Dance! - The Road to Heavies: lesson 46, November 28, 2014

The lead-around of the Treble Jig and Light Jig

This class is rather quiet. A lot of people didn't show up today, I don't know why.
I had hope my teacher would have the results in by now, but she hasn't. Considering the amount, I don't blame her.

The competition is the main subject of conversation, the results (for those who remembered them) are compared and then it proves I'm not alone in my opinion that the theatre in question was not at all 'spacious and luxurious' (as the program mentioned) and facilities for dancers were not adequate.

Being a 'Beginner' as an 'Open'

I also hear something I kept for impossible. A female contestant competed as a Beginner dancer in the last competition, while she was an Open-dancer in reality. After the Beginner-competitions, which she won, she took on the Primary and Intermediate competitions, which she also won. No surprise ofcourse, considering the level of dancing. After that, she danced an Open Championship.

I always thought that was not possible. Considering the paperwork that accompanies such an event, I expected a contestant to be excluded from the lower levels of competition immediately on entry because of the difference in level.
The more I think about it (how to prevent such occasions) the more I also come to the conclusion that you increase the amount of paperwork even more, on top of an already comprehensive administration.

In hindsight: there are rules to prevent such behaviour.

Object against such occasions

There is a possibility to file a complaint against these kind of practices. The downside is that such a complaint costs money and most schools aren't able to cover those costs.

When I do some rope-skipping to warm up, I notice I more or less have outgrown the thin cable. I can now do this so fast the thin cable is hard to spin around by now.
I take out the second cable that was delivered with the set and jump again a few times. Yes! This is definitely an improvement. I can now feel more resistance in the handles and the cable now spins around in a more controlled manner.

A new dance: The Light Jig

Right, let's get to dancing. Now I know the Beginners Reel and Single Jig well enough, make my way through the Slip Jig and have gotten ever more steps from the Treble Jig so far, the Light Jig is next.

And good riddance, the beginning is tough. The 3 hops I have to do in succession confuse me, because I feel I haven't got the time at the third one to perform it properly. Switching to my other leg is a problem as well and I quickly perform a step too many. Ah well, I will correct that somewhere down the line.

When I get to my heavy shoes, the lead-around of the Treble Jig is a problem. At the competition, I kept a close eye on how this is supposed to look and I can safely say I still got some work to do...

I practice in the big hall for a while, where I end up doing pretty well. When I get back to the classroom I do even better when I also perform the same steps with my left leg, while I hardly practiced those.