When dancing mambo I find myself straighting my knees on the 4 count as I bring my feet together. Should the knees be bent? I never seem to score well dancing the mambo and I was wondering if dancing the basic incorrectly was my biggest problem. I feel the rhythm, I step on the correct counts - 2-3-4. Does anyone have any advise? or sites that give specific mambo techiques? Thanks.

Jonathan:
Thank you for your reply.

As I apply your basic mambo steps to my practice I realized that I was topping up on the 4 count as I brought my feet together. That's how I got the straight knees. By keeping constant control of my feet with more flex in the knees (and keep my body level) my basic will much improve. Thanks!

I have very limited access to professional coachings with the studio I currently attend. I find myself searching for self improvement and answers to dance questions anywhere I can and am thankful to you and all on this forum for the advise and comments.

Thanks again.
Yolanda

Yolanda,

What you have there is two questions... one simple technical point and one rather complex issue. Let me start with the simple one:

Generally in Mambo, the leg that is in the process of receiving weight is bent. So when you first close your feet on count 4, the closing foot should be bent, not straight. It won't straighten until the end of count 1, just as the next leg bends and begins to move to its next position.

Now for the tough question... Is this mistake causing you to lose? Well, it may be costing you a point or two here or there, but even if your knee action weren't entirely correct, it's still possible that you could give quite a convincing performance. There are so many different qualities that make a good or a poor dancer that you can't attribute your success or failure in the marks to just one. If you're having difficulty getting marked well, it's probably a combination of many different elements together, many of which you may not even be aware of yet.

You also have to remember that you're not being judged on a concrete scale. You're being compared relative to other dancers. So if you get marked poorly by a judge, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't like your dancing. It just means that they liked the other dancers better.

Since I can't watch you dance, here's my advice: Keep studying with your instructor, get the occasional coaching lesson with a professional coach, and practice consistently. Follow this formula, and I guarantee you will get better results with each competition.

Good luck!

Sincerely,
Jonathan Atkinson