Cha-cha-cha

[icepixie]

Well, the shower called, but Ruebin's "help yourself to my extra birthday cake" sign in the third floor lounge called louder. Mmmm, caaaaaake... *eats cake, takes shower*

We learned a fabulous, long, relatively simple (i.e. I can do it! And it's bronze syllabus!) cha-cha combo at ballroom tonight. The reverse turn is tricky to do at that speed, but other than that I can actally do it all. Excellent. Unfortunately, the great breakthrough I made in my cha technique last semester has completely deserted me and I'm back to doing it my old crappy way. Sigh.

We also went over the tango fan (which I always want to call the butterfly--I guess because the couple doing it makes sort of a butterfly shape. They're side by side, both facing out, and the lead has his right arm raised/out, while the follow has her right arm in that position). Good stuff.



School and Year you graduated

Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School, class of 2002. One of those special ones you had to be decently intelligent to get into, and which prided itself on giving you enough work to kill a horse. We were the HFA knights and lady knights. And now my college is the Kenyon Lords and Ladies. I'm sensing a theme. The pep rallies sucked and were held in the auditorium 'cause our gym was basically nonexistent. The only good one was when Amy dressed up as a giant bumble bee when the basketball(?) team was about go up against the Springfield Yellowjackets or Hornets or something and then got swatted. (Not good that it was Amy, 'cause she was cool, but it was pretty funny.)


Number of people in your graduating class

Hmmm...150? 180? It was under 200.


Nickname in high school?

Uh...none...


Sport you were into?

*cackles*


Had a circle of friends?

Yep. I don't think we really categorized ourselves, except maybe as "those geeks who eat lunch on the back side of third floor odd side." We were all into sci-fi to varying degrees, though, and most of us were some of the "smart" kids. There was fiara, of course, and Brittney, Meg, Emily, Chuck, Orion, Anat, Courtney, Rylan, occasionally Kelsey...


Best subject?

Creative Writing, (AP) English, various histories (AP US, AP Euro, World, Gov't), AP Econ, various levels of Spanish thorugh AP. Humanities and social sciences, basically.


Worst subject?

"Algebra 1+" as they called it (for those of us who took it in eighth grade but failed the credit test), but that was mainly because I didn't wear short enough skirts or low enough tops. (Yes, that guy did eventually get fired.) Chem and Physics were also bad, bad, bad. Although even so, I think the lowest grade I ever made on a report card was an 85, which is the lowest B you can get in Metro-Nashville...


A teacher you owe life lessons to?

Mr. Brown, for making me a much, much better writer. Mrs. Robinson, even though she was nuts, because now I know insane amounts of European History. (That's not really a life lesson, is it? Ah, well.)


Describe in one word...

Freshman (year 9): easy
Sophmore (year 10): amusing
Junior (year 11): WORK
Senior (year 12): more WORK but also more fun (so it's not one word; sue me)


Your best friend was?

fiara


Worst friend?

Er...don't think I had one...


Cafeteria food sucked?

I got through high school without ever buying a school lunch. However, the tater tots and fried okra (yes, fried okra) I swiped off of other people's trays weren't bad.


Wore uniforms?

Good God, no.


How was the prom?

The food was good... (I didn't have a date, BTW. Brittney and I were sort of each other's "dates," but not really. Our school had a 3:1 girl/guy ratio, so a lot of girls went with other girls or something.)


Who were the prom king and queen?

I haven't a clue.


Any achievements?

Um. Lots of awards on senior honors day (creative writing, English), National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society...some Writers' Showcase stuff (money!)...got a poem published in an anthology about girls that gave me a hundred bucks, which was nice... I was your typical overachieving brat.


Were you popular?

*snicker*


Song that reminds you of high school

Hmmm. Nope, not really.

Comments

I spotted another fellow dancer

[captain-ice.livejournal.com]

Kewl.

So, where do you go to dance? And where are you from?

This makes me wantr to go put on my Indigo Swing CD's

Re: I spotted another fellow dancer

[icepixie]

So, where do you go to dance?

The dance studio and "ballroom" at my college. ;) Our coach, Igor Ishkahov from Columbus Dancesport Academy, comes every week or two for two hours, but other than that we have more experienced members teaching. I did a lot of competitions last year (Cornell, Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue) and Collegiate Nationals last semester. I placed a few times in newcomer my first semester last year, but then I timed out into bronze and it all went to hell. ;) Now I just do it for fun because I don't have time to compete, unfortunately. Too much homework.

And where are you from?

I'm from Nashville, where apparently this year's Ohio Star Ball Smooth champions are from. Pretty cool.

Do you do all the dances, or just some? What's your favorite?

Re: I spotted another fellow dancer

[captain-ice.livejournal.com]

I do:

Lindy
East Coast Swing
Texas Two Step
Salsa
Cha-Cha

My favorite is either the salsa or the east coast swing.

You, Shipper?

Re: I spotted another fellow dancer

[icepixie]

I can do all the competitive dances with proficiency that varies betwen "I know two steps" to "I know most of the bronze syllabus," so that would be:

International Standard (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Quickstep)
American Smooth (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz)
American Rhythm (Cha-cha, Rumba, Mambo, ("East Coast") Swing; I have yet to learn Bolero)
International Latin (Cha-Cha, Rumba, Jive, Samba, Paso Doble)

Plus Hustle, Salsa, and a tiny bit of West Coast Swing. At the Notre Dame competition last year, I told a guy I would fake something called "Nightclub Two Step" with him, and he taught me about three steps five minutes before the music came on. Somehow, we came in seventh of twenty-ish. I was shocked.

I think my favorites are Waltz, American Foxtrot, Am. Swing, and International Rumba.

Not that I'm really any good at any of these, mind you. ;)

Damnit

[captain-ice.livejournal.com]

I knew I forgot a couple. I do the waltz and the tango too.

Re: Damnit

[icepixie]

Mmmm, waltz. Do you do American or International Tango? If they don't do both, I think most people do American--the "T-A-N-G-O" one. (That's how we learned it, anyway--"if you can spell it, you can dance it.")

[captain-ice.livejournal.com]

Argentine

You?

Re:

[icepixie]

I've seen Argentine done before, but I don't know how to do it. I can follow International, and do a couple steps on my own. I'm much better at American.