Storm weekender class reviews

15th March 2011

Introduction

So, for a change, I decided to attend a Ceroc weekender, "Storm", over the weekend from the 11th to 14th March 2011.

Ceroc weekenders are very different from the normal Tango weekenders, both in scale and in format. There are typically a lot of people there - 1,500 or so is normal. They're usually in a Pontins (either Camber, Brean Sands or Southport), so the accommodation is usually quite basic. And they tend to have a lot of classes, which tend to have a lot of attendees in - it's not uncommon to have 200+ people in a class. And they actually employ people to manage the "move partners around" stage. Which, frankly, is not a bad idea for Tango classes also.

But if you're used to the more small-scale, "gentile" Tango weekenders, with a single dance hall, 100-150 attendees, and finding your own accommodation, then this is... different.

The venue

It's a Pontins. Don't expect the lap of luxury. My chalet was "Classic" (mid-range), and was generally fit for purpose, as long as the purpose was limited to "somewhere to sleep and shower"...

Camber itself is a nice place, and the local beach is gorgeous, well worth a stroll over if the weather's nice. Here endeth the travel brochure :)

So, the classes...

Class 1: Zumba

Well, hell, what else are you going to do on a Saturday morning, with the seagulls chorussing outside and sun streaming through the "curtains"?

One good thing about the classes was that there were lots of options: Ceroc, of course, but other dance styles too.

So, I though I'd try my first Zumba class. At 9:30am. Me, two other guys and 50-odd women, which put the average dance class gender differential into a whole new perspective...

It was, well, quite energetic. The routine leader was on stage - no mike, simply demonstrating movements to the music as in a standard exercise class.

Basically, Zumba is a dancercise class (more specifically, a salsercise / sambacise class with some other movements thrown in).

It was fun, it woke me up nicely, and it meant I felt I'd earned my lovely cooked brekkie. But frankly I wouldn't rush to go to it, it's simply another exercise class, this year's spin classes. You certainly won't learn anything from the class that'd help you dance. In other words, don't believe the hype, Zumba has no place within dance, any more than any other aerobics class.

That said, I'm glad it was offered as part of the weekender, and I enjoyed the class, but I'd not pay money to go to it.

Class 2: Dance Psychology ("Mind Games")

Teacher: Leanne Lowish

Lady: "So how long have you been doing dancing then?"
Me: "Oh... a while"
Lady: "How long's "a while"?"
Me: "Ummm, about 18 years"
Lady: "And you're doing this class? You must really have issues..."
Me: "No, really, I thought it'd be interesting, the stuff she was saying about-"
Lady: "Seriously, maybe go see her after class? You may need some private counselling..." (said in a pitying sympathetic tone with a pat on the shoulder)
Me (meekly): "Umm. OK."

Ahem.

So, that exchange (fortunately at the end of the class, not the start) aside, I found this class very interesting.

Leanne talked about the psychology of asking for and accepting / rejecting a dance, and relating it to the dreaded "school social" (or school disco), where all the boys would be paranoid about being refused a dance from the girl they plucked up the courage to ask.

She talked about the emotional and physiological reactions we encounter in a group situation, and she got us to sit in groups talking about topics to each other. There was no dancing involved, it was all about talking about the scenarios of dance, and providing some ideas for coping with those scenarios.

There were a couple of interesting key points which I picked up:

  • Other people generally read you more than you think they do; you may think you're "masking", but your feelings and attitude to tend to give you away. I've found this especially true within Tango - when I'm dancing with a partner, our moods are so quickly communicated to each other. I guess that's why they call it "connection", of course. But it's worth bearing in mind during a dance - you can't just "dance on autopilot", because your partner will pick that attitude up from you.
  • We all judge ourselves by our intention, but just others by their actions. The classic example is the different perceptions of a group of friends at a dance venue. If you're within this group, then it's just a group of friends chatting and dancing. If you're outside this group, it's an elite, exclusive, nasty clique. It's all about perception.

Overall, I found the whole topic interesting, especially seeing how the social mores and stresses compare to similar situations within Tango. There's a very good reason for the ethos of the cabaceo, for example, which is simply to allow strangers to ask for, accept, and reject dances, without ever risking any public humiliation of rejection, or any acceptance of an unwanted invitation.

Whilst I don't think this will help my enjoyment of dancing (my "issues" notwithstanding!), I think some of this will be very helpful to me when I'm talking about social dancing, because it gives some good perspective, and it also gave me some food for thought about the comparative values of different methods within the two dance forms.

I also realised that, at a Ceroc weekender, I was using the Tango methods to ask for dances, and it really wasn't working well. After that, I changed to using the Ceroc methods, and things were fine. In other words, when in Rome...

Class 3: Beginners Argentine Tango

Teachers: Marc Forster and Rachel Pears

Marc (to class): "In Tango, remember, you always dance heart to heart."
[silence from class]
Marc: "Huh. Normally we get a big Ahhh from classes when we say that..."

This was a massive class, I mean, it was massive. 250+ people. 5 rows, and it filled the entire main room of the venue.

Because the class was so large, it had to be taught as a routine, and within rows, rather than in the round - and so was necessarily quite limited, and Marc said as much.

However, there was a lot of good technique taught within the routine, and Marc and Rachel complimented this with a recap session later in the evening, where they deconstructed the moves taught oin the routine to those who were interested.

So, the routine included

  • A cross
  • Back ochos
  • Walking
  • Sidesteps
  • Rocksteps
  • A planeo to finish off

So they packed a lot of stuff into a 1-hour class.

A few good tips for me:

  • When leading a cross, it might be worth exploring the idea of the man mirroring the cross movement with his ight foot crossing behind his left
  • Leading a group is a good exercise
  • When doing ochos, if you over step you overbalance, that's one reason why people often change weight when they're doing an ocho - the double-tap

In the few dances I had after the class, it was weird to me to note that, whilst my partners were happy to be led into back ochos (relatively difficult), but simply wouldn't take forward ochos (easier). It just goes to show that, for a lot of people, even within Tango, you need to know that you're "allowed" to do a move before you do it - my partners were actually resisting my lead because they assumed it was wrong to step forwards.

Also, I noticed that the students were very happy with the planeo movement - they found it easy to do - but they couldn't handle the calesita (carousel) version of this movement - as the outstretched leg in the planeo made it easier to balance on.

Class 4: Intermediate tango masterclass

Teachers: Marc Forster and Rachel Pears

Marc (to class): "So, can you all see how this position looks like a First Move?"
[silence from class]
Marc: "Well, it does. Trust me, I'm a Ceroc teacher, I know this stuff"

The "masterclass" format is a number-limited class (typically a maximum of 15 couples), it's done in fixed-partners, it's gender-balanced, and there's an additional cost of £5 per person.

This class included technique for walking, a couple of movements, and a decorative ending.

The movements were:

  • Walking turn to the right hand side clockwise - this one was very useful to me as I'd forgotten that to do an anti-clockwise walking turn, I needed to walk on the right hand side of my partner (her left hand side)
  • An "arana" movement from a walk. Again a nice way to get into this movement; I'd usually been doing this from a back ocho, but I think it may be better from a walk, space permitting of course.

So, I got a couple of "lightbulb" moments for me from that class, and therefore it was definitely well worth attending.

As was the whole weekend.

~ David Bailey, 15th March 2011