Standard Lesson with Danny

1. We continued the conversation on rotation in waltz.

2. In double reverse: the person going back does the rotation, the person going forward needs to move. So it is lady rotate, man move; then switch to lady move, man rotate. In the over spin part, lady rotate again. man move.  At this point, we get into something like a PP for a brief moment, before step out to the left whisk.

3. In natural turn, the leader sends his signal at the & before the 1, by bending the ankle. the difference between bending the ankle and bending the knee is that bending ankle shift the body forward, while bending the knee could keep the person in place (like sitting down, instead of moving forward). And it's the moving forward that is giving the signal to the girl to step out.

4. Swing and sway of the natural turn: the leader sway left to stop the turn. Not exactly sure if it's sway we are talking about here, because he said it's something in the legs that he is doing. He called this counter rotation.


Quick Step.
1. need to make sure that the legs are before the body in closed position. In promenade position, can keep the body tilted because nobody is in front of you.
2. pepper pot step has Q&QQQ, the first Q& each are 1/4 of a count. 

General.
1. He asked us for a stronger/warm connection/fit, especially at the beginning of a partnership. 
2. He asked me to free my upper body for rotations. He said I was too stiff to follow his lead. So I was able to correct it, and he said it was good.

Standard Lesson with Giampiero

Today we continued on Foxtrot. After we clarified the routine. We got into the topics below

1. Foxtrot Timing: Instead of trying to do SQQSQQSQQ, we try to do SS|&SS|&SS. i.e we change the steps from 2 1 1 measure into 1.5, 2, 0.5 measure. The reason we do this is because we should accelerate when going down, but slow down when rising. In the SQQ scheme, we are slowing in the downward movement but speed up in the rising part. In the new &SS scheme, we drag out the rising part.

2. Posture: what is vertical?  (Forgot his precise answer now). However, he emphasized on the proper alignment of the pelvic bone to establish verticality. Basically after the pelvic bone is properly directly (most likely a very slightly tucked sensation for me). It is then aligned with the center of the thigh. and the chest. This line is directly above center of the foot in Waltz and foxtrot. above ball of the foot in quickstep, and slightly behind center of the foot in tango (not sure if it is as far behind as on the heel though) . This shift depends on the amount of bend in the knee.
 The correctly alignment of the pelvic bone needs to be maintained through out the dance. This is how  it guarantees that the upper body is properly aligned relatively to lower body.

Need to double check the definition of verticality with him next time. Need to verify on the three point of alignment next time.

3. we also talked about timing the moving back of the upper body, the lower of the standing leg, the preparation of the moving leg. They need to be timed in the same way relative to each other.  I seems to have a tendency to leave the upper body forward. so he told me to release my upper body.And they will natually push my standing leg to do the Heel part of the TH movement.  Right now I often skip that. I don't put my heel down.

4. On reverse turn, we talked about the left foot closing step should happen after the heel turn is done, and as soon as I close, I'm ready to go forward, so this is a forward step, not a backward step.  This would make it easier to

5. Use the leg that is ahead of the movement as soon as possible. Feel like a horse dragging the carriage, not pushing the carriage. When going backward, same principle, feel like the foot is like the wheels of the car when driving backward.

ballrom dance competition floor size

I was wondering the size of the ballroom competition floors. So I did some research online and summarize it here.


USA Dance rules state:
5.7.8 Competition floors for recognized competitions must be a minimum of 60 feet long by 36 feet wide. (They do not specify a maximum size however and they do not specify a difference for champ events).
NDCA Rules state:
III. 21. Floors for competition must be a minimum of 60 feet long and a minimum of 36 feet wide, or 2,160 square feet. Floors for Championship events must be a minimum of 66 feet long and a minimum of 42 feet wide.


Premier ballroom (fremont, CA) -- 45ft x 72ft

MIT: 48' x 80'. roughly
MAC: 40 x 76 or 40 x 80
Nationals: 40 x 80

Starlight: 85' x