Dance Tank

Just like in any sport, it is best to keep your fingernails short. This is so they don’t get caught on anything (and rip off).

Also, for dances that have a lot of turns, like the Swing, fingernails can get in the way of hand-holds with your partner. Long nails will cause you to shift your pressure further up the fingers which makes the lead/follow connection unstable. Long nails can also cut into your partners hand.

Having short neat nails is being considerate of your partner and is responsible dancing.

Comments(1)

The turning basic in the Hustle requires momentum for dancers to spin around each other. This can be tricky in a double handhold position.

To maintain speed and control, the point of gravity needs to move lower down your body - from the diaphragm to the abdomen. This will make your turn more grounded as your point of gravity is closer to the ground but still centred.

To do this bring your double hand connection down to hip level while maintaining your resistance - because your resistance is now lower this will move your point of gravity lower to your abdomen. This will improve the weight of your dance and the balance in your turns.

Comments(0)

You can dance different dances to the same piece of 4/4 music. Often it is not the timing or pace of the music that chooses the dance - it is the ‘mood’.
e.g. It is common today for a piece of music to have a fast Cha Cha rhythm but a slower melody and ‘feel’. This is where you might dance a Rumba instead of a Cha Cha to reflect the mood of the music.

Comments(0)

In dance practice you often need to focus on different parts of your body. To help you concentrate on isolating areas use ‘touch’ to focus your mind.

e.g.- use your hands to touch your knees to help you soften them, place your hands on your ribs to feel your centre move, touch your shoulders to help them relax -

The physical contact will alert your sensors to the area of concentration helping you create a memory of movement and position in your body.

Learning to remember dance with your body helps you to feel dance rather than think dance.

Comments(0)

Music has varying tempos - Cha Cha music can be fast, moderate or slow - therefore, you need to adapt the size of your steps to match the music.

‘Space’ in music is the time between two beats.

If the music is slow take larger steps to give your body more distance to fill the space in the music. Utilise this distance with full body movements to help break down the music space and keep you on time.

If the music is fast take smaller steps so it is easier for you to keep ‘on tempo’. This will not only help you step on time but will enable you to still use your full body movements in the smaller music space.

Comments(0)

Eye contact is very important in dancing. As a general rule, in East Coast Swing it is good to look at your partner on the ‘rock backs’ when you are in an open position. This will help you keep in time with each other.

For the Lady, swinging out and then swivelling to face your partner on the rock back is a simple but effective styling technique.

Comments(0)