cederic
4th-May-2010, 07:05 PM
So last night I took advantage of the bank holiday to attend a new (to me) Ceroc venue, and thus a new teacher.
Moves last night:
- Armjive pushspin
- Slo comb
- Step across
First teacher that's ever managed to get me to do the Slo Comb properly, so clearly a good bit of teaching there :)
However, one thing that caught me out:
The class was taught on the Comb, the lead should 'comb' their hair, then put their left hand on their partner's left shoulder (or upper arm).
I was taught (in a Ceroc class, but also since elsewhere) to put my left hand on my partner's hip. So trying to come up to shoulder height feels both unnatural to me, and also makes it much harder for me to catch my partner's hand when we eventually dis-engage.
Obviously I caused confusion amongst my less experienced partners by going with the hips route instead of the shoulders. So apologies to them for that.
The teaching was however consistent:
After the step across, the class were taught to do a return (so no surprises) and thus to catch the second hand out of the return ready for the armjive (again, no surprises). The instruction to leads was to run their right hand from their partner's left shoulder down the arm to catch the left hand.
For me this caused a couple of problems
- I've learned to run my hand around my partner's waist and along their forearm to catch their left hand out of a return, so going up to shoulder level feels frankly weird
- if I start at shoulder level I find it far more difficult to bring that hand back down to waist level for the next move
The teacher identified a different possible issue:
- if the right hand is placed on the follower's back before their shoulder, the follower may interpret it as a block and stop turning
I avoided that by going with instinct and what I knew, and joyfully I caused no confusion by coming in at waist level (and because I was thinking about it, found out that I quite often don't touch my partner on the waist at all but initiate contact just below the elbow and run down their forearm to their hand).
So simple and silly questions: Is there a right/wrong approach to these things? Is it personal preference?
I kind of assume that catching at shoulder height is to avoid distressing shy followers that may misinterpret waist/hip level contact, is that the main reason?
For the record, absolutely no criticism with the teacher, I really enjoyed the venue and I'm thinking of popping back on Thursday (as I'm working from home due to the election). I'm just curious and confused.
Moves last night:
- Armjive pushspin
- Slo comb
- Step across
First teacher that's ever managed to get me to do the Slo Comb properly, so clearly a good bit of teaching there :)
However, one thing that caught me out:
The class was taught on the Comb, the lead should 'comb' their hair, then put their left hand on their partner's left shoulder (or upper arm).
I was taught (in a Ceroc class, but also since elsewhere) to put my left hand on my partner's hip. So trying to come up to shoulder height feels both unnatural to me, and also makes it much harder for me to catch my partner's hand when we eventually dis-engage.
Obviously I caused confusion amongst my less experienced partners by going with the hips route instead of the shoulders. So apologies to them for that.
The teaching was however consistent:
After the step across, the class were taught to do a return (so no surprises) and thus to catch the second hand out of the return ready for the armjive (again, no surprises). The instruction to leads was to run their right hand from their partner's left shoulder down the arm to catch the left hand.
For me this caused a couple of problems
- I've learned to run my hand around my partner's waist and along their forearm to catch their left hand out of a return, so going up to shoulder level feels frankly weird
- if I start at shoulder level I find it far more difficult to bring that hand back down to waist level for the next move
The teacher identified a different possible issue:
- if the right hand is placed on the follower's back before their shoulder, the follower may interpret it as a block and stop turning
I avoided that by going with instinct and what I knew, and joyfully I caused no confusion by coming in at waist level (and because I was thinking about it, found out that I quite often don't touch my partner on the waist at all but initiate contact just below the elbow and run down their forearm to their hand).
So simple and silly questions: Is there a right/wrong approach to these things? Is it personal preference?
I kind of assume that catching at shoulder height is to avoid distressing shy followers that may misinterpret waist/hip level contact, is that the main reason?
For the record, absolutely no criticism with the teacher, I really enjoyed the venue and I'm thinking of popping back on Thursday (as I'm working from home due to the election). I'm just curious and confused.