Hi, everyone,

My teacher said I should delay the beat 3 so that I wont look like running when dancing cha cha cha, is that right? Besides, Should I syncropate the beat 2 & 3 & while doing the basic?

Best regards

Only your teacher really knows what they meant (we hope.)

One of neat things about Cha Cha Cha music is it's catchy syncopations. Yes, 4&1 is most prominent, but 2&3 is also clearly (in 'real' cha cha cha!) heard. Thus, while watching dancing to this music it seems more 'clean' to be sure to separate the two sections to which the dancers often chasse (either 2&3 or 4&1, or both.) Thus making sure the 3 and 4 are clearly defined is helpful in showing this rhythm.

Of course it is true of most dancing that the cleaner the dancer demonstrates the music structure the better that dancer will appear.

-dan

its simple ...

take a look at rumba. In basic you finished your move at the beats 2,3,4. remember that the timeframe between these steps have the same lenght! only the frame between 4 to 2 is longer. Between these beats you have time to dance your body and prepare your next step, that means at 2&,3& you have to do your hip movement to prepeare the the next step ( at 1& its similar, too ). most dancers forget the 3& and so they are do the step to beat 4 too early... BTW a lot of people forget the 1&,too, and rush too early to beat 2 they arrive at 1&alittlebit... and so the rythmic looks unsharp and weak. also you have no change to do an optimal body presentation on the "full(2,3,4)" beat.

In Chacha its very similar. the time frame between the steps 1,2,3,4 have all the same lenght and so you have to prepeare your step with body movement (hip) at 1&,2&,3&. If you forget to dance the hip movement at 3& your rythmic looks unsharp. The steps done here are same as rumba.
The special thing in Cha Cha is the 4& step. its both a body movement and a step in one thing. so you do your step at 4& and move your hip on the same beat. Thats why you have both knee flexed. For experiance dancers : with some practicing you will be able to show a exact timing of the 4& 1 steps, demonstrating closed legs and one side high hip for a moment at 4& before rushing to 1. When you arrive at 1 all is normal like rumba. full count is "step finished" & count is "preparation".

My hint: start with very very slow basic steps and count clearly every full and "&" beat. Be sure that on every 1&,2&,3& (especially the 3& and 1&) count you do a body action (hip).

I have a problem with the term "settle weight down" ... I am not a native speaker so this may be a misunderstanding.

settle weight down sounds for me like loosing the straightness of the spiral, so moving to the next steps require to lift the upper body weight... I never let my upper body weight down... I dont wanna lift it up again and again... I have more the association with a steel feather (my spiral)... hip moves side & back, chest moves other side & forward ... and the steel feather (spiral) stretches to the roof and press my feets against the ground, my body lenght is always maximum.

But your right. at every & you have to do a body action.. hip movment like in rumba its the necessary preparation of the next step. difference between Cha and Rumba is that the presentation phase is longer in rumba. In Cha its short and you do imediatly the body (hip) action to hit exact the & beat. Cha is f***ing fast.

You have to do this at every step new yorkers, fan, twinkle, whisk, turkish towel, follow my leader ... doesnt matter. you have to do it forward, backward ,side, syncopated timing, guapacha timing ...it never stops . if you do a step at a & beat there may be a body action and a step or a body action at the "a" before the & ...

Cha is hard stuff

Dear Venessa,

Thanks for your reply. But I am talking about the musical beat 3. I try my best to clarify it. After the chasse cha cha cha or 4 & 1, then I dance the forward check that is 2 with my left foot forward and then replace my weight on right foot 3, My question is in the moment do I need to delay half beat waiting until the beat & , with my right foot and left foot staying, before I dance another chasse?

Hope you understand my question.

Rumbalei

Dear Curl,

Thanks for your reply. Do you mean when in the & beat I should also settle my weight by doing the hip action like in Rumba, especially in 2&, 3& doing the basic or the new yorker, for example.

Best regards!

Hmmm...I'm a little confused about your question. The basic timing in cha cha is 1 2 3 4&1 2 3 (and so on). The chasse (or the "cha cha cha" action) occurs on 4&1. I'm not sure what you mean by delaying beat 3 so that you won't look like you're running -- is your teacher talking about the musical beat 3 or the third step of the chasse?

I'll take a guess here and say that if he/she is talking about the chasse (I'm guessing this because it's the quickest part of the basic and therefore the part that might look rushed), then no, I would not delay the last step. And musically speaking, since the last step of the chasse happens on count 1, you would find it pretty difficult to *not* dance on that beat because it is so heavily accented in most cha music.

But I might be totally off base about what your question is, so it would be great if you could clarify a bit.

Vanessa