PSRDancePeterCaitlinWorkshop

Dance Notes

Peter & Caitlin Lindy Workshop

4/30/05 - 5/1/05

Stuff What I'm Screwing Up

• Relax your shoulders

  • Particularly when you're blues dancing

• When you compress, let your wrist bend backwards. (pitch)

  • Do NOT bend your wrist in the plane of your palm. (yaw)
• Your triple-steps are a bit weak/too similar to just weight shifts.

The Basic

• Step back on the 1, or the follow will just sit there.
• Stay aimed at the follow throughout
• On 3 & 4, your right hand should be on the follow's back at about bra-level, bent at the first knuckles
• On 5 & 6, aim yourself where you want the follow to go.
• You should be able to end the swingout in the exact spot you started it
• Engage your lat muscles
• Take decisive steps that commit your weight.

Texas Tommy

• The hand transfer

  • Note that all of this is done very quickly and smoothly, in one count.

    • Technically, you're trying to do this before she can tell what's going on (and thus get confused and start doing crazy stuff)

  • First, prep the follow's right hand

    • Do this by turning her thumb outside
    • Note that this is very casual
    • It gets her hand in a normal position, hanging, palm forwards

    • This allows you to do the transfer without trying to break her frame

      • (... which is something that she [as a good follow would resist)

  • Then, transfer the hand

    • Take it a little to the left and a little back
    • ... until her hand is behind her.

    • Flip the hand from your left hand to your right hand

      • You do not carry the hand all the way -- it's more like a sideways toss
      • You keep her right hand and forearm close to her body at all times, instead of looping out or anything silly like that.

  • Then, catch her right hand with your right hand.

    • Or more precisely "catch her wrist"

      • this allows her to spin without the right-hand connection getting wonky.

• 1-4: as normal

  • Seriously: don't prep the hand early

    • (This would confuse the follow)

  • Don't turn early

    • (This would kill your momentum)

  • On 4,

    • Your right hand should be a little low

    • It's connected at the wrist, not the palm

      • therefore, your right hand is out and 'available'

• 5

  • Do the hand transfer such that the hand is tossed over on 5 exactly

  • Do a very clear body lead in the desired direction

    • If you don't do this, there will be no momentum

• 6, 7&8

  • The follow spins out and 'unravels' from the handhold.
  • This leaves you in a cross-hand position
  • DO NOT PULL with the right hand. At all. No no no no no.

• A double-spin

  • This requires a lot of angular momentum from the 5

  • Between 6 & 7, when she's about to spin into her arm, lift her arm up over her head & let her spin under it.

    • Note that this absolutely requires an encircling-the-wrist handhold between your right hands. Otherwise: badness.

Double Outside Turn

• Like a normal outside turn
• 1-4 are normal

• How to create sufficient momentum

  • 4: Your shoulders are squared to hers

  • 5: Your shoulders are parallelogrammed to hers

    • Note that your hips/center move before your shoulders
  • 6: Now all you have to do is anchor yor weight follow through on her turn

• In the turn

  • Your right hand is over her, guiding the turn, but

    • Fingers are pointing downwards

    • Your hand is not centered over her -- you are off-center

      • You can't apply radial force when r=0 :)

6-count Sugarpushes

• Start in open position
• 1: Straight back on left foot

• 2: Together on right foot

  • Start compressing now

• 3 &: Done in place

  • Firmly settle in to your position

    • Can hunker down a bit
  • Compress to the limit

• 4: Left foot forward

  • If you hunkered down before, you go back up now.
  • Note that your body (not your arms) moves the follow backwards.

• 5 & 6: Let the follow go back.

  • Extension kicks in

• Further notes...

  • Never suddenly compress/extend on this move

  • Your arms stay at your sides

    • Your elbows don't go up
    • In a closer connection, the forearms extend out sideways
  • Your arms always stay relaxed.
  • No tilting back-and-forth or side-to-side.

• Variations

  • Sink to the right

    • 1, 2: Twist clockwise and sink into your right side
  • Sink to the left
  • 1, 2: As normal

  • 3: Back on left foot

    • Twist counterclockwise and sink into your left side
  • 4: Forward on right foot
  • 5 & 6: Step-step instead of triple-step, if you want to correct your footing.

Charleston!

• Basic Variation

  • 1,2: Rock step

    • Hold on to the follow's right hand with your left hand.
  • 3: Kick right foot forward

  • 4: Turn 180º to the right

    • Let the right-hand connection break
  • 5: Kick left foot forward

  • 6: Turn 180º to the right

    • Resume right-hand connection
  • 7, 8: Right-foot rock step
  • Note that I have no idea if this is right -- I never really twigged to what was going on, no matter how many times I saw it.

• Crosshand Variation

  • Start in open crosshand (right-palm-to-right-palm) position

  • Kick right foot left

    • Note that these kicks are small and controlled

      • Lift up your hip and kick down towards the floor

  • Kick right foot right

    • In the process you turn right
    • The right-hand connection dissipates
    • You strike a left-palm-to-left-palm connection.
  • Kick left foot right

  • Kick left foot left

    • In the process you turn right
    • The left-hand connection dissipates
    • You strike a right-palm-to-right-palm connection.
  • Repeat as desired

• Transition: Basic into Cross-Hand

  • Do a basic

  • Do a 6-count tuck turn, with this footwork...

    • Rock step (left right)
    • Kick step (left foot)

    • Kick hold (right foot)

      • Change hands to a left-hand-to-left-hand crosshand hold
  • Now you're ready to kick your left foot to the right, as part of the crosshand Charleston

• Cross-hand into tandem

  • Do a crosshand basic

  • When you get to the 'right foot kicks left' part, do a big right-foot Can-Can kick

    • As you do this, take the follow's left hand in your left hand.
    • Note that you do a right-foot hold after the kick

  • Rock step (right left)

    • This should lead the follow turning clockwise, towards you.

  • Kick step (on right foot)

    • At the same time, lead the follow counterclockwise, away from you.
    • You should block this motion towards the end of the count.

  • Kick hold (on left foot)

    • Then, lead a clockwise turn
    • It will only go 180º, so don't put a ton of force into it.

    • Lift the follow's right hand over her head

      • (So she doesn't run into her arm)
    • As she turns 180º (away from you), adjust your handholds to the tandem Charleston

  • Now you're ready to rock step (left right) as per tandem Charleston

    • Remember that when your left foot goes back your left hand/arm goes forward, and so on.
  • I'm not 100% confident in this one, either.
• Tandem to Crosshand is supposed to be pretty easy.

6-Count vs 8-Count

• The Three Most Important Points

  1. There is no 6 or 8. There is only 2.

     • The 2-count is either a step-step or a triple step.

  2. The triple step is the default step.

     • This is because it's simpler, in that it only has one weight shift.
  3. The leader chooses which 2-count we're doing.

• The Side Pass

  • 1,2: Step back, leading the follow towards you

  • 3 & 4: Let the follow orbit clockwise around you.

    • Maintain eye contact (or at least a position where direct eye contact would be possible)
  • 5 & 6: Let the follow finish it out, walking backwards.

• Note that the tuck turn can be 6-count or 8-count

  • If you lead a fast enough turn (say, a double turn), it will force the follow to do the appropriate 8-count footwork.

• 6-count Texas Tommy

  • The Texas Tommy can be done as 6-count
  • Start the hand transfer on 2 instead of 4/5
  • Note that this time you don't want to "trick the follow" and do the hand transfer before she knows what's going on.

• 6-count Open Basic

  • You have to lead this very decisively
  • 5&6: make sure you get the hell out of the follow's way.

The Other Side of Connection

• Routine 1

  • Perform a 6-count sugarpush, sinking into your right hip on 2
  • Make sure you are properly "parallelogrammed up" to the follow on 6

  • 7: Step forward on left foot.

    • Note that this reverses the parallelogram shape about its longitudinal axis.
  • 8: Step back on your right foot.

  • 1, 2: Step step (left right)

    • As you do this, lead the follow in a free counterclockwise turn, letting go with both hands.

  • 3 & 4: Catch the follow

    • Your left hand catches her left hand
    • Your right hand catches her back

    • Step back and to the left with your left foot

      • You may go down a bit, but you don't tilt in any direction.

        • Don't go down more than you're both comfortable with.

    • Mash the follow's body to your right side.

      • Yes, there will be bodily contact -- if you try to politely respected personal space, the dip is f***ed.
      • To avoid uncomfortable boob-squishing, try to aim your side between them.

• Routine 2

  • Do a fast 1.5-revolution circle to closed
  • Be a little over-rotated on 4.
  • On 5-7, try to lag the follow a bit
  • 8: Confidently step towards the follow (catching up) with your right foot

  • 1: Rock step **FORWARD**, turning around **TOWARDS THE FOLLOW**, with your left foot

    • ''{I could never never never get this in class -- ed.}
    • If you rock step back, you won't get enough separation.

  • 2: Step back on your right foot

    • Start the follow in on a counterclockwise turn
    • At the same time, lead a clear line of dance towards/across you.
  • 3 & 4: Let the follow spin by.
  • 5: Plant both feet

• Routine 3

  • Basic idea is a free cross-hand tuck turn...

    • 1,2: Rock step the follow towards you
    • 3 & 4: As she goes by you (on your left), start her rotating counterclockwise, but block it.
    • 5 & 6: Lead a turn clockwise, let go with the left hand, and let the follow continue past you, down the line of dance.

  • In this variation, the follow overaccepts the rotation -- when you catch her again with your left hand, she pushes her connection into it, creating something that feels a lot like the blocking part of another tuck turn.

    • So you rotate her back into a counterclockwise free turn. Dope that you are, you think this was your idea.
    • {In class, we may have done the overaccept, then a tuck, then a turn, instead of just the overaccept-then-turn described above. I don't remember. -- ed.}

  • There's another version of this for the non-free inside turn (where you bring the follow by your right side, rotating her counterclockwise)

    • In this case, the follow again over-accepts the counterclockwise rotation, goes into your arm connection a bit, and prompts you to lead a free turn the opposite way (clockwise this time)

Footnotes