Teaching Dance - Ballroom frame and the Rueda Basic

I always say that you really don't know it until you can teach someone how to do it. There is learning that can only come from teaching. In the past couple months I've started helping teach ballroom and rueda and it has been a great experience.

In ballroom it is an introductory survey class of over 50 students with 5 dances - waltz,foxtrot,tango, rumba and cha cha - covered in 10/12 weeks. With the emphasis on fun it is interesting to see how "frame" is learned. There is no substitute to feeling what a right and wrong frame is and the best way to do so is working with someone who knows that feeling. So, every time I get a chance to work with anyone I sneak in "let's look at frame".

In casino rueda there are many variations on the basic. The one that is safest to teach is where the leader places his palm flat against the followers palm on the second half of the basic. If the correct handhold is used where the leader pulls and then pushes the follower, so his right hand is clasping her palm it is easy for the lady to get her hand hurt. Sometimes people say oh rueda looks/feels boring. There is a reason why. A lot of people aren't being taught the elements that make it a really dynamic breathing (in/out open/close) circle. And for good reason. Learning that correct handhold and moving well takes time.

In all dance styles most students desire to keep on learning move after move. It is few who both realize the important basic/core elements and do the work to get those right.

A couple phrases to ponder

Music is the silence between notes. Dance is found between the steps. Silence and stillness is just as important as music and motion.

Many people talk so much about stepping on certain counts of the music, and about moving, and somehow what is between each note and movement is lost in the shuffle. When you can pay as much attention to both, that's when you dance.

Seasonal Greetings!

Posted a little late, after writing it on facebook, but it's finally here:

Bubbling springs gurgling
Sap of joy shooting arms
Reachin to sky's warm slate
Green despite-
Winter's winds bluster
...
Here's wishing all of us to be like the evergreen this Christmas season. The same joie de vivre - vitality - through x'mas, dec 31st, and through the 365 days of next year!

Relationships

Life is all about making connections

Music is a great way to do so

But it's even better when...

moving with the music...

with someone ;-)

Keeping the flow in casino

A lot of people learn rueda and then get stuck converting it to couple dancing in a way that makes it flow. Going back to the same starting point after each move is limiting and can break up a dance. It is only when one begins to treat move combinations as made up of components that can be mixed together that flow can happen. Take the move balsero for example, which consists of [3] 8 counts. At the end of the first 8 count one can then do besito [4] 8 count combination. At the end of the 3d 8 count one is in a perfect position to do an exibe [1] 8 count next, and then one could do abanico starting from the 2nd 8 count of that move combination. I could go on for quite a bit more, but I hope that you see the pattern. And it is something that every rueda/casino dancer should learn in order to improve their dancing.

As you dance and with time you start to see patterns. Some that I have seen as well as ideas how to explore this "flow" concept:

1.Any veil where L Rh veils F at end of 8 count => next abanico starting from 2nd 8 count

2. Exhibe - dedo guarapo y bota can always be done

3. Any combinations with 2 handed R-R L-L enchufe-veil in an 8 count => next exhibe - abanico/sombreo doble/sombreo complicado/sombreo recomplicado/juana la cubana These are montana, montana bella, besito - do after penultimate 8 count

3. exhibe with L Lh-F Rh => exhibe for first half of the eight count and then transitioning into any setenta for the second half of the eight count, ending at setenta position (end of the 2nd 8 count). These are kentucky after 2nd 8 count, setenta abajo after 2nd 8 count, setenta cubano after 3rd 8 count

4. Think about possibilities using the other hand/or not switching hands. e.g. at end of 2nd 8 count of kentucky one can switch hands to do enchufe doble next. One can also do enchufe doble with a L Rh - F Rh handhold for a different feel

5. Anytime L Lh - F Rh at end of eight count- think of moves starting that way which might work: adios/enchufe, evelyn

6. Anytime L Rh - F Rh at end of eight count - think of which move combinations that start that way would work: dedo family, hecho

Move combinations:

balsero-besito-exhibe-juana la cubana-abanico-ponle sabor

kentucky-exhibe

juana la cubana-exhibe

setenta abajo-exhibe

dedo-enchufe doble-exhibe-dedo guarapo y bota

habana = candado-setenta

sombrero doble-exhibe

Why do I dance

I dance to find myself:

The more I dance, the more I love
The more I love, the more I understand
The more I understand, the more I dance

BARCODE FAITH

The barcode scanner sweeps over any barcode and spits out the information recorded. It does not matter to the electronic eye where the barcode is placed, or on what it is placed - whether it is the correct item or not. Are we barcodes and electronic eyes, simply responding to what is provided?