PHOTOS - Weekender organised by Rock Bottoms in Torquay.
Lots of great classes, excellent teachers & fun friendly people.
Nov - 2010
I gave myself a few weeks of dancing as a follower and concentrated purely on improving my follower skills - in other words trying to NOT assume what the guy was going to do & focus on being aware of the lead signals & feeling the lead. It was rewarding when guys said things like "you are so easy to dance with - you go where I lead you". "You smile & keep going no matter what". My efforts were noted which makes it all worth while. I was picking up tips that I wish I'd learnt years ago.
Then it was a case of having to bite the bullet and decide 'tonight is the night' for attending the Beginner's class as a 'lead'. "Your life is never going to be the same again Yolande". My face must have been a picture my first night. It was really daunting having to switch roles & I felt like a white rabbit stuck in the middle of a 10 lane motorway ......... scared witless. My co-ordination went totally out of the window. I had a choice of either getting my feet or arms to do the move. They flatly refused to move at the same time. If someone spoke to me whilst doing battle with my lack of brain & limb co-operation then everything totally ground to a halt! I had to stop, politely explain that conversations were not possible at this moment in time and then carry on.
This was also the month when I had my first module of the Le Roc Federation course with Roy Greenhalgh. Someone suggested that the course might help me fast track to learning both the lead & follower roles of Modern Jive. Lets face it I needed all the help I could get my hands on. Also, it might be a good idea to have a piece of paper saying I could teach if I ever needed it on Portugal (I am a qualified teacher - Certificate of Education but if asked in Portugal may need something specific to dance). At only £180 it seemed worth it. I hope Roy has a LOT of patience as well as being a good teacher. I felt totally overwhelmed by what I had taken on to do & my brain went to mush. Not a reflection of his teaching - just me thinking "Oh sh_t" & panicking. I guess I should have maybe got more experience before taking on his course but what the heck.
Elsa who was my first Helpxer lived nearby & after seeing Roy for part one of the course I called in to see her. Being the lovely person she is Elsa offered to get a group together for me to practice on. In for a penny in for a pound - I said "ok, that sounds like a great idea".
This was also the month of starting to seriously network. Even at the local post office in Sheffield when we had all the snow. I got chatting to the girl behind the counter - she has a brother who runs a morning radio station programme ..... in Portugal!! He is always looking for people willing to come on the show & chat. Now THAT I can do - what a fantastic opportunity to talk about my quest.
My first new dance experience of the month was Rueda (a salsa style barn dance with a caller) - such unbelievable fun. Priceless. Rod Lawson the teacher has such a great attitude. I really liked the way he put people at ease. At the beginning he got people to move to music to warm up. Then he asked if people had walked or driven to the class. His point being that if you had moved to the music & had learnt the skills of walking & driving you were more than capable of learning dancing skills.
The group of dancers were a very friendly bunch. At times things seemed somewhat chaotic as those who didn't know what to do went spectacularly wrong but no one minded in the least. I laughed my way through the class. The 'raw' beginners group were helped by the more experienced dancers who had come along to help Rod.
Where is that 48 hour day, 10 day week, 5 week month, 14 month year? I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop whilst here in England. There are so many choices for places to go for dancing. I would love to do more Rueda but simply do not have more spare evenings. Wednesdays clash with Lindy Hop. I need more time.
During Novemember the snow & ice came like I have never seen in my life before in England - it seriously hampered being able to get out & about. So there was no dancing for nearly 2 weeks. What a pain that was just when I'd got going.
