Swing Dancing/Wicked Lindy
From Tractatus
Contents |
Friday
General dancing... had problems again with the swingout 'on three.' I saw a very nice move where from handshake you lead yourself into a hammerlock, and then exit by taking the follwoer's hand over you and then giving her two spins. (SImilar to the Texas TOmmy wehre you can do that).
Saturday
Pure Balboa Ad-Lib Steps
Marty & Teni.
Crabwalk with no-hold exits.
To execute a crabwalk going left, perform a break step (1-2-3-hold), and then on five place the leg forward and push yourself right, then seven is back pushing yourself right again. The left foot goes down the train tracks and the right foot goes forward and back. Keep it small.
The non-standard exit we did was an exit on 5. Instead of placing the foot forward, and going left... simply go straight out into a standard 5-6-hold-8.
We then covered the same thing except going right. To do this one, the break step is done on seven, and the exit is on one.
Crazy Charleston
Ben & Ria.
I did not attend this. I did hear that one of the things they covered was the leader doing the opposite footwork from the follow. This is done by simply kicking in the opposite direction, but you also need to open the follower up a little in order to make the body opposition possible.
They also did an entry into 20s, and some other stuff.
Old School Moves
Max & Annie.
The first part of this was setting up the rythym which will be used later: step-step slow step step triple step.
The main idea going on here is the entry into the one-steps 'mast' position. Front to front, and using that in a rotation.
The middle
The middle part of the sequence is a left kick forward on the 1-2, pointing forward. Then on 3-4 a left kick back pointing back and opening the body (big, stylish). On 5-6-7-8 kick left forward, keep it there and then wag your finger.
The beginning
The beginning is a clever use of the same beat: step step slow. Except this is used to enter the mast position. The mast position is chest to chest, slightly offset with arms fully extended to the left, palm to palm. Then in the mast position, you rotate the follower, and exit her to your original position. while you do this, push your hand over the top, turning the follower, as you yourself turn. When your hand comes low, give her a little extra so that she takes a free spin.
Now, get on your game. Catch her hand coming out of the free spin with pressure forward so that her leg kicks forward. You are now starting the middle section described in the last paragraph.
The End
Coming you of the finger wagging a natural thing to lead would be a swingout, but we are really trying to maintain that step step slow pattern. So instead do a circle in the mast position. Step-step slow to enter the mast, except this time intstead of going in straight, begin to circle. Enter the circle. Swingout, and repeat.
Lindy Basics
Kevin & Emily.
Wow.
Picture a leader stepping at random, and then a follower stepping exactly the same way. Who is better the leader or the follow? Who cares?
The important thing was to remain connectted in each motion. The way to practice is by actually doing it. It is totally a whole dance.
remain level. Leaning means you are over leading.
Quiet the noise on the connection. No up-down, no wrist twists.
The exercise is to actually dance a dance like that. slow slow quick-quick. step. hold step. quick-slow. etc. wow.
Sunday
Hustle & Flow
Peter & Naomi.
They showed some moves which they categorized as Hustle or as Flow. We started off talking about a circling kick ball-change. The idea is you zoom with the kick and then catch up with the ball-change. Then they moved on to show an interesting spin. You lead the follower to travel forward from handshake with a circular rock step. build tension and spin her the other way, taking her hand through the 'waiter' position and then placing it palm down on your shoulder. You step into the motion and pick her up with both hands behind her back (nice tight controlled lead).
Syncopations
Kevin & Emily.
This class was about how to do syncopation. The basic syncopation is to change the rock step from 1-2 to 1-and. The practice sequence was the Munsters theme... but...
also the sequence
- rock step..... 2.3.4
- opposite rock step... 234
- syncopate 234
- opposite syncopate 234
- rock step 234
- opposite rick step 234
- syncopate, opposite syncopate
- syncopate, opposite syncopate
The idea is to keep in mind that you are leading every follower motion (See the 'basic Lindy' description from friday). you need to be able to turn this on and off. Practice. Especially the opposite steps because they are hard to deprogram.
Crazy Rhythm
Ben & Ria.
New motions:
- Knee up. 'scoot'... bring the knee up and scoot the following foot.
- Runner ... like a lunge but come up at the end... down going in.
things we did:
began with a sequence. rock step scoot left scoot right, rinner left runner right. scoot left. hold. (new set) rock step.
Separating kick-kick. change the kick to a kick ball-change. Fast circle with the follower. Slow circle with the follower. Front to front scoot scoot(knee up, closer is better).
I really like the circles... easy to lead.
Fast Lindy
Kevin & Emily.
OK, well, the main part of this was an extension of the basic lindy lead-follow.
Important points: be able to move the follwoer from the 'weight off' to 'weight on' positions. Be able to stop at any point in the swingout balanced. Rock -step/hesitation swingout.
Big point: Take breaks when practicing. No one in Hellzapoppin dances' for long.
Important note for me: Get that shoulder back, and get square with the follow. Otherwise you can't relax the connection for a hesitation swingout.