fling challenge time & venue

I had planned on dancing my fling to a closed audience on Thursday evening but after receiving a number of phone calls & emails asking about attending the challenge I have made new arrangements.

I will be dancing my fling shortly after 8.45 pm this Thursday at the Mayfield Sports Centre (Arbroath Road, Dundee, DD4 7HS) in one of the dance studios.

The studio is in use until 8.40 pm and is not huge and I am not planning on performing my fling more than once - so if you intend to come and watch please do not be late.

Footnote: Outdoor shoes are not permitted in the dance studio and will have to be removed and left at the door

only 2 nights to go

had a good run through this morning

feeling pretty good now - looking forward to Thursday

Weekend practices

Practices went well at the weekend - I could have done with fitting in a few more but I was busy with other things.

I still think that I am in good shape for Thursday.

last weekend of practice

Well, I'll be heading home from work soon and then up to the studio later - I only hope that it is warmer than last night.

I am still not too great on warm ups (never was and those of you that know me will know what I mean) and I'm not too keen on trying a 'frozen forty'

I'll let you know how I get on - if it's not too bad then I might try another short fling for the video again (but then again I might not)

teaser 260309 script

This fling is my interpretation of a fling listed by D R McKenzie.

1. Flinging
bar 1 fling R
bar 2 fling L
bar 3 fling R
bar 4 turn R whilst flinging L

2. backstep
bar 1 hop & point R in 2, hop take R to3RA, hop & point R in 4IA, hop & take R to 3A
bar 2 dance 1 backstep, hop & hold L in 3A, dance 1 BS, hop & hold R in 3A

3. toe & heel
bar 1 fling R
bar 2 dance toe and heel L,R
bar 3 as bar 2
bar 4 turn R whilst flinging L
bar 5 fling L
bar 6 2 toe & heels R
bar 7 2 toe & heels L
bar 8 turn L whilst flinging R

4. Shake
Bar 1 hop & point R in 2, hop take R to 3RA, hop point R in 3, hop extend R to 4IA
Bar 2 turn R whilst flinging L

5. Shake
Bar 1 hop & point R in 2, hop take R to 3RA, hop point R in 3, hop extend R to 4IA
Bar 2 dance 4 rocks (hornpipe style)

6. Crossover
bar 1 fling R
bar 2 hop & point R in 2, hop & ext R to 4IA, jump onto R, hop & point L in 3

7. Shake
Bar 1 hop & point R in 2, hop take R to 3RA, hop point R in 3, hop extend R to 4IA
Bar 2 dance 4 rocks

8. last step
Bars 1 - 3 fling R R R
bar 4 turn R whilst flinging L

I hope that you can understand my shorthand (which uses some of the narrations and terminology from some of the booksthat I have researched)

It's cold tonight

Further to my post this morning it got cold!

The studio is near freezing and my feet are numb but I decided to blast through a quick 8 step fling.

I will post up the scripts in the morning.

teaser 260309

a quick 8 steps in a cold studio on a cold Spring night

Early morning sessions continuing

I am please to say that I am managing to keep up with my planned early morning practice sessions.

It is a beautiful day today and it was great to be dancing whilst watching and listening to the birds in the garden.

I have a busy night planned and so will not be teaching any new steps at the class tonight - lots to do and not enough time to fit it all in.

intensified practice schedule

I have now intensified my practice schedule by adding a morning session.

It's amazing how a quick 40 steps first thing in the morning helps wake you up - more refreshing than a cold shower on a frosty spring morning!

I plan to keep up the momentum all the way till the 2nd - will update the blog between sessions if I have time.

9 days to go

Only 9 days to go but now I am definitely on target (I think).

Did not manage any dancing over the weekend as I was in Glasgow on Saturday and at the United Kingdom Championships in Meadowbank on Sunday and so I was a bit concerned that my fitness level may have dropped.

However, I had a good run through last night and all seems well.

I am now keen to run through my practice regime at least twice a day every day from now until next Thursday - stamina, memory and technique all in my mind.

Steps update

I have now finalised the steps that I will (well, I am hoping to) be dancing in my challenge.

If I put the steps in categories then I get:

- 12 backstepping steps

- 8 toe and heel steps

- 10 shake or rock steps

- 5 crossover steps

and a few others.

Still working on committing them to memory . . .

Teaching update

I taught about half of the backstepping steps at the class last night - the dancers did pretty well.

Some of the steps were pretty basic but there were a couple of more complicated ones.

Once we had been over the a few times we tried dancing to music. Slow music initially but as this seemed to be too easy I put on the music I am dancing my challenge fling to - this was certainly more exciting.

I videoed some of the dancing and hope to put up some footage tonight.

Practice improvement

Well, I have thrashed myself through several sessions since my last posting and at long last seem to have got back on track.

I have sorted out the start, pretty much figured out the steps (still working on committing them to memory though) and stamina is building.

Picked up a few new aches, pains, sores & strains though - but not to worry.

I will be teaching some of the steps at class tonight and will post some video footage but I have still to decide what tempo to use - do I let them off lightly and go with competition tempo? or do I push them . . . . .

Practice update

Practice sessions since my last post have not been too great.

- hit a mind block over the steps

- got a twinge in my left leg

- still struggling with the start

I held off updating till things improved - but no joy yet!

Mindful that I have only 16 days left to practice this is not so good.

I will be thrashing through another session tonight - hopefully a bit improved on recent ones.

Blog later . . . .

Fling - different steps

I was asked am I planning to dance 40 different steps in the fling? and are there really 40 different steps?

Well, yes - I am planning to dance 40 different steps and am trying to avoid those currently danced in SOBHD competitions (but I will be dancing the 1st step).

And there are loads of old steps (Fling & other dances). I do intend to post various steps after my challenge - so keep watching ...

some more scripts

steps from 'needing to practice'

backstep

bar 1: spread, ass RF, spread, ass LF

bar 2: spread, ass RF, spread, ass RF

bar 3: 4 backsteps

bar 4: turn

another backstep

bar 1: shed RF then round the leg to 3RA (1 2 3 4&)

bar 2: hop LF ext RF 4IA, spring RF take LF 3RA, 2 BS

bar 3: dance bar 2 on LF

bar 4: turn

needing to practice

need to learn my steps

false start

take 1...take 2 ... take ... well take a few!

need a bit more practice!

Had a good session last night but the results were a bit variable.

I seem to have lost the timing of the intro, then hen I found it, forgot my steps! But on the plus side I did get a good work out and got the video from a new angle.

I eventually managed a few steps and have uploaded a couple of clips.

Making progress

Made good progress with my practice sessions at the weekend - did not manage to record any new video footage but will try to get some done this week.

I was at a dancing comp on Sunday and lost count of how many people came up to me offering best wishes and to say that they are following the blog and my video progress - this was very encouraging (but also reminded me of the task ahead!)

I will try to keep the blog up to date.