Last Week's Lesson, Rhythm all around.

Hi Everyone! Ok So much has happened since the last time I wrote, but things have to go in order... so I'll begin with a quick note about last week's lesson.

Last week, for the first time in a while RT and I were in the same kind of upbeat mood... This makes for really easy learning. I was once again sporting my newer style shoe, which is a jazz sandal of sorts (I don't dance in ballroom shoes ever, the way I distribute the weight on my feet makes it nearly impossible for me to dance in heels of any kind) to this point I've been in standard issue jazz shoes that are completely flat, these Jazz Sandals have a little 3/4" Cuban heel and let me tell you it makes a difference! It feels like I have to re-learn some of the basic stuff all over again. RT is calling these shoes my "Latin shoes" so we worked on Latin dances!

We opened with some Hustle, and then moved into Salsa, where RT is still trying to get me to learn about the Clave... it's getting better, but it still seems to be a little over my head. Then we moved to trying to get me to dance On2, which means in this case same Salsa basic, starting on the 2nd beat of the measure instead of on the first (On1). I didn't do too terribly. I was actually quite pleased with that.

Then we moved to Cha Cha, and the two of us were in such good moods, which means we were talking and I was joking, so we had a couple of "false starts" where we would begin, and then by the end of the first measure RT would say "Ok wait we're off time." and I would reply in my usual smart ass way "Hey, it's your fault, it's my job to follow." and we would immediately start again. It happens sometimes, no big deal... only takes a second to make the correction and move on.

We did in fact have a little Rumba time... only this time I actually got complimented by RT on my basic w/ Cuban motion! Holy Cow! It went something like "Hey that was really good, but now you should work on making and infinity sign with your lat muscles." I wanted to just tell him to stop and let me relish the fact that I got a compliment on my Rumba before we worked on the NEXT thing I'm going to be practicing forever, but I decided against it. Instead, I just made a mental note of the compliment, and asked details about exactly what type of figure eight/infinity sign I was supposed to be trying. I then told RT that he can't make me do anymore, I don't have any more sections of my body that can or will make an infinity sign for this dance.

Then it was on to a little more On2 Salsa (some people call that Mambo), and we finished up with a little of my East Coast Swing...