A brief preview of Bronze II
Apr. 18th, 2009 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hkellickSo, as I just typed in my facebook status, I have every reason to believe that in a couple of weeks or so, K and I could be Bronze II students.
Knowing that I have new people who watch this journal, I'll give the BRIEF description. Arthur Murray has four levels of students: Newcomers, Bronze, Gold and Silver. Newcomers typically come in knowing nothing. Bronze level is for those who want to learn how to dance. Silver is for students that really want to show off when they dance, with all sorts of styling and such, and Gold is for people who intend to compete (or just can't stop dancing and keep going ;) )
I believe we officially started the Bronze program just before our wedding last year, so a little under a year ago. In the time since then, we've learned slightly more than the basics of: Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Swing, Club Swing (will become the Hustle), Rumba and Cha-Cha.
Now that Freestyles is over, Michael, our instructor, is ready to move us up into Bronze II. Bronze II is a whole new level. We won't just be learning new steps, though we'll learn that too, but we'll learn to actually dance our dances to a new level.
This means.. well, I shall give two examples...
Example the First: Cuban Motion. If you've ever watched any real dancer perform a latin dance, they're whole lower body just moves and grooves. This is especially prevalent in the hip area. This is called Cuban Motion. It is NOT easy, but it is one of the things we're going to work to learn.
Example the Second: Rise and Fall. Ever watch a Waltz? One of those old time movies where the actor and actress are glacefully waltzing around a floor probably works too. Most of them dip and rise as they dance. This is part of waltz and it's called Rise and Fall. The trick is to fall, lowering yourself down on your knees for most of the step and rising up at the end of the step, up to your tip-toes. We've done.. some of this, but again, we're taking this to the next level.
I am quite excited about this. Quite excited because as of the lesson we just had, a review lesson to make sure we knew the steps we needed to know to pass our exit exam (they don't just say "OK, you've gone through 70 lessons, off to Bronze 2 you go." You have to EARN it! And you do this by proving you know what they've taught you.
Alot of this stuff we've been doing for months. Since around the wedding.
Things we need to prove we can do (more for me than for you)
Foxtrot - Magic Step Forward, Magic Left Turn, Promenade
Waltz - Basic Box step, Underarm turn, Promenade Hesitation
Tango - Basic Step, Tango Rocks, Medea Corte
Rumba - Basic Step, Fifth Position Breaks, Cuban Walks (not the Open Walks, the closed ones.)
Cha-Cha - Cha-Cha Basic, Crossovers, Underarm Turn Left
Swing - Basic Swing Step, Underarm Turn, Points and Walks
Club Swing - Basic Step, Underarm Turn Left, Men's Underarm Turn (just learned this today! Heheheh!)
The plan is... Michael's going to call us this week and tell us when we can have the next lesson. The next lesson is special, because either Steve or Jessie will be watching us. (Personally, I'd prefer Jessie. For alot of reasons. )
It will be up to Steve or Jessie to decide when we can check out. If he or she thinks we need a couple of lessons in order to do it, or if the next one could be checkout.
Then we go through that number of lessons (Personally, having just gotten out of review, I doubt we'll need review. We got this!) and check out!
Michael said and I agree.. that we'll probably check out pretty quickly!
And then to learn a boatload of new stuff! Which is both exciting and a little scary! :)
Knowing that I have new people who watch this journal, I'll give the BRIEF description. Arthur Murray has four levels of students: Newcomers, Bronze, Gold and Silver. Newcomers typically come in knowing nothing. Bronze level is for those who want to learn how to dance. Silver is for students that really want to show off when they dance, with all sorts of styling and such, and Gold is for people who intend to compete (or just can't stop dancing and keep going ;) )
I believe we officially started the Bronze program just before our wedding last year, so a little under a year ago. In the time since then, we've learned slightly more than the basics of: Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Swing, Club Swing (will become the Hustle), Rumba and Cha-Cha.
Now that Freestyles is over, Michael, our instructor, is ready to move us up into Bronze II. Bronze II is a whole new level. We won't just be learning new steps, though we'll learn that too, but we'll learn to actually dance our dances to a new level.
This means.. well, I shall give two examples...
Example the First: Cuban Motion. If you've ever watched any real dancer perform a latin dance, they're whole lower body just moves and grooves. This is especially prevalent in the hip area. This is called Cuban Motion. It is NOT easy, but it is one of the things we're going to work to learn.
Example the Second: Rise and Fall. Ever watch a Waltz? One of those old time movies where the actor and actress are glacefully waltzing around a floor probably works too. Most of them dip and rise as they dance. This is part of waltz and it's called Rise and Fall. The trick is to fall, lowering yourself down on your knees for most of the step and rising up at the end of the step, up to your tip-toes. We've done.. some of this, but again, we're taking this to the next level.
I am quite excited about this. Quite excited because as of the lesson we just had, a review lesson to make sure we knew the steps we needed to know to pass our exit exam (they don't just say "OK, you've gone through 70 lessons, off to Bronze 2 you go." You have to EARN it! And you do this by proving you know what they've taught you.
Alot of this stuff we've been doing for months. Since around the wedding.
Things we need to prove we can do (more for me than for you)
Foxtrot - Magic Step Forward, Magic Left Turn, Promenade
Waltz - Basic Box step, Underarm turn, Promenade Hesitation
Tango - Basic Step, Tango Rocks, Medea Corte
Rumba - Basic Step, Fifth Position Breaks, Cuban Walks (not the Open Walks, the closed ones.)
Cha-Cha - Cha-Cha Basic, Crossovers, Underarm Turn Left
Swing - Basic Swing Step, Underarm Turn, Points and Walks
Club Swing - Basic Step, Underarm Turn Left, Men's Underarm Turn (just learned this today! Heheheh!)
The plan is... Michael's going to call us this week and tell us when we can have the next lesson. The next lesson is special, because either Steve or Jessie will be watching us. (Personally, I'd prefer Jessie. For alot of reasons. )
It will be up to Steve or Jessie to decide when we can check out. If he or she thinks we need a couple of lessons in order to do it, or if the next one could be checkout.
Then we go through that number of lessons (Personally, having just gotten out of review, I doubt we'll need review. We got this!) and check out!
Michael said and I agree.. that we'll probably check out pretty quickly!
And then to learn a boatload of new stuff! Which is both exciting and a little scary! :)
