Week 3

Foxtrot

Picked up quite a few new couples today. Probably around 12 couples on the dance floor.

Learned two new steps today... The "Left Turn" ("Trouble Step") and the "Sway".

"Sway":

 The "Sway" is a step to the left, and then back to the right. Kind of like you "sway" back and forth. It would be a good step if you need to stay in one spot for awhile... you could simple keep swaying back and forth until more room opens up.

"Left Turn":

The instructors refer to the "Left Turn" as the "Trouble Step" because it is way to get out of trouble so to speak. As the Foxtrot is basically a progression dance where you move around the dance floor in a counterclockwise direction, "trouble" often arises when you meet up with other couples who may not be doing the Foxtrot, and you need a way to avoid them without breaking the stride of the dance. Essentially as you move forward, and if you encounter trouble, you back up, turn to the left and go from there.

So now we are up to five steps...

1: The "Basic Forward".

2: The "Basic Backward".

3: The "Promenade".

4: The "Turn Left".

5: The "Sway".

Now things start to get more interesting, particularly in the "Lead/Follow". As you already know it up to the Guy to lead, and the Gal to follow. What we are learning is that the Guy gives clues to the Gal, with his hand movements. Not necessarily visible movements, just pressure in various directions give the Gal the clue. Kind of like a code. Also verbal is working fairly well. When I want to do a different step, I just tell Linda what it is - with a little advance notice - and she knows what's coming. Hopefully we will be able to get it down where just body and hand movements will guide us through.

We are getting there, just take's LOTS of practice, and as our instructors tell us... "Muscle Memory".