This past Monday was our first class teaching the Cha Cha and Swing Jitterbug at Ali'iolani CSA. Traffic was a bit heavy heading towards Kaimuki from East Honolulu but Lani and I got to our destination with 15 minutes to spare before start time. As the students trickled in, Lani checked their names on the student attendance roster while I got the audio equipment booted up. Most of the students were new faces..a few from Nick's Absolute Beginners Class...and a good number of returnees. After the orientation...DOE school rules on what is permissible, safety concerns, and "you cannot do" stuff, Lani and I covered the basic components of the Cha Cha. Three minutes of Cha Cha Aerobics followed just to get the students' footwork in rhythm with the music. I'm going to fastforward here 'cause all you dancers know the beginners drill. With the tempo on "Manzanillo", and "Place In My Heart" the students were dancing the Side Basics, Progressive Basics, Crossover Breaks, and Ladies Underarm Turns. Lani added some styling to the Cha Cha which the girls picked up, and of course my job was to teach the guys how to lead the girls into different patterns with Latin flavor. Not too bad for the first session.
The second hour turned out to be a scorcher. Went through the beginners drill after Lani and I danced a Jitterbug demo. As a starter, we taught the Close Basic, Throwout, One Hand Open Basic, and Whip To Basic, all single time patterns. I think the students began to sizzle when they started to dance the patterns with the jumping jive "Reet Petite" and "Trickle, Trickle". We didn't want any burnouts for the first session, so I slowed the tempo down to "Rock Around The Clock". It was enough of a cool down for the students which had them laughing with satisfaction as the last few minutes ticked away.
