Newbie
can you tell me what library you borrowed your Kathy Blake technique tape ? I live in Ill.

hi

[
1. It contorts the body and lifts the shoulders.
2. The hips are forced into an unnatural position.
]

must disagree... walking this way is very natural, no shoulder raise, no forced hip...hip is only moved by legs & body weight. you have excellent balance and a natural body straighness. a similar techniqe is also used at samba...

chacha movement is very easy this way,too..and you are able to do body and hip movement real fast, useful on syncopated rythms, like guapacha timing or so...and it looks very very natural.

but there are some disadvantages..you have to train and use your mucles in your back (needs time and a strong will )and you must have strong muscles around your spiral because of the upright body (standard dancers are the better latinos ) since its not so easy like it looks.

in former years i learned 3 or 4 different techniques for walking latin, but all of them was ...let me say... very unnatural..

but at all..hey, there are different techniques out there and a lot of books are writen about technique, but who cares, if it look good what you do its fine no judge cares how you do it..express yourself

and dont forget to have fun

[This message has been edited by curl (edited 01-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by curl (edited 01-21-2001).]

international style include steps that are done with a "merenge" hip movement,yes. The man backward steps in Jive/chickenwalks and Samba/Plaid are those kind of steps. some "delayed steps" in rumba and chacha are danced with a similar merenge action,forward steps before alemana is done with both legs streched but it is at all a special move. The "merenge" action mostly results of a delay or stop or direction change and is only one step.

A popular exeption I have seen at competitions is reveresed basic in chacha, a simple side basic step with "merege hip movement" and guapacha timing.

dont forget to have fun

is this mainly smooth dances? but my understanding is that ANTOHER thing to do is lead with the knee. what i mean is, (as best as i can describe): for instance if you are stepping with the right, your right knee leads out and then you step...

i've worked and worked...and worked on my cuban walks...working on certain parts of the body at a time. don't try to get the whole body doing it all at once in the beginning...

Dear LovelyIsabella,

Many thanks for your reply and I will try to practice as what you told me.

Best regards,

tina

Check you local library for dance instructional video tapes. I found one called "Let's learn technique for ballroom dance 2" by "Kathy Blake". It has pretty good description of the cuban motion IMBO (in my beginner's opinion).

Hi Tina - are you sure you heard your teacher right?

In Rumba (I presume you mean International style) when you dance the walk, the body moves after the fooot is placed and not the other way round. There should always be a slight feeling of falling forward, with the feet moving forward to counteract this. The body then moves after the weight is taken. The knee is then locked back producing a straight leg which in turn causes the hip of the standing leg to dispace to the side and back. Tension shoul still be kept in the non-standing leg.

In order to achieve the correct poise try the following exercise.

1.Stand upright with the feet slightly apart.
2. Allow the upper body to move forward slightly in advance of the legs. But be careful not to overdo it. You should get to a point where you feel you are about to fall forward.
3. At this point move the free leg back so that it is in the correct position to start the walk. There should be tension (not too much) in this leg.
4. Swing the free leg passed the standing leg toe-ball until it is in front of the standing leg. At the full extent of the stride simply lower the heel and settle the weight into this leg, locking the knee to displace the hip.
5. The body should then move forward to attain the same position as you had at the start.

The repeat.

A couple of things you should be aware of.
1. The hips displace because of the poise and the locking of the knee. You should never force the hips - this is bad dancing.
2. The upper body can be divided into the 3 parts:
the top - which hardly moves
the chest/stomach area - which moves slightly
the pelvis area - which moves the most.

You may be making a mistake in thinking that Rumba is all about wiggling your hips and shoulders as much as you can, but this is incorrect.

If you really need to develop mobility in the top of your body then try isolation exercises - isolating the different moveable parts - shoulder - chest, hips etc.

Hope this helps

Steve

Dear Steve and Curl,

Thanks so much for your explanation. but I still have one question, when i settle my weight of my standing leg and make my hip move back/side, do i need to put my free leg close to my standing foot? or just let it seperate behind my standing leg and keep it straight with toe turn out?

best regards,

Steve, may be there is different technique to forward move...

1) stand upright weight is on right leg, leg is stright.

2a) to prepare the step do the hip movement NOW. the hip moves to right side/back while the left breast moves forward/left side. the direction how the breast is moving is the same like the direction of the step.... so backward steps are more difficult than forward steps.

2b) move big toe of left leg forward to the point you want to go, at the end of movement leg is straight.while passing your standleg heel is maximum up. 2a and 2b can be done same time.

3) Now push your weight from your standleg forward, step is finished when the weight is completely transfered, during the transfer there is NO hip movement. both legs are straight. heel of right feet is maximium up, foot is turned out.

4) start over at point 2a change right into left. dont forget to have fun

always prepare every step with hip and chest movement... after some years of practice you may be able to walk latin