Hyperreal

Just back from the GUU, from the first Ceroc party of the year (in Glasgow at any rate!) It was also the first night it’s been held at the GUU (though of course the Wednesday class is there, and the BFG was there.) How did it go?

It went great!

I had a fantastic time, lots of great dances…

I’ve discovered two things…

First, when I don’t like listening to a song, it’s better to get up and dance – there’s always the possibility that I might enjoy dancing to it. And even if I still don’t like dancing to it, at least I’m dancing.

Secondly, when I’m dancing with a really great follower, my own standard of dancing seems to sky-rocket. It’s funny just how much a lady can put into a dance…

I think I knew both these thing before, but they really struck me tonight.

But I should talk about the night…

There’s two things I think I highlighted before… First, the floor is fast – a lot of women I danced with were surprised at this – obviously don’t read my blog closely enough – though one said it was “nice and fast”. I like it the way it is, as I can slide my feet around more, rather than having to clomp around…

Second, I was worried it would be too crowded. This, though, didn’t turn out to be a big problem… Perhaps the room is bigger than it seems…

Somewhere I mentioned a couple of other aspects I expected… Security people hassling you to leave at the end of the night… yep… Nicer bar policy and staff… yep… That they have jugs of water rather than making you buy bottles at a pound a time effectively makes this a much cheaper night than the old HWH nights, even though the entrance price has gone up my a pound. It’s not a big deal, but I dislike paying over the odds for water.

I got there shortly before 9, expecting I’d have missed the “fun” class – not deliberately, just how things happened… Fortunately the class hadn’t started yet… Did three simple moves…

• Basket whip (based on a WCS move) – step the lady forward as if you were putting her in a basket, but block her from finishing the step and turn she’s probably expecting, by at the same time as leading her as if to turn in with your L-R hand high, take her left arm across her body, so your R-L hand is on her L hip. As you’re doing this, you’re stepping around the girl, letting go R-L when you need to, and as you get out her way you can use your L-R hold to lead her back out as you come round to face. For the next move, re-connect double hands…

• Wurlitzer – classic move. Two tips… Keep the blocking L hand low by semicircling it from its normal position, into a sort-of “Hi!” gesture for the block. And for the R-L spin, don’t over-lead the girl round CW before spinning ACW. Reconnect double-handed again…

• Octopus… Main purpose of this was to allow the men to test their leads of the basket whip and make it hard for the lady to anticipate it.

In the class with some followers, the basket whip worked well, while with others it often didn’t. Ultimately it must come down to how I led it, but I couldn’t see the difference between when it worked, and when it didn’t… I tried it once or twice in the freestyle and strangely, I think it worked at least once with a girl who wasn’t in the class, but most of the time it just found itself turning into a basket walk around… Oh well…

Then on with the dancing…

Like I said, I had a fab time… Didn’t have a bad dance all night… A few stand out, but I don’t need to name names, they know who they are… Hope those that did, enjoyed dancing with me.

It was good to see a friend up from London again… I don’t think she’d disagree that our first dance of the evening together wasn’t our best, but I think we got it together more for our later dances… I’m ready to up my bid on eBay now…

There were a number of absent friends too. Sorry you couldn’t make it, but I hope we get another chance to dance soon.

Looking forward to the next party, but that’s a long time away, and there’s lots to happen before then… First up is the start of a series of workshops tomorrow, so I better get to my bed soonish…