Shall we dance?
I've managed to be good this week. I went to dance class on Wed; first time back since I hurt myself last summer. I had a great time, and in my honor the instructor pulled together a mini routine for the shines portion of class. Wheeeeee! Hard work, lots of fun. My skills at shines really suck, so the challenge of pulling multiple shines together while maintaining timing was helpful (and tiring). Partnering was much more fun, since it's my strong point, but it was good to see how much one retains after months or years of not doing a thing, and humbling it was to see how much practice makes perfect. I got to work on some leg styling, and cleaned up my arms. Yay.
Sunday's practice and social was fun, but my foot really started aching after 45 minutes. Good news: the new dance teacher at the studio told me I was a pleasure to lead. Bad: Multiple spins still strain the foot I hurt last summer too much. Still, for the 45 minutes my foot held out, it was a blast. Its a round robing, so that everyone dances with everyone at least once before they open the floor up, which forces you to get used to dancing with different leads, levels, etc without intimidation, especially for beginning students. I danced with one man for whom it was his first class. He probably wouldn't want to dance with me otherwise, but the set up makes sure that he does. I just spent the entire song counting out the beats for him and helping him find 1. And yes, I had fun doing it. I wish more socials did that.
It feels really good to dance again. I'd only been dancing a few weeks last summer after a 4 year break when I hurt my foot. I hope this go 'round goes better. I love when I manage to hit a groove during a song where you've internalized the clave and it just flows and the brain shuts down. I managed one really good song Sunday, the last one before I had to ice my foot, where I was able to just let go and let the music take me along for the ride. You need a good lead for that, and the partner I had for that song managed to hit his groove, and it rocked. Those are the moments where you are able to execute the complicated turn patterns with ease while performing multiple spins and, if it really goes well, the styling flows, all because the counting stops and the two of you are in the same groove.
I love mambo.
Sunday's practice and social was fun, but my foot really started aching after 45 minutes. Good news: the new dance teacher at the studio told me I was a pleasure to lead. Bad: Multiple spins still strain the foot I hurt last summer too much. Still, for the 45 minutes my foot held out, it was a blast. Its a round robing, so that everyone dances with everyone at least once before they open the floor up, which forces you to get used to dancing with different leads, levels, etc without intimidation, especially for beginning students. I danced with one man for whom it was his first class. He probably wouldn't want to dance with me otherwise, but the set up makes sure that he does. I just spent the entire song counting out the beats for him and helping him find 1. And yes, I had fun doing it. I wish more socials did that.
It feels really good to dance again. I'd only been dancing a few weeks last summer after a 4 year break when I hurt my foot. I hope this go 'round goes better. I love when I manage to hit a groove during a song where you've internalized the clave and it just flows and the brain shuts down. I managed one really good song Sunday, the last one before I had to ice my foot, where I was able to just let go and let the music take me along for the ride. You need a good lead for that, and the partner I had for that song managed to hit his groove, and it rocked. Those are the moments where you are able to execute the complicated turn patterns with ease while performing multiple spins and, if it really goes well, the styling flows, all because the counting stops and the two of you are in the same groove.
I love mambo.
