Cole Crutcher and Abbie Reeves led an advanced Charleston class at the new Traffic Jam! studio. The class focused on linking moves. Prior to the class, I felt limited in how freely I could improvise within Charleston. The class opened up a new set of possibilities. I’m also expecting to start using Charleston more frequently and have more fun doing it.

At the beginning of the session, we played with the moment after a traditional tandem Charleston exit. After the requisite hand signal on the back, the follow rotates and rocksteps on their right foot. The one link I employ regularly is leading the follow from this position to hand-to-hand. Both lead and follow perform three alternating kicksteps while turning, ending up in hand to hand. Cole and Abbie introduced The Prumo, named after Brooks Prumo of the Brooks Prumo Orchestra. To execute The Prumo, after the hand signal, the lead sends the follow into an outside turn (over their right shoulder) with a slight flick of the wrist. The follow step-steps, ending in a rockstep on the right. The lead’s foot pattern is important. After the rock step exit, the lead kick steps with the left, then immediately kicks with the right. The full pattern with the right foot is “kick-and-rockstep”. Lead and follow reconnect on the kick-and, then are able to match their opposing rocksteps. From this position, we practiced moving into a hand-to-hand, in a similar way as describe above. We also practiced returning to tandem. The tandem-return requires a clear signal, with the lead passing the right hand to the left. Many of the moves in the course required clear signaling, using the hand-pass to indicate a forthcoming tandem. In the tandem after The Prumo, no S-Turn is necessary. The lead keeps facing forwards. Lastly, we learned a way to go from The Prumo into airplane. To to this, the lead tracks the follow as they turn. Done correctly, the lead uses a kick-step, kick-step, rockstep pattern. In this way, the lead and follow are rock-stepping on opposite feet, which allows for the correct connection for the airplane.

The airplane pattern showed up several more times during the course. We reinforced some fundamentals of the step: make sure to stretch away from one’s partner to get some nice strechiness; keep the hands’ shape slightly wide, and create a solid shape of the arms, like one were hugging a medium sized pillar (smaller than the large pillars that support the ceiling of the new studio).

To vary airplanes, we introduced repeaters. I heard Cole say Peters, which he clarified were not named after Peter Strom. Instead of turning the corner with the exterior kickstep, the lead fakes a kick and performs a backward floating kick just after. This allows the next kick to point in the same direction, thereby creating lead-follow opposition. After the airplane is reversed, we learned a tandem-exit. When the follow is pointed in the direction that ends with a right leg kickout (it only works in this direction), they start an S-Turn, and pass the follow’s hand from left to right. It is a pretty similar feel to a regular S-turn.

Also out of the opposition-airplane, the partnership can transition into hand-to-hand. To do so, when the lead and follow are moving inwards, the lead directs the inside hand clockwise. The lead then kicksteps counterclockwise, and follow clockwise. After three kick-steps, they reconnect in hand-to-hand.

During the last class, we learned three variations off of an S-Turn. In the first variation, the lead releases with their left hand. The follow reads this as a signal to keep kick-step turning down the line. The lead tracks the follow, while turning a half-circle counter-clockwise. When they reconnected, the partnership can begin opposite-airplane. The lead can also continue kickstepping straight forward, instead of turning the S-turn like normal. If they double the second-left foot kickstep, the pairs’ foot-orientation is ready for a standard airplane. The session’s last move was a simple variation of an S-turn into a hacksaw. The lead lets go of the follow’s hand, sending them into a counterclockwise-kickstep. The lead performs the regular S-turn footwork, but reconnects when they and the follow are face-to-face. Then, instead of the left foot rockstep, the lead mule-kicks in the air backwards. The arms perform the back-and-forth hacksaw motion, which we learned to perform first with the left, then with the right foot. To exit the hacksaw, we used posture. Since hacksaw has a very bent body position, a lead signals an exit by standing straighter. That uprightness, coupled with a lift of the hands like chopper handlebars, is a clear indication hacksaws are ending.