Yup, picture lines are basically just what twnkltoz said -- some sort of nice looking pose where you're basically still making it a great photo opportunity.
I did remember that the Challenge Line wasn't anything too complicated, but I didn't remember exactly what it was. Thanks for clearing it up, it sounds simple enough. A little clarification though, when you say that there's still some flex in the knee, do you mean the standing leg? I'm pretty sure Popular Variations covers a few picture lines, like Oversway not in tango, probably the Throwaway, too, among others. I should check that again for how they enter and exit those lines.
Sure, Laura, I'd say a Contra Check counts as a line. It's one of the very few lines I do with any regularity.
It looks nice and it's not all that difficult to do. I like the same combination, too, but I often try to do two Double Reverse Spins before the Contra Check. If I've controlled it well enough, too, I'll let the Contra Check take two bars instead of one; it doesn't feel quite as rushed that way since you have about three beats to come out of the line instead of one. I do sometimes do it in one bar, but I tend to prefer two bars so that I don't feel like I'm rushing to get out on time.
I think the Big Top is in some book I have, probably Popular Variations. Never done it. As I recall, it seemed to resemble a latin Reverse Top or the opposite of a quickstep Rumba Cross. I'm sure that's not a particularly accurate description, but I was trying to get a sense of what it looked like in order to recognize it if I saw it danced. I tried that for a number of figures and can tell you what I wrote down, but I might have done that here a while back already. I have a limited knowledge of open level figures. I've been taught some but rarely use them. Generally, any non-syllabus stuff I dance is for floorcraft purposes or because I goofed (e.g., dancing foxtrot and using a waltz follow to a figure that's in both dances).
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James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall
