"Dancing Tid-bits" Issue #105, Thursday, June 6, 2002


Dancing Tid-bits
Paso Doble, Part III

I start this Tid-bits with sharing the immense grief with you on the news of the demise of Mr. Walter Laird. I find it hard to believe and wish that it was not true!

I had so many comments on the interpretation of Espana Cani, that it is difficult to mention them all here. However there is one that I particularly like and the way it was formatted by Edward Toh makes a lot of sense. I will work on it and present it sometime in the future.

Few weeks ago, someone asked for a Gold Level Choreography in Paso. It just happened that recently I prepared a Paso routine for a Showcase presentation at our studio and therefore we had to come up with a choreographed routine in a hurry. So, Pam and I put some Syllabus Figures together and it really came out quite nicely.

In Tid-bits #104, last week I suggested a Bronze routine comprising of 11 phrases (11x 8 = 88 Beats) of Music (Espana Cani). There was a Highlight on 87th beat, in other words on the 7th beat of 11th phrase. I would say again that this is not a perfect musical interpretation but has worked well for me, keeping it simple by counting straight 8s.

So then, now we have finished 88 beats and now enter the second phase of Espana Cani. We have 9 phrases or let's say we have 72 beats in the second section. I suggest the following Gold Level Figures put together in sequence and it really worked well for us.

8 beats: Collect after the first highlight and short chasses to right. 8+8+8+4 beats: Fregolina (Including Farol), ISTD old manual 4 beats: Continue with Chasse to Rt. 8 beats: Traveling Spins in PP starting with Appel on 1, end in PP 8+8+8 beats: Chasse Cape. The first 2 beats here are used as a Chair Line, Men, RF forward and across in PP, count 1. Transfer weight back to LF, stay in PP, count &. Close RF to LF without weight in PP, count 2 and now start the syllabus figure of Chasse Cape as in ISTD "old manual", as if you have done an Appel on 1 and gone to PP on 2 LF, ready to start with RF. The Highlight will come on the 5th beat of the last phrase here. Stay put for 678 and then collect lady with her turn on the next phrase, starting the 3rd section of Espana Cani.

This is just a suggestion and may not be perfect but it has worked well for me to teach Novice and Intermediate students. With Best Wishes, Max


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