Week 36.

The highlight of week 36 had be having Monica teach us Gaffeira. Gaffeira consist of two quick steps and then one slow step.

We started in lines facing the mirror, without a partner, doing two steps and stepping back before doing two steps and stepping forward. Then we found a partner (more girls than guys this week so I was snapped up pretty quickly) and got into a dance frame. The music is very quick so it is difficulty for the leader to and the partner to start stepping at the same time. Monica taught us a simple method to overcome this. Whilst in the dance frame the leader lifts the finger of the right hand placed on the followers back signalling her to lift the right leg ready to step down. This action is similar to flicking the left indicator on whilst driving a car.

The music started - I listened to the beat - when I was ready I stuck the indicator on and we started stepping - perfect. As I looked around the room I noticed some couple still standing on the spot - presumably these guys drive European cars and were trying to come to terms with the indicator being on the right hand side. For once I was glad to be driving a Japanese car.

As I mentioned before the music is quite fast and consists of two quick beats and one slow beat. In order to help us pick match the steps with the beat Monica introduced us to what I call "the Gaffeira sound". It goes like this .... "Chick, chick, dooof" ... with the chick, chick on the 2 quicks steps and the dooof on the slow step. All in all I had a fantastic class. I got to prod my partner in the back and make stupid sound effects like "chick, chick, dooof" while dancing.

Steve - Mr Sound Effects