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Nothing New Under the Sun?
by Sandi
& Dan Finch
Every now and then, a new dance comes along that makes me smile.
Teaching new material is always fun, but some material is just plain
more fun than others. Sometimes that happens because of a spectacular
piece of music, but mostly that “ah-ha” feeling comes from seeing a new
way of putting the standard material together.
We came across one of those dances among the summer new releases.
Innovative choreography can happen at any level but this is a Phase VI
rumba. We are used to seeing Phase VI Rumbas that give us an
opportunity to re-teach the school figures, Three Alemanas and Three
Threes. This new dance takes those two most workshopped advanced Rumba
figures and tests how well you understand the elements of them.
The dance is Speak Softly Love by the Worlocks. Pretty music and that
kind of choreography that makes you play with what you know.
You get it almost immediately. Part A asks you to do a reverse underarm
turn in two slows, setting up a “left alemana” followed by an alemana.
If you know the Three Alemanas, you will figure out that you are doing
the last two of the Three Alemana turns. The reverse underarm turn has
replaced the “first” alemana of the Three Alemanas.
Later in the dance, you do an Advanced Opening Out into a “Three Threes
ending.” If you know your Three Threes, the opening out is like the
third measure of the standard Three Threes, and you will be starting
where Lady dances out to the wall, makes an alemana like turn and
returns to her partner. You have left off the part of the figure done
in tandem.
Never fear, the choreography then asks you to start the Three Threes.
You won’t finish it; the standard figure is interrupted with a cross
body.
In between, you will do an open break into--not just a Curl--but an
unphased Passing Curl, which feels a little like a chase with underarm
pass. Again, not a problem if you understand the standardized version
of the Curl. That is followed with a different combination--a Natural
Top 3 with a rope spin.
For lots of years, we have done the Advanced Sliding Door with lots of
variations--as the school figure is written or where Lady crosses back
into a sit line. Typically in this dance, the figure starts facing the
wall, Lady does the lunge sit version but instead of turning back to
face the wall in skater’s position, she recovers to the Man’s left side
facing Center of Hall. He will have turned, bringing her to Man’s
skater’s position.
If you never learned the standard figures, this can be pretty heady
stuff. If you’ve gotten blasé about them, this dance will give you
something “new” to work on.
And, every now and then, a new book comes along that reminds us that
what’s old really can be what’s new. Ray Rivers of San Diego, former
Australian professional ballroom champion and many times ballroom coach
of the year, has written a book called “Everything Is Simple, Nothing
Is Easy.” He calls it a “tribute to the old school men and women who
created English style ballroom dancing” and a re-education into the
four fundamental -- “old school” -- lessons of movement in dancing. (If
you had to ask what are they, it’s new to you.)
Rivers writes about the professionals of the past who created the
syllabus and style that became today’s ballroom dancing. Most dancers
have heard of Sir Alex Moore, author of a text on ballroom dancing that
has been in print since 1936 and one of the most prolific of the
traveling teachers who spread that style around the world. Most don’t
know that before he died at age 90 in 1991, Moore gave the rights to
the book to the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Rivers said.
Rivers also quotes others and gives a brief history of the well known
rivalries among competitors.
One of the main problems Rivers sees with newer dancers is their
unwillingness to practice diligently. With today’s access to video
teaching, he says, dancers are bypassing the repetition needed to
develop their skills and individual style, and they mimic the tricky
choreography they see online, before they have the background to do it
well.
So what are those four “old school” fundamentals he emphasizes?
Posture, foot action, leg swing and partnership connection. The
emphasis was on keeping it simple, but that didn’t mean easy, hence the
name of his book. The old school teachers concentrated on correct
posture and use of the feet first for a considerable period of time, to
develop a foundation.
He stressed the “old school” emphasis of rolling through the foot, but
he cautioned Ladies to remember that being on the heel is only
momentary. In the heel turn, for example in the Telemark, she should
pull the heel back in a straight line to the other foot and wait to
allow the turn to happen as Man passes her.
He uses the words of the old school coaches throughout his book. Brenda
Winslade, a champion of the 1970s, is quoted on posture saying “Ladies,
turn in to be away.” This meant rotating her spine rightward to achieve
an open topline. From Len Scrivener, a champion from the 1950s: “Caress
the floor with your feet.” When closing the feet, as on count 3 in
Waltz, “make sure you close ankles, knees and thighs.”
From a club newsletter, August
2023.
From a club
newsletter, August 2023,
and
reprinted
in the Dixie Round Dance Council (DRDC)
Newsletter, September, 2023. Find a DRDC Finch archive here.
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