By Circe -
So, it's been a couple of months now, and I've managed to cadge a few dance lessons out of Ye Ballroom Instructor and the new Eccentric. They're all very busy, because everyone in the arts has like eight jobs, but between the two of them I have at least got a general idea of what the hell is going on.

We have all now learned the following things:

  1. I'm more or less fine if I'm leading. (Raise your hand if you somehow did not see this coming.) I'm not good, but I'm capable of following directions which will eventually make me better.
  2. I'm also more or less fine if I'm backleading, although I am really, really not supposed to be doing that.
  3. I'm extremely nervous and very laggy as a follow. Partly this is because I just don't know the signals yet, but mostly it's because--
  4. My balance is absolute rubbish.
I keep telling them that my balance is rubbish. I think they believe that I believe that, but I also think they think I'm comparing myself to ballerinas on toe shoes and circus artists on tightropes. I'm not; I'm comparing myself to people who don't bounce themselves off of desks and door jambs on a daily basis. Nobody notices, mainly because I ignore it. They do see me bonk myself, but they figure if I'm not reacting it can't really have been that hard or hurt that badly. It was that hard, it did hurt, and I've probably got a bruise there now, but I bang into shit so often that there's no point in making owie noises every time I do it, so I don't bother. 

Moving myself around is one of those things where I gave up very early on thinking I could do things the normal way, and just settled for doing things in whatever way worked. I've gotten very good at saving myself and making it look like nothing's happened. This is great in everyday life, but it's fucking me up royally here -- I can look like I'm doing things right-ish, even though I have all of my weight on the wrong part of the wrong foot, and suddenly I cannot take whatever step I'm supposed to be taking next because that leg is the one I'm standing on. It's not even very predictable. The Eccentric had about a 67% success rate at dipping me. The other third of the time, my brain just goes shit! and I lock up that hip so I don't topple over.

Following is so far a long sequence of being politely pushed off-balance by my lead, and saving myself from falling just in time for them to do it again. Clearly, I have got something wrong. If this were how it's supposed to go, then no one would ever have any fun. 

I am not sure the Eccentric is going to be much help in this regard. I'm sure he knows how to follow, since he teaches and does choreography, but he is very much a traditionalist. I complained at one point that I was having trouble finding men's ballroom shoes in my size, and he seemed to think I was confused. (Finding women's shoes was no problem. I had more trouble finding a 2" heel instead of a 4" heel -- most of the inexpensive shoes are strappy ankle-breakers meant for salsa.) He'd probably teach me to lead if I asked, but he'd be disappointed that I didn't want to dance like a girl. I do, I just also want to know the other half, at which I am unsurprisingly much better.

Ye Ballroom Instructor got at least some of his titles dancing with other men, did in fact have a suggestion about where to find men's shoes in a Euro 36, and offered to teach me how to lead from the very beginning. He must have a lot more experience as a follow, not just as an instructor, but just like dancing with random people, so I am hoping to get some help out of him. I'm sure if I asked him what it's supposed to feel like when you follow successfully, he'll know what I'm talking about, I'm just not sure he'd be able to tell me with actual words. He tends to quit talking when I hit a button -- he doesn't stop answering, just stops talking -- and if I'm not competent enough to dance with him I'm not sure he could show me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By Circe -
About a week ago, I crewed a show at the studio theater for a non-profit outfit up from New York. The guys who run it are friends of our executive artistic director, and they come up two or three times a year. I like them; I dealt with them a bunch when I was at the box office, because when you're the most experienced person they have around they hand you all of the EAD's friends, and I have an unofficial standing request to work their shows even when I'm not the only crew who is both in town and not drowning in finals. One of the guys, as it turns out, is laid up with an injury right now, so the other one had to fly solo, on top of performing in the show. I ran into him coming down the stairs as I was going up, and as soon as he saw me he just lit up like, oh, it's you!  How are you are you working are you going to be my box office again! I told him I'd swapped over to doing tech and he asked if I was disappointed that I didn't get to dress up anymore. I
Read more

The mystery of "Himmmm"

By Circe -
[Note: This entry has been edited from its original publication. See here for explanation.] The gossip blogs are alight today with the breaking news that some dude who leaves a lot of comments at a site called Crazy Days And Nights  under the screen name "Himmmm" is "really" Robert Downey, Jr. Nobody has any proof, of course, and there has been no comment from RDJ -- possibly because the story is too new, possibly because it's true and he'd rather not have to lie, possibly because it's not true and he thinks it's too funny for words. Normally, I just laugh at these things, because really, who the fuck cares beyond the entertainment value? But one of the more interesting things about "Himmmm" is that he seems to have made it a point to go after people who have done Really Bad Things. He's most famous for popping in and letting other commenters play 20 Questions about who's being talked about in the most recent blind item, and  c
Read more

WARNING! Sweeping generalizations inside!

By Circe -
Captain Awkward -- who is one of my new favorite people, by the by -- has apparently been getting a lot of flack from her post about creepiness and how not to engage in it . I say flack specifically because it's not necessarily all directed at her personally, but when you're in the middle of a field of anti-aircraft guns all firing in random directions, you're likely to get some shrapnel in your hide whether anyone is aiming at you or not. One of the running arguments down in the comments (in her blog, in other blogs, on reddit, on the astral plane, etc.) is about whether it makes a difference whether someone is painfully socially awkward, has Asperger's or an autism spectrum disorder, or is just a boundary-free creepy fucker, whether these things are comorbid a lot, and what to do about it. I think it's really damn easy to tell the difference between them, myself. I suspect it's because I do tact about like a Panzer tank does ballet. The people who seem to
Read more