Is It Normal To Smile This Wide?

Hello my dear readers! I update this week's feelings only quickly, because I know that dancing will take all of my free time for the rest of the week. And what a dance week it has been! I have left all my practices with a huge smile on my face. It is like an unstoppable dance drive would have taken over me! What is more, the week will keep on going even better since I will attend Kizomba festival from Friday to Sunday.

On Tuesday I went to Pohjalaisten tanssikerho to check out their ballroom classes. They have the same teacher as HOT-Dancing have in their advanced classes, and the minute I walked in he came to me and announced that my level might be too high for these classes. It was great to hear that I am a higher level dancer, even though I am not sure what he really meant by that. At least he was right saying that the level of leaders was lower than in HOT-Dancing, and I could say that there were quite many beginners even in the advanced class. I am not sure if I keep on going there, but I was pleased to learn quite a new dance for me: Jive. Nic did teach me some competition Jive but I never really got into the dance. It shows now that dancing other ballroom dances helps to learn new ones, so it was quite easy to catch the basics. It is always a great feeling to notice own improvement in just 1,5 hours! After the classes I felt like going home but got myself going to Havanna's Bachata night and that was a decision not to regret. Somehow I just got the dancing mood really fast and enjoyed the social dancing a lot.

Wednesday me and Michaelo started to think about our choreography after reviewing some figures and doing some technique practices. I already got a strong vision of it, though I'm not sure if I am able to do all that technically. It felt like we hadn't seen each other for a long time; right, we had to skip the weekend practice but it was only a week without seeing each other! How weird. After our practice I met up with Mr A. and danced random ballroom dances with him. He told me some news that were good and bad at the same time: he had decided to reduce dancing. Yes, you have been dancing too much so I am happy for your decision, but just do not abandon me, will you?!

Today we had Waltz and Slow Waltz in HOT's intermediate class and dance technique in advanced class. It doesn't come as a surprise that I especially liked the technique class but I also like the way you really have to concentrate on your core during Waltz. Today was maybe the first time I was able to follow our intermediate class' teacher properly and he didn't find anything negative to comment. Yay! I also got some good feedback from other dancers and I felt like I improved as a follower during the technique session. It would be great to have more these kind of classes, and I am not the only one thinking this way.

So it has been a great week and I am really looking forward the weekend's Kizomba Festival. I have never been in Kizomba classes and been dancing it only mostly with Michaelo (Michaelo said I am his Kizomba extension!) so I am hoping to get a lot our of the happening. I don't know if it is the springlike weather or what, but I have been feeling really energetic this week and the strong joy of dancing has hit me hard! Whatever it is, I am hoping this feeling is here to stay.

Back From The Holiday.

Usually I hate coming back home from my travels. I'm rarely homesick, and the only thing I'm usually glad about coming home is not having to live from my backpack all the time. This time, however, I was happy to come back to Helsinki, not because I was homesick, but because I missed dancing. Fortunately I came home late on Tuesday night which meant multiple dance practices for the rest of the week starting from the very next day. I managed to arrange a dance practice with my new practice partner, Mr. A., already for Wednesday, so I got my dancing back on track right from the beginning.

I couldn't say I got that much new out from yesterday's beginners Waltz lesson, but it is good to go back to basics every now and then. In short, we started with Vienna Waltz and after an hour or so continued to Slow Waltz, the emphasis being on the basic steps and the rotation of upper body. Interestingly, some of the beginners' class leaders, who apparently want to get feedback and guidance from me (and have noticed that I easily give it!), have spotted me and kept coming and asking me to practice with them. Somehow I also unintentionally kept on bumping into one specific leader, which actually turned out to be a good thing in a way that we were able to adjust our dancing into each other's style. In the end off the class we did much better than in the beginning (plus we had much fun dancing together!).

Even though it is good to practice the basic steps, I must admit that I enjoyed my practice with Mr. A. after the HOT-dance class much more than the basic step training. After dancing with beginners it was so comfy to dance with someone who is an excellent leader and knows what he is doing. This was our second practice together, since we practiced once before my trip to Spain, but I felt like we already danced quite well together and were able to find a good connection. What I have noticed is that it is not enough your dance partner is a good dancer or a good leader to be able to dance with him well. I find it really hard to follow some brilliant dancers whose dancing style differs lots from mine even though they definitely know how to lead their partners. Well okay, I'm still just a beginner, but I bet I'm not the only one feeling this way.

I know Mr. A. could teach me lots about dancing, especially about some dances I haven't danced before, but for now I feel like I should stick with the dances I already know when practicing with him. I liked the feeling that we didn't have this teacher-student relationship that I had with Nic and have with JV, but that we both could somehow learn without the other's teaching. If there was something to comment on the other's dance, we did that, but other than that we basically just danced different dances, mostly Slow Fox, Fusku, Tango and Cha-cha. The best way to learn to dance, after all, is to actually dance. Okay, I have to admit that going for new dances with Mr. A. would mean stepping out of my comfort zone, so in a way I'm just taking the path of least resistance. Well, let's see how this partnership develops.

The Photographer.

Today I asked my my good friend to join our practice. She loves taking pictures plus she has been dancing a long time herself so I thought she would be the perfect person to photograph us. Well, I must admit it was a bit disturbing when someone was making pictures around us so I made bunch of stupid mistakes like starting with my wrong leg and not following Nic's lead. I wonder how it would be IF we are going to a competition!

Nic thought me some Vienna waltz since I'm going to my student union ball this month. Around and around and around. The most difficult thing for me at the moment is not to get dizzy and make the dance look like effortless even though the beat is quite fast. It is so different compared to slow watlz I must say.

The practice ended with learning a new step to slow waltz. First it seemed I did not get it at all but it helped to close my eyes and just to concentrate on the music. Sometimes I just think too much about the steps, the pose and everything to the point that I cannot follow the lead and just go with it. Closing my eyes helps to forget my surroundings and all the failures I do. Its just me and the music and the good feeling.

I must thank my friend for the nice pictures and also the good tips she gave me. I think we might have infected her with our dancing fever. Maybe next time she will teach us some Finnish ballroom dancing.

The night ended with having some good food, wine and shisha together. Perfect!