Tonight was dance night. I have been taking ballroom dance lessons for over 5 years and I really do enjoy it. My problem tonight is that my instructor is trying to get me through the upcoming graduation. I have twelve dances that I work on and I am trying to graduate out of the Intermediate Siler II level in my secondary dances. I have 6 primary dances--waltz, foxtrot, tango, rhumba, east coast swing, and cha cha. My 6 secondary dances are west coast swing, bolero, Viennese waltz, quickstep, samba, and mambo. I happened to prefer the smooth dances over the rhythm (or latin dances). My favorites tend to be waltz and foxtrot, although I really enjoy Viennese waltz and quickstep.

Back to the checkout--we were working on the west coast patterns and I was just having all kinds of problems remembering the steps. I always dread the checkout part. You have to walk through the steps by yourself without a partner. All the women say it must be easier for us men because we have to lead the pattern all the time, so walking through it should be a piece of cake. The reality is that when you are used to the woman being there and you use the woman's location as a key to know what to do. When I walk through the pattern, I have a hard time pretending a woman is in the empty spot and I don't have her weight or her motion to help me continue through the step. When you are so used to a connection with a partner, it is hard to dance without that connection. In the end, I still need to practice the balboa kicks, but I think I know the steps.

I managed to get thought the samba steps without too much difficulty and the struggles with west coast took more time than I would have liked, but I did get to dance a couple of waltzes and I even managed to get through a couple of Viennese waltz steps. I would have liked to have gotten to quickstep, though. I feel like we have been ignoring quickstep and I am uncomfortable with that. Part of the problem is that quickstep is an advanced dance and most people don't have it on their program. What that means is during the lesson, quickstep music is not played often. You can sometimes dance quickstep to an east coast swing, but if everyone is dancing on the edge of the floor instead of moving to the center like they are supposed to, then it is still very difficult. I can't concentrate on the steps if I am constantly maneuvering around other people. I know I shouldn't complain so much, but it is still frustrating.

The graduation ceremony is the first Friday in November so I have until then to get these things in order or I have to wait until Spring. My instructor will deinitely not be happy if I wait until Spring.