Author Archives: Diane

by Pierre Baston
Argentine tango instructor (Philadelphia, PA area)

Some scientists say that what makes us love a great piece of music or painting is the ratio of expected to unexpected elements. Neither a dance that only follows a predictable pattern nor a dance composed of continual surprises will satisfy many partners or observers.

One scholar figured that the ideal ratio of order to complexity in an aesthetic expression such as dance is 37% to 63% in favor of surprise. So why not reach for a good measure of novelty on the dance floor and delight our dance partners to the max?

by Joseph Baker

Several mistakes are common among followers. The first is spinning out of time with the music, usually spinning to fast. In such a case, connection is lost and, therefore, leading and following is lost. The next mistake is the follower’s hand being positioned directly above her/his head, like a music box dancer. For partner dancing, this is wrong. Another mistake is allowing the arm to collapse and fall behind the midline. Another thing to avoid is squeezing the leader’s fingers wile turning. Obviously, this can create a lot of pain.

Several mistakes are common among leaders The first is trying to grad the follower’s fingers rather than simply providing a pin. The next is forming a humongous, non-circular and non-level halo, which disallows the follower to maintain balance while turning.

All of this said, in the end, the leader needs to be able to lead the direction, timing and speed of the turning action – both the acceleration and the deceleration. Very important is that connection never be lost during the turning actions.

by Ron Montez

One problem that a lot of beginners have is that they don’t produce the Cuban motion in a fluid-enough manner. They’ll throw a hip one way or another, or they’ll force the leg straight prematurely. They don’t use enough muscle tone or muscle control to prevent a floppy-looking motion.

Tone means to not do it with the legs and flop, but to use pressure in the muscles so that the dancer can control the rate of knee straightening. Once exercise to help produce hip rotation that dancers can practice is as follows:

Start with your feet together at the heels, with the toes slightly apart, to alternate the bending of the legs, and then the hip over the straightening leg goes back slightly, and the knees will go forward at a slight angle inward to help produce the hip rotation.

Along the same lines, a dancer could practice the changing of the knees, very slowly and controlled, slow and fast rhythms. If a couple is good at practicing with partners, the partners can face each other and synchronize the speeds of the knee shift or weight shift. This helps the awareness of one another, and really ties the dancers together as a couple.

by Joseph Baker

Dancers should try to avoid losses of connection. Maintaining frame and connection during turns is critical to leading and following. when Leading spins and turns, a cup and pin hand connection system is usually the best technique. In this system, the follower cups her/his hand and provides a cavity for the leader’s pin, which he/she forms with one or two fingers held vertically and pointing down. The orientation of the follower’s cup is thumb down for inside turns and thumb up for outside turns. Connection does not have to be lost when transitioning between inside and outside turns.

As important as the cup and pin connection system is the follower’s frame – specifically, the position of her/his arm being led during the turn. The forearm should remain approximately vertical and in the front quadrant of the follower’s body, never moving behind the follower’s midline. The upper arm remains approximately parallel to the floor. The cup remains approximately above the follower’s elbow, never directly above her/his head. In this way, the leading action through the turns traces a halo above the follower’s head. Such a system provides a form of a crank that the leader can use to more precisely control turning speed and turning direction. The leading pressure is applied during the part of the halo that is in the direction that the leader wishes the follower to travel.

by Jen’s Reviews (via Brian L. Wells – Starliters Dance Studio)

Dancing is an exercise that can help you strengthen your arms depending on the style of dancing you are doing. When dancing with a partner, you will more than likely hold your elbows out which over time will help strengthen your arms. Other types of dance use the arms in different ways. It is almost impossible not to use your arms with any type of dancing. Moving for 15 to 20 minute intervals will help strengthen your arms and allow you to hold them in position for a longer period of time. By strengthening your arms, you may notice that you are also able to reduce some of the flabby skin that can develop as you age. It will make your arms look a lot younger. Ballet has several arm movements that help strengthen the arms as well. You can practice these movements in a dance studio or even at home

by Joseph Baker

Many dance teachers teach a drill or exercise called The Dance Walk to help their students understand the correct way to move when dancing smooth dances such as the foxtrot. Many beginners dance with heavy, plodding steps.

In contrast, the dance walk develops a smooth, gliding stepping style. The key is that the swing, free foot always skims the floor as shown. On forward walks, the moving foot skims the toe and then the heel. On backward steps, the moving foot skims the heel and then the toe. Notice that the dance walk is smooth and gliding, not heavy and plodding.

by Joseph Baker

Dancing in correct time to the music is essential. Several vendors sell music CD’s that explain and demonstrate how to count the step timing in correct time to the music. It’s best to play ballroom music often enough in your home or in your car so that correct timing becomes second nature. An interesting point is that, in dancing, we are split weight and moving onto a step at the corresponding beat of the music. Another key point is that the follower’s movement is a response to the leader’s lead and must never precede the lead. In other words, the leading action will slightly precede the follower’s response action. A mistake is for the follower to step before the lead.

by Joseph Baker

Most folks have slow danced long before becoming involved in ballroom dancing. The slow dance hold, where the partners have their heads together, is the opposite of what is required for ballroom dancing.

In ballroom dancing, a very large space is created between the heads of the partners and this is necessary for effecting turning patterns such as pivot turns. In ballroom smooth dancing, to help create this space, the follower must stay positioned against the leader’s right hand by stretching upward, outward and leftward into the leader’s right hand. Again, this ice cream cone shaped paring – or big top – is necessary for effecting turning figures such as pivoting actions.

by Joseph Baker

In swing dancing and in many Latin Dance figures, the connection is often with a single handhold. this connection needs to have rock solid integrity. The follower should cup her/his hand so as to provide a strong, full-hand connection versus trying to effect connection only at her/his fingertips. In competition dancing, a momentary loss of connection can spell disaster.

Competitive west coast swing dancers know the importance of this connection very well, as their dance requires an exceptional sense of connection and timing. In fact, it’s miraculous that their ability to communicate so much through a single handhold connection.

Although it SHOULD go without saying, I will say it here: when taking lessons (group classes, workshops and/or private lessons), one should practice what is taught/learned. For all of the time that I have been part of the dance community, I have been told (and I repeat to my students) that one should practice a minimum of 10 minutes a day, every day – which is much better than practicing for an hour, twice a week. Unlike going to the gym, the purpose is not to build muscles, but to build and develop muscle/motor memory.

BUT. . .what constitutes practice? Ideally, if you have a regular dance partner (and especially if you are working on a competition or showcase dance), the couple should practice/dance with each other. However, for the “average” person with a busy life – and/or for those without a regular partner – this means practicing by oneself. This can mean going through the moves with music or even without music. This can mean going over and over one particular segment. This can mean just listening to the music and tapping one’s fingers to the beat. Truly, “practice” means whatever an individual defines it to be, whatever an individual finds necessary and, in real life, whatever the individual can accomplish – what is important is that practice happens regularly.