Speed Waltzing

Yesterday I was trying to describe what it was like doing the speed waltzing competition at Big Dance, since it was pretty interesting (to me, anyway). In fact, I kind of wanted to do it again, even after two rounds at hyper-speed. What I started doing was consciously moving all the energy and activity as far down in my body as I could. I relaxed my head and shoulders, and my arms and torso, while still keeping a good frame, of course. And I watched my breath to keep it calm and even. Then I even pushed all the energy in my legs farther and farther down until it felt as though only my feet were moving, like the roadrunner whose feet spin into a blur as he just leans his body away from Wile. E. Coyote and zips off. It was kind of like when I've been running for a while and then decide to speed up for a little bit, and just magically fling my feet out farther, extending my stride, so all of a sudden I'm going faster with (temporarily) no (apparent) extra exertion of energy. It's really a fun feeling, and in a waltz that's constantly speeding up it just gets you spinning around like crazy until the rest of the dance floor blurs into nothing. I don't know how Lacey was doing it, but she can zip around like nobody's business somehow or other, so she was an excellent partner. (Yay Lacey!) And if I hadn't been starting to tire, I would have caught that last tempo change a measure or two sooner. :-)