First Lesson of a New Session

Great night for dancing. It felt really good to be back at it again. I thought I'd be stiffer and more awkward than I was, but I wasn't bad. I managed to get through the Shimmy without any problems. I even was doing the extra taps that I used to have to skip. I still suck at cramp rolls, and draw backs are all but impossible for some reason. However, the fact that I can remember what these moves are called is evidence that I managed to retain something from the spring classes.

There were seventeen of us in the class tonight; two of us are guys. At least one person was in the noon hour classes that got me started in this, and four others were in the last round of evening classes from last spring.

We have our old instructor Tanis again. She has a warmup routine to drill into us, and we are going to do a couple of different pieces over the next few weeks. One is based on Fred Astaire, a style which is, according to Tanis, upright and on the toes. The other is based on Eleanor Powell, and is more flat footed and low to the ground. Gonna be too cool.

We did one exercise which was all moving backward. It starts out with a brush-tap-heel move, the name of which escapes me, then switches into a drawback. Before that, we were doing the first step in a cross-over pattern, which again demonstrated just how stiff I am.

There was a traveling exercise alternating between shuffles and phalaps. I'm sure I didn't connect with the floor hardly at all in the shuffles. Is there such a thing as air tap? Actually it wasn't as bad as that; I did get the phalaps to actually sound right, although I could tell I was pushing hard cuz I could feel it in the knees.

At the end we did some improvisational stuff, which was neat. We probably looked like a kindergarten class with the sticks and triangles and tambourines We divided into smaller groups, and we were to each come up with a rhythm that the others would copy. Then one of us would dream up a rhythm that the rest would then add to. That was kinda neat. I found I could get an interesting variation by alternating between the triangle and my loose tap with a drumstick.

Doing the Shimmy was fun. There are a few in the class that either didn't know it, or have learned a different version, so we did spend a little time on it. But we went through the four parts. Tanis says there are actually eight parts, so we'll get to learn the other four soon. I like the Shimmy because it's so self contained and complete. Doing the whole thing through is kind of impressive.

Tonight was a great start. It was nice to see some familiar faces, too. It was and fun, and felt good, and I think it'll be a good year.