Hi All,
The moves for this class were as follows:
- Loophole double-spin (switching travel)
- Man's tandem (lady's lead!)
- Passing backhander (man's travel)
- Kleaver walk
- Kleaver lean
The basis of the class was "avoidance of collisions" and "dancing in a small space". The floor was set with 1m sq. boxes marked out with masking tape - the dancers were limited to dancing within each square. Some dancers didn't have squares - those were encouraged to experiment with the travelling versions of the same move.
The routine (as promised!):
With the
loophole double spin... the man goes through first, and then it's the lady's turn to go through. However, during the first spin the man sees a "collision" in the intended path
, so the first spin is "reigned in", the second spin is used to consolidate position and to start the reverse, and then step-back actually causes the lady to be pulled back away from the "collision", effectively reversing the direction of the travel mid-spin.
In the second move (
man's tandem) the man decides to go for another loophole. As the man goes through the first loop, the lady sees a problem with her intended destination - it's taken
!, so she retains grip on the man's hand, and takes the lead. She pivots around the man, leading into a man's tandem. After the third beat (at which point the "collision" is no longer imminent) the lady places her left hand on the man's left shoulder, and spins him out.
The man then decides to go into a
passing backhander variation. He brings the lady in with his left hand, and during the handswap behind the lady's back, sees a problem - the intended destination is again "taken" by another dancer
. Taking action, as the hand goes around the lady and up over her head, the man does a two-step to the left, causing the lady's spin to be done on the spot. Coming out of the backhander, the man brings the hand down and as the lady spins to the right she finds herself blocked across the stomach by the man's hand. At thi spoint the lady realises that it's the man who moved to the left during this move, and she didn't move to the right at all!
From here, the man reverses the lady's spin, taking his right hand up over the lady's head into the
kleaver walk. As the lady turns the man places his left hand on the lady's shoulder, pushing her through and locking her into position for the kleaver. During the move, however, another pesky dancer has taken the space the man intended to walk into
, so very small walking steps are required.
After three of these, the man reverses the lady into another kleaver, this time the man slips his arm around the lady's waist ready for a
kleaver lean. The lean goes down and back up again. The man places his left hand on the inner hip and pushes the lady out. Man's left catches to lady's right. As the man brings the lady in for a travelling return, the man sees yet another pesky dancer in the way
! So he also travels the opposite direction - so despite the travels, both haven't actually moved across the floor any amount.
The ideas discussed in the class aimed to give an understanding of methods to be used to avoid problems in confined dancing conditions.
Hope people enjoyed!
John.
