Nik & Sophie's Blog
July 18, 2008 by Nik
Well things appear to be getting a little bit better this lesson, although having said that I'm working off a very low base. On my dance scale If 1 is car crash and 10 is laughably bad I reckon I'm about a 4 at the moment. We still haven't learnt all the steps to our dance let alone putting any performance into it but I'm still living in hope it's all going to click at some stage. I was given more remedial training during this session as Raph and Kele went over the basics with me again as I clearly hadn't mastered them sufficiently well. Even worse than the remedial training was being taught how to walk! Apparently I've got a John Wayne walk which doesn't look good on the dance floor. The dance floor walk I've been given feels freakish to stay the least, legs very close together and then contorted into some weird knee thing as I'm moving. I'm going to have to practice this as I feel as stiff as corpse at the moment.
One thing I did learn during this session which I'm very pleased about is how to spin around without stumbling or falling over. This was a constant source of ungainly embarrassment the previous lesson. The solution basically is to not throw myself around with my John Wayne legs and take smaller steps and unbelievably.... it works, hurrah!
We also learnt a section which involves Sophie spinning around constantly. Bless her, I just walk around her as she's doing it and even that makes me dizzy let alone having to do the actual spins! The next bit is a bit of a mess at the moment (on my part), it involves cha cha cha'ing really quickly in different directions. Considering I've just had remedial training in the basics this proves very difficult for me to remember what foot I'm supposed to be on and which direction I'm supposed to be facing. Having written this blog, I think on reflection I'm going to downgrade myself to to a '3' on my dance scale. And very very scarily we are already half way through our formal training.
July 11, 2008 by Sophie
Ok, so I thought that the first lesson Nik and I had was brilliant. Difficult and tiring, but I loved it and felt up to the challenge. Now I am thinking ‘how the hell am I going to do this’. If I’m honest I’m thinking ‘what the f*&k’ but I’m trying to be polite. I used to dance when I was younger but I really don’t remember it being this painful and tiring. Maybe having fitness and lack of hangovers on my side made it easier. However, despite still feeling battered and bruised today (2 days after the lesson) I am determined to enjoy myself.
Nik and I met up the night before our lesson to see how much we had remembered, and I thought we didn’t do too bad at all. I was proved very wrong in the lesson when we spent almost 2 hours going over what we had already learnt trying to get the steps which we thought we had nailed actually right. The hardest thing is getting your feet to move as quickly as the music – and they have slowed down our music to make it easier for us! They might need to slow it a bit more.
Eventually we got the steps right and we were ready to move on. Kele and Ralf taught us a little bit more of the routine which consisted of lunging, quick turns and some fancy footwork. Kele told us that according to a study the human body has to do something 170 times for it to become embedded in our muscle memory but I am not sure I can listen to Tom Jones singing Kiss that many times!
July 02, 2008 by Sophie
I don't think I realised just how tough these lessons were going to be.
I wasn't expecting it to be nice and easy but I also wasn't expecting to ache so much! From 10am-1pm we did not stop dancing – well NiK had some nice bits in the routine which involved standing still – but it was absolutely shattering. I got back to me desk and was ready to sleep until the next day! I just hope my stamina improves as the lessons continue.
Nik and I are dancing the cha cha cha, which is a fast Latin dance and it's all about the hips, apparently! One interesting moment in the lesson was after we had gone through part of the routine, thinking we had nailed it and the teacher tells us that they have actually slowed down the music for our rehearsals and on the night, it will be much quicker. Our reaction was very nervous laughter.
The routine will be great as the teachers are fantastic. In the first lesson, they gave me the courage to kick my leg higher than I ever thought it would go, and then go straight into a back bend. By the end of the 3 hours, we were improving and I am actually looking forward to getting back there to learn more. God knows what they have in store for us, but I am sure it will have me in pain – again!
June 25th, 2008 by Nik
Having missed the launch lesson a few days prior this was my very first introduction to the world of professional dance, although neither professional nor dance are an apt description of the flaying around and constant forgetting of moves that typified this session.
Having to remember what to do with your feet, hands, upper body, arms etc all at the same time is a complete nightmare….and this is before I start worrying about being in sync with Sophie and how my ‘lines’ look.
Despite the tutors encouragement it was quite clear they thought we (me in particular) were a bit (a lot) useless. It’s going to be a long slog to the final humiliation on September 4th!
