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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