Jonathan Tullett

It’s that time of the week again – my foray into dancing. With girls (no, the novelty still hasn’t worn off.)

I joined the ‘bridging the gap’ class at 7.30pm, where Mark was teaching. ‘Bridging the gap’ is basically the level between Improvers and Intermediate. It’s expected you’ve attended at least 6-8 Improvers classes before you attempt them. Despite my best efforts, Mark keeps insisting I should do this class.

Despite missing my disco-nap, I was raring with energy just before the class. It was a good omen.

You may recall last week wasn’t a good week – I left after the first hour of lessons and felt very stressed and demotivated, if I’m honest, to the point I wondered if I should have resumed instruction.

This week my strategy was different – I didn’t shy away from asking for repeated demonstrations. Interesting to note: this week, again, I was the _only_ person to ask any questions, yet from speaking to partners as they rotated, things weren’t always clear for them either. Why don’t people ask questions? If more people did, the world would be a happier place.

After emailing Mark a link to last week’s blog, and speaking to him on Sunday at length about his class, I was keen to see if any of my feed back altered how the lessons ran. It did, and I think it was for the better too. We got longer with a partner before switching, thus more than a single attempt to get things right before starting again with someone new. For me, this made all the difference between a ’session’ (time with one partner) ending well, and starting the next one on a positive note, and one ending badly, and dreading the rotation.

After crashing and burning last week, I went for the twofer this one, joining in with Sandra’s class at 830pm.

It starts with what I shall call ‘Kata for Salsa’, set pieces of foot work to warm you up. Then we switch into learning a sequence of moves for the week. These are broken into set pieces, repeating each one until we’re comfortable and then linking them together into a dance which is more than passable as Salsa.

There were two issues with the class this week: 1 – too many people in the hall. This resulted in a number of crashes as beginners salsa’d into our inside pivot turns. And 2 – the volume. I have hearing problems, and it’s frequently hard for me to make out what Sandra’s saying. I’m concerned it gives the impression I’m not listening, but that really isn’t the case. Otherwise the teaching was solid.

After the class I borrowed Sandra for a few minutes to run through the footwork on the hook turn. I’ve now grokked it.

I’m feeling enthused, and happy, and excited about next week already. I’m determined to improve, and enjoy myself as much as possible while trying.

After a break from dancing of nearly two months, I started attending group salsa lessons last week. After speaking with my instructor, Mark, I joined in the ‘improvers’ group.

‘Rusty’ is a good word to use to describe how I was. Group class is a very different learning experience to 1-on-1. The pace was quick, changing partners a lot, and not much time at all to practice individual foot work. And I hate making mistakes.

Roll onto this week. I joined in the earlier lesson, this time run by Mark. As a tutor he’s very good. He involves the whole class, is an entertaining, and thorough instructor. And he dances the girls steps very well too :)

In the classes, very few people ask questions or ask for clarification on steps, (I think I was the only one to ask any) though most seem appreciative when I do (maybe they had the same question, but didn’t want to ask?). I don’t care about looking like an idiot asking basic – or not so basic – questions – if it helps me nail something.

When I’m learning to dance, I break everything down – I want full understanding of the moves. I want to know how the body weight shifts as you’re moving through the steps, how your feet should be when pivoting (and why) – an understanding of the mechanics means I can grok the moves. And once grokked, I’m confident using them.

In the group classes, there isn’t time for that level of breakdown and as the instructor also hasn’t come across anyone else who learns that way, to do so would detract from the enjoyment of the class for the majority of students. There is no easy-to-find middle ground.

So this evening we’re learning a new move – the hook and pivot turn. The hook turn is not a move I’ve done, and I struggled to pick it up. When I hook my right foot and pivot, the finish doesn’t make sense – on the final 90 degree turn, the left foot gets caught behind the right and, for me, is forced to move by the right leg. The instructor’s didn’t do this, but I couldn’t replicate the mechanics quickly enough before we were off. Frustrating, but there’s only so many times you can ask someone to show you something before people want to move on.

The class had roughly twice as many women to men, and rotation was fast and furious. I was very conscious of making mistakes as we danced – as the girls could only dance with a partner every other turn, I felt there was an expectation from them they should have a successful practice. I was frequently unable to provide that, and throughout the course of the evening that played on my confidence, and I find myself verbalising more and more apologies when things didn’t go quite right.

There were some people who I danced very successfully with, and that was fantastic, however they were few and far between. As the male (aka ‘lead’), the onus is on me to provide a strong lead and guide the dance. Does this therefore mean it’s mostly my fault when things don’t go to plan?

After initially thinking I’d stay for two hour long lessons, I left after the first. I feel stressed, and want sleep. Hopefully next week will be more fruitful.