You'll Look Sweet...

He Goes:

In the last post we briefly brushed up against (and then quickly apologised to) the good old Tandem Charleston. Short of aerials I think the Tandem Charleston (or Back Charleston, or Shadow Charleston) is probably one of the most exciting moves to watch, and also great fun to do (which you'd think would go hand in hand, but it isn't always the case).

It's also, for some people, super-terrifying.

Maybe it's all the flailing legs. Jig-walks (or kick-the-dog, or whatever you call it) are probably more dangerous - after all, during that move the lead and follow are actually kicking towards each other rather than in the same direction at the same time. But when you're facing your partner you can at least both look down at your feet to comfort yourself that they're where you left them. Maybe it's the fact that the lead is, for once, 100% physical. A follow literally can't tell what their lead wants them to do by looking - for most moves, of course, they shouldn't need to, but in the Tandem they don't even have the option.

As a lead, obviously I try not to lead people into the Tandem Charleston if I don't think they are familiar with it, but occasionally it happens that someone is a solid dancer but still not used to dancing the Tandem socially (alternatively, they may be pretty confident with the move itself but not too sure that I'm competent enough!) and I only discover that once they've been led into position. The good news is that when I find myself in this position, my follow's feelings are not hard to interpret, because they almost always express it in the same way: clinging on for dear life. I have yet to find a graceful way of aborting a Tandem Charleston in the early stage, but rock-stepping my follow and then letting them turn out seems to be okay.

Even when a Tandem Charleston starts off well, it seems to be able to go slightly wrong in so many ways. If you switch directions with a windmill there's a possibility of painful contact and getting out of time if either the follow or the lead forgets their back-kick. When the lead is in front it appears to be especially terrifying for the follow - I guess because in general leads are taller than follows and not as used to restraining their rock-steps and back-kicks.

But it's worth all the terror! For me this is the one where a focus on technique pays off the most. The way I've been taught to Tandem Charleston is with a good deal of space between the two dancers - a tricky proposition, I'll admit, if the lead is shorter than the follow, but still do-able. I find if I consider space first of all, everything else seems easy to get right:

• With a decent space between me and my follow, there's no chance of sleaziness.
• There's far less chance of accidental kicking, and
• I can choose whether to kick inline with my follow or slightly outside them
• It's super-easy to turn my follow out into an open position
• My posture is nice and low because I literally cannot stand up if I hope to make my hands available for my follow to rest hers on.

...your mileage may vary, of course, but it seems to me that that's a pretty good payoff for just making sure there's some clear air between the two of us.

In summary: Tandem Charleston may be nervewracking, but it's also great! It's full of energy, it's got a ton of great entries and exits, and it looks amazing. Dance it! You'll soon get over your fear!

...of course, then you'll get onto the next problem: trying to prevent your follows from always exiting with a frog-jump, but....

(From "The Devil's Panties", image copyright Jennie Breeden and Obby, 2012)

 

She Goes:

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Ahh, the Tandem Charleston. (TC from here) Keith’s had a pretty thorough shot at this so I’m just going to muse/ramble over this badass looking step.

When I first saw people doing this on a dance floor I thought it looked so flippin’ cool I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I dubbed it Swimming Charleston in my head! But I do tend to give certain moves different names (don’t we all, ladies?)… Kicky legs, betty boop, snuggle up…

But the TC. Having never had a lesson on it, when I was led into it for the first time I was terrified! One minute I could see my lead, I wasn’t familiar with what was being led but I was game… the next minute they were nowhere to be seen and I felt like I was flailing around blind and panicking! Distressing. I don’t like not knowing what’s happening and I like it even less when social dancing.

However, now I relish the lead signal that it’s about to happen, it’s almost like a little confirmation of my learning. If all else fails, I know when we’re going into a TC! That slight pull of my right hand and seeing you place that hand in your right hand. Just thinking about it makes me want to do it. Maybe I need to get out more. Anyhoo!

As Keith said, it’s a hard move to abort once you’ve started leading it, without just plain stopping. I always really appreciate it when my lead asks me if I can do it and if I’m comfortable doing it. Yes, there are some leads who talk to their leads about the moves! Controversial I know, but I’m a big fan of it. After all, we’re already communicating through the medium of dance aren’t we? And surely it's a logical idea? C'mon leads, ask your follows! It's not like you're asking to do something kinky! (I'm assuming you're asking mid social dance when I say that!) That way you can be sure of leading a move they know. Win win? I think so. Leads get to lead like a boss, (and not be like, 'did I lead that poorly? I hope they don't think I'm a crap lead!') and follows can follow like a boss, (and not be like, 'oooooohhh nooo i don't know what's happening, where did they go, what am I doing, I hope they don't think I'm a crap follow!')...

Once we’re in the TC, I still get mild anxiety about how the move will be finished… Are you going to push me out, kick away and pull me back a few times? Or will it be a butterfly lifting of the arms and a turn out? Perhaps we’ll do some windmills? Eggbeater? (I didn’t make those last two up, by the way) However you decide to lead me out, I thank you for your patience in advance. And yes, I'd love a second dance.

She Hears:

A bonus feature this week - a swinging playlist by Spoon. Get it inside your ears!: 
http://8tracks.com/smallspoonful/slim-paper-sisters