Hyperreal

Just back from the GUU…

I’ve decided it now should be mandatory for girls to wear swirly skirts when dancing!

In future women wearing swirly skirts will get dances from me in preference to those wearing anything else (except maybe short skirts. )

They (the women) are just so much better a spectacle to watch as they spin and turn. I suppose there are women who might be able to do more interesting things that swirl in the manner a skirt can, but the way I see it… it’s better just not to risk it.

End of.

So tonight was good, despite a distinct lack of swirly skirts (only one,) and I had lots of good dances. Had a dance with each of my two least favourite wastes of time, but let’s not get into that.

Tonight I also experimented with silicone polish on the soles of my rubber-soled shoes. That worked really well for a while, but the polish soon wore off, mainly onto the patch of floor where I was doing the beginners’ class… which surprised a few of the women who found the floor around me surprisingly slippy!

Maybe if I gave the polish more time to dry… Hmm… Anyone got any ideas?

Let’s move onto the classes…

Beginners’ class: first move, shoulder slide, yo-yo, ceroc spin. Nice moves. The ceroc spin ain’t my favourite for class, but I find it works a lot better in freestyle when my partner isn’t expecting it.

Intermediate:

• Short Backhander. L-R: step in, whip girls’ right hand behind her back to switch it to your right hand waiting at the front.continue leading her behind you as you turn clockwise to face, switching hand back to left. Pose.
• Still posing, girl is doing stylish stuff.
• Travelling in-out thing, leading into turny thing. Double handed in-out-type thing (hands out low near hips during in,) travelling, going clockwise for two or three. Signal exit with left hand to shoulder rather than low at hips down and push down, letting go left, turn with R-L handhold. While girl turns, whip round to snap girl into first-move position.
• First move Walk-around Push-through? First move entry, but instead of coming back out, turn the girl behind you with left, turning to face her, then lead her back behind you again as you “step across” under your arm. Turn to face, return.

Think the first one is the classic move of the night, but they were all new to me. They were all fairly fast moves.

The back-hander is tricky. Often I wasn’t fast enough to transfer my hand in time and I needed the girl to help me by having her hands in the right place. Don’t think this is as likely in freestyle.

The pose/style bit was funny, though got in trouble with one partner for smiling too much.

Travelling in-out, blah blah blah must have had a proper name, but I’ve no idea what it was. It was quite good fun though, especially the snap in at the end – lots of momentum in the turn makes the snap fast and sudden. Got some sort-of “wow” comments from one or two girls while practicing that. Alas, I fear I will forget it before next week.

The last move was also fun, fast and furious. Doing something completely different in the middle of a first move will always catch out an anticipating partner. And the two turns in a row are quite neat, the way they flow together, but are still different. This is my move of the night. When I led it later in the freestyle one girl commented, saying something like “that’s new!” She hadn’t recognised it from the class without the bit before it. Not sure if that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing.

So I practised the two last moves separately and together a few times until I thought they went fairly well. I also practised the yo-yo over the head thing from last night, and they also worked quite well. What didn’t work so well was the double-handed travelling return back to back thing. I almost never managed to get my right hand down on the back-to-back at first attempt. I’m not sure why this is. Either I’m just not leading it right or, as one girl suggested, it’s because those partners are used to a different move with a high arm lead and automatically keep they left arm high. I dunno, but golden rule #2 comes in here – it’s always the guy’s fault.

It’s interesting that often after I’d done the double-handed return bit there was a look of fear, uncertainty and even doubt, in the faces of many of my partners, before I went into the bow-and-arrow lead into the back-to-back. Perhaps they were mirroring my own FUD about the move, or perhaps I was leading them into unfamiliar territory. Dunno.

The last new move I supposed I practised a bit was the left-handed hatchback as learnt in Inverness over the weekend. It’s simple and easy.

So… freestyle dances… Well again the numbers were fairly balanced and a bit lower than normal, though much better than last week. This meant it was harder to get a dance with some of the more popular girls, though that’s OK, cos there’s lots of beginners and those girls who (seem to) keep their good dancing a secret, so also seem to get asked less.

I danced with quite a few people twice, or more times. My lady with the swirly skirt was my favourite of the night though and I think I danced with her three or four times. She’s a lovely dancer. Missed out on dancing with a couple of ladies I wanted to, including the teacher again. Teachers always are popular.

All of the beginners I danced with did really well. Every dance with all the dancers with any ability at all was just fab. Some were extra fab.

Music was really good tonight. Maybe only a couple I wasn’t really up for. I’ve got to say though that I hate that blues song with the false ending. It gets me every time!!! When it first came on I was thinking… “I don’t like this song” but I couldn’t remember why, as it sounded good to dance to. It’s only when I almost let my partner return to her seat did I remember exactly why…

Apart from that, good stuff!

Thanks folks! Good night!