Hyperreal

Was at Route 66 again tonight/last night… Again a mixed experience….

I don’t think I danced as much tonight as the last time I was there… I just can’t explain why…

It probably comes down to being more tired than previously, so sitting more dances out. I think I’ve said before that not all of John’s music is to my taste, but sometimes it’s better just dancing to music you don’t like than listening to it.

It’s funny – at the end of a dance my partner said to me that it’d been a beautiful song we’d been dancing to. I had to admit I hadn’t been listening to it. I’d been dancing to it, but I wasn’t consciously actually listening to the music.

But because I was feeling tired, I danced less, and listened to the music more…

The other DJ, I think his name is Dave, played a lot of tracks I really liked. His style can be very different from John’s, but they compliment each other nicely.

Overall though, there were probably more of John’s songs I danced to… Again, I think it’s this tired thing again… John’s music is generally more laid-back, better suited to falling asleep to.

Pretty much without exception though, every dance I had was excellent – or at least very good. The standard of dancer (or at least, the ones I know and thus tend to dance with) at Route 66 is very high. (I need to dance with more of the women I don’t know (as well) some more, but especially last night with my confidence wavering at times, I wasn’t feeling adventurous… )

Thus I was flattered by one lady telling me I should be entering the Blackpool competition for real rather than just in the lucky dip. And another who praised my dancing, though I can’t remember her exact words.

Although I think I’m quite a good dancer, I don’t think I’d be ready for a competition – not for a while yet… For one thing there are some big problems with my dancing… If I think about it, there’s one flaw that I see as my biggest. Without thinking of “moves”, I have a fairly limited set of “things to do” from any particular position I find my partner and myself in. Typically one or two, though too often zero… (That’s when I have to start making it up – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… )

I think I need to get more moves to give myself more options… Again, it’s not just about the moves, it’s about “where else can I go from here?” The thing is, I have been taught loads of moves, and theoretically can lead them all. The problem is two-fold. Either I can’t remember the move, or I don’t have the confidence to do it…

And so I go back to my old saw… If I had a partner, together we could practice a greater variety of moves which would then improve my memory of them, and give me confidence to use them.

There’s one other thing I need to relate from my experiences last night. I’m beginning to detect some differences between a pure MJ follower, and one that is concentrating more on WCS. Some of it’s good, some of it’s bad. Good: they are more stylish and ready, willing and able to play. Bad: (though it’s more just disconcerting that actually bad) one or two felt almost yanky, taking too far a step back. Also on their step back, they tended to rotate away from me. If I’m facing them, then I think they should (usually) be facing me – this wasn’t always the case. I’m not sure why there is this difference.

The other thing I noticed is that they will often only follow the lead that is given, rather than an absent lead that they are expecting. While this is ultimately good, it does mean though that weaknesses in my lead show up much more.

I wonder what learning WCS does for leaders when they do MJ…

Well, time I was in my bed…

Thanks to everyone, I had a good night and I hope you all did too. Special thanks to the top bloke who gave me a lift over.

Cheers!