Report Card: Ballroom Classes

Last night was my ballroom dancing class with Eddie at Adanse. I usually work with Jose but I wanted Eddie to teach me Milonga and Argentine Tango.

Eddie spent a good chunk of time in showing me how to provide positive energy, this allows me to feel the lead and allows my partner to lead with more ease.

Foxtrot:

1. Overall frame. Working on maintaining a connection. Hip to Hip. Head turned.
2. Foot swoosh action. Slow-and-slow-and-quick-quick. Need to slide the foot one each "and".
3. Slide-heel-toe with next foot. Sounds like mumble jumble but really works well.
4. Large steps backwards in order to create room and flow.
5. Slow-quick-quick-slow, is much faster and fun to dance!

Conclusion: Love the foxtrot. Will start working with the Waltz in order to get more of a handle on the rise and fall. It is hard to keep the pressure thru my right arm in order to feel the lead. I think it also has to do with my physical overall jello consistency. :)

Salsa:

1. Working on arm placements. Make sure to get the arm out of the way as well as look pretty while twirling around.
2. Using my partner as my spotter during turns. This minimizes me getting so dizzy.
3. Remove the extra "shuffle" step that I do when I get excited.

Conclusion: Need to work on facial expression. I get into the dance and look very serious. Need to work on adding flare to it as well. It felt really nice to have Eddie ask me where I had taken classes before. Don't know if he meant it as a compliment or that what I was doing sucked. :) I took it as a compliment.

Argentine Tango
Working on everything. :) Hardest dance I've ever done.

1. Memorize the eight basic steps. (feels more like 29)
2. Work on allowing the lead.
3. Lean forward for the start of the dance. Don't transfer weight between steps.

Conclusion: I can do the tango only when my eyes are closed. That is nice but shouldn't I be able to do it with vision? My inability to allow the lead makes it very very difficult for me. My control issues bleed onto the dance floor and in the tango surrender is required.

Eddie description of the tango makes me want to dance it even more. The man is like a blank canvas: strong, marks the frame, there to display the art. The woman is like the paint that will cover that canvas: bold, colorful, giving.

I like a challenge and Argentine Tango is definitely one for me.