Improvers Course, Week 2
12th October 2009
(Week 1 Notes | Week 2 Notes | Week 3 Notes | Week 4 Notes )
Warmup exercises
We had a warmup dance, then we repeated the "Navigation around obstacles" (mats) exercise from last week.
I then briefly reviewed the key points of close-embrace dancing. (as previously covered here).
Paper exercise
We worked on an exercise, to get used to the "closeness" of close embrace, walking with a sheet of paper between the leader and the follower, with the aim of not letting the paper fall down.
Close embrace and ochos
You can certainly do ochos in close embrace - they're smaller steps, and back ochos are easier, but both are achievable.
We spent some time leading and following ochos in close embrace.
More
More details about close-embrace ochos here.
Ocho Cortado
This sequence goes as follows (from the leader's point-of-view):
- Sidestep left (larger sidestep for leader, as for leading a cross)
- Forward step on right
- Forward rockstep on left
- Backstep on left
- Turn (open out) to right, leading follower into a side rockstep
- Lead follower back from rockstep into a cross.
Tips:
- When leading the follower into the cross, give her space to cross by moving backwards.
- Both rocksteps are double-time, and are rocksteps not steps - so don't transfer the whole weight
- Followers need to keep their shoulders (chest) facing the leader during the cross step.
- This is a nice way of doing a quarter-turn anti-clockwise - for example, in corners.
- This is useful in close embrace, and in situations where there's not much space.
FAQs
Which to use?
Close embrace is better for lots of walking, in a small area, to traditional music.
Open embrace is better for lots of figures (e.g. ochos), with good amounts of space, and rotation-focussed dancing - typically, to non-traditional music.
You can vary between the two, but you'll need to ensure you re-establish connection going from open to close embrace.
How to invite, accept and reject?
Bot partners can invite / accept or reject an invitation into close embrace. It's basically simply body language. Leaders, if your partner doesn't want close embrace, don't try to force it, simply dance in open embrace.
How much pressure?
Ideally, you should when standing provide enough pressure ("energy") to give a good connection, no more no less. When dancing, you should provide enough energy to match the energy of your partner.
At the moment, if in doubt, I'd rather you use too much pressure than too little. Too much pressure may cause balance problems, but at least it means you have a connection.
What do I do with the arms?
Leaders' right arm / followers' left arm: place it wherever comfortable on your partner's back. Don't pull your partner into you.
Leaders' left arm / followers' right arm: wherever comfortable, but by default around chest level is OK.
The main point is, it really doesn't matter where the arms go, as they're not used for lead / follow - the body is used for this.
Related articles
- David Bailey, 12th October 2009