my dance teacher said the foot movement should follow the body, eg in rumba, could anyone tell me some exercises to make my body move. i just cannot move my upper body.

regards,

[This message was edited by somebody on 02-01-01 at 11:12 PM.]

dont forget to have fun during practice

Dear Curl,

Thank you so much for your reply. It really helps me understand better and better.

Best regards,

Tina

Dear Curl,

Thank you so much for your reply. It really helps me understand better and better.

best regards,

tina

international only please...
nobody outside US uses american style

as i understand it from my training? concentrate on moving you RIB CAGE...your lower half automatically follows. stand in front of a mirror to see this: move your ribcage side to side (for practice and to notice how this happens-it just does!)...you'll notice that your lower half will fishtail..or follow your upper body movements.

i've been training with my current teacher for some time now and when i've danced with OTHER TEACHERS, they've commented on how GOOD i feel. so i'm assuming i'm doing something right.

double-check my suggestion with your teacher...they'll tell you.

Dear Curl and LovelyIsabella,

Thanks so much for your advice.

One more problem, how can I step my forward foot more steady on floor, Should I place my weight in the middle between two legs or just put all the weight in the standing leg and turn out the hip and toe of the leg behind?

Best regards,

Tina

when you have transfered your weight to your "new" standleg, the other leg give you stability and a good, strong body position and at all a good look .

after your weight is transfered your hip start moving to side as a effect of your other leg is straight, turned out and pushing slightly forward, but instead of transfering the weight it transfers your hip to side (have the feeling of side/very very slight forward). this is done at the begining of the "and" beat of rythm. shortly before the next "full" beat or lets say at the end of the "and" your hip turns back and your leg shoot forward to the new step position. during this shoot your leg pass the standleg with a high heel and you have the maximum hip movement. after that start weight transfer again.

In the timeframe your "behind" leg is straight your body is possible to be straight,too, this will make you look more powerful,straight and natural. if your "behind" leg is not straight your body looks lazy and weak.

this technique is very advanced and difficult to do (and to describe), but its used by all top 50 worldranking couples I personally know ... but pratice it very very slow at the begining... this technique with the "shooting" the leg makes chacha very nice and easy.

hope this helps. (sorry for my bad english)

Tina--

I'll stay out of the technical debate...but thought that I would let you know what worked for me. I used to struggle with the walks as well, practiced my hip and knee movement diligently but still had trouble. I was just not crisp and powerful, and I was having a little balance trouble as well. My instructor finally hit on the key point for me. I had to learn how to be extremely aware of my foot articulation. Which is just a fancy way to say that I had to learn to really press _through_ the entire length of my trailing foot. I was just stepping onto my fwd. foot...but when I began really concentrating on the action of my trailing foot, my body motion took care of itself. The power I learned from using my foot to press through gives me great movement, restored my balance, and gives me the strong leg line that I couldn't quite get before.

Good luck, hope that some of this is helpful... undefined

Curl--
Indeed it's true that no one else is doing the American style dances...but I'd rather not lose the mambo and the bolero just on principle. Besides, there are rather a lot of us here in the U.S., so I guess that as long as the American Style is a fun and enjoyable way to dance...there will still be some of us backward yankees insisting on doing it

That stated, I admit that I myself am relatively new to the International style...which part of our conversation were you objecting to as being American style? Cuban walks I guess? But even International has "Cuban" (American style) leg action in some steps...right? Do tell! Thanks, Mal