Hyperreal

Just back from a good night in Stirling.

I arrived quite late on in the beginners’ class, and as there weren’t many spare women and the floor was already crowded, I sat and watched.

This is the first time I’ve been able to do this, and it’s quite a spectacle. I don’t want to make fun of beginners, but some of the twists they get themselves into can be quite comical. Of course I remember myself in the same position, and I’m sure I’d have hated someone laughing from the sidelines, but please, allow me just a little snigger.

General impressions… It’s a really nice venue. Good floor, good stage, rather grand. Rather fab. The other thing I noticed is that Stirling maybe has a slightly older age profile than the Glasgow venues I’m used to. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as older people can be just as good, and often better dancers than folks in their 20s. Stirling certainly has it’s fair share of quality dancers.

The intermediate class was fun. Here go with the moves…

• First Move slide flick? Regular first move, but instead of turning out, push girl away to side, change hands left to right, and flick her 270º to behind where you were. (Return.)
• Hatch-side spin turn? Hatchback/yo-yo start with spare hand offered in half nelson behind. After the swing out, move right, lady goes left, catapult spin out, but add an extra right-right turn. (Return.)
• Accordion Lap-sit. Standard accordion, but after bring the lady close to your right-hand side and sway right, kneeling a bit to bring her to sit on your thigh. Back up and out, double-handed turn and return.
• A simple back-pass to get back onto the left-right handhold.

Cool moves. Found my aim on the lap-sit sometime a bit wonky, meaning the girl wound miss my leg or trip over my foot :?, and it took me a few attempts to get the spin and turn of the hatch-thing right. In freestyle I tried the first two moves, but found it really hard to lead the slide out during the first move – most ladies wanted to turn out, and there was little I could do to stop them. In conversation with another dancer we concluded I need a clear “don’t move out” lead from my right hand on the ladies hip. Hip leads are something I don’t do well yet, especially when I’m working the other hand too.

Learnt another cool move, taught to me by my co-conspirator tonight that I’ll need to practice!

Freestyle went well. Took me a couple of dances to warm up, but I finished on a high at the end of the night. Danced with a fair mix of level of experience. Some excellent followers, some fab beginners who are going to turn out great.

It was good to meet all the people that I already know from workshops, parties, busks and such, and it was a pleasure to see some new (to me) faces too.

Music was good. Of course there’s some I don’t like so much, but there were plenty I did! Hats off to the DJ!

Thanks to our teacher, the DJ, and all the dancers. Special thanks to my well-slotted partner for the night.