Your coolest move

[Gadget]

What's your favouritest move ever? (And why?) Coolest move? (with some basic descriptions for those who don't know the names of these fancy moves)

Mine...
Favourite: Man spin. Simple with so many places you can go from it. Can be done close, can be done distant, can change hands, can turn yourself, can be walked around, can be done fast, can be done slow, can be done with flair, can be subtle, ... just a versitile move that I probably use too much. (Octopus was close, but I don't know as many variations in it)

Coolest: This spin-wrap-slide-spin-pose thing I did by mistake one time and am trying to get the combination right again. It just flowed so niceley... No idea what I was trying to do at the time, either.

[TheTramp]

Hmmmm. Tough question. I have many moves that I like at different times. I think my favourite is probably a right handed archi-spin though. Sometimes When I'm feeling in a 'flashy' mode. Although, I do like the double fast spins (in a closed position) too. And also there's this move where the girl bends down and...no.....nevermind

Steve

[PeterL]

Don't know what it's called
got taught it in London

start a catapault, instead of offering your left hand behind you
place the hand on the partners left shouler.

move behind your partner placing your right hand on her right shoulder and take your left hand down to your waist taking the lady into a sway (except your right hand is still on her shoulder).
turn the lady anti-clockwise so she is facing you.

your right hand is still on her right shoulder with her arm over the top .

end the move by raising your right arm taking the ladies in a sort of one-handed hallelulia and then flick spin her anti-clockwise.

if anyone knows the name for this move please let me know whereever I do it people tend to ask me to show it to them.

[DavidB]

What makes a cool move for me is when the man can make the lady look good by doing as little as possible.

The coolest move I know is a West Coast Swing move. It is a variation of the Left Side Pass, but the man turns to his left 1.5 times. The man does very little, the lady even less, but it just looks cool. I can get the lady to move 10 feet by doing virtually nothing.

My favourite jive move is 'Alternating Triples', but lead with the hand on the lady's back. I wouldn't even know where to begin describing it. (If I ever meed 'Jiveoholic' Richard, I'll ask him to write it up!)

David

[Ronde!]

Hmmm... favourite move at the moment is the Sway Tornado Dip, Swizzle-Stick exit, a corker in Blues tunes leading into a break and a beauty for interpretation and style.

Standard Sway entry, but when you cross the lady's arm in front of her body, take her *other* hand (her right); step forward and spin the lady *very* close on your right side ACW into dip position with your feet shoulder width apart; at the break either ease her gently into the dip (elegant), or fast-dip (flashy). As you raise her from the dip, check her body with yours and sidestep left so that she faces away once upright, and take her left hand in your right, with your arm across her body. Raise your left hand above her head, and pull around her body with your right hand, to spin her CW, into a double, uncrossed hand-hold (or possibly continuing CW into a Winder position for a Winder Dip or a Kiwi Teapot Spin!). Soo many possibilities!!!

Coolest move (ever!?) is the Charlie.

Begins R-R hand hold, Secret Move lead and entry (Man's L hand flat, palm in, across his body). Both stepping forward to each other's right, Lady takes man's L hand with hers, as for normal Secret Move, but man doesn't let go of R-R hand hold. Instead, the R-R hand hold goes over the Lady's head to spin her CW 360 degrees while keeping L-L hand hold (which ends up behind her back); the R-R hand hold goes over the Lady's head like a Comb, so that her R elbow is sticking out, her R hand is behind her neck holding onto the Man's R hand.

Now the tricky bit. The Man holds onto both hand holds and ducks under the Lady's elbow. His R arm would be aaalmost choking the lady, except that at the same time, he rotates the Lady CW as he is stepping forward, and the R-R hand hold goes back over her head. The lady ends up facing the same direction as the man, stepping backwards, while he's stepping forwards. Her R hand is still holding his R hand, which is on her R shoulder; their L hands are still holding in front of their bodies. It looks rather a lot like a Neck Break; and in fact, a Neck Break exit is the perfect finish for the Charlie. The man step back instead of forwards, and does the last half of the Neck Break to finish.

For an Intermediate-Advanced combo... put them together. Charlie with Neckbreak exit, double CW return, Sway Tornado Dip with Swizzlestick exit into a Winder Dip. Pretty thrilling

[jiveoholic]

Originally posted by DavidB


My favourite jive move is 'Alternating Triples', but lead with the hand on the lady's back. I wouldn't even know where to begin describing it. (If I ever meed 'Jiveoholic' Richard, I'll ask him to write it up!)

David

Go on David. I'll rise to the challenge. You have a go describing it however badly, with as much detail as possible and I will write it up and make it freely available with illustrations! Remember to give every little detail - I still have over 100 'draft' moves hidden on the database that I wrote up the evening I came in and I cannot make head or tail of them because at the time "turn" seemed obvious and now I ask which way, which hand was high, where was she, did 'turn' mean 'her turn' or 'me turn' etc etc! Send it to me privately if you wish.

[jiveoholic]

Coolest? Depends on whether the man wants to look cool or he wants the lady to.

For me, then man looks cool when he attempts ANY type of spin of more than half a turn! I enjoy a full man spin where the man turns 1.5 turns ACW when swapping sides to face instead of just 180. The trouble is that half the time I spin all over the place!

I find the ladies look good too when they spin fast and well, Try performing an arm jive turning her CW 360 on count 5 with the left hand high, keep the right connected at waist height and then push out the man's left to his left hand side, her right hand being in a nelson. Then look at the fear in the whites of her eyes and give her two turns ACW in the time normally allocated for one and put her into a normal dip to your left hand side - it does not need to be low. (see move 539 at www.jiveoholic.org.uk). The beauty is that the man can really help the lady spin by holding her spinning hand centrally above her head.

I suppose the coolest move must be one that makes both look good. Hmmm - I will think about this.

[Gary]

Originally posted by jiveoholic
Go on David. ... You have a go describing it however badly, with as much detail as possible and I will write it up and make it freely available with illustrations! Remember to give every little detail - I still have over 100 'draft' moves hidden on the database that I wrote up the evening I came in and I cannot make head or tail of them because at the time "turn" seemed obvious and now I ask which way, which hand was high, where was she, did 'turn' mean 'her turn' or 'me turn' etc etc! ...

I've had the same problem: my description of a move later turns out to be missing crucial detail. It's just bloody tedious writing out in English all the details for a move.

I was briefly excited the other day when I came across an e-book called "Engineer's Guide to the Hustle". It had a system of drawing sets of diagrams to describe dance moves. However, the system seemed too limited for describing many modern jive moves. It was basically a sequence of top-down diagrams showing body orientations and arm positions. It therefore left out tension/compression, hand-holds, leans/lunges, ... (I didn't get the whole book, so maybe I'm being too harsh).

I'm wondering if anyone has come across some system for describing modern jive moves that's more systematic than long-hand English descriptions, that a non-artist can write down quickly "on the night". I've seen the stick figure diagrams on (I think) the jive-o-holic web site, but I think they'd be too tricky for me to draw myself.

Back on topic: current favourite move - leap of faith (not so cool, but lots of fun).

[jiveoholic]

Originally posted by gcapell
I'm wondering if anyone has come across some system for describing modern jive moves that's more systematic than long-hand English descriptions, that a non-artist can write down quickly "on the night". I've seen the stick figure diagrams on (I think) the jive-o-holic web site, but I think they'd be too tricky for me to draw myself.

In order to catalogue the diagrams on the jiveoholic site, I had to come up with a system, otherwise it is difficult to pick out a diagram easily out of the 800 (!) illustrations. It is logical, but perhaps a bit too much to remember on the night. Here it is anyway.

The important thing to remember is that on the beat, one is either "stationary under tension", turning (having stepped in and step out afterwards), turning (locked together), changing sides or something more devious.

"First move "is: 1a,2h,6h,1h,r1ac,r1aa,1a

If the first letter is a number it refers to a stationary position (even if momentarily) under compression or tension. 1,2,3,4 is the lady at position N,E,S,W looking South (The man looking North). 5,6,7,8 are the same positions but the lady looking North as is the man.

The letters a,b,c,d,e,f,h, i, j, k, m, n refer to the hand-grip and correspond to L-R, R-R, L-R & R-L, L-L, R-R, R-R & L-L, L-R and R hand around lady's waist, Both R's around both waists, L-L above head (ie Flamenco), R-R left around waist, no contact, each other's hands around waist, anything else.

If there is a letter r before the number then the lady will be turning/spinning and there will be another letter at the end, c for clockwise, a for anti-clockwise, - for no turn. This turn is preceeded by stepping together and finished with a step apart. Otherwise substititue y for r.

If there is an x before the number, then there is a turn as both parties swap sides, however following the direction of turn for the lady is the direction of turn for the man.

Rotations together start with 't'.

If the couple change sides, add s (for swapped) at the end.

For turns, the hand-grip letters refer to the hand-grip when starting

Eg a "man-spin" is 1a,x1aca,1as, r1aas,1as

x1aca reads: "change sides, from facing, with L-R grip, lady turning clockwise, man anti-clockwise"

This is still ambiguous as the man-spin, shoulder slide and step across are similar but with different heights, so the site uses x1aca, x1aca2, x1aca3 etc.

WELL YOU DID ASK! It is just how the jiveoholic site developed - I'm not saying it is the best way.

By the way GOLD members on the site can get access to all the illustrations and make up their own moves WITHOUT knowing this system - there is some intelligence about it to make things easier. It is called "MOVEMAKER". It may not always have every contortion of the bodies, but when you get home you can illustrate moves combinations that are not on the database.

[Franck]

Originally posted by Gadget
What's your favouritest move ever? (And why?) Coolest move?

Well for me, without a doubt, it has to be the.....


Comb!

A move so versatile and so 'sexy' with the right music and partner...

After that, probably the Manspin or the First Move Walkaround Wrapper...

Franck.

[TheTramp]

Is that why you taught 4 variations on the comb in your intermediate class last night then Franck??

(It was a fun class though, and I really did enjoy dancing in Glasgow - I'll look forward to the next time I get to do it! )

Steve

[Franck]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Is that why you taught 4 variations on the comb in your intermediate class last night then Franck??

Damn You spotted it, and I thought I had got away with it too...
Must say that despite the comb being an easy move, the routine proved very challenging for most people there

Anyway, there was only one comb (officially anyway):

So, for anyone remotely interested, the routine was:

Left-handed train (static & sexy )
Whip Sway
Shoulder drop hip spin
Duck Spin Comb

Franck.

[Dreadful Scathe]

neck drop is a cool move

and the combine harvester is great when done right - in fact as its mostly combs - Franck would love it

[TheTramp]

You spotted it, and I thought I had got away with it too...

Only from all the women reeling away in horror every time I did the routine.

I blame Janet and Brad(y) for taking me to an Italian restaurant beforehand, and making me eat all that garlic!!

Steve

[Franck]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Only from all the women reeling away in horror every time I did the routine.

I blame Janet and Brad(y) for taking me to an Italian restaurant beforehand, and making me eat all that garlic!!

Ah, there was that!!!
Don't worry, it wasn't just the women, I could smell it from the stage!

Franck.

[TheTramp]

Well, I did have a rather major garlic started, with garlic bread. And a garlic-filled main course too.

You didn't complain during our dance though!

Steve

[Franck]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Well, I did have a rather major garlic started, with garlic bread. And a garlic-filled main course too.

You didn't complain during our dance though!

Well, there was no way I could... I was trying not to breathe!!!

I have to say that being Bradied, Tramp'ed and Janet'ed at the same time was a weird but unmissable experience (thankfully, no photographers in sight)...

Franck.

[Janet]

And being Tramped, Bradied and Francked all at once was.....

completely un-describable!!!

Janet

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by Janet
And being Tramped, Bradied and Francked all at once was.....

completely un-describable!!!

Janet

Hmm to the unitiated that'd sound like you were 'trampled all over, had your hair put in braids and had a large red 'property of ceroc- please post 1st class' ink mark on your head'....

pity you weren't Scathed really