Hyperreal

Been to RR’s (a.k.a. JJ’s) tonight…

I even made it to the start of the class. Wow, can’t remember the last time I did that… (Though the information is in here if anyone wants to find it…)

Really good night that just got better and better as the night went on. Shame I had to come home, but there were getting fewer and fewer people to dance with, and had to leave get a lift. (Thanks!) (Plus I don’t think I could have danced much longer… Getting old, knees failing me…)

Let’s go straight to the intermediate class…

• Shoulder slide push spin. The record will show that previous times I’ve done this move it never went well. Seems the secret is in the guy getting round quick to do the push spin… I think I’ve finally got this move nailed. Not sure how often I use it, as I’ve had a wee think, and I don’t think I do many (LH) shoulder slides, or push spins… That said, I didn’t do many combs before a few weeks ago…

• Accordion. Straight-forward. I tend to do accordion combs and things like that these days, rather than pure accordions.

• Man’s crucifix. Fun move. From crossed-over hands, bring RH high, LH low, (or from an accordion) and turn to face away from girl. “Do it slowly. Do it doucement…” (Can you name the film? ) Now with the girl behind you, you can do some wiggly stuff, bringing your legs together and do a wee shimmy down, then back up… Push the girl out to the back for a catapult ending. Return to go double-handed. I liked this move more than I thought I would… I was murder on my knees, but several of the girls I was partnered with said I did a very nice wiggle. I was also told by a Random Red Squirrel looking on from the side that I was one of the few guys who actually looked like he was enjoying it. More about this in a mo…

• Extended Wurlitzer. Normal start, in, push away, but instead of a spin, turn the girl back ACW, as you half turn ACW, into a kind-of catapult entry position, but you will want to bring your RH over further almost into a nelson. This is because you’re about to turn back CW, leading the girl CW to bring her arm out to your L, to spin her back ACW. Catch and straight back into shoulder slide…

Some cool moves. All but the accordion brought an extra surprise for the girl – I hope they appreciate it…

The dual themes for tonight’s dances in freestyle were hijacking and slow shimmying. I’m always happy to please a woman who wants to have fun with a hi-jack in a dance. Hey, I might be surprised, but that’s the point, isn’t it? So I had a bit of fun with a couple of hijackers, until they got bored I guess…

What more ladies were interested in was seeing me do these slow wiggle/shimmy things… They weren’t all so keen to do them themselves though, but I found myself doing the crucifix move and similar quite a few times over the night… Also, when asked to give a wee demo of some blues-type dancing it was further encouragement to do some wiggly things…

Last week I was concerned I was turning into a certain teacher with the number of combs I am doing… Now I’m concerned I’m going to turn into a certain Edinburgh dancer with all these wiggles…

But there are about half a dozen ladies at RR’s that I have such a good dance relationship with, and are so much fun to dance with, that with them I feel much less inhibited to try out things that I wouldn’t dare do with other folks… And it all just adds to the fun.

Before the intermediate class, and even for a bit just after I felt my dancing was pretty mediocre tonight. Then I started dancing with these special woman and it turned the whole night around. Even when I wasn’t dancing with one of them, having done so, it inspired me for the next dance with someone else – maybe someone I’d never danced with before.

This is why I’d not just the music, my mood, stuff like that that makes a night. It’s having a dancer or two that you can really connect with. And without that, it’s almost not worth the bother coming out.

So, to the Dirty Half-Dozen. I salute you!