comfortable on the dance floor - small marching steps, with all the focus on those arms. Aside from anything else, it's a good laugh!

Our main move was the cross-body with followers rotation.

LEADS: Normal cross-body steps, but raising the left hand to lead the follower to turn on step 5.
Throw in a basic here, just to set yourself up for the next part.
Next, take a 2-hand hold and lead 1-3 of a basic, swinging the hands to your right (on count 1), then to your left (on count 2), and now raise your hands to allow the follower to turn (on count 3). Remember, you are still holding both hands of the follower, so you should end up with your hands crossed over.
Once the follower has completed the turn and faces you again (on counts 5 6 7), its time for your turn. You will be turning anticlockwise (turning toward your left shoulder) on counts 1 2 3 - now, both you and your follower are facing the same direction, and they are behind you.
Your followers hands are still above your head so lets lower the hands on counts 5 6 7, with some merengue marching action in the feet to keep us on time - you can be more creative at this point - and if you were in class last night, you'll know what I mean ;) !!
To get out of this, leaders, take a step to the right on 1 2 3, allowing your follower to come through the space on your left. Give them a little turn, leading with your left hand, and end by trailing that left hand over your head. This last part should fit into 5 6 7.
Now you're both facing each other, with either a 'your left to their right' hand hold, or a double hand hold, ready to start again.

Followers! We haven't forgotten you! Its tough on the leaders since they have to know what they are doing, PLUS what you are doing, so we like to make sure that we are very clear on what they need to do to lead you better. Okay, now your steps:

FOLLOWERS: 1 2 3 of a cross-body, getting ready to turn clockwise (over our right shoulder) on 5 6 7.
Normal basic (1 2 3, 5 6 7).
1 2 3 of a basic - the leader is preparing us to turn by swinging our hands to the left, then the right, then raising them high....which means of course, we turn! Our turn is again clockwise, and we make a full turn to end up facing the leader (5 6 7).
Then they do a turn, and to make sure we all stay on time, we're going to march in place while they turn (1 2 3), and then we both march in place for another three counts (5 6 7).
The leader steps to the side, giving us room to step through (1 2 3), and turns us clockwise (5 6 7) so that we are ready to start again.

Wow, that was complicated to write down, but as you know, its easier when you are dancing it. To slip this into a routine, start off with a normal basic, then a normal cross-body, now CROSS-BODY WITH FOLLOWER'S ROTATION (last nights move), finish off with a basic, and that's you!

Have a great week everyone, see you all next time. And don't forget, if you liked the music selection last night, we have it all on one CD now so just let us know if you are interested in a copy. CDs are available for a fiver.

Jonathan cleans up!

No, we're not talking domestics!

Last Saturday Jonathan entered a Dancesport Northern Ireland competition and took 1st and 2nd places in every event entered.

This is Jonathan standing with his lovely dance partner Ellie (one of a few different partners!!), taking 1st place in one of the ballroom and latin events (not 51st, as it might seem here. He was identified as couple number 51 on the floor). He and Elly also placed 2nd in the salsa contest, being runners-up to some salsa teachers, so a very good result.

All in all, he ended up with 6 such awards. Quite a haul!

CONGRATULATIONS JONATHAN!!!!

WEEK 8 - April 16th

GREAT JOB LAST NIGHT EVERYONE!!!!! Well done!

We did set you quite a challenge, and as ever, you really impressed us.

In Salsa, we added a new move: with a right-to-right handhold and on 123, the follower turns into the leaders right side. On 567, the FOLLOWER does a back step on the left foot and turns out again to face the leader, still in a right-to-right handhold. Remember followers, keep that right arm flexible and don't tense up, otherwise, it will look like you are being arrested!!!!

LEADERS, your footwork is just 2 back basics, one on each foot (first right foot, then left). Your movement will indicate to the follower to turn into you, or turn back out again. You can use a little push-pull motion with your right hand lead too for a little added encouragement, but mostly, the lead comes from your movement.

Do this action twice, and then, to get out of it, both partners will pass each other using an outside turn - that is, while still holding right hand to right hand, both turn toward your left shoulder.

And as if we hadn't set you enough of a task, I decided to throw in a little CHA CHA CHA into the mix. We'll spend more that 10 minutes on this dance another time (my fault! this one is a little harder). Cha cha cha (or 'cha cha'.....or even 'cha', if you are trying to be cool ; ) is another Latin-American dance, which you will find being danced in salsa clubs. It has some things in common with salsa - a forward part, and a back part, but between these, there is a little 'stomp-stomp-stomp'. This 'stomp-stomp-stomp' is the 'cha-cha-cha'.

LEADERS:
-- forward left, back right
-- step on left (CHA), close right to left (CHA), change weight and step to the side on your left (CHA)
-- back right, forward left
-- step on right (CHA), close left to right (CHA), change weight and step to the side on your right (CHA)
-- repeat.

FOLLOWERS: the same, except you start by going back on your right..etc.

This is the Cha Cha basic step - later, we'll add more exciting and cool stuff to this dance too, just as we have done with the salsa.

That's it for this week! See you again next Wednesday - have a super week until then.

WEEK 7 - April 9th

Hey Everyone!

It was great to see you all yesterday, and a special thanks to our brand new dancers for giving Salsa a try. You are all dancing so well!

Here's a little recap on last nights class -

We did some warm-ups.
This gets us moving, and gives us practice on being light on our feet. Salsa music can be really fast, and so one little secret is to dance on the front part of our feet and hardly put the heel down. Definitely dont put any weight back on the heel.

We used some old-style salsa music last night which was nice and slow - if you liked it, its from the soundtrack of 'Buena Vista Social Club', and the music is played by the Cuban Allstars. This is a documentary-style film which was released a little while ago.

We also learned another variation on the cross-body lead, this time, with an inside turn for the leader (on 1-2-3), and then a turn for the follower (on 5-6-7). Remember to change hands before the start of this move (right hand to right hand hold). You can dance this variation straight after a basic cross body lead - a pretty cool combo!

Have a great week! Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday.
By the way, the picture is from a Drag Kings show that I helped out with last year in California, a rendition of 'Minnie the Moocher'.

WEEK 6 - April 2nd 2008

This weeks session was a really good recap of everything we have done so far, as well as 'tidying' up some of the moves and making a small routine. I think everyone really got to grips with the cross-body lead.

Remember - frame, connection, resistance with your partner - are all important for communicating with your partner. It's a social dance, yes, but you probably don't want to be verbally telling your partner when to turn - I'm sure you'll have more interesting things to talk about!

Also remember to pick those feet up when you are dancing. When you get used to dancing, you'll find that the basic principle is just like walking - you move from one foot to the other.

Thanks to everyone who came to class last night, we love working with you all!!!
Have a great week, and we'll see you next time!