These Big Piggies Went to Market

So I’m driving to the studio yesterday and a truck carrying a large load of pigs passes me on the Highway.  I’m not sure how often that happens where you are but it isn’t a rare sight in my part of the country.  These weren’t piglets.  They were large hogs.  A couple of them had their noses up to the little holes in the truck checking out the surroundings.

I’ve mentioned this before but I do end up feeling a bit guilty every time a truck like that passes me because I know it isn’t likely to end up being good for the pigs.  I’m unlikely to ever become a vegan but it does cross my mind from time to time.  Well, I’m never going to go totally vegan but I do get a little conflicted with cows and pigs.  I actually don’t eat a lot of beef to begin with in part because … cows.  Also because I tend to end up not feeling so great after eating steak – it is too heavy for me.  A good burger every now and then though is a different story.

Pigs aren’t as cute as cows although I might put them in the ugly/cute category.  But when I start reading stories about how intelligent and social pigs are, it does make me cringe a bit inside.  I think I’d miss pork more than beef just because of the bacon and pulled pork and baby back ribs.

Can’t really work up the same attachment to chicken or turkey or fish.  And certainly anything in the shellfish area is less problematic.  Except that I could never pick out a lobster from a tank in a restaurant and I have sometimes secretly rooted for crabs to escape when I watch Deadliest Catch (even though I love crab legs).  Scallops are probably the least problematic.  I know they are alive but it is such a different type of life that it is hard to get really attached to a scallop.  See, I’d make a terrible vegan.  Just some weird choices based on how cute I think the animal in question is.

OK, you probably didn’t come here for that but it is Friday so I’m in a good mood.

And last night’s lessons actually made my mood even better.  For the first time, I could see and feel real improvement.  We were doing Viennese Waltz which can be a real clunky dance if it isn’t done right and I like Viennese Waltz when it flies over the floor.

Well, OwnerGuy made a couple of subtle adjustments.  He wants us to do a couple of hesitations in the beginning but he gave me some specifics about what he wants.  First, I take a step forward on my left and bring my spine and head weight all the way over the left foot.  Then, I take a step slightly back and bring my spine and head weight over my right foot. I’m supposed to get into the right knee slightly and then roll out of it to start the first move.  In this way, the hesitations aren’t just there to kill time and give you a rest but they serve to start building the momentum you need in the dance.

We have some other hesitations right after the start and he told me that I need to use the momentum on the first one and keep my right side coming around even though I’m not moving on to that foot.  That gets me around her and makes it easier to do the next hesitation and back run.

He was also giving JoNY some pointers on her develope (its French and I can’t really spell it).  Basically that he wants her to extend as far away from me as she can to great the stretch in the rubber band so I can use that to bring her back quickly and stay on time.  He also tinkered with our explosions telling us to keep our contact hands closer but get all the weight over the opposite foot and sink into it a bit.  Again, this creates tension like a rubber band and I use that to bring her quickly into shadow just by changing weight – no real arm stuff.

On the shadow spirals, he wants them to move down the floor more so it should create just a more gentle arc which keeps the momentum going.  We have a spot run and he made two significant changes there.  I forgot how he explained the first but it was just for me to move into her and then keep my other arm open and not get her into frame but let her dance into me before we go into the spot run.  We got significantly more rotation and movement just from a couple of what seemed like very small changes.  He made a comment that what I did with JoNY was better than what I was doing with Kid T.  That could be spin but I’ll admit it is the first time that dancing with JoNY actually moved smoothly and the dance flowed.

So maybe this will work out after all.