Topic: Tuesday 5th April, 2005: "High Octane" Technique class

[John: Elmgrove LeRoc]

Hi All,

The routine for tonight (based on the theme "High Octane") is as follows:

- First move walk (block spin exit)
- Shoulder bumps x 2 (overhead spin variation)
- Change places into
- Accordion Archie (two handed return)
- Comb

This routine was aimed at providing (amongst other things):

- tips about how to dance at high speed,
- tips on keeping time at speed,
- tips on how to lead (and follow) at high speed,
- tips on how to construct a routine to make sure you both come out the other end in one piece, and
- tips on some of the safety aspects of high-speed dancing.

Remember - technique is the foundation on which LeRoc is built.  Get the foundation right, and you can do anything.

Hope people enjoyed the class!

John.

[Joe]

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Hello John

I thought last nite's routine was really good for understanding how u can dance very fast without sacrificing technique if you get the basics right.

My personal preference would have been to have sacrificed the side bumps (or even first move walk) or to abbreviate the archive to one or two steps (or just two combs) and have retained the lovely cleaver to side turn (don't know the name of it) with the lean at the end. This had to be cut for economy reasons but it made the whole move flow to a smooth conclusion after all that fast pace and would be well worth trying again in another space.

I still find the challenge for many men is to train one's ear to retain a sense of where the beat in the music is when we are moving between faster and slower moves. I often race ahead of the beat when the speed increases - when you were doing it ultra fast for demonstrating purposes I was even moving ahead of you then so must drink less coffee!

There was a good buzz about the whole class which I thought worked very well. Great.

In terms of suggestions may I suggest that at some point you include one or two of the most simple and safest drop or even dip routines so that we all get better at this when class size permits. A good one to practise for me is the ballroom drop but also any 'open handed' drop which depends on hook grips would be good. The point is that the lady can help enormously by not dropping beyond your balanced reach (ie so that the man does not lean to one side and away from point of gravity) - experienced ladies often do this by sliding down so that they drop immediately in front as you lower her rather than away from your centre of gravity .

worth considering?   

all the best


Jo



Jo

[John: Elmgrove LeRoc]

Hi Jo,

Yes, it was a shame we didn't have time to complete the class.  Really it should have been an hour long to complete it fully!  Ho hum. 

Tell you what, I'll add those particular moves into the next routine for you.

As an experiment, the class worked really well I thought, the "warm-up move" at the start of the class was something I'm considering adding to a lot more evenings.  (for reference, I did a loophole continuously - started really slow, and slowly sped up until we were all going at full tilt, which allowed people to exercise arm muscles and leg muscles in preparation for the full-speed class.  It also caused great hilarity due to the sheer silliness of going "boingboingboing" across the dancefloor at speed with no apparent end.  Hey, it's another sign of when I've had too much coffee).

A dips or drops routine - I may do that, though I may pass the baton for that on to David.  Dips and drops wear me out quickly (health not what it should be) and he's technically a better teacher and dancer when it comes to dips / drops. 

John.