janestarz | Private dancing lesson

In preparation for our first contest, Bernie and I booked a private dancing lesson on Sunday afternoon. I had no idea what to expect, but the extra hour on the floor would never go amiss.

Wim started a Quickstep and we did a quick spin around the floor. We knew a few good moves, but Wim wanted to string some of them together in an "amalgamation". I've been trying very hard to learn the names of everything, but it was still hard to understand the string of dancing terms he threw our way. The whole figure was also known as the "horseshoe", and it consisted of an underturn spin turn, a chassé, followed by a left turn that has a fancier name, and a chassé-lockstep. When we danced through that a couple of times, we went on to the "running finish".
That's just a fancy name for cutting corners.

I always love it when I'm paired up with a man that can lead well, and it keeps surprising me how easy my steps become. Wim grabbed me to show several varieties of the running finish, some of which I knew from YouTube or Assen. I had no trouble dancing them with him, but don't ask me to show you, because I wouldn't for the life of me know the steps.

The running finish we learned was the most basic one, but it was hard to get the steps right. It might have something to do with my top, which opens just as soon as we come out of the turn. We still need to work on that for a bit.
Next to some very important poise techniques and dancing with a coaster wedged between our bodies to learn how to stay close, that was our lesson.

We had said we'd go out for a bite to eat, and Bernie insisted on eating in style. He took me to Gasterij Krabbendam, which was fancy as pie. The amuse we were offered was of wild boar with red beet foam and... all I could think of when I saw it, was "rosbief with pesto and ketchup". It wasn't, and it was very good.
We had carpaccio and deer, while Bernie drank a glass of wine. It was all very fancy, and we had a good time. Despite my earlier attempts to tell him off, he still compliments me on my looks, my jewelry, etc. and likes to tease me. I try to teach him it's not a good idea.
Also, when I drove us back to the dance school, I might have abused his car a bit. But he had been drinking, so he had it coming. I'm not used to such a large vehicle. And I'm used to driving a stick.

After dinner it was time for our regular dancing lesson, which was a continuation of the private lesson earlier. The other two couples in our class were on holiday, so we had the teacher to ourselves again. We continued with the Slow Waltz. We learned what I call a stretching start, which makes you fly off into the dance, and that momentum doesn't stop. No amalgamations in the Slow Waltz yet, but some very good tips about our poise and steps. A good poise makes all the steps easier.
There was time to dance a few Tango's too, but the lesson was soon over. There might be time for another hour or two before our competition on January 5th, but Wim's a horror when it comes to booking a slot in his agenda.

Yesterday I could hardly walk. I didn't know you could have sore ankle muscles from dancing.