02/02/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Half Turn

Class #010
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 02/02/2016

We didn't make it last week, but wanted to make sure we got there tonight as we're likely to miss next week too. It's moved downstairs due to work going on: I think I prefer it downstairs. It isn't quite as noisy and I get a better view of the teacher's feet, which is really key to work out what she's demonstrating. Shame it has to move back upstairs, although downstairs does have the disadvantage of a cold draft whenever somebody opens the door.

After going through the usual warm-up (I tend to mostly ignore those, as it isn't salsa and my brain can only fit in so much ;D) and basic steps (mambo, going forwards and backwards; rumba, side to side; 't-step', stepping out and back; back step), it was time for the hard bit. Today, that was the half turn. Which I didn't get at all. It's fine when you see the teacher demonstrate, you follow, all good. But as soon as you try to do it with a partner, everything goes out the window. So that was meh.

The next part was much easier, completely forgetting about the half turn stuff. After a mambo, the leader lets go with their left hand, steps back and pushes forward with their right arm. That tells the follower to step back. The leader then pulls their arm to the side, to spin the follower in close. You can vary this, either going by the follower's hip, their shoulder, or grabbing both hands and swivelling them (possibly makes the turn easier, as you can control it all the way through).

The leader and follower are now next to each other, facing forward. The leader steps back on their right, the follower on their left. The leader then pushes their right arm forwards again, to spin the follower back out, then to finish the leader does a mambo. If I've remembered that right, which is a big if. I need to start getting back into the habit of doing videos to record myself so I don't forget, but I might wait until it gets quieter. If it ever gets quieter: classes are still really busy.