well, it may look like I'm trying to dance from my liver - on account of all the christmas cheer that is.. Any other organs invovled here?
fingers-middle back-toes-fingers-middle back-toes... feel... relax... breathe... enjoy... expand... repeat til death or the rapture
Sam, I hope that middle finger is pointing down... Wait a minute now nobody told me we suppose to breathe!
Really? I can't count the number of times I've specifically told to breathe. Apparently, I can dance decently without doing so!
Yesterday I had a lesson in silver foxtrot- international *swoon* I was told to "paint" the floor with long strokes, which will help make the quicker steps quicker. Also working on better heel leads, really smoothed everything out overall.
I remember having an international rumba class and was taught how to "breathe" through our body movement. Really made a difference. But yes, sometimes I'm concentrating so hard I do forget to breathe b/c I'm trying to hold my frame nice and stretched. Oops
A few days late, and posting from Mom's computer...I had a coaching lesson Tuesday night that was very helpful--she went into interpretation and facial expressions, which are not things I am very good at. And MUCH about the feet and proper use thereof. She looked at Rhumba and Bolero, and the Bolero was a lot easier with what she said. Followed that up with a Mambo group lessons, which was probably hampered a little by my brain still processing everything she said, but which still went well. Unfortunately followed ALL this up by slipping on the sidewalk on my way to the commuter rail and falling hard enough a guy halfway up the block was yelling "Are you all right?" I have a huge bruise on my thigh and I must have put down my left hand because my left shoulder hurts. Sitting on the plane the next morning wasn't helping, but at least I now have a week of near-total rest. No work, no dance , no skating, no reason to get up early. Nice change.
standard...center and legs...connection...had alot of trouble focusing today...but he was happy...so I am going with it
I would say the first step (man's left and lady's right) is definitely in promenade and is usually relatively high. Then we lower. After lowering, we add the sway. How much the lady points her foot sideward is open to discussion, but actual position is surely promenade, right?
It starts in promenade, yes, but I'm being taught that I need to close it up before the start of the sway. Otherwise, my follower doesn't pick up that she needs to stop moving forwards.
Interesting, so if I have this right, you are saying you step on your left foot in Promenade, and then you turn your left foot before adding sway. I could see doing this in American style, to allow the man's posterior to go back even more, resulting in a very deep oversway. At least the way I understand it now, I don't think I would do that in standard. But let me qualify by saying I am open to criticism of my view.
I feel like I'm going backwards and working on things that I learned about a long time ago but still not doinig them.... like connection, breathing, weight transfer.
So glad I'm not alone. Very frustrating and somewhat demoralizing. But, I suppose it's one step forward and two steps back sometimes.
