Hyperreal

Hi Guys,

Well I suppose I owe you all a report on the workshop and dance last night. :nice:

I’m sure you’re all wondering how it went, and I why I’ve been thinking of giving it all up. Well there’s other stuff that’s separate from the dancing which may be a factor, but my number one problem is that I think I’m a crap dancer, and I don’t think any number of workshops or dances are going to help.

Before I go further, let me take you through the day…

It started very early - I woke up unbelievably early worried I would miss the train across to Edinburgh. It turned out I had plenty of time and actually had almost half an hour spare time before the workshop started. Maybe this was just as well as I had forgotten to bring the map to help me find Marco’s! Turned out not to be a problem though, as I’d remembered enough to find it no-bother.

So the workshop consisted of a morning of learning moves, and an afternoon of learning how to put them together.

Let’s see how many moves I can remember… Um…

• first move
• ceroc spin
• yo-yo
• octopus
• basket
• arm-jive
• man spin
• comb
• shoulder slide
• arm-jive push-spin
• in and out (travelling return)

Wow, I think I’ve done it! Haven’t quite got them in the right order, mind!

Now if you look at that list, and you scan back through my posts above, you’ll see that only one of these moves was new to me - the comb. As such, I’m not sure just how much I got out of the morning’s lessons.

It’s funny how in a class of six guys and eight girls, every guy gets to know all the girls, and all the girls get to know all the guys, but the guys don’t get to know each other much, and I don’t suppose the girls do either.

The girls’ experience varying considerably, but I don’t think any were total absolute beginners. At least two of the guys were though, and many of the others still had much less experience than my five continuous weeks of classes. One guy said he’d been dancing for a year and a half, had stopped, and was now restarting it and thought he needed a refresher course.

Because I basically knew almost all the moves already I was pretty confident about what I was doing most of the time, though I still managed to screw up now and then, especially as we started putting moves together - it’s easy to forget what you’re doing with so much going on in your head.

Anyway, a few of the girls commented on how good I was, or how confident I was, one picking out me and the guy with a year and half’s experience as the two good dancers (relatively speaking) in the class. Another couldn’t believe I was just a beginner with only five classes under my belt. I was naturally flattered. :blush:

It was a bit like the last revision class I had back on Wednesday, where I felt able sometimes to help the girl I was dancing with, for example, telling her to use a looser grip, or pulling her up for trying to lead, and I think that was generally appreciated.

The in and out was the last move we did, and the teacher showed us an alternative way to finish the move before going into the return by putting the girl’s hands on your chest and then “flicking” her off. Didn’t really get this to work.

In the afternoon we learnt how to put these moves together in different ways. We called out moves (me more than anybody!) and the teacher would show us how to work them together.

This was pretty straight-forward again. For me, once I know what moves I’m doing, and just so long as I can remember what I’m doing, it’s not a big problem. We had a couple of exercises, where we had to make up mini routines and demonstrate them.

In the first one we were first split into two large groups, a leader was then chosen (yep, me!) and they had to decide on a routine, make sure everyone knew it, and then lead the group in the demo. That went very smoothly. I think we did a first move, into an octopus into an arm-jive. Something like that - fairly straight-forward. That said, I did manage to mess up during our demo by forgetting what we were doing maybe by the third time round. I managed to get it back together, but it was a bad mistake to make when the rest of “my” team seemed to manage OK. :blush:

The second one was just in a pair, where again we had to put “two or three” moves together. This time my partner wasn’t so confident and so we found it hard to get a simple routine that we would both feel comfortable with. And so this turned into another mini disaster as things went bad while we demo-ed our moves.

Shortly after the this we did just what we’ve been talking about in earlier posts, where we had a different girl and then had to lead her through the moves we’ve just made up while she kept her eyes closed. I think this went really well for me and my partner at the time - the only problem was that as my routine started with an arm-jive, when I offered my right hand at the first step back, she didn’t see it to grab on! So instead I stuck another move in front which allowed me to guide her hand into mine. I even managed to vary things a little to keep the girl guessing.

So-far, so-good. And in fact, that was pretty much it. The workshop was really good, the teacher was great, his demo was fab. It was a lot of fun. :nice: But I’m not really sure how much I got out of it really.

I learnt the comb. I learnt I could lead a girl with her eyes closed. I learnt that you can’t put an extra return onto the end of an octopus.

The main thing I learnt was that I have big problems remembering dance routines - that when I get into a a long sequence of moves, even when they are pre-planned and rehearsed, my mind just goes blank and I’m left with not a clue what I’m doing, and with no-where to go.

So that was the workshop. But I hadn’t stop learning…

I killed some time afterwards feeling a bit sorry for myself and for Northern Ireland as I watched the end of their 4-0 defeat to that other country over a pint, then I went to watch “Miss Congeniality 2″, which isn’t actually a bad film, though don’t expect to see it up for any Oscars next year.

And so, feeling somewhat refreshed, I headed back for the party. I got there relatively early, about quarter past 8, but I wanted to make sure I was there for the beginner’s class at the start of the dance.

Before the class started I tried doing a bit of dancing with this really nice, and really pretty girl I met when I arrived. This is where I learnt my next big lesson - I learnt that it’s an even bigger problem when your mind goes blank if you don’t have a sequence pre-planned and you have to continually think of things to do next. Especially when you’re dancing with someone that you might want to impress a bit, and there’s not many people there and so you feel self-conscious. I just can’t do this.

Saved by the beginner’s class!

We did three moves of diminishing complexity. First was a basket - except was it a walking or a travelling basket, or something like that? Basically, you’d wrap the lady, unwrap her and walk forward and wrap her to the left, then back again wrapping her back to the right. It was finished by, I think, some sort of spin. Then into a first move, but on the way out there was a block and spin - this didn’t work well when the girl still had her hand on my shoulder on the way out - no arm to block! The routine finished with a man spin. Nae bother at all.

The extended basket was difficult - lots of complicated arm movements! By the time I’d got through it all I was usually a beat or two behind the teacher! Didn’t help dancing with a lady with a huge skirt which slowed me down during all the turning. :rolleyes:

Afterwards, I danced with a few people whom I’d met during the class, and I could just about manage the routine given, but things would go bad as soon as I varied from it.

Here’s what would happen…

• I’m in a left-to-right hold … what do I do?? … let’s try a first move!
• hmmm, still in a left-to-right hold without a clue - let’s try a side-to-side!
• still left-to-right … now what?? … how about another first move!
• wow, how did I get this right-to-right hold?? hmmm… I know! A yo-yo!
• back to left-to-right … anyone for a first move???!!
• Um, now what was that other move that I did so well this morning?!?!?

Repeat ad-nauseam. Occasionally I’d manage to get into a arm-jive, or an octopus if I’d somehow managed to get hold of another hand. That was usually as a result of the girl saying “let’s do an arm jive!”

It’s either going to be a pretty boring or tedious dance for the girl (and I can tell you, it certainly is for was was me) or it’s just going to be yet another disaster on the dance-floor. Bad either way.

So I felt pretty crap. I was now physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. And I can’t dance.

It’s not about the dance night and it’s not about the people who were there - though I felt pretty intimidated by how good they all looked. It’s not something that needs to be different about the dances, it’s not anything in the culture of Ceroc. (Though the obligation to accept every offer of a dance kept me hidden in a corner a lot.)

I left early (about quarter to 10) to get my train home even while people were still arriving. If she’s reading, I want to say sorry to the girl I promised a dance to before I left - I couldn’t find you and I didn’t want to miss my train. Sorry. :flower:

“Hi!” to the other people I met there, and “Hi!” to the people I might have seen there but didn’t meet. Sorry I missed you. :flower:

And that’s all there is to say about the workshop and dance.

I don’t know if my problem is panic or choking. Here’s a couple of great articles to read on the subject of panic and choking and what the difference is:

The Art of Failure

Panic! How it Works and What To Do About It

When I mess-up mid-move, like I forget which way I’m going in an octopus, I think that’s choking - I instinctively know what I should be doing, but my conscious mind doesn’t and has tried to take over. When I mess up going between moves, I think that’s simple panic - as the first article says “I searched my mind for what I could do. And nothing came to mind.” Fortunately, dancing isn’t as high-risk as scuba diving or piloting.

I don’t know how to get beyond this. I’ve never been one for thinking on my feet (please excuse the pun :na: ), preferring to stop and think things through. I don’t think I can change.

How would you feel? :confused: What would you do? :confused:

I think I might need some time away from dancing to figure these things out. :tears:

My head is mush. :confused: