Hyperreal

Had such a busy day today, but need to go to bed now… Hope to write it up tomorrow evening. Watch this space. UPDATE: see below!!

(Was a really great day though, I had a brilliant time.)

Good night!

Next day…

Um.. It’s a bit late again!

Quick summary of the day…

Went to the start of a series of workshops teaching us a wee dance routine to Michael Bublé’s Feeling Good. A fabulous song, and so-far it’s been a fabulous routine. Definitely tricky in practice, but fun. I think we were all a bit gobsmacked when we saw what we were going to be taught, but I think everyone got through it pretty much OK. (Hard to tell as my partner and I were up at the front.) Towards the end we ran out of time, and at least us two ran out of memory capacity, so we were a bit ropey doing the last few moves…

Afterwards we drove over to Stirling to go to Franck’s “Focus On…” workshop. This week it was footwork – side-steps, ochos, and backwards ochos, etc… Lots of good stuff about doing these, and leading them, but the most crucial point seems to be to separate the step from the pivot, but of course use the momentum of the catch-up step to make the pivoting easy.

When leading them, the main point is to make sure you lead well in time, and also don’t try to stop your partner just before the pivot, or else the momentum that helps the pivot is lost.

The workshop had a little bit of extra civilisation to it, with tea and chocolates served… I’ve heard of a tea-dance, well this was a tea-workshop…

Afterwards it was Sheena’s “Smooth Grooves” music… Some lovely music for dancing to after a long Sunday. A bit heavy on the tango-esque music, though I don’t want to complain as I quite like it – it can suit my style quite well…

Although the numbers were fairly well balanced (both for the workshop and freestyle), and pretty much everyone there was a good dancer … (There was a couple consisting of a beginner guy and a girl who had done several years of “swing” in the states. I’m not sure exactly what she meant by that, but she did have what I thought was a very Lindy Hop style – she adapted to Modern Jive fairly easily though. This was his first time “in public” dancing.) … but it’s a shame there weren’t more people there. I don’t like imposing myself on any one lady for more than a couple of dances in a night, but it was impossible not to.

Unfortunately after a few dances one of them finally noticed my secret! I’ve tried to keep it quiet, but yep, it’s true… Basket walks are my favourite move! (Closely followed by sway walks. ) She has now (in an attempt to help my dancing I hope!) rationed me to two such moves per dance. Not going to be easy for me – especially on a nice roomy floor like that…

That was the last Stirling class for a couple of weeks while Franck and Sheena and quite a few others are off on a Caribbean cruise on Friday for a week or so… Not jealous at all.

But I hope to make it back for the next one when they re-start in February…

I’ve got lots of thanks to do for yesterday… First concerning the series of workshops…

Big thanks to my partner – I can’t praise her dancing too highly. She’s very open to my thoughts on where we might be going wrong in some way, and quick to take on board my suggestions. We haven’t had any disagreements, and has so-far refrained from giving me a fat lip (another guy didn’t do so well from his partner ) though she did clobber me in the face when I got in the way of one of her spins… She’s helped me a lot making sure I’m getting it right too.

Got to thank the teachers – they work well as a team, and they had lots of good tips. Thanks for organising it, and getting me organised.

And thanks also to the gentleman who gave me a lift to the workshop on the way there. Cheers!

In Stirling, I want to thank all my partners during the workshop and freestyle. Hope you enjoyed the dances as much as I did. Thanks especially to our special visitor from London. Good to see you again (since Saturday!) Make sure and bring some of your friends next time too!

Thanks to the fine bloke who gave me a lift home from Stirling, including the wee tour round the highlights of Stirling. (That William Wallace statue is ugly.)

And big thanks to Sheena and Franck… Hope you enjoy the cruise – make sure and post regular updates for us on the forum….

And now I think I better get to my bed!

Good night! (Again!)