Category: lessons

From our overnight trip to Atlanta on Wednesday/Thursday…

• Miles driven in teeming rain: approximately 90 (to ATL on Wednesday)
• Miles driven sans teeming rain, thank God: another 90 (back home on Thursday)
• Lessons with Eddie: 4 (2 per day)
• Routines learned: 2 (tango, foxtrot)
• Total wine expenditure: $20 (for only 2 glasses–“thanks,” California Pizza Kitchen)
• Mistakes in our breakfast order at Waffle House: 3
• Future lessons scheduled: 6 (w00t w00t!)

Despite being mistreated at every restaurant we stepped into (except you, Zesto. We still love you), it was a great trip.  Eddie even managed to get me excited about the foxtrot by putting together a fun, jazzy routine.  And he let me step on his foot every time I did that one move in the tango, and never complained.

I asked him to clarify–again–whether the steps he’s putting into these routines would be okay to do at Silver level, and he explained the things we’d have to change to make them “legal”: taking out a couple of “exhibition” moves (a backbend, a tour jeté, and something that he called a half-drop, I think) and making all the free spins into underarm turns.  Seems easy enough.  We just need to practice, practice, practice to get these routines down.  By the end of our last lesson yesterday, I could hardly remember anything.  Fortunately we have it all on video.

Yesterday we had our first private lesson in months–Daniel’s surgery and then the holidays shot the wheels off November and December but we are getting the ball rolling now. We talked to Eddie about moving up from Bronze to Silver level at competition and discussed the possibility of skipping the syllabus levels altogether and starting to compete at Novice, which is the first open level. Neither of us felt quite ready to make that jump but Eddie wanted to start teaching us open choreography anyway. He says it will make us “more rounded dancers.” So we learned a new waltz routine that is so much fun! It is much more complex and strenuous than what we’re used to, but we can already see that once we learn it and polish our technique, it will look fantastic.

Daniel bought a video camera last week so we took it to our lesson. Eddie danced through the routine with me and by himself so that we could review the steps if we needed to when practicing. And boy, did we need to! We practiced a little this afternoon and had to look at the video several times to remember the steps correctly. I am hoping we’ll know them by our next lesson next Saturday.

We are excited. I am not yet sure what level we’ll end up in this year but since we know we want to move up, we are not planning to compete for a while anyway. We want to make sure we go to Gumbo this year and that might be our first competition of the year. If this waltz routine is any indication, we will need every minute of practice between now and then to be ready!

If you are looking to move beyond the basic waltz, tango, & foxtrot (or cha-cha, rumba, and swing), check out this workshop coming up:

This is a workshop for those wanting to learn the basics of West Coast Swing and Hustle. Step patterns will be given.

Instructor: Philip Jones. Philip started dancing in high school as a favor to his sister. She needed a dance partner. He says he didn’t want to but when he danced the waltz he was hooked. Since then he has studied under professionals such as Ashly DelGrosso (Dancing With the Stars) and Min Suyoung and currently studies with Olga Kormanovskaya in Atlanta. He has competed in American Smooth, Rhythm, Standard, and currently competes in International Open Latin.

Assisted by JoyDawn Perry

When: January 16, 2010

Where: Macon Health Club

Time: West Coast Swing 1-2:30pm and Hustle 2:45-4pm (15 minute practice following last session)

Cost: $15 per person each class or $25 per person for both classes

To sign up please contact: Paula East at paulaeastdance@yahoo.com or 478-750-0802.  Registration begins now and will end on January 10, 2010.

I have met and danced with Philip and can vouch that he is a very nice person as well as an excellent dancer. This is a great opportunity to learn some less common but really fun dances!

We had our first lesson today with Wayne Brockman at Academy Ballroom Cumberland.  Wayne is a certified adjudicator with 3 decades of competitive experience.  A year ago, he left his successful studio in Colorado in his daughter’s hands and came to Georgia to teach with his sister.  We are glad he’s here!  The lesson was outstanding.  We worked on waltz and tango, focusing on body flight and volume, correcting our posture and footwork.  I had no idea it was possible to learn so much in one hour.  I’m eager to practice what we learned today and already excited for next Friday’s lesson.

During the lesson, Wayne was correcting my position in closed hold.  As I shifted in order to “dance it to the left,” my concentration momentarily broke, captured by a sight nearby.  “Hey!” I exclaimed.  “There’s a Chipotle right across the street!”  Wayne burst out laughing.  I tried in vain to reassure him that I would, in fact, choose a lesson with him over a burrito from Chipotle.  I would!  Really!