Sorry, but when I see the clips at ballroomdancers.com about lindy hop, american chacha & rumba and smooth this looks very strange to me....may be its funny to do it but IMO it looks not very atractive (sometimes ugly???)(may be because the dancers are only low-level, i dont know) ... so for me this is not a alternative to international style ...

my exercise...stand in a walk "position", ie. one foot fwd. and one trailing, be sure to track your feet and use proper turn out. Start with your weight over your back foot and then move your body weight fwd. onto your fwd. foot ONLY by pressing (some people call it rolling) through the length of your trailing foot, all the way to your toes (don't forget to let your hip/knee action happen). If you're not used to this it can cause the muscles in your ankles (esp. of the trailing leg) to really work, so stretch out before. Once you are over the fwd. foot then bring your trailing leg through (as you would in a walk) my insrtuctor teaches that the knee should come through first (almost brushing standing leg) then ankle then foot, and don't forget to keep the ieob (inside edge of ball) on the floor throughout. Then repeat the excercise. The idea is to go through the extension very slowly, emphasizing your foot action and your balance. It is an exaggeration of the actual walks but it builds strength and helps you to "feel the floor" through foot awareness. One last tip, get your arms up and out, at least a little bit, don't just keep them hanging down by your side.
Any instructor might elaborate on this...it's an excercise that I made up on my own, but it did help me. It can be so tough to put into words!! Good luck, Mal

Hi Curl

There is no opposite sideways movement of the chest area on a forward walk in Rumba. By doing what you say causes two things.

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

At all times the upper body weight must be felt to be travelling forward as a result of correct poise. You can check this at any time by stopping the movement. The hips move only as a consequence of straightening the knee. They should never be forced into position to counteract some upper body movement. Similar poise shopuld also apply to Cha Cha Cha.

By all means use an isolation exercise to free up muscles in the rib cage. This is useful for all the latin dances and for disco, but in Rumba despite what people call it - a body dance - it is controlled use of the muscles and the separation of those muscles which allows freedom of movement particularly around the pelvic area. As I said in my previous post, the upper body can be divided into 3 parts, the movement of each part being distinct and noticeable when you look in a mirror.

Good Rumba movement should always have a syncopated action 2&3&4&1&

On a 'quick' walk ie one that takes up 1 beat of music, the walk and transfer of weight takes up 1/2 a beat whilst settling of weight and straightening of knee takes 1/2 a beat.

Similarly, when using 2 beats for a walk (slow walk on count 41 normally) again foot placement and weight transsfrerrance takes 1/2 a beat. The remaining times should be used for settling the weight and leg straightening.

the body starts the movement.... you do this with your chest & hip... the chest starts moving to the new direction, hip moving back/side (stretch yourself )... then your feet points to the new place you wanna move ,hip movement is at maximum, chest, too ... and after that the weight is transfered ... startover