Rumba, samba and cha-cha today. Worked on honing the pushing from the back leg in walks, applying it to routines, lines for poses and better alignment in turns.
ruma and swing today. Cuban motion is slowly getting better and better as new buddy teacher pounds it into my head. Seem severy lesson I'm understanging a bit more how it all connects (knnees, hips, shouldesr, core, feet, etc), and at what times, etc. Worked on that until hips were sore (stretching hip flextors), then went to swinng. Did some work in lesson yesterday on swing, on lead and use of body, etc, so was trying to apply that to other patternns.
Practices are going well actually. Worked on Cha, Samba, and Rumba. I have a big weekend to look forward to so I have to be extremely focused. Also, I found that helping others is great practice (and less boring)
DP and I have differences in opinion on the importance maintaining a firm frame in standard. DP is a firm believer of learning to follow from the body contact and minimizes the importances of the frame. She maintains that the frame is more for aesthetic purposes. She seems to be able to maintain body contact consistantly but misses a few ques about every now and then. Whenever this occured, I called to her attention that she let her shoulders move independently of her frame -- that her frame is a little on the "noisey" side. She has a tendency to pull her right shoulders away from me as she takes the first step with her left leg from promenade position. She also has chicken wing for a right arm (possibly because of the shoulder problem she told me about). Consequently we still have occaisional problems with the lead/follow for complicated turns, promenades, fallaways, and oversway/shaping for example. Oh, and when she practices by herself, she never practice with her frame. She always have her arms on her side.
Foxtrot today. went through several steps trying to thinkof what I need to do to ensure I'm giving a good lead, particularly how frame, core, etc play into it, rather than just arms. Then spent a good amount of work on using my standing leg, particularly suffers on my grapevines.
forward rumba walks are looking more natural and fluid...better contrast in cha btwn when knee is bent and when leg is straight....expansion of time between movement of chest and transfer of weight in standard and smooth
Lots & lots of Rumba walks.....slowly improving but a very very long way to go Standard - trying to get the hang of heel turns, not happening today.
Christmas tree is still occupying a good chunk of my practice space, so I've been practicing things which do not take up a lot of space. Heel turns are getting better.
Worked mostly on samba and jive today. Dynamics in samba and correct body positioning in jive. Kicks were feeling good in jive today. Samba was alternating between really good and why bother? *grin*
Standing leg and pushing through all my steps again. Tango today though, rather than foxtrot. And will probably do waltz tonight or tuesday. Amazing how much further all the steps travel when you push through right.
Rumba, samba and paso today. Continuing to work on gauging the correct muscular tension to enhance ease of movement and speed. Worked body action in rumba. Everything is coming along nicely. A good day today.
trying to find somewhere to train on a permanent basis so if and when coach takes a holiday we can keep up the training
Most places are currently on holiday and it is so difficult, I have a house full of furniture on a bumpy slate floor. Maybe I should have a garage sale and sell the furniture ;-)
worked on ballance in waltz - just simple natural and reverse turns (and links) but stopping for a bar at the end of each step... great exercise
