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Merengue Tutorials


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Subroutine Libraries: Expansion Pack

Your subroutine library should already be populated with several examples drawn from the Extras section of the previous tutorial, but here are a few more to keep you out of mischief.

Please Note: The sequence descriptions are in outline form to encourage you to exercise your own interpretation of the pattern. Areas of uncertainty in the sequences often give rise to the most interesting variations. Although they are not inherently harmful, please practice these sequences slowly and with safety foremost in your minds.
 

Subroutine 1
This was the first subroutine I learned, and I still use variations of it today. It's gotten me out of choreography jams more times than I can count. The partners perform an orbit, clockwise throughout.

  1. Sequence 1 consisting of Permutations 2.6 and 3.3 in alternation. You may begin with either permutation, but should end with Permutation 2.6
  2. Neutral turn for Lead anti-clockwise, handhold at waist-level (Simple Combinations: Core, Permutation 3.2)
  3. Lead's breakthrough
  4. HALO turn for Followers, anti-clockwise

Variations
During stage 1, the Lead's breakthrough in Permutation 3.3 can be delayed. The partnership can be led to continue the clockwise orbit, Follower walking forwards, Leads walking backwards while the Lead remains in the cuddlehold. The subroutine can resume after a Lead's breakthrough.

After stage 3, a simple hand change: Follower's right hand, Lead's left to right, at waist level can be introduced (Stage 4 of Freestyle Sequence, Combination Analysis: Case Study).
 

Subroutine 2
This one's a nice one to do when there's a lot of space and time to fill. It's not fun in cramped conditions and manic merengues. Set up with two-handed parallel hold. Clockwise orbit throughout.

  1. HALO turn for Followers clockwise, Follower's right in Lead's left hand at overhead-level, Follower's left in Lead's right hand at waist-level (refer to Leading the waist-level HALO™ turn for Followers, Simple Combinations: Extras) omitting the recovery.
  2. Maintain the orbit, clockwise with Lead's right hand still on Follower's lower back.
  3. Lead releases the right handhold (on Follower's back), simultaneously beginning a HALO turn for Leads, clockwise, with the left hand which is still at overhead-level.
  4. HALO turn for Followers anti-clockwise
     

Subroutine 3
Leads: a good routine to check out what's happening behind you, and to protect against incursions from your left. Clockwise orbit throughout.

  1. Follower's right in Lead's left, waist-level handhold, Neutral turn for Leads, anticlockwise (see Further Practices, Neutral Turns For Leads: Extras)
  2. Hand change Follower's right, from Lead's left to right hand; midway through the above turn
  3. HALO turn for Followers, anti-clockwise
  4. Right handed loop over Lead (single handed variant of 2. Double-handed loop, hands crossed left over right in Simple Hand Changes: Extras)
  5. Maintain clockwise orbit, Follower walking forwards, Leads walking backwards. Lead's left arm bar across Follower's lower back, Follower's right arm bar across Lead's lower back
  6. Lead becomes static while the Follower continues orbit
  7. Follower is led to reorient toward the Lead as the former swings around in front of the latter
     

Subroutine 4
With the flexibility in timing in the middle stages, this is a handy one to use if you needed to cross phrases.

  1. Anti-clockwise orbit for Lead, Follower on the spot. HALO turn for Followers clockwise, Follower's right in Lead's left hand at overhead-level, Follower's left in Lead's right hand at waist-level omitting the recovery
  2. Clockwise orbit for Lead, Follower on the spot. Recovery of the above turn leading at waist-level. Keep the Follower's right in Lead's left handhold at overhead level (see Leading the waist-level HALO™ turn for Followers, Simple Combinations: Extras)
  3. Clockwise orbit for Lead, Follower on the spot. Permutation 2.6 into cuddlehold, without Followers breakthrough
  4. Your choice of recovery

Variation
Stages 2 and 3 can be performed as a continuous flow, and at twice the speed to form a Follower's double turn. Remember that the lead signal is at waist-level for stage 2 and at over-head level for stage 3.

 

 
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