Finishing Off in the New Year
Finally got back to this. It's been almost a month since I've been to dance class. And even longer since I wrote anything in this blog. I missed a lesson in December just because I was a little overwhelmed with other stuff. And I missed last week as I had committed to helping with a group of friends for charity. So tonight was a little shakey.
We started with some warm up stuff that I was able to stay with. It's interesting that I measure my progress by how well I can follow along. It becomes tricky when you miss a class, because suddenly the rest of the class starts doing things you've never seen before.
We started with the Shimmy, and ran through it a couple of times. It's become rather well imbedded in my brain, as I've been doing it since last spring. I still have some trouble doing some of the tap florishes that differentiate it from the soft shoe version.
So then we did it in canon (I think that's the term), kind of like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" around the campfire. Three groups of us, the first starts, the second starts a couple of bars later, and the third a couple of bars after that. First time through was a mess. I was in the second group and I think we beat the first group to the finish. But we ran through it a couple of more times and we ended up pulling it off pretty well.
Then the Stroll. Tanis found a slow, bluesy version of The A-Train for us to dance to, and the first part does drag at that tempo. But as we get into the later parts where we break up the circle and get in lines, it's nice to have a chance for the brain to actually move fast enough to keep the feet moving more or less the way you want them to.
On one of the weeks I missed, Tanis introduced a routine that I've managed to pick up more or less. It starts facing the wrong way, and you simply step backwards and turn to face the right way (toward that imaginary audience). And then it jumps into the third part of the shimmy, a move I found comfortingly familiar since I didn't have a clue what I was doing the first time I saw it. Out of that, it goes into those twisting-on-the-heel moves that I suddenly can't remember the name of - sugar somethings or candy whatzits, or something like that. Three of those left, then a strange step-ball-change that I kept screwing up, then the other way and screw it up again.
After all that we're suddenly into the double time step, again something I know - *whew*. But the break is where I fall down. I can't remember the damn thing. I asked someone how it went, but we were suddenly jumping back into it from the start. After that break, we do this shuffle ball change that is weirdly timed in that you have to kind of drop half a beat in the middle. It's awkward, but sounds great when we nail it. And then another break at the end, and I cannot remember a single thing about that right now.
After that, we did the C-Jam Blues routine, and I totally forgot most of it. I think all of us did. After a couple of repeats it started to come back for some. But not a great moment; we were all pretty choppy on that one. I think that was another night I missed.
At the end, the instructor that subbed for Tanis back in November came in and ran through the routine she had put together. She's teaching the Intro class, and it's pretty small, so she's got us joining them next week on that. It's to a pretty rocking version of Pennies From Heaven.
Why are we joining the Intro class? Well, next week is the last class of the term, and it's Observation Week. Which means there may be outsiders - friends and family - there to watch what we've learned. So since the Intro class is so small, our class is joining them for moral support.
Meanwhile our class will likely be doing the Shimmy, the Stroll and for sure the one with pieces of the Shimmy and the double time step. I'm a little nervous about it, but what the heck. I survived the last Observation Week in the spring, and there it was in front of level 3 jazz and African dancers. I find I can sort of fake it for some of the stuff, and if the crowd is big enough, I can get lost in it too. Anyway, it's fun, and like any other kind of musical instruction, dance is all about performance, so here I go!
We started with some warm up stuff that I was able to stay with. It's interesting that I measure my progress by how well I can follow along. It becomes tricky when you miss a class, because suddenly the rest of the class starts doing things you've never seen before.
We started with the Shimmy, and ran through it a couple of times. It's become rather well imbedded in my brain, as I've been doing it since last spring. I still have some trouble doing some of the tap florishes that differentiate it from the soft shoe version.
So then we did it in canon (I think that's the term), kind of like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" around the campfire. Three groups of us, the first starts, the second starts a couple of bars later, and the third a couple of bars after that. First time through was a mess. I was in the second group and I think we beat the first group to the finish. But we ran through it a couple of more times and we ended up pulling it off pretty well.
Then the Stroll. Tanis found a slow, bluesy version of The A-Train for us to dance to, and the first part does drag at that tempo. But as we get into the later parts where we break up the circle and get in lines, it's nice to have a chance for the brain to actually move fast enough to keep the feet moving more or less the way you want them to.
On one of the weeks I missed, Tanis introduced a routine that I've managed to pick up more or less. It starts facing the wrong way, and you simply step backwards and turn to face the right way (toward that imaginary audience). And then it jumps into the third part of the shimmy, a move I found comfortingly familiar since I didn't have a clue what I was doing the first time I saw it. Out of that, it goes into those twisting-on-the-heel moves that I suddenly can't remember the name of - sugar somethings or candy whatzits, or something like that. Three of those left, then a strange step-ball-change that I kept screwing up, then the other way and screw it up again.
After all that we're suddenly into the double time step, again something I know - *whew*. But the break is where I fall down. I can't remember the damn thing. I asked someone how it went, but we were suddenly jumping back into it from the start. After that break, we do this shuffle ball change that is weirdly timed in that you have to kind of drop half a beat in the middle. It's awkward, but sounds great when we nail it. And then another break at the end, and I cannot remember a single thing about that right now.
After that, we did the C-Jam Blues routine, and I totally forgot most of it. I think all of us did. After a couple of repeats it started to come back for some. But not a great moment; we were all pretty choppy on that one. I think that was another night I missed.
At the end, the instructor that subbed for Tanis back in November came in and ran through the routine she had put together. She's teaching the Intro class, and it's pretty small, so she's got us joining them next week on that. It's to a pretty rocking version of Pennies From Heaven.
Why are we joining the Intro class? Well, next week is the last class of the term, and it's Observation Week. Which means there may be outsiders - friends and family - there to watch what we've learned. So since the Intro class is so small, our class is joining them for moral support.
Meanwhile our class will likely be doing the Shimmy, the Stroll and for sure the one with pieces of the Shimmy and the double time step. I'm a little nervous about it, but what the heck. I survived the last Observation Week in the spring, and there it was in front of level 3 jazz and African dancers. I find I can sort of fake it for some of the stuff, and if the crowd is big enough, I can get lost in it too. Anyway, it's fun, and like any other kind of musical instruction, dance is all about performance, so here I go!
posted by Kelly at
8:10 PM
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