Well all 3 local Arthur Murray studio's got together to have there annual Holiday party. Short drive for me as it was held in Plano this year. They made it a lunch this time from about noon to 3pm. I would have prefered a dinner like last year cause I was all dressed up and nothing to do after it was done. But it was a great time. Last year I'd only been dancing about a month before the party. This time I was really able to get into it. My confidence in my dancing allowed me to ask girls to dance during the social dancing. Especially those newcomers that weren't so sure about getting out there.
The best thing I like about this and other events the dance studio holds is the ability to dress up and socialize. When I was in the Air Force the squadron would hold annual Christmas parties with dinner and dancing. When I got out the civilian world just really doesn't do that kind of thing. It's also fun to exchange little gifts and cards.
Next big event is Medal Ball, the yearly Graduation in Feb. I should be able to check out of Bronze 1 level with Honors like I think I mentioned before. That means knowing the Bronze 1 steps for 10 dances. And I might be able to check out of my major 6 in Bronze 2.
Well thats it for now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and I hope you all get to dance in the coming year.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Delayed updates
Well hard to tell how many people read this but as you have already noticed I haven't made any updates in awhile. Nothing major has happened that has made me want to want to write. But there have been a lot of small things that I can tell you about.
Right now I'm working on my bronze 2 steps in my major 6 dances. I'm also planning on checking out of bronze 1 in the other 4 so I can do a full bronze 1 graduation by the time Medal Ball comes around in Feb. Medal Ball is the yearly graduation event and I don't think it will be difficult to do it by then.
There has been a little more shuffling of staff between the Plano and Dallas studios. I'm still working with Adriann and now my alt teacher is Ashley. She's a lot like Adriann in her personality and style. Ashely likes to keep it fun while still keeping it technical. I'm very lucky to have 2 instructors that fit my learning style so well.
I went to a Tango variations class last week. There are school figures and then they have variations off those figures. You check out of the figures but you learn the variations to give you more options and style to your dance. The Tango steps we did were pretty fun. The more I do Tango the more I like it. I think the next major routine we develope I am going to have it be a Tango.
It's about 2 or 3 weeks till my 1 year anniversary with the studio and I'm really proud about that. I've learned so much and looking forward to all I will be learning.
Well thats all I can think of to update you all on for now. Remember to keep dancing.
Right now I'm working on my bronze 2 steps in my major 6 dances. I'm also planning on checking out of bronze 1 in the other 4 so I can do a full bronze 1 graduation by the time Medal Ball comes around in Feb. Medal Ball is the yearly graduation event and I don't think it will be difficult to do it by then.
There has been a little more shuffling of staff between the Plano and Dallas studios. I'm still working with Adriann and now my alt teacher is Ashley. She's a lot like Adriann in her personality and style. Ashely likes to keep it fun while still keeping it technical. I'm very lucky to have 2 instructors that fit my learning style so well.
I went to a Tango variations class last week. There are school figures and then they have variations off those figures. You check out of the figures but you learn the variations to give you more options and style to your dance. The Tango steps we did were pretty fun. The more I do Tango the more I like it. I think the next major routine we develope I am going to have it be a Tango.
It's about 2 or 3 weeks till my 1 year anniversary with the studio and I'm really proud about that. I've learned so much and looking forward to all I will be learning.
Well thats all I can think of to update you all on for now. Remember to keep dancing.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Coaching with Snow
I don't do coachings to often cause they give you so much information I want to give myself time to abosorb the information they give me before getting more. I recently had a wonderful coaching with Snow. Here's a short bio on her to show how talented she is.
"Snow Urbin was born in Siberia, Russia and is a dancer and choreographer. She specializes in Latin and ballroom dancing and began competing at the age of five. She won the Russian Juvenile Junior in ballroom and Latin. In America, she met Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The two became dance partners. Snow is known for her unique and dynamic fusion of styles, and she has appeared in music videos with Madonna and Shakira. She was on Season 1 of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars."
We worked on both Foxtrot and Tango. We improved my frame and conection. These are both smooth dances but don't think because they are not Latin they don't get you breathing hard. So to go along with that we worked on breathing. Using the diaphram instead of expanding the chest cause that actually changes your frame.
The other big thing we worked on was continuity of movement. Meaning not pausing between steps as you put them together, make it more fluid. You don't pause between sentances when speaking so it's the same with dancing.
I really got a lot out of her instruction and I'm deffinatly going to put her down for a coach I'd love to work with again.
"Snow Urbin was born in Siberia, Russia and is a dancer and choreographer. She specializes in Latin and ballroom dancing and began competing at the age of five. She won the Russian Juvenile Junior in ballroom and Latin. In America, she met Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The two became dance partners. Snow is known for her unique and dynamic fusion of styles, and she has appeared in music videos with Madonna and Shakira. She was on Season 1 of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars."
We worked on both Foxtrot and Tango. We improved my frame and conection. These are both smooth dances but don't think because they are not Latin they don't get you breathing hard. So to go along with that we worked on breathing. Using the diaphram instead of expanding the chest cause that actually changes your frame.
The other big thing we worked on was continuity of movement. Meaning not pausing between steps as you put them together, make it more fluid. You don't pause between sentances when speaking so it's the same with dancing.
I really got a lot out of her instruction and I'm deffinatly going to put her down for a coach I'd love to work with again.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Always more to learn
I told you all when I graduated from Bronze 1 to Bronze 2 level but for the past several months all I've really worked on in my private lessons has been stuff for the last 2 events and really haven't worked on the Bronze 2 steps yet. I've gotten some exposure to them in the group classes but nothing beats 1-on-1 attention. Well now that those events are done we've started learning the lv2 steps. Going from 1 level to the next they add more steps but they also add more styling and layers to your previous steps.
When I say there is always more to learn it's in a good way. Being shown a new step, practicing it a few times, adjusting it and working to understand it, then after awhile (sometimes a few min sometimes not even that session) it clicks. That sense of understanding is such a wonderful feeling. The ones where it takes the most time for me anyway is being exposed to it an group setting. But you have to go out and try it and it makes it so much easier to learn it in the private lessons. For example they let those at Bronze 2 go to the Bronze 3 group class. So I went to the Cha Cha Bronze 3 class a few months back and kept up the best I could but wasn't grasping it. Then last night went again and it came a lot easier. Just the time to absorb it and generally getting better in other areas of my dancing helped me pick it up better the next time.
When I say there is always more to learn it's in a good way. Being shown a new step, practicing it a few times, adjusting it and working to understand it, then after awhile (sometimes a few min sometimes not even that session) it clicks. That sense of understanding is such a wonderful feeling. The ones where it takes the most time for me anyway is being exposed to it an group setting. But you have to go out and try it and it makes it so much easier to learn it in the private lessons. For example they let those at Bronze 2 go to the Bronze 3 group class. So I went to the Cha Cha Bronze 3 class a few months back and kept up the best I could but wasn't grasping it. Then last night went again and it came a lot easier. Just the time to absorb it and generally getting better in other areas of my dancing helped me pick it up better the next time.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Rock-a-rama
Just finished a very fun day at Rock-a-rama. It was a solo showcase allowing us to show off our dancing skills and the entertainer in eac of us. The pictures will cycle over on the right but they are all at my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathan_higgins/ . Everything went great and there was so much energy from everyone, the rock & roll theme probably helped with that. Here's the videos I took. I'm very happy with how my solo and formation performances turned out and it was so good to get so many great comments on how I did. Probably post more later about the event just wanted to get these up right away.
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Plano Pro Formation, performing to rock medley "Rock you like a Hurricane/Pour some sugar on"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejxw-2s_tSQ
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Dallas Pro Formation, performing to Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYJLrxG-GVQ
Gillian Horowitz with Angelo doing a solo at Rock-a-rama to the remix of Elvis' Rubberneckin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP_-tXTdv7o
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Plano formation to "I love Rock & Roll" featuring Roger Kamicar, Sidney Lenz, Adriann and myself, also choreographed by Adriann
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx36dg3veLM
My Rock-a-Rama 2009 Hustle/Cha-cha Solo with my instructor Adriann to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai.
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Plano Pro Formation, performing to rock medley "Rock you like a Hurricane/Pour some sugar on"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejxw-2s_tSQ
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Dallas Pro Formation, performing to Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYJLrxG-GVQ
Gillian Horowitz with Angelo doing a solo at Rock-a-rama to the remix of Elvis' Rubberneckin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP_-tXTdv7o
Rock-a-Rama 2009 Plano formation to "I love Rock & Roll" featuring Roger Kamicar, Sidney Lenz, Adriann and myself, also choreographed by Adriann
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx36dg3veLM
My Rock-a-Rama 2009 Hustle/Cha-cha Solo with my instructor Adriann to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Recent Happenings
Well I've been with out regular internet for awhile but I'm back up and running again. I've added a bunch of stuff from the last event as you can see. Melanie who was going to be my regular alternate instructor has been pulled down to the Dallas studio (that is a sister studio, owned by the same people) to fill in for an instructor on maternaty leave. as they say "The only thing constant in life is change". So for now I'll be taking my alternate lessons with Gilda. I don't mind taking lessons with others it gives a rounded education. I'd even like to take some lessons with the male instructors to help with things from a male point of view. But on the other hand it is nice to get used to dancing with someone and get familiar with them. I'm glad Adriann is still with me and if she gets taken away from me were gonna have a problem. She knows the way to teach me that really makes things click.
Right now we are doing a lot of work for the up coming event Rock-a-rama. I'm doing everything I'm eligble for. Looking forward to doing my solo and I'm also in the Team Plano formation, which is a sychronized group dance. I'm even going to do the amature 2-dance with another student.
Amy at the studio who does a lot of manager duties is really making some great improvements with fun electronic newsletters and adding there own websites on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/amdsplano/ and face book and youtube. I've linked all my things with there's. Its nice to be able to share our video and photo's with each other.
Right now we are doing a lot of work for the up coming event Rock-a-rama. I'm doing everything I'm eligble for. Looking forward to doing my solo and I'm also in the Team Plano formation, which is a sychronized group dance. I'm even going to do the amature 2-dance with another student.
Amy at the studio who does a lot of manager duties is really making some great improvements with fun electronic newsletters and adding there own websites on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/amdsplano/ and face book and youtube. I've linked all my things with there's. Its nice to be able to share our video and photo's with each other.
Pro-show Freestyle Showcase 2009
The Professional show by the instructors of all the studios. Quite a show, glad I recorded it, so much going on at once. Who's your favorite?
Freestyle Showcase 2009 2-dance Videos
This is my doing the competition portion of the event. I danced Rhythm with Adriann and Smooth with Melanie. Its nice to get an outside perspective on how I did.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Day after 5/18/09
Thankfully I was able to get the day after freestyle showcase off work. I didn't dance a lot at the event but it was a very full day and glad I could relax after. A couple of the judges from the event stayed to give master classes and coaching sessions. Bobby Gonzalez was a judge and he is here for a couple days also giving feedback to all the participants of the event. He goes over the judge's comments for each of your freestyle heats. Everyone is evaluated at there individual level. As this was my first event I was marked as a "new comer" the next levels are "associate bronze" which is bronze 1&2 and then "full bronze" for those that are bronze 3&4. Most of my judges critiques were about things like being sure to change wieght fully with each step and the size of my steps for the dance I was doing. Overall Bobby said they had to look for things to comment on and that I was making very good progress.
Next I went to 1 of the 2 master classes for the night. I don't think I posted anything on the first master class I went to. Those that travel around to do the coachings are world famous dancers in there own right and considered masters. They will have a group class where they touch on something that can help someone of all levels. Leslie Spearin was one of the judges yesterday and she had us work on the change of body wieght from one foot to the other and body postion in smooth dances. Dancing is a bit more complicated than walking and sometimes its hard to change your wieght correctly. Everyone does it unconsciously as they walk, its natural. Now for most of us we haven't been dancing as long as we have been walking so its something to learn. Now not only is it required for picking up the foot you want to take your next step with but if you don't do a clear and full weight change it makes it look sloppy and doesn't give your partner the right communication. The other thing we went over was body position. When you first start the guy and girl face each other and there shoulders line up parallel and you get into dance hold. Now as you get to higher levels in most of the dances you actually line up off center where the girl's shoulder is at the guy's center line or where the buttons on his shirt are. I talked about this when I was talking about Tango but I guess it applies to more of the dances than just that one.
I had a short break then I had my lesson with Adriann and Leslie Spearin coaching. We focused on rythm dances Rumba and Cha Cha. Like the last time I had a coaching session she really gave me a lot of info. I tried to soak up as much as I could but I'm glad Adriann took notes. We worked more on my Cuban motion. Refining how the bending of the knees affect the hips, theres always another layer to add. The hips are supposed to move more in a horizontal rotation and not any up and down motion. A bit hard to describe with out a visual but think of taking a step forward with your left foot and bending the knee now instead of letting your right hip raising to compensate, rotate your hips pulling your left hip forward and your right back but don't let it rotate your chest keep that forward. Now with each step you change your wieght, bending the other knee and straightening the first and alternating the rotation of the hips.
There are to many things we touched on to mention them all but one other thing was how to lead a move called 5th position breaks. The move requires me to release my left hand and we open up on that side. So to lead her I use my right arm to pull out and back, with her connection of her arm resting over my right arm and my hand on her back she gets a very clear lead of what I want her to do.
Now if anyone reading this hasn't taken lessons don't worry if you don't understand it as I barely do and it's something that anyone has to work up to and everyone moves at a differnt pace. Speaking of learning pace it was again gratifing to hear her say I picked up what she was explaining quickly and she could give me even more than normal for Adriann to incorporate into our lessons. Leslie was also surprized like Bobby (my last coach) how few lessons I've had. It's a great confidence builder but I realize there are things I'm not going to get right away and that it is work. But I'm glad so many differnt people all see the same skill and potential in me, it makes me want to work even harder.
Next I went to 1 of the 2 master classes for the night. I don't think I posted anything on the first master class I went to. Those that travel around to do the coachings are world famous dancers in there own right and considered masters. They will have a group class where they touch on something that can help someone of all levels. Leslie Spearin was one of the judges yesterday and she had us work on the change of body wieght from one foot to the other and body postion in smooth dances. Dancing is a bit more complicated than walking and sometimes its hard to change your wieght correctly. Everyone does it unconsciously as they walk, its natural. Now for most of us we haven't been dancing as long as we have been walking so its something to learn. Now not only is it required for picking up the foot you want to take your next step with but if you don't do a clear and full weight change it makes it look sloppy and doesn't give your partner the right communication. The other thing we went over was body position. When you first start the guy and girl face each other and there shoulders line up parallel and you get into dance hold. Now as you get to higher levels in most of the dances you actually line up off center where the girl's shoulder is at the guy's center line or where the buttons on his shirt are. I talked about this when I was talking about Tango but I guess it applies to more of the dances than just that one.
I had a short break then I had my lesson with Adriann and Leslie Spearin coaching. We focused on rythm dances Rumba and Cha Cha. Like the last time I had a coaching session she really gave me a lot of info. I tried to soak up as much as I could but I'm glad Adriann took notes. We worked more on my Cuban motion. Refining how the bending of the knees affect the hips, theres always another layer to add. The hips are supposed to move more in a horizontal rotation and not any up and down motion. A bit hard to describe with out a visual but think of taking a step forward with your left foot and bending the knee now instead of letting your right hip raising to compensate, rotate your hips pulling your left hip forward and your right back but don't let it rotate your chest keep that forward. Now with each step you change your wieght, bending the other knee and straightening the first and alternating the rotation of the hips.
There are to many things we touched on to mention them all but one other thing was how to lead a move called 5th position breaks. The move requires me to release my left hand and we open up on that side. So to lead her I use my right arm to pull out and back, with her connection of her arm resting over my right arm and my hand on her back she gets a very clear lead of what I want her to do.
Now if anyone reading this hasn't taken lessons don't worry if you don't understand it as I barely do and it's something that anyone has to work up to and everyone moves at a differnt pace. Speaking of learning pace it was again gratifing to hear her say I picked up what she was explaining quickly and she could give me even more than normal for Adriann to incorporate into our lessons. Leslie was also surprized like Bobby (my last coach) how few lessons I've had. It's a great confidence builder but I realize there are things I'm not going to get right away and that it is work. But I'm glad so many differnt people all see the same skill and potential in me, it makes me want to work even harder.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Freestyle Showcase 5/17/09
I've been looking forward to this event for awhile now. It was a long fun day. Started at 7:30 with breakfast and dancing starting around 8:00 and we ended a little late around 6:30pm. I've got 4 videos of my dancing the smooth and rhythm 2-dance section and then 4 videos of the professional show that I'll be uploading later.
A 'heat' is where you are on the floor with several other couples dancing to a song for about 2 min. There were 220 heats for the day before the various 2-dance portion and the professional section. I did 8 heats. But I know some students who did 100 or more and some the instructors were dancing all day for maybe 200 or more of the heats.
I had an anxious energy but wasn't overly nervous. The best way I can describe being out on the dance floor was it was energizing. I danced 3 smooth dances with Adriann, 3 rhythm dances with Melanie, a Foxtrot with Gilda and a swing with Amy. And all thou I didn't do very many dances it was fun watching everyone else. I also got lots of great photos. They did smooth dances then a break for out fit changes going to country western dances and then to the latin/rythm.
Then the 2-dance portion of the event came up. I entered both the ryhthm and smooth associate bronze level 2-dances. first it was the rhythm which was a Rhumba and Merengue that I danced with Adriann. I didn't expect a lot out of the rhythm side but I wanted to experience the competioion side of things. Adriann created a routine for our Rumba that we could do then repeat for as long as the music went. I got throu it once then totally blanked and just started trying to remember moves to do and get throu the rest of the dance. Adriann gave me a huge compliment in my eyes, she knew I had lost it and that I was nervous but she said I didn't project it in my movements or my face so that only she and I knew we weren't on track. I didn't place when they announced the top 6 out of 10 couples, but I wasn't expecting to.
They had the other leveles of rhythm 2-dance then I did the smooth dances Waltz and Foxtrot with Melanie. It went very well I thought. I was very confident and Melaniei said she could feel my lead the whole time. They ranked the top 6 out of 9 for this one. I was actually a little disapointed I didn't get acknowledged in smooth and I was in the bottom 3. But this was my first event and it doesn't mean I was bad just that everyone else was above my skill level. Like I said I had someone take a video and looking at it from an outside view I'm very satisified with how I did for the dances.
As you you will be able to see the professional shows were amazing. So fun to watch them go all outwith routines they designed. The whole day was amazing. I'm goint to have to start saving up for the next major even so I can dance more heats in the event and get more experience. I'll be adding more soon when I can.
A 'heat' is where you are on the floor with several other couples dancing to a song for about 2 min. There were 220 heats for the day before the various 2-dance portion and the professional section. I did 8 heats. But I know some students who did 100 or more and some the instructors were dancing all day for maybe 200 or more of the heats.
I had an anxious energy but wasn't overly nervous. The best way I can describe being out on the dance floor was it was energizing. I danced 3 smooth dances with Adriann, 3 rhythm dances with Melanie, a Foxtrot with Gilda and a swing with Amy. And all thou I didn't do very many dances it was fun watching everyone else. I also got lots of great photos. They did smooth dances then a break for out fit changes going to country western dances and then to the latin/rythm.
Then the 2-dance portion of the event came up. I entered both the ryhthm and smooth associate bronze level 2-dances. first it was the rhythm which was a Rhumba and Merengue that I danced with Adriann. I didn't expect a lot out of the rhythm side but I wanted to experience the competioion side of things. Adriann created a routine for our Rumba that we could do then repeat for as long as the music went. I got throu it once then totally blanked and just started trying to remember moves to do and get throu the rest of the dance. Adriann gave me a huge compliment in my eyes, she knew I had lost it and that I was nervous but she said I didn't project it in my movements or my face so that only she and I knew we weren't on track. I didn't place when they announced the top 6 out of 10 couples, but I wasn't expecting to.
They had the other leveles of rhythm 2-dance then I did the smooth dances Waltz and Foxtrot with Melanie. It went very well I thought. I was very confident and Melaniei said she could feel my lead the whole time. They ranked the top 6 out of 9 for this one. I was actually a little disapointed I didn't get acknowledged in smooth and I was in the bottom 3. But this was my first event and it doesn't mean I was bad just that everyone else was above my skill level. Like I said I had someone take a video and looking at it from an outside view I'm very satisified with how I did for the dances.
As you you will be able to see the professional shows were amazing. So fun to watch them go all outwith routines they designed. The whole day was amazing. I'm goint to have to start saving up for the next major even so I can dance more heats in the event and get more experience. I'll be adding more soon when I can.
Good-bye Tiffany
I have limited access to internet so these posts are a bit delayed. This should have been added 5/5/09.
I'd suspected something was going on as I hadn't seen Tiffany at the studio for a couple of days. Today I got a call from Adriann confirming things, that Tiffany was no longer with the studio. It was all very diplomatically said "That she is taking her career in another direction" and that tonight I'll have my lesson with Amy. I doubt the transition was planned to far in advance as she didn't say good-bye. We got a long quite well and I'm sorry we won't be able to do the swing routine I promised her or the Viennese Waltz to 'Cancion Del Mariachi', a song from the movie Desperado, that was on the list of music I gave to her. She had set it aside as something she wanted to do with me when I got to that level. I wish Tiffany luck and good times in what ever she is doing now. I'm going to miss her.
Amy has come helped out or gave pointers in some of my lessons before but it was nice to get a full lesson from her. It's nice to have lessons with various instructors as it gives you a differnt views and it gies you a fuller pictures of what you need to learn. I'd also met Melanie an instructor that recently transfered from the Dallas studio a couple days ago ago. She joined us for part of the lesson and is going to be dancing with me for the dances I would have had with Tiffany at Freestyle showcase. Looks like she is going to be my alternate instructor.
I'd suspected something was going on as I hadn't seen Tiffany at the studio for a couple of days. Today I got a call from Adriann confirming things, that Tiffany was no longer with the studio. It was all very diplomatically said "That she is taking her career in another direction" and that tonight I'll have my lesson with Amy. I doubt the transition was planned to far in advance as she didn't say good-bye. We got a long quite well and I'm sorry we won't be able to do the swing routine I promised her or the Viennese Waltz to 'Cancion Del Mariachi', a song from the movie Desperado, that was on the list of music I gave to her. She had set it aside as something she wanted to do with me when I got to that level. I wish Tiffany luck and good times in what ever she is doing now. I'm going to miss her.
Amy has come helped out or gave pointers in some of my lessons before but it was nice to get a full lesson from her. It's nice to have lessons with various instructors as it gives you a differnt views and it gies you a fuller pictures of what you need to learn. I'd also met Melanie an instructor that recently transfered from the Dallas studio a couple days ago ago. She joined us for part of the lesson and is going to be dancing with me for the dances I would have had with Tiffany at Freestyle showcase. Looks like she is going to be my alternate instructor.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cuban Motion
Right now I’m not taking as many private lessons due to financial reasons but one of the great things about the studio is I am still able to go to all the group classes which reinforces what I already know and shows me some new variations on those steps also.
Sense we are not doing as many we really pack as much into a lesson as we can. Two things that really help with that is one I seem to absorb what they give me quickly (Amy another one of the instructors there has nicknamed me the dance sponge) and two I practice what they give me on my own time either at home with choreography written out or coming in early before group classes to use the dance floor to practice on my own.
Next month there is a local dance event called Freestyle showcase. A Freestyle is where you are on the dance floor with multiple other couples dancing to a certain style. You are graded individually on your level in that dance. There is also a section called a 2 dance, where it is 2 dances of either Smooth or Latin style and you compete against the others on the floor. I plan on doing both the Smooth and the Latin 2 dances.Tonight we focused all our time on a dance routine for Rumba one of the dances in the Latin 2 dance. I’d done a Rumba before at a spotlight party, in fact it’s the one I have on video. We are using those steps and expanding it. Now after all that let’s get back to the title of the post here. Cuban motion is the effect where you bend 1 knee and keep the other one straight this causes the hip on the straight leg to go up then you switch. This is what causes the Latin motion in the hips, if you just tried to do the hips with out the knees it just wouldn’t work. As we worked on the steps we worked a lot of alternating bending the knees and changing weight. Sometimes I had to pause and go back and cover something again because it was a lot with the knees, the hips, the steps the arm movements and layering it all but I really felt like we made a lot of great progress. Looking forward to the showcase and competing.
Sense we are not doing as many we really pack as much into a lesson as we can. Two things that really help with that is one I seem to absorb what they give me quickly (Amy another one of the instructors there has nicknamed me the dance sponge) and two I practice what they give me on my own time either at home with choreography written out or coming in early before group classes to use the dance floor to practice on my own.
Next month there is a local dance event called Freestyle showcase. A Freestyle is where you are on the dance floor with multiple other couples dancing to a certain style. You are graded individually on your level in that dance. There is also a section called a 2 dance, where it is 2 dances of either Smooth or Latin style and you compete against the others on the floor. I plan on doing both the Smooth and the Latin 2 dances.Tonight we focused all our time on a dance routine for Rumba one of the dances in the Latin 2 dance. I’d done a Rumba before at a spotlight party, in fact it’s the one I have on video. We are using those steps and expanding it. Now after all that let’s get back to the title of the post here. Cuban motion is the effect where you bend 1 knee and keep the other one straight this causes the hip on the straight leg to go up then you switch. This is what causes the Latin motion in the hips, if you just tried to do the hips with out the knees it just wouldn’t work. As we worked on the steps we worked a lot of alternating bending the knees and changing weight. Sometimes I had to pause and go back and cover something again because it was a lot with the knees, the hips, the steps the arm movements and layering it all but I really felt like we made a lot of great progress. Looking forward to the showcase and competing.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Bronze 1 Checkout
At the studio you can choose which dances you want to focus on for your majors, then have dances that are your minors that you don’t do as much and those dances you want to just skip. It's very customizable. I choose to make my majors the same as those they have for the majors at dance competitions; they are also some of the more common. They are Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Rumba, Cha Cha and Swing. 3 smooth and 3 rhythm dances. Today I checked out of Bronze 1 level of all of those dances and can now move on to Bronze 2 steps. It’s such a great feeling of accomplishment. Making my teachers proud of my progress, the support from the other students, its got me feeling so good. Was also a very cool feeling when I was having my evaluation to be able to do a step when it’s called and have it come easily. Now on to learning more and more.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
#1 Studio
There are 3 different levels of events with in the Arthur Murry studio franchise. There are Local, National and Inter-National. Pretty self explanatory but for Local there are 3 Studios in the Dallas-Ft Worth area that group up, for National its all across the US and Inter-National yes there are Arthur Murry studios all over the world. There was an Inter-National event this last weekend, “World Dance-O –Rama 2009” in Las Vegas. Our studio went with about 5 students and several instructors. All the students placed really well for there level. I didn't get to go but when I can save the money I'm going to one of the out of town events. The awesome news is that our studio of Plano, TX won best studio, competing against studios from Russia, Canada, South Africa, Italy and studios from all over the US. Best in the World till the next one comes around. I knew I was going to a great place before but this is amazing. Let’s hear it for Team Plano.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
First Coaching
Well this entry is a little late cause of internet issues. But I had my first coaching session last week. A coach is a professional dancer and/or competition judge that travels around to the different studios and assists the teacher with a student. Giving that outside view and years of experience in a very focused lesson. Bobby Gonzlez joined Adriann and I. Most of the session we spent working on the Foxtrot. I like his teaching style. I started off just showing him where I was at with that dance as he watched. He said that he liked a lot of what he saw so far. First thing we adjusted was my frame and posture. Then he went over the connection points between myself and the woman. My left hand in hers and my right hand on her shoulder blade were standard but he added having me put my wrist of my right hand up so it connects with her tricep. This not only added another connection point for her to feel my direction but made sure my right arm stayed up and level to the ground instead of dropping down to an angle and ruining my frame.
Next we worked on expanding my list of options for moving around the floor. The default move for avoiding corners or other dancers you start with is ‘magic left turn’. And even after you add other options its hard not to just keep using that one move over and over. So we focused on using promenade and another move called Junior walks to move around the floor. Dancing is a social event even in competition you are on the floor with multiple other couples so you need to know the moves but also be aware of your surroundings. To vary your moves to adapt to a small amount of space or a blocked lane.
It was a great session and I learned a lot. Will be able to grow off all the advice he gave me. It was a great confidence builder to hear that he thought I had been at about 25 or 30 lessons instead of the 16 or so private lessons I’ve gone through. I think I pick things up quickly but I know it also takes a lot of practice. Going to as many of the group classes as I can I’m sure have helped me and I've started coming in when there isn't a group class to use the floor and practice on my own. I’m looking forward to how he judges me at the upcoming event Freestyle Showcase in May.
Next we worked on expanding my list of options for moving around the floor. The default move for avoiding corners or other dancers you start with is ‘magic left turn’. And even after you add other options its hard not to just keep using that one move over and over. So we focused on using promenade and another move called Junior walks to move around the floor. Dancing is a social event even in competition you are on the floor with multiple other couples so you need to know the moves but also be aware of your surroundings. To vary your moves to adapt to a small amount of space or a blocked lane.
It was a great session and I learned a lot. Will be able to grow off all the advice he gave me. It was a great confidence builder to hear that he thought I had been at about 25 or 30 lessons instead of the 16 or so private lessons I’ve gone through. I think I pick things up quickly but I know it also takes a lot of practice. Going to as many of the group classes as I can I’m sure have helped me and I've started coming in when there isn't a group class to use the floor and practice on my own. I’m looking forward to how he judges me at the upcoming event Freestyle Showcase in May.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
More Tango Revelations
Very full night, rushed from work to do my private lesson at 6:45 then new comers class and the Bronze 1 group salsa class then came home and watched the opening show to Dancing with the stars season 8.
Had my lesson with Adriann, we started with a basic review of the school steps for Bronze 1 for my top 6 dances to see how close I am to checking out of them. Then we got right into doing some more work on the Tango. I love how both Tiffany and Adriann can find where I need adjustment on something or explain to me how something is supposed to work and we can fix it immediately and see improvement. It’s such a cool feeling to see improvement right away. And that happened several times tonight. If they can show me where I need to adjust something then I’ll change it right away.
Ok I didn’t have it wrong before but there were a lot of things Adriann started adding tonight that both made it easier and more complicated. With the Tango you’re very physically connected with your partner in the legs and the hip but we went over the fact you actually lean your upper body back a little, that you lead with your hips which gives the girl her indication on what you are doing. And if I can get the right connection I don’t need to worry about stepping on her, that I should just walk straight through. Then we went over starting to rotate the movements which was a little like the magic left turn from Foxtrot, a cool movement but will need more practice as there’s a lot to put together to make it work. She mentioned I can come down and just practice at the studio if there is room. That I should make use of the mirrors and watch myself. I’ve have practiced on the floor after class but really never watched myself but it’s a good tool to take advantage of. Tango is a complicated dance but I like it, there is a difference between hard and challenging and I like this challenge.
Had my lesson with Adriann, we started with a basic review of the school steps for Bronze 1 for my top 6 dances to see how close I am to checking out of them. Then we got right into doing some more work on the Tango. I love how both Tiffany and Adriann can find where I need adjustment on something or explain to me how something is supposed to work and we can fix it immediately and see improvement. It’s such a cool feeling to see improvement right away. And that happened several times tonight. If they can show me where I need to adjust something then I’ll change it right away.
Ok I didn’t have it wrong before but there were a lot of things Adriann started adding tonight that both made it easier and more complicated. With the Tango you’re very physically connected with your partner in the legs and the hip but we went over the fact you actually lean your upper body back a little, that you lead with your hips which gives the girl her indication on what you are doing. And if I can get the right connection I don’t need to worry about stepping on her, that I should just walk straight through. Then we went over starting to rotate the movements which was a little like the magic left turn from Foxtrot, a cool movement but will need more practice as there’s a lot to put together to make it work. She mentioned I can come down and just practice at the studio if there is room. That I should make use of the mirrors and watch myself. I’ve have practiced on the floor after class but really never watched myself but it’s a good tool to take advantage of. Tango is a complicated dance but I like it, there is a difference between hard and challenging and I like this challenge.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Luck of the Irish spotlight
Yesterday there was another spotlight party this time “Luck of the Irish”, do you know how hard it is to find a decent green shirt? I went to 5 or 6 places with no luck. I settled for a green tie. I was going to do the same routine we were doing before to the Merengue like I was saying in a previous entry but we didn’t get enough practice on it. So Tiffany and I decided to do an improv performance. Besides the opening it was all lead and follow of steps I knew. It was such a good feeling to be able to just do the dance naturally and have it flow. Tiffany said it was the best one yet. I think that’s cause I was relaxed and not worried about remembering the steps
I disappointed Tiffany a little as I didn’t dance the last dance. It was a Hustle and I’m not very comfortable with it. But I’ve told both my teachers I don’t want to be just good, I want to be great. I have an extreme desire to know more and more. It’s why I go to as many of the group classes as I can. I enjoy how they push me, I’ve told them to. She is right thou I shouldn’t sit out a dance, don’t waste and opportunity to practice. Change is difficult but I’m going to, and as Tiffany said “I’m going to pull you out of that shell and throw the shell away”
I disappointed Tiffany a little as I didn’t dance the last dance. It was a Hustle and I’m not very comfortable with it. But I’ve told both my teachers I don’t want to be just good, I want to be great. I have an extreme desire to know more and more. It’s why I go to as many of the group classes as I can. I enjoy how they push me, I’ve told them to. She is right thou I shouldn’t sit out a dance, don’t waste and opportunity to practice. Change is difficult but I’m going to, and as Tiffany said “I’m going to pull you out of that shell and throw the shell away”
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A light goes on
3/2/09
No matter what you are doing it’s always a great feeling when you feel that light go on, that moment something just clicks. Like I said we did some Tango in my last private lesson but I had some trouble with my front foot sliding as I was trying to stop, it’s a fast moving dance. Tiffany told me to keep my body, my weight over my foot to help with that and it did help. But I was practicing today on my own between group classes just trying to again get the ‘feel’ for the dance. Angelo, one of the instructors, came over and wanted to know what I was going over and gave me some pointers as he wasn’t doing anything. And he helped me realize what I was doing that was causing the most problems. The Tango is a mix of Latin and Smooth dances. With Latin dances you take small steps stepping with your toe, with Smooth they are moving or traveling dances so you take full steps with heel first. What I realized I was doing on the stopping steps for a step called Medio Corte or the Cambio I was taking that step I was landing on my toe instead of the normal walking step which Angelo showed me allows me to normally press down into the floor and keeps your weight over your foot. It’s the mix of styles that originally through me off but once I did it a few times it was amazing how much better it worked.
No matter what you are doing it’s always a great feeling when you feel that light go on, that moment something just clicks. Like I said we did some Tango in my last private lesson but I had some trouble with my front foot sliding as I was trying to stop, it’s a fast moving dance. Tiffany told me to keep my body, my weight over my foot to help with that and it did help. But I was practicing today on my own between group classes just trying to again get the ‘feel’ for the dance. Angelo, one of the instructors, came over and wanted to know what I was going over and gave me some pointers as he wasn’t doing anything. And he helped me realize what I was doing that was causing the most problems. The Tango is a mix of Latin and Smooth dances. With Latin dances you take small steps stepping with your toe, with Smooth they are moving or traveling dances so you take full steps with heel first. What I realized I was doing on the stopping steps for a step called Medio Corte or the Cambio I was taking that step I was landing on my toe instead of the normal walking step which Angelo showed me allows me to normally press down into the floor and keeps your weight over your foot. It’s the mix of styles that originally through me off but once I did it a few times it was amazing how much better it worked.
Medal Ball
2/27/09
Gerald, a friend I got addicted to dance, and I went to the first big event of the year called Medal Ball. All 3 of the local studios Ft. Worth, Dallas and Plano attended at Renaissance Worthington Hotel Ft. Worth Texas. I got off a little late and with the travel time we got there into the dinner. It was a great dinner with a fantastic lemon cake. The Medal Ball is kind of a yearly graduation and to show off of what level you have attained. The theme was Mattel toys, had a lot of Barbie’s, Ken’s and G.I. Joe’s, but a mix of a few other things. I did a tuxedo look and played it off as James Bond. Everyone got to dance a dance at the level they were at, I did a Foxtrot for my Pre Bronze 1 level. I got my first certificate of achievement. Hopefully I’ll be able to do my full Bronze 1 check out with in 1 or 2 months. It was a great night, everyone dressed up and in a great location. This kind of night there is nothing else besides the event to think about. There was social dancing between the graduation dances which was fun, danced with several of my teachers and a few of my fellow students. There were also various choreographed numbers done by teachers from the different schools. I’ll admit to being completely biased for my own studio but seriously my favorite was routine was “Be our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast” by Adriann & Nathan from the Plano studio and then the professional routine by the Plano studio was my favorites of the whole night.
I succeeded in one of my goals for the night set down by Tiffany, to ask someone from another studio to dance. Out of my comfort zone but I did force myself to do it.
Check out all the pictures by Gerald. He’s staring to be a dancer and the studio photographer also. All in all a wonderful night that is only the start of the Dance year.
Gerald, a friend I got addicted to dance, and I went to the first big event of the year called Medal Ball. All 3 of the local studios Ft. Worth, Dallas and Plano attended at Renaissance Worthington Hotel Ft. Worth Texas. I got off a little late and with the travel time we got there into the dinner. It was a great dinner with a fantastic lemon cake. The Medal Ball is kind of a yearly graduation and to show off of what level you have attained. The theme was Mattel toys, had a lot of Barbie’s, Ken’s and G.I. Joe’s, but a mix of a few other things. I did a tuxedo look and played it off as James Bond. Everyone got to dance a dance at the level they were at, I did a Foxtrot for my Pre Bronze 1 level. I got my first certificate of achievement. Hopefully I’ll be able to do my full Bronze 1 check out with in 1 or 2 months. It was a great night, everyone dressed up and in a great location. This kind of night there is nothing else besides the event to think about. There was social dancing between the graduation dances which was fun, danced with several of my teachers and a few of my fellow students. There were also various choreographed numbers done by teachers from the different schools. I’ll admit to being completely biased for my own studio but seriously my favorite was routine was “Be our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast” by Adriann & Nathan from the Plano studio and then the professional routine by the Plano studio was my favorites of the whole night.
I succeeded in one of my goals for the night set down by Tiffany, to ask someone from another studio to dance. Out of my comfort zone but I did force myself to do it.
Check out all the pictures by Gerald. He’s staring to be a dancer and the studio photographer also. All in all a wonderful night that is only the start of the Dance year.
I just started this site but I've been keeping some thoughts down for a bit so here is the stuff I had before I started the Blog.
2/23/09
I went to the newcomers class and the group class that was Swing tonight. They were both good classes. The newcomers class was quite full and Lara always makes things fun in her own sexy way. I had my private lesson after. Worked on changing my spotlight performance into a Merengue this time. Took some time to adjust, had to remember to step “down” into my steps with Cuban motion and not bounce like swing. There are a lot of similarities in dance but they all have the distinctive style that you need to bring to it. Learning that is what really makes you learn that dance, not just the steps but I guess the flavor or the style of it. Cause a lot of the dance you can interchange the steps back and forth. This came out again when we were doing Tango later on. I felt we made some good progress on my Tango. It’s a very aggressive dance obviously. I’ve had to change the way I think about some things. It’s a very close dance with the woman physically, walking straight through her legs and forward with the chest. And going back to what I was saying before the Tango has a promenade in it like the Foxtrot but its very staccato, very distinct movements instead of flowing. I’m really liking the Tango the more I do it. It’s a great mix of the smooth and Latin dances.
I also got a great glimpse in to some bubbling ideas that my instructors are having concerning my solo’s for Rock-a-rama. It gets me excited to see them so excited about what they are planning. And although I teased them about it I really do trust them completely to plan something I can do but still push me. Adrianne especially was excited when she realized I will be into Bronze 2 level by then and that for solo’s they can put in moves from 1 level above so we can set up a routine that has Bronze 3 steps in it. The Look on her face was great, you could imagine the light going on when she realized it. So I’m looking forward to a fun, complicated, ‘blow every body away’ routine. With Adriann I’m doing a mix of cha-cha, rumba, foxtrot and anything else that goes with music of ‘Canned Heat’ by Jamiroquai. With Tiffany I told her lets do a swing and that she could pick anything she wanted for the music (the opposite of what I did with Adriann). I owed her a swing number after promising it to her back at the Christmas ball when I showed up in my zoot suit. So she picked ‘Pump it’ by Black Eyed Peas. It’s a song that’s in my music library and that’s got a great beat. Looking forward to seeing what they are going to be coming up with.
2/23/09
I went to the newcomers class and the group class that was Swing tonight. They were both good classes. The newcomers class was quite full and Lara always makes things fun in her own sexy way. I had my private lesson after. Worked on changing my spotlight performance into a Merengue this time. Took some time to adjust, had to remember to step “down” into my steps with Cuban motion and not bounce like swing. There are a lot of similarities in dance but they all have the distinctive style that you need to bring to it. Learning that is what really makes you learn that dance, not just the steps but I guess the flavor or the style of it. Cause a lot of the dance you can interchange the steps back and forth. This came out again when we were doing Tango later on. I felt we made some good progress on my Tango. It’s a very aggressive dance obviously. I’ve had to change the way I think about some things. It’s a very close dance with the woman physically, walking straight through her legs and forward with the chest. And going back to what I was saying before the Tango has a promenade in it like the Foxtrot but its very staccato, very distinct movements instead of flowing. I’m really liking the Tango the more I do it. It’s a great mix of the smooth and Latin dances.
I also got a great glimpse in to some bubbling ideas that my instructors are having concerning my solo’s for Rock-a-rama. It gets me excited to see them so excited about what they are planning. And although I teased them about it I really do trust them completely to plan something I can do but still push me. Adrianne especially was excited when she realized I will be into Bronze 2 level by then and that for solo’s they can put in moves from 1 level above so we can set up a routine that has Bronze 3 steps in it. The Look on her face was great, you could imagine the light going on when she realized it. So I’m looking forward to a fun, complicated, ‘blow every body away’ routine. With Adriann I’m doing a mix of cha-cha, rumba, foxtrot and anything else that goes with music of ‘Canned Heat’ by Jamiroquai. With Tiffany I told her lets do a swing and that she could pick anything she wanted for the music (the opposite of what I did with Adriann). I owed her a swing number after promising it to her back at the Christmas ball when I showed up in my zoot suit. So she picked ‘Pump it’ by Black Eyed Peas. It’s a song that’s in my music library and that’s got a great beat. Looking forward to seeing what they are going to be coming up with.
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