Double the Fun

As I mentioned, last night I had two lessons.  The first was just with JoNY and we practiced the Fox Trot and Viennese Waltz to try and apply what the coach had given us.  We finished that a little early and did some Rumba to close out the lesson.  The second lesson was with OwnerGuy and he wanted to see one of the two dances so we did the Fox Trot and then finished up with the Waltz.

And my normal Tuesday included my work out earlier in the day.  We did some more of those assisted squats and then he had me do this kind of weird thing with a kettlebell that was also supposed to work the legs.  We did some other upper body stuff and, as always, we finished with a plank.  I just bring those things up because it always means I’m a little tired on Tuesday.  Maybe not the best day to try to do two lessons but, what the heck.

The first lesson suffered a bit from the coach deflation syndrome.  Something about a good coaching session.  If you get the right coach with the right attitude, you can walk out feeling really good and positive (and I did).  But there is some kind of fake bubble around that lesson and it pops and you are back to reality trying to recreate the magic that existed on the coaching lesson.

It wasn’t all that bad.  I did try to remember the whole thing about driving and keeping my chest to her in certain parts even when it left me all twisted (and regretting the fact that I had done some ab work earlier in the day).  I would say it still moved better than it did before the coaching lesson so that’s a good thing.  We stumbled in parts – mostly trying to remember how to get out of certain steps.  The pivot still wasn’t working that well.

The Viennese Waltz was all kinds of fun – not.  I forgot to mention this earlier but there was a new guy instructor at the studio last night.  Guess he’s made it through enough of the training that he was allowed to make an appearance at night.  Well I mention that because he was watching Z who was on a lesson with a couple.  There was another newer couple being taught by the other new instructor.  So it meant for a crowded floor and we had to try the Viennese from several corners and mostly break it into parts.  I think we managed to get through the whole thing at least once.

Again, I got the whole “this is good practice for Showcase” spiel from JoNY and then later from OwnerGuy.  Part of me knows they are right but I’m mainly focused on getting the choreography down cold so I haven’t wanted to spend a lot of effort working on floorcraft and/or changing the pattern if someone is in the way.  The stubborn part of me still thinks that Showcase is different because you don’t have instructors on the floor.

OwnerGuy did manage to help us with the FoxTrot pivot.  He mentioned the drive thing again and where I needed to do it and he also showed us how the stupid thing was supposed to end and that helped because I was trying to come out of the pivot into the wrong step and it was just killing the momentum.

And he fixed a few glitches in the Waltz as well and I wrote them down but I can’t find them in memory and I’m too lazy to get up and get to my notes.  There was a couple on the floor working on their wedding dance so we ended up sharing the music a lot.  I got to be a live action demonstration doll again.  Their instructor is the new girl and she saw we were doing Waltz and that is what they were doing so she asked if we’d just show them where the Waltz can go.  I don’t mind the impromptu demos – although maybe I should ask for commission if that couple continues 🙂  (Totally kidding)

In between, there was a Tango group class so I hit all the smooth dances.  It was a step I haven’t done in a bit.  Actually, I don’t know if I’ve actually done it but I think I’ve done something similar.  The basic points were all about keeping your frame and there was a lot of twisting involved in a couple of the steps.  The point of the twisting was again to keep your chests aligned even if your feet were pointed in a slightly different direction.  It was a fun class.

I’ll admit to getting a case of the nerves towards the end of the second lesson.  It didn’t help that my feet hurt and my legs were dead and I just started to second guess the decision to do Showcase.

One funny thing that I may have mentioned about the coaching lesson is that one thing he said to me about a certain step (think it was the pivot) is that I had to believe I could do it.  I’m not going back into that lack of confidence thing except to say that it always lurks right below the surface so it remains something that needs work.

Well, our seasonal confusion has subsided a bit.  Tuesday was rainy and humid even though it wasn’t overly hot.  Today, the humidity is gone and the air is dry and so it feels cooler even though the temps aren’t that much different than yesterday.  Almost to the point where a light jacket at night is needed.  The nice thing about that is that it is easier to cool off so Thursday maybe a little more pleasant for my next lesson.  Hope so because OwnerGuy wants to work on all the rhythm dances.