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.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
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.
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