An afternoon with Karl-Harry Winson and In Touch dance - Abingdon, 24th January 2016
I was driving home from Sainsbury's yesterday when Charlie Puth's song "One call away" (or Save the Day as I think of it) came onto the radio and it reminded me that I had not yet done the write up for Karl-Harry Winson Workshop I attended a few weeks ago. Karl-Harry also won Male Dance Personality last weekend at the 20th CBA's and had nominations in many other categories as well - so congratulations to him on his recent success - I'm sure he will be up for more nominations at next years awards as well.
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It was a great afternoon and my second time in a year meeting Karl having previously seen him in late July last year at a workshop hosted by Boogie Shoes in Cheltenham. I particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to dance "Jealousy" in his presence, an old favourite dance of mine which has seen a revival recently - although despite my request for "Unpredictable" one of my all time favourite dances and my favourite of his, it was unfortunately not played :-( never mind. We also got to dance some of Karl's other well know dances, "Knock on wood", "A thousand miles", "Alcazar", "Your place or mine" and "Alvaro" - there were probably others too but I can't remember what they were now.
Pop that Lock
The first teach was "Pop that Lock", a 64 count, 4 wall, Intermediate line dance to the track of the same name by Adam Lambert. It's a funky track, very catchy to sing along to, with a great beat and 15 count introduction which is very unusual and takes some getting used to. As for the dance I particularly enjoyed the 'Camel Walk' steps, the knee pops and the 'Chill factor' knee turn brush steps all of which fitted really well with the music. The dance does have one restart but you can hear it in the music so its fairly straightforward and as it's on wall 2 you can get it out of the way early and don't have to worry about when it's coming up like in some dances.
If you'd like to view the dance or script please click below to view.
To view the script on Copperknob (not yet available on Linedancerweb) please click here.
Stitches
The second teach of the day was "Stitches" a 64 count, 4 wall, Intermediate line dance to a track of the same name by Shawn Mendes. This is a great upbeat track and at the time of being taught this it was actually number 1 in the UK pop charts, its also very catchy and I was humming this days later. As for the dance itself I particularly liked the heel twists at the beginning and the turning toe struts both of which are not that common in line dance choreography at the moment. The dance does have 3 restarts but they are all easy to hear and we had no trouble with them.
The script is currently not on Copperknob or Linedancerweb but Karl had some scripts we could collect so I've scanned this one in on my computer and if you click here you can view it.
Hey Elvis!
Our third teach of the day was "Hey Elvis", a 32 count, 4 wall, Improver dance to the track of the same name by Bryan Adams. This is a proper rock and roll track with a great beat and the dance is very straightforward and easy to follow - it goes great to the music and it is easy to get distracted as you can't help but sing along to the song. There are a few tags in this one but its a case of them looking worse than they actually are and they fit in so well and are easy to hear so there really is no need to worry about them.
Now unfortunately, when I went to record this dance on my iPad I accidentally had it set on photo mode: result 1 photo and 3ish minutes of aching arms for nothing. By the time I realised my mistake the dance was over and as this was the second time we danced this there was no option to re-record so I don't have video. Sorry :-( Here's one of my pics instead)
The script is on Copperknob though so you can view it here. I have looked on YouTube and I can't see that anyone has done a video yet but as soon as they do I will upload to this page. I'd also ask that if anyone has a video they could send me a link, or if they are dancing it could video and send it to me - (get in touch via the comments below)
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| Karl-Harry Winson recapping Hey Elvis |
Save the Day
Of course I can't finish without mentioning "Save the Day", this dance has been talked about a lot, it was very popular at last weeks Crystal Boot Awards, is currently 7th on Linedancer Magazine's top 50 and is also 7th on Copperknob's most viewed chart. I honestly believe that this will end up in the number 1 spot based on all the buzz I've heard and potentially think this could be up for a nomination at next years CBA's (You heard that here first lol).
By the time of Karl's workshop late January some clubs in the area (mine included) had already taught this but as quite a few of those present at the workshop did not know this. Karl did do a quick teach which helped me as I'd missed the teach in class and had tried to learn via youtube and the script so hadn't really danced this properly. I really like the video already on youtube so didn't video this again and I'll link the video below.
Since returning to class this has continued to be very popular and the girls and I have been adding in the 'Superhero' moves so ably demonstrated by Karl in the video below. The song is also very catchy and I couldn't help but sing along to it when it was played on the radio. It's a real mood booster.
To view the script for "Save the Day" click here.
Dances to watch
So as much as I really enjoyed all of the dances we danced at the workshop I think the one's that are likely to be the big hits are "Save the Day" (no surprises there) and "Pop that lock". Watch this space!
2 comments
What a brilliant write up Gemma, thank you for reminding me of everything we did :)
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, thanks for reading xxx
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