BEGIN QUOTE  Thanks for your replies, I live in the South West so no chance of attending your classes but teaching long routines is not confined to my area.  END QUOTE  One question I'd ask is which level classes do you go to? I'm not defending this style of teaching but as the level goes up the people attending the classes tend to want more and different combinations rather than spend time doing stuff they know or think they know. Also the teachers normally assume that people have come across many of the basic moves in a routine and so its more a case of connecting them rather than teaching from scratch. This theory is of course blown if you see this at beginners or improvers classes. If I go to classes then I may not remember the entire routine and don't really expect to but in some classes there'll be a little bit that I like and will take away with me. I can then try and fit it into the stuff that I already know and make that a bit more interesting. Where about in the SW are you? There's a couple of good teachers in the Bristol area that actually break down stuff and make sure people have it rather than doing all the complex stuff. Two that spring to mind are Joe (Tuesdays at Fat Cat) and Jules (who does one of the classes at Steam Rock on Thursdays).     BEGIN QUOTE  I have reached a point where I have had enough of classes, all I want to do is practise what I have learned.  END QUOTE  I'd try and do both if possible. My dancing only really started to improve when I did a lot more 'social' dancing rather than classes but its good to have new bits to try and add in and work on.  BEGIN QUOTE  :I don't really know why the X body is emphasised so much as most moves can be initiated without it.  END QUOTE  Depends what you mean by 'most moves'. Cross bodies tend to be used a lot as padding but they also form the basis of a lot more complex moves especially when you start putting in truns for the leader, follower or both. You can also put some of you own personality or style into cross bodies if you want (again for both leader and follower - I'm not intending to spark off another 'lets have a go at followers who style' debate). There's various videos on the net that may give you a few ideas for the osrt of thing I'm on about. Best sites I've seen are: http://www.imambo.tv and http://www.salsaloon.com/Videos.html A lot of the clips are on2 but there is some really nice stuff up there. Thanks Brendan

• routines   flowrite (clive abbey)   Sunday 23rd February 2003, 3:54 pm
  • routines   les (Les)   Monday 10th March 2003, 7:07 pm
  • routines   les (Les)   Saturday 1st March 2003, 5:04 pm
    • routines   pullgees (clive abbey)   Wednesday 5th March 2003, 6:41 pm
      • routines   Bob   Thursday 6th March 2003, 3:03 pm
  • routines   Dave F (Dave Fenton)   Tuesday 25th February 2003, 9:56 am
    • routines   Nickylg (Nicky Lloyd Greame)   Tuesday 25th February 2003, 10:41 am
      • routines   flowrite (clive abbey)   Wednesday 26th February 2003, 1:07 am
        • routines   Brendan (Brendan Brolly)   Wednesday 26th February 2003, 4:58 pm
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