One thing I really miss, is the feedback I used to get after every dance lesson. When I go the the HOT-dance ballroom classes I get almost no feedback, neither good or bad. There are so many people in the classes the instructors won't have time for everyone and all the participants concentrate on the technique we are trying to learn. The times I asked if I was doing some figures right or if I should do something different, the answer was vague and I got a feeling I made my partner awkward. I don't know if the others feel ashamed of giving or getting feedback, but at least I could learn more if my partners would give me tips or correct me if I was doing something completely wrong. I hope I haven't been too straight with my comments since I don't hold back too much. Yesterday one guy said "oh, I remember your criticism from last round!" when it was our turn to dance. I don't mean it in a bad way, I'm just trying to be helpful!
So this week in HOT-dance we had Bugg, Tango and Cha-cha. Yesterday was the first time I danced Bugg and the result was in accordance with that. Maybe it would have been easier if I danced some rock'n'roll dances before, but Jive is the only dance where I could get some support, and we didn't dance that much Jive with Nic. One could say I'm repeating the same pattern with all new dances, if I say I didn't quite get the feeling that this dance was for me, so I'm just blaming my lack of experience.
The first thing I found hard was the bounce you have to do all the time when dancing Bugg. Even though the basic step is really simple the bounce makes it hard. If I tried to concentrate on the bounce, I failed with following. Second challenging thing for me is the right tension of hands. I either keep my hands too tense or too relaxed, argh so annoying! So basically I couldn't do neither my legs or hands right, and thinking both at the same time was just too much. I chose concentrating more on the hands because in that way I was able to follow my partner's lead at least in some level. The bounce I can practice on my own before next week.
After the Bugg class I stayed little later and got some good advice about following. It helps if you dance with someone a bit longer than only one minute or one song. In the end I think I got the basic idea behind Bugg and I can continue from this next time.
Today's first lesson was all about Finnish Tango. I haven't really danced Tango this way because the competition style is so different, so again I was in an unknown territory. What was similar to competition Tango was the strong upper body control. The hardest thing for me was to keep the body contact tight all the time: I tended to separate from my partner especially when he was going backwards. I also have to practice more moving my lower body in sync with my upper body and my partner's body.
I finally returned to my comfort zone with Cha-cha after the Tango class, and immediately I felt more relaxed and confident. It feels great when you don't have to think about the steps, your feet just somehow know what to do. I even got "you are an excellent dancer" comment from one quite experienced dancer which made me really happy. After reviewing the figures we learned last week we were taught some ways you can break the basic cha-cha-cha rhythm. I didn't even know you could change to fast Salsa when dancing Cha-cha, interesting! I also liked the small tricks you can do by "skipping" some steps. I just have to try to get those into my basic movement in Cha-cha.
After today's class I got a great reminder concerning dancing. It is not that serious if I fail to follow someone's lead or make some mistakes. Dancing is all about having fun. Yes, he was absolutey right on that. I shouldn't forget that even for a second.
BTW, the pictures are from last Friday's dancing party and are taken by Jukka Laurila.
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