Hey! This is Ceroc; What's With All The Footwork?

Just got back from another fantastic night dancing. There was quite a bit of footwork in the intermediate, which came as a surprise, along with a drop that nearly put the follower on the floor (in the case of the couple behind me it did though she was fine). Loved all the dances and, scarily, started seeing ducasi's point about faster songs; had a really enjoyable and fluid dance with a quick song and loved it. As per a usual Thursday the floor was packed.

Started out with the teacher demoing something different than we actually did (I'm not sure how many others noticed). Armjive with a Swizzle, Basket, Shoulder Slide and, Catapult was the actual beginner's set we did. The teacher had us men do filler while we spun the woman on the Catapult including a spin and a proposal. I liked doing the filler and will definitely continue doing it in future (I need to spin faster though since often the woman would finish first).

Intermediate had three great (though scary) moves in. Two of them involved quite a bit of footwork which isn't really my strongest point. Anyway all three of them are moves I hope I keep; failing to learn their names though I'll just make them up.

• First Move Step Lean Thing?. Start with a first move but then bring partner to face then step across left foot with right facing away them straighten and face woman then step again (4 times in this case) them move into a slide with left knee out and allow the woman to put her leg slightly up your right leg (as one person said like a dog pissing up a post; though hopefully more graceful than that :D). Step back out of that and you are basically at the middle of a first move you could finish that or...


• First Move into Samba Mapping or Something?. Wow samba mapping geek jokes. I'm not even convinced it was a Samba. Anyway First Move; pivot to be in front of your partner with your right hand on her lower back. Pull her forward while moving your right foot back then left, right and then sweep her around so she is along side you in another first move like style before repeating to go back across the floor. Exit the First Move as normal (or in this case with a push spin).


• Catapult into Cross Steps and Scary Ass Drop?. Catapult; check. Great when the woman is behind you with both arms tense move into cross stepping right-to-left, left-to-right, right-to-left and, left-to-right (sorry about listing them like that) hopefully your partner will follow suit. When that's done move back like a normal catapult but wrap your left hand over her head and right hand to your back and shift hand positions to a tight grip (with your left hand facing away from you across the palm of the woman). Bring the woman forward and do a shallow dip (the arm supplies some additional support) then prep to do it again but possibly with the scary ass drop instead. Move the arm away from behind the woman while still preparing the drop then drop her (hopefully gently) partially against your left leg to, like, and inch of the floor before pulling her back up again. Then spin her out of the the move with the left.

I did the scary ass drop a few times during class but the busy dance floor stopped me wanting to do it during a dance (still loved the Catapult with cross over movements though). Did a Lambada though which was good; and tried doing a fair few intermediate moves. I tried marking all the beginners I danced with and tried to find them later to give them a proper dance but couldn't so I felt really bad.

Tags: Ceroc