Ballroom Dance Lessons and Notes

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Feet are placed. It means one will often have his/her feet turned in when placing a foot.
90 degree rule. When I place my feet, I should never place a foot so that they are turned out more than 90 degrees. It is OK to turn them in more than that, though.
In the manual, in the Back Corté, the first step has the left side leading. That is not how any competition dancers perform it, they always take that step in CBMP, winding it up a bit.
On the reverse turn, on steps 3 and 4, the shoulders stop rotating, giving the hips a chance to catch up. It was described as a hover in the orientation of the frame. When reverse turn is preceded by another reverse turning figure with many quick steps, some dancers even reverse the rotation of the shoulders a little on this step, to slow down enough for the close at the end of the pattern.
There was some discussion of how the trailing foot is lifted on the Back Corté. Mirko Gozzoli lifts the heel and then the toe last. Marcus Hilton lifts the whole foot. But Mirko, and contemporary dancers, take much longer steps than Marcus did.

Tango (for the ladies):

Step 1 on progressive link: CBM is very important, don't worry too much about crossing the line (the book says "on the line"). If there is not enough CBM, lady's R leg is going to block Man's leg.
Step 1 on tango walk: CBM
Step 2 on tango walk: keep wider two tracks, to leave room for Man's R leg to step forward. Same for LF steps in rock turn. The position feels awkward, but that is correct.

The hold, how to create volume (for general standard dances):

Left curve: really need to curve more to left, don't lift R hip much (maybe a little bit), squeeze R side, extend L side to make shoulders level with Man. Head extend the curve to left, 45' degrees.
Frontal curve: slightly bend legs forward, don't bend back the neck, flex the upper back backward, head goes with it. keep middle frame straight and connected with Man.
Nothing that you do to create volume should disturb the center alignment. Man and Lady's center move together (L, R, up, down, forward, back).

When man closes, he should close feet together, ball of right foot even with arch of left foot.

Progressive Link: when man steps on left foot, he should turn his frame when his weight is on his left foot, then put down right foot under shoulder, in promenade position.

Head should always be at the same level. Some people have a tendency to lower on awalk, and then rise back up on the side step on the progressive link, which causes the right side to go up relative to left side.

Seattle Times talks about the "challenging" version of Romeo and Juliet being performed by PNB.

A profile of Isaac Akiba, who was recruited by the Boston Ballet through a program offered in the public schools.

AP has a piece coinciding with release of Mao's Last Dancer