Dance Class: Syncopated Hustle

Since The One and I decided that we were too exhausted to attend the Beginner Cha Cha class last week, we ended up attending a Syncopated Hustle class tonight. We have a calendar that lists all of the classes and breaks them into categories: "S" for social dancers or "C" for competitive dances, and then some classes say "S/C" for both.

Obviously, we are staying away from all of the classes that have the competitive classification and are sticking with the social dancers classes. So, when we were picking a class to attend instead of the one last week, I was looking at the options to make sure we did not take any of the competitive dancer classes; however, I failed to notice that it did not say Beginner Syncopated Hustle.

Oops.

We knew we were in trouble when every single person on the dance floor (except for us, obviously) had on actual dance shoes! I'm pretty sure that the class was taught by the owner of the studio, as well. I'm not 100% sure of that, but I certainly got that impression.

He started out by explaining the dance a little and comparing it to the regular Hustle (which was one of the dances that we covered last week, but really didn't catch on to). He then gave us instruction for the basic step, and had us practice. The One and I were across from each other, so we got paired together right away. That turned out being a really good thing, because neither one of us really caught on to the basic step. So it took us several minutes to just figure out the first four moves we were supposed to be doing with our feet.

Since we were obviously so clueless, and everyone else obviously knew what they were doing, we opted to stand off to the side and not join in on the partner changing during this class. I could tell that the instructor wasn't too thrilled that we did that, but I really wasn't comfortable trying to do the dance with someone else. The One and I were able to muddle through with each other and be patient with each other as we both tried to figure out how we were supposed to be moving. Last time, we both ended up feeling like we didn't have the chance to really concentrate on the steps and get them down when we were with partners that already knew them. They just wanted to do the dance and not wait for us to figure it out. So, we both felt like we ended up just going through the motions of the moves without really learning the steps.

The instructor kept having us add more and more things to the dance. He started with the steps, and then added the arm movements, and then told us to pay attention to all sorts of other things, like pointing our toes, etc. I know that the experienced dancers who already knew the steps need that kind of instruction, but all it did was frustrate and overwhelm me. I was barely able to remember the steps, and needed to concentrate on that one thing until it became second nature. Then I would have been able to move on. Instead, I was trying to do everything he told us to do, and my focus was all over the place. I doubt I could even remember the basic steps now, two hours later.

He then went on to teach us an alternative move, and we really struggled with that as well. We practiced it quite a bit, but never really got comfortable with it.

I'm not sure how The One felt about the class, but I know that I left feeling extremely frustrated. I think that the class was a bit over our heads, and we certainly need to stick with the beginner classes! We were discussing how much better it would be if they did a class series. Where you took the class for several weeks and on day one they started out with the basic step and progressed from there, and everyone was on the same page. I don't know how they ever get anywhere when they start out every class with the basic step because there are always total newbies in the class that have never done the dance before.

Tomorrow night we are attending a Beginner Rumba/Tango class. The Rumba is the dance that we have been learning in our private lesson, so I am extremely interested to see how we feel about the class. I keep saying that I think the group classes would be so much better if we already knew all the basic steps. Then we could practice and get experience with different partners, etc. So, I'm anxious to test out my theory. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.