83  Variations from the calecita

Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:09:40 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Variations from the calecita

To develop improvisational skills, I find it useful to look at simple
variatons from a figure. Here are a few ideas for looking at some
different possibilities that exist when the man has the woman in position
for a calecita, with her left foot crossed behind her right and her weight
on the ball of her right foot.

One option is to lead the woman in what I think some call a solendeo. The
woman's upper body is led in a gentle rhythmic rotating motion that
reverses from clockwise to counterclockwise and back again until the man
stops leading the movement. The movement is led by the man rotating his
upper body gently back and forth while he takes no steps, and the woman's
right foot rotates only slightly.

Another is to lead the woman in the same solendeo rotation while she has
her left foot extended backward with the tip of her left shoe on the
ground. After the man leads the woman into position for a calecita, he
leads her to extend her foot backward by taking both his and his partner's
upper bodies closer to the floor. He then leads the same rotating
movement.

These first two "figures" are very useful for marking time when there is no
room to move on the dance floor.

Another variation is to lead the woman in a non-leaning calecita with her
left foot extended backward. After the man leads the woman's left foot
into extension, he leads a normal rotating calcecita without a lean.

With best regards,
Steve (de Tejas)