Teacher: Andrew Sinkinson
He taught a Foxtrot workshop today at Imperial, and a tango/Waltz workshop at Stanford yesterday.
The workshop at Stanford was a real surprise. Apparently Andrea Faracci just picked him up from the airport before heading over to Stanford teaching his class. Andrew said he's bored, and would like to teach. So Stanford team got a 2 hour lesson from a former world champion for free! He was shorter than I expected. A bit of a beer belly made him a little older than I thought of him would be. But he was 46 after all. He was very humble, and conveyed his intention to give to the university by teaching the class. I am not sure if the Stanford crowd impressed him very much though.
Unfortunately, I wasn't in the right state of mind to absorb all the information he said, so the Stanford lecture was a little bit too abstract and over the top for me. But since he's changing the subject to Foxtrot today, I decided to come again. And that was a good decision. The message in the lesson today is much more clear to me. I think it is partly due to some of information are repeated from yesterday, so I got a second chance to grasp it.
1. Posture: leader has 4 point to remember for the posture:
a. stand up straight.
b. pitch forward
c. pick up arm, 90 degree, 45 degree (left lower arm).
d. head up, head left.
After the girl comes in, fit in the right position, he dropped the arm, breath out, then pick up again.
A good posture should be balanced, has space, and visually not stressed.
Then we start the study of Foxtrot based on a golden combination:
feather, reverse, feather finish, three step, reverse, impetus.
1. balance: an exercise is to pause at the second quick, Keep weight TOWARD the front foot, regardless you are going forward or backward.
2. motion: Picture foxtrot as an elongated swing/sway. count of each dance affects who it should be danced: foxtrot count is rubato (Italian stolen time) . He made sounds like "chi, chi, chi, chi...." to indicate the bit catching up. So the dancing need to convey this motion. In particular from 4 to 1, this is where they are hooked up.
In contrast, Tango counting is staccato, and Waltz counting is emphasizing one. VW only emphasize 123, 456 is really quiet. Quickstep is light. He counted the & count in W,T an R.
3. Connection: He mentioned that the bumping is due to timing not right, bumping in leg is due to posture. Exercise: moving together with connection. with small general dancing hold, with palm to palm, with no hand hold, and with Man's right arm straight out, and girl's hands pushed against man's arm.
4. movement: Move from center. There is no moving if not moving from the center. feather step is man driving, feather finish lady drive, them three step man drive etc...
5. A lady asked a question on the heel turn, where she felt that she's loosing connection with her partner. Andrew said a point to stop and check is at the second quick, where both has their weight toward forward (not on the forward foot, but toward forward). He also mentioned a changed timing of SS&, instead of the standard SQQ.
Finally some quick notes from the Tango lecture yesterday.
1. leader's upper body turn slightly left (about 45 degree).
2. use wind up to create the sharp feeling in tango.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Standard Lesson with Ikaika on 10/26/2010
Attendee: Sharron
Today we worked on foxtrat?
1. Reveiwed the exerceise with teraband. Use the two side to represent two sides of the body. and use it as resistance to stretch against.
2. the CBM in the feather step to let the partner pass, while still keep forward to the partner, not simply leave.
3. In the weave position (out side partner), need to feel a stretch of the left shoulder to right hip. It should feel like a vector starting from right hip, aiming at left shoulder to keep in my left space.
4. Basically I think he needs bigger shape from me. From his view, I lost my shape before finishing the prep step, therefore wonder into his space. He would like me to keep the original shape I had when started. My understanding is not necessary to keep exactly the same untimately because I do think this is actually a low point of the shape, but maybe my lowpoint is too low, so I need to stretch as well here. Or that I need to stretch everywhere so that I can proceed to have bigger and bigger shape as time passes.
5. I didn't feel that I was doing well in the class, but later when Daniel came, and we were practicing together, I felt better in rolling throught my feet, and in shaping, so it was a very nice practice. I felt much more stable.
Today we worked on foxtrat?
1. Reveiwed the exerceise with teraband. Use the two side to represent two sides of the body. and use it as resistance to stretch against.
2. the CBM in the feather step to let the partner pass, while still keep forward to the partner, not simply leave.
3. In the weave position (out side partner), need to feel a stretch of the left shoulder to right hip. It should feel like a vector starting from right hip, aiming at left shoulder to keep in my left space.
4. Basically I think he needs bigger shape from me. From his view, I lost my shape before finishing the prep step, therefore wonder into his space. He would like me to keep the original shape I had when started. My understanding is not necessary to keep exactly the same untimately because I do think this is actually a low point of the shape, but maybe my lowpoint is too low, so I need to stretch as well here. Or that I need to stretch everywhere so that I can proceed to have bigger and bigger shape as time passes.
5. I didn't feel that I was doing well in the class, but later when Daniel came, and we were practicing together, I felt better in rolling throught my feet, and in shaping, so it was a very nice practice. I felt much more stable.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Standard Lesson with Ikaika on 10/25/2010
Attendee: Sharron
Today we worked on Waltz again. a few points.
1. Need to let the center of gravity travel over the standing foot.
2. Shaping of upper body needs to be initiated from the lower body,
3. Shaping include the back on the left side, below shoulder blade, should have a feeling of wrapping forward and slightly downward.
4. Timing of the running spin turn, wait for the rise of the leader before I rise.
5. On the left whisk, Think about moving forward, not around. and don't put the heel of the left foot down too early.
6. Also stated again that we must keep the weight on the foot, there is no room for error there.
7. Need to relax the shoulder/arm down. Need to teraband exercise for that.
8. Also got a new exercise on shifting weight from one left to the other, just bend the knee/ankle of the leg that we want to shift weight onto.
Today we worked on Waltz again. a few points.
1. Need to let the center of gravity travel over the standing foot.
2. Shaping of upper body needs to be initiated from the lower body,
3. Shaping include the back on the left side, below shoulder blade, should have a feeling of wrapping forward and slightly downward.
4. Timing of the running spin turn, wait for the rise of the leader before I rise.
5. On the left whisk, Think about moving forward, not around. and don't put the heel of the left foot down too early.
6. Also stated again that we must keep the weight on the foot, there is no room for error there.
7. Need to relax the shoulder/arm down. Need to teraband exercise for that.
8. Also got a new exercise on shifting weight from one left to the other, just bend the knee/ankle of the leg that we want to shift weight onto.
Standard Lesson with Ikaika 10/22/2010
Attendee: Sharron
We worked on tango today.
Some random things that I still remembered:
1. We worked on the part after the same foot lounge.
2.
We worked on tango today.
Some random things that I still remembered:
1. We worked on the part after the same foot lounge.
2.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Standard Lesson with Ikaika on 10/20/2010
Attendee: Sharron Ji
We did foxtrot today.
1. When going backwards, don't drop the heel of the standing leg until the moving leg has already passed the standing leg, think of going backwards as running backwards, you don't let your heel down.
2. Worked on the three fallaways (a simplified version with two weave steps in between): on the second one, the crossing behind is a small step, to allow getting around each other?
3.
We did foxtrot today.
1. When going backwards, don't drop the heel of the standing leg until the moving leg has already passed the standing leg, think of going backwards as running backwards, you don't let your heel down.
2. Worked on the three fallaways (a simplified version with two weave steps in between): on the second one, the crossing behind is a small step, to allow getting around each other?
3.
Standard lesson with Ikaika on 10/19/2010
Attendee: Sharron and Daniel.
We went over the tango routine for Daniel today.
We went over the tango routine for Daniel today.
Standard lesson with Ikaika 10/14/2010
Attendee:Sharron and Daniel.
In the steps going back, Sharron need to flex the back knee to receive and make space for the leader to come through. This was explained in the context of foxtrot feather step.
In the steps going back, Sharron need to flex the back knee to receive and make space for the leader to come through. This was explained in the context of foxtrot feather step.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
standard lesson with Ikaika 10/13/2010
attendee: Sharron
Today we worked on tango, especially the timing of things.
1. the swivel steps needs to be fast.
2. the step out from same foot lounge is &QQ&S
3. the slow step in the reverse turn is arriving on the slow.
Today we worked on tango, especially the timing of things.
1. the swivel steps needs to be fast.
2. the step out from same foot lounge is &QQ&S
3. the slow step in the reverse turn is arriving on the slow.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Standard Lesson with Ikaika 10/11/2010
Attendee: Sharron
Coming back from a week of break.
we talked about the left turning figures (left for the leader). how I should
Coming back from a week of break.
we talked about the left turning figures (left for the leader). how I should
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Standard Lesson with Ikaika on 2010/10/02
Attendee: Sharron Ji and Daniel
Today we worked on questions we had three different figures.
1. weave from proimenade position in Foxtrat, and the fall away slip pivot after it.
at the first step from the prominade position, shift the weight to curve the step. Make use of the right sway (left sway for the gentleman) when coming out of the second step.
2. Tumble turn and throw away over sway
the first half o the tumble turn is like a feather finish, and Sharron needs to turn the head when feeling the pressure of the foot on the last step of the feather finish trippled up to the head.
In the throw away position, remember to keep the head back in your own space, (as if someone is pulling your pony tail from behind)
3. chasse to right, to progressive lock:
Coach corrected something alignment problem that Daniel had on the chasse to right.
Today we worked on questions we had three different figures.
1. weave from proimenade position in Foxtrat, and the fall away slip pivot after it.
at the first step from the prominade position, shift the weight to curve the step. Make use of the right sway (left sway for the gentleman) when coming out of the second step.
2. Tumble turn and throw away over sway
the first half o the tumble turn is like a feather finish, and Sharron needs to turn the head when feeling the pressure of the foot on the last step of the feather finish trippled up to the head.
In the throw away position, remember to keep the head back in your own space, (as if someone is pulling your pony tail from behind)
3. chasse to right, to progressive lock:
Coach corrected something alignment problem that Daniel had on the chasse to right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
