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.