Week One (Continental: Basic, change of places, four kicks)
Straddle Jump Woman jumps, with arms around man's neck and legs split to land on each of man's thighs; man catches, pushes off and lifts woman (who tucks) above head, then land.
Lydia knows this group
Triple Straddle As straddle, but first woman lands with legs together (and straight) on man's left thigh, then right, then normal straddle jump.
Lydia knows this group
Italian
Right underarm turn and kick-ball side to start position, man's R leg behind woman. Man's R arm in front of woman to her R leg, L arm behind to left leg. Woman jumps, man lifts and flips woman to sideways across shoulders. Then flex knees and throw woman up/sideways to give her enough time to land properly on dismount.
Straddle variant: As man lifts and flips woman around woman lets go of man's shoulder and puts arms around woman's neck. Man guides/drops woman into straddle position for straddle dismount.
Lydia knows this group. Heck, Caroline knows this group. This is my party piece to do with random people, 'cos it's impressive and easy. The straddle variant is not easy at all.
Week Two (Continental: Change of Hands, La Bamba)
Half-hula Woman underarm turn to right as in Italian. Woman jumps and man catches her, holding her across body, flexed at waist in tick shape. Woman holds onto man's R shoulder. Man turns left to gain momentum then throws woman around right shoulder, guiding with right then left arm to arch over right shoulder. Then woman jumps/man lifts in flip to standing position.
Lydia knows this group
Group of unknown name #1
Man kick-ball-side to open legs, takes open hold leaning back, woman uses man's hand to support and slides through his legs; man switches to handshake hold as woman goes under, turns and pulls her to standing.
Lydia knows this group. Ish.
Week Three (Continental: Pretzel, presumably something else...)
Cartwheel Underarm turn to the left to set up, woman cartwheels across man's flexed thigs from L to R, man provides surface, guide etc without getting in the way.
Lydia knows this group, we're better at it than we used to be.
Plate Woman turns left behind man and then right to in front of him. Man arms around woman's waist, woman's arms on man's wrists or thereabouts (I always forget this bit) Jumps, man flexes knees and lifts to waist-high, woman locks legs around his back. Swallow thing forwards, man prevents woman from falling over. Woman drops to being held by arms, swing her around underneath legs three times, then reverse and pull up for dismount.
Lydia knows this group, we used to be great at it, nobody seems to know why we can't do it any more. And now we can do it again. We don't know either.
Week Four was revision (also in Continental)
Week Five (Continental: Chaplin, Double Flirt) Flip Change of places and jump out into star. Man flexes knees, woman runs towards, handstand onto man's thighs. Man catches her, lifts over shoulder (without bending back) and stops forward progress so she lands directly behind him. Kick-ball turn to return to open hold.
Lydia knows this group. Whether or not I do is more questionable.
Group of unknown name #2
Couple open out sideways, man bends forward and woman jumps onto his back, arms around neck; woman climbs round to straddle position as man stands up, straddle jump dismount.
Lydia knows this group
Week Six (Continental: Rock around the Clock, Russian Turn, Kneeling American Spin) Group of unknown name #3 & variant
Open hold and kick-ball-step forward as in change of places, man takes sidestep behind woman, half-crouches so that his hips are directly beneath woman, then pivot throws woman up his back and over shoulder BUT NOT INTO THE GROUND, guiding with high arm; woman kicks legs up over man's shoulder on takeoff and extends on landing to form arch, then (variant) flip backwards out of arch position as in half-hula. Man's R arm is in front of woman's body, not behind. This is important.
Lydia knows this now. Ish. I'm still a bit confused.
Death Dive (Easy version)
Open into facing position, man leans forward with right hand on ground, left hand somewhere out of the way. Woman jumps onto man's back, brings legs back to be caught by left hand which is bent round above back to catch them. Woman falls forward off man's back as man straightens slightly, catches legs on left arm. Both catch right arm around neck of partner, pull woman through man's legs to standing. To teach this, start with woman on floor and man standing over her, which allows you to work on swing through and catch, then do the intro bit.
Lydia knows this group
Week Seven (Continental: Penguin, Double arm turn thing I don't know the name of) Armpit Straddle Double hold somewhere between wrists and elbows, woman jumps, catches her legs around man's armpits, then throw woman up for dismount - like straddle jump but lower. Man has to bend knees in order to be able to do this properly.
Lydia knows this group
Cascade & variant
Man kick-ball-step into left leg forward in half-kneeling position, woman jumps with legs spread, man catches and lifts volleyball-dig fashion to standing with woman on his shoulders/neck, one leg either side. Man's arms should now be in front, leans backwards from knees keeping legs relatively apart, rolls woman down front holding her in; woman's head through man's legs at the top. No, seriously, properly through legs and actually at the top. Yes, it does look/feel somewhat indecent. Break arms and reform; woman's arms through her legs, man's outside, then roll her up to shoulders with most of the lift from lower body. Crouch and throw her up for jump dismount.
VARIANT: When rolling down, instead bend knees keeping legs together and back upright, roll woman halfway down, then reverse direction and throw her over shoulder, stopping motion at top as in flip.
This works, though my roll could do with improvement.
Week Eight was revision
Week Nine
Double Bunny Hop
Out of basic kick-ball-step forward to clinch hold or thereabouts, two kicks left, right forward, then man down with bent knees, woman jumps landing with her shins on man's R thigh facing forward. Man launches her up, she rotates lands shins on man's R thigh facing same direction as man. Man launches her into dismount, lands facing same direction as man, kick-ball-change turns L to open hold.
Lydia knows this group. And wants me to DoItAgain?.
Slide Through
Out of basic woman crouches, man kicks over her head and turns around facing same direction as woman, legs open in front of her. Switch to double hand hold, hands crossed w/second hand in an interlocking thumb grip. Woman leans forward and man pulls her through legs (sliding, only works on slippery floors), and up then uncross hands as turn woman around to open hold. Can also pull woman up as she jumps and untwists into armpit straddle.
Lydia knows this group, and turns the right way
Wedding Seat
Kick-ball-step forwards and woman turns quarter turn L on man's R side as in half-hula, Italian. Woman puts both hands on man's R shoulder and jumps, man catches her across body with legs extended. Call this position wedding hold from now on. Out of wedding hold man throws woman up and slightly left, turning left to open hold with woman who pushes off man's shoulder as she dismounts.
Lydia knows this group and would prefer it if I threw her upwards rather than sideways
Week 10 was revision of things done in previous term
Week 11 Slide Through to Armpit Straddle
Coming out of slide through woman jumps as man uncrosses her arms; man bends knees as woman catches her legs under man's armpits and dismount as normal armpit straddle.
Lydia knows this group
Italian to Straddle
This group is almost all on the woman. Standard Italian jump, but as man lifts woman to his shoulders woman catches arms around man's neck. Man has to rapidly move his arms to either side of woman as she drops into straddle position. Normal straddle dismount. DO NOT DO THIS IF THE WOMAN HASN'T GOT A GOOD HOLD.
Lydia knows this group
Week 12 we missed because Lydia was ill :(
Week 13
Swan
Straddle jump to start, making sure woman gets nice and high (ie clearly above man's hips). Man needs to raise woman above head (holding woman in palms of hands - like you hold a bow, muppet, except with both hands) without throwing her over his shoulder. Woman moves hands onto back of man's neck and extends legs backwards (right knee is bent). Hold position for as long as reasonably practicable then dismount as per normal straddle.
This doesn't work. Lyd bruises my collarbone on the way up and I can't hold her in the right place. More practice needed.
Italian from the back
Underarm turn so that woman is behind man, then man flexes knees and bends forward slightly. Woman jumps onto his back basically in piggyback fashion, legs a bit lower though. Man pushes woman's legs off backwards, woman grabs onto man's R shoulder and pivots around as man grabs woman (this requires rapid left arm movement) as she falls into Italian position and pulls her through normal Italian. To straddle (and To swan) also possible.
Due to our mystical affinity for Italians, Lydia and I can do this group in a way that confuses even the teachers.
Week 14 we missed because I was ill. Bah.
Flame
Essentially as Swan, but instead of lifting woman to horizontal position above man's head, lift to vertical. Woman balances her arms on man's shoulders and levers herself upright. Both have to be careful not to overbalance. Dismount is normal but make sure to lower woman.
We've done this twice, and it worked perfectly. We're too scared to try it again. Theoretically, it works.
Hula
Initially as Half-Hula, but instead of bending forward man catches woman around his back with L arm. Woman bends legs (at the knee) to catch onto man's L arm. Man swings woman from this arm around his front (woman has to let go of man's R shoulder, obviously), hauling her up towards wedding-seat hold (she has to help with this in a sort of sit-up fashion) which his L arm catches her in. Wedding seat dismount.
This works suprisingly well given Lyd never learned it in a lesson.
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StuartFraser/AcrobaticRockAndRoll