I must first start out by wishing Eastcoast....

Last edited by CEK40 (12/11/2015 1:58 pm)

tangodancer208 wrote:

april6263 wrote:

tangodancer208 wrote:

Hi all!  I'm am peering down on you from not Cloud 9 but rather Cloud 29!   I'm going to give you a kind of summary update on today's Bootcamp.   There are some videos on the DWM Web site.   I've seen myself in the back on one of them.   

My foot was better this morning, and I didn't need to ice it, but my back started acting up right after lunch.  More on that in a miute.

The bootcamp began this morning with Tony doing a lesson on basic movement, transferring weight and timing.  There were women (only 2 men) of all ages, shapes & sizes, and levels of experience.   There was a group of young women from a local dance studio in the a.m. who made their presence felt.   The counterbalancing group were those of us who had done the whole week (or at least part of it) + a few new DWM students who arrived just for today   Next you could chose from working with Serge or Henry.   I chose Serge in the morning.   He taught us a short choreography sequence and then had us perform it to express different emotions--anger, happiness, sadness, etc.   Following that, we could choose from Tiago + Teresa or Ilia.  I chose Tiago & Teresa.  Teresa taught us some salsa steps.  Then Tiago taught us the opening steps from his big number in Sway to which we added the salsa steps.  Then Maks came in.  He worked with us on a few steps and then took some questions.   After that, it was time for lunch.   

I would say about 1/4 to 1/3 of the group left before lunch, including the local group.   I don't know if any new people came in.  Everyone was complaining about being cold at lunch.  But when Tony started, he really warmed us up.  He taught us a lengthy cha cha combination that we then performed to a number of different songs, all of which were lightning fast!  My heart was REALLY pumping after that.   Then we could choose between working on balance with Serge or turning with Henry.   I chose Henry this time, and it was an amazing class where he showed us all the ways to turn using the rumba.   Following that we could chose between Ilia who taught the opening steps of the final Sway number or Tiago and Teresa who were teaching Kizumba.   I chose Ilia, but by this time my back was bothering me, and I really didn't care to learn the opening of the number.   I left about midway through to go to the bathroom.  Then I went in the other room where my things were and did some stretching and took some Advil while I watched the other class.   I was very glad I did.

Maks came back for the final hour and taught us some samba.   That's one of the videos you see that Staffan took.   I was doing fine for that, but I was drenched with sweat and looked like heck.   When they finished that they had the M&G, which was really much nicer than anything else I've attended.  All of them took dance-related questions for about 30 mn.   Some very interesting and useful responses.   The woman who kept asking Meryl-related questions (twice) got artfully ignored (ie. how do you dance with someone who is vastly different in height).   Then they all hung around for pictures.   I got a selfie with Eugene, Henry, Ilia, Tiago, David (who showed up near the end).   I already have selfies with the others where I look a lot better.   

I had a few seconds to change my shirt and get ready for my dream moment.   He asked what I wanted to do, and I said rumba or cha cha.  Now, he had seen me learn and do the samba steps earlier so probably had some idea of what I could do.   He held my hand (he didn't ask) and let me over to put on some rumba music. He finally chose a song--the one he & P dance the rumba to.  Fortunately, it's a beautiful song and we dance to it at our studio at home.   

We did one basic step and he stopped.  He said that I knew the basic step, I knew the hip movements, I knew the counts, but I needed to make everything BIGGER.   He then proceeded to work with me on doing so.  Your hips move in a figure 8 in Latin dancing.  He had me do that over and over and over until I could consistently do it right.  Not only moving my hips, but keeping my shoulders down, chest forward, abs compressed, back straight, all while doing the movement.  

Suffice it to say that this all required close proximity, his directing said hips, abs, spine to the correct position, and demonstrating for me to feel those positions.   OMG!  I was very tense and was trying not to cry in the beginning.   Then I was concentrating so hard to do what he was asking me to do.   I think I did all right, and I think it was much more interesting to him than someone with no experience who comes in and says "show me how to dance!"  

It was worth every penny that I paid.  I thought this might satisfy my curiosity, but it only made me want to do more!  If the opportunity every arises again, I will jump at the chance.    

He was absolutely Maks!  He was tough, demanding, encouraging, sarcastic, obviously an expert at what he does.  I have NEVER had so much FUN in my entire life being challenged to do more and better.   I hope he will remember me in a good way.   As we said goodbye, he hugged me 3 or 4 times and thanked me for supporting DWM and Sway (as did Tony earlier).   This experience soothed my heart a bit and reminded my why I've done all this over the last year, because of Maks!   If he's happy, I don't really care who he's with or who he dances with.

I'll post more as I process it all.  Have to get back to work now!

OMG!!!!! TANGO YOU GOT TO DO THE RUMBA WITH MAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! so excited for you!!!!!!! are you still up there on cloud 29??????!!!.....LOL.....I would be .....Oh and did you need Val for CPR????....LOL   so glad your ankle held out so you could experience that   it must have been an amazing time for you (((((hugs)))))  

Yes, my dream came true!  I got to rumba with Maks.   (There's a pretty grainy pic on my instagram -- tango.dancer.75 -- that I was able to screencap from a distant video, but there is proof!).   There definitely is a style of teaching that they have.   Having worked with 3 other DWM teachers over the previous week, I was comfortable with that.   He's a more intuitive, kinesthetic teacher than some, but I was ok with that, too.   I loved his excitement when I did it right.  What he wanted me to do was to take what I was doing, tweak it to have the basics absolutely correct, and then make it much bigger, make it about me and the music on the dance floor, and not to be in my head or thinking about others' opinions.   He talked about keeping the dancing in it's most simple and pure form as an expression of--what else?--passion.   I told him that was what I loved about Sway.  It was about the dancing.  There's one moment, that is one of my favorites, where several couples do a fan simultaneously.   It always makes me gasp.   It's a very basic movement in the rumba, but to see them all do that step, perfectly and in perfect synchronization, is gasp-inducing for me.   

I still can't believe that I actually danced rumba (and a little samba, too) with Maks.   He liked my samba right off.  
I think I was too exhausted to need Val for CPR.   I still haven't processed it all.   Maks said how amazing it was that all of us managed to survive the day-long bootcamp (well, a couple sat out most of the afternoon).  I told him I had trained for 6 months so I would still be standing at the end of the day.   I think my reaction has been more "fuzzy" because I was so tired.  If I had been fresh, I think it might have been overwhelming to really grasp what I was doing and whom I was doing it with.   As it was, I was concentrating so hard on doing as he asked that there wasn't time to think of anything else.

Still on cloud 28 1/2!  

I saw the picture of you and Maks Tango...what a wonderful experience for you and us !!!!!  Our sister danced with Maks....YAY

I know you had a wonderful time and memories that will last (till the next time)...LOL

 

View, unobstructed wrote:

I'll say good night, girls..on this happy note

Happy wishes for the parents to be (again) I know they are excited....

View, unobstructed wrote:

I love poinsettias....and I know they were native to Mexico.  But I did not realize, that left on their own in their favorite habitat they grow into huge bushes ! 
 

I had no idea they grew like this....amazing and beautiful...