Standard Practice Notes
Standard
Prep step:
LF to side: not too far, follow Man's leg
There is leg rise, body extend to L more (L side stretch, shoulder closer to ear), L knee is not locked, there is still propulsion from LF pushing floor, this is metronomic swing. Pushing yourself off from the heel.
Projection direction and knee and foot lines up
Movement:
Focus on standing leg, not moving leg. Not moving off standing leg too fast, roll the foot. Bicycle, feels slower
fwd step from up to down: extend pass spine, lower heel, bend knee, weight onto heel, roll.
When feet come together, circle loop, roll feet
Body isolation: 3D head, chest, hip
Arm/frame is not doing the leading, Use center body, arm/frame follows.
Frame: not rigid, needs to breathe
Stay left, body more left, stretch; ribs to partner, then extend.
RH tone coming from back. shoulders down.
Keep frame/arm forward, especially when moving back, e.g. Double Reverse.
Reverse Turns: stretch left, head left, keep left side body forward with Man.
Natural turns: (Lady)
1st step curve, hips turn more, follow Man's hips, allow them to move, stretch and keep R arm forward
2st step: smaller side step.
Promenade Position: do not loose R side. But do not be stiff.
Man needs to feel Lady's RH and R side, but Lady's R arm should be soft, with tone. (Elbow more up or down is personal preference. English coaches prefer arm more down. Current teachers prefer more up and out.)
If Lady's arm is stiff, Man feels he is not allowed to create sway to exit Promenade, he's forced to stay in position. Arm can not be completely weak either.
You do not maintain side up because of arm. You main the R side up by using the back and hand, not arm.
e.g. Waltz, chasse, to outside change to PP and then chasse close (pay attention to allow vertical dial sway, but not changing head)
Lady: always to be ready, don't anticipate, wait for Man to lead, they may or may not exit with Sway etc.
Moving fwd with toe: step foot large enough step that foot should be in front of spine, land on to heel of front foot. Roll on foot.
Best skill for follower, understand where your responsibility/action ends, where following starts. "Follow and do yourself" happen at the same time.
Some actions Man will do, Lady has to allow it to happen ("follow"). "Heavy" is usually when Lady doesn't allow certain action to happen.
Lady is very much in charge of the back of her head and tail bone. ("do yourself"). Don't move head without intention.
Lady doesn't decide how much to turn and sway. Turn and sway is "passive".
Allow what's in between head and tail bone to rotate and sway around the spine, without affecting head and tail bone. Lady use head/spine/tailbone to move forward and back.
The body does need to feel "connected" from head to spine and tailbone, but there also need to be come "looseness" to allow upper body to rotate and sway, otherwise, if Man leads more rotation and sway, it will pull Lady off balance.
Have the feeling that rest of body is "hanging" from the head, allow body to move without affecting head.
Don't lose frontal curve. Rib cage and chest projecting to Man while body moving backward. Weight does move onto foot (head/tailbone), but leaving frontal curve, increase volume in posture, don't let chest go back fast (looks like chest caved in).
Foot placement
Foot always go straight. But we can walk on straight line or curved line. When walking curved line, it can come from standing thigh, standing thigh turns, foot is straight compared to hips. Ankle is always straight. When walking backward, foot is also straight backward, but thigh turns in.
Double Reverse heel turn: create rotation in standing thigh, then place foot backward straight.
Typically, there is more curve when going backward than going forward. Especially in Viennese Waltz, going forward is pretty straight.
Center Balance
To move better, one has to have both "Propulsion" and "Center Balance"
"Center Balance" is where weight is in between feet, in split position. This is where a step ends.
Step doesn't end when full weight is on one foot - which gives partner the feeling of moving away too fast, throwing too quickly into the movement, no time for Man to lead.
Need to see what's "in-between" the steps to create fuller movement, "slow down the movement", not moving too drastically from one foot to another.
When there is no "Center Balance", the movement is choppy, too fast. If only prepare leg without moving body/center, it will block partner.
Need to create "nice resistance". Person moving forward is the engine, providing power "pushing".
Movement practice (keep both legs straight for this exercise):
Forward:
Keep upper body/spine straight (do not lean fwd or back), start by moving the body/balance fwd, which causes the feet to catch up and slide fwd
Stop in split position.
collect back foot to pass the standing foot and repeat and stop in split position
Backward:
Keep upper body straight and move the whole body backward (first) without sticking leg/butt back. It's the moving of body causing the leg to move and catch up with weight.
use whole BALL of back foot (not just toe which can not accept weight), put a coin under the ball of feet and slide/push coin back before starting to collect front foot. Hit split position.
the back heel doesn't touch ground till front foot is collected/parallel to the standing foot.
keep moving body weight back and foot continues to pass the standing foot and land on ball and slide again, hit split position.
Back steps are typically smaller than forward steps.
Practice whole choreography focusing on the split center balance leg position. Legs are like scissors, beat is the split position.
Different movement in swing dances: Common: all split position. Difference: different footwork and shape of legs
Drive/push (HT): both legs bent. slide fwd with toe, then flat and then heel, both knees are soft
Rising/elevation: 2 toes, long legs
Lowering/landing: 1 flat foot, 1 ball of foot, long legs, not stiff.
Collecting/closing/crossing: including heel turns
Waltz
Change step: body rotation 45 degrees each step, but no turn.
Don't overshoot weight on count 2 side step, partial weight.
Closing feet needs to time with center of gravity, not dragging too long or too soon. Center of gravity aim to the IE edge of foot.
Natural Turn: 1st half more sway, 2nd half more swing (Lady)
Chasse From PP: change inclination hip tilt a little earlier, going into 1.
Whisk: L hip high
Propulsion is physical, train contact with floor. Slide foot. Controlled over balance.
Dance not from foot to foot, skate on floor, go from center balance to center balance 50/50 weight.
Beat is center balance moment, beat is not weight fully on foot moment.
Focus on split position, but not too big stretch, has to be able to move. Maintain center balance
Slide back: don't use toe, use ball of foot (different coach has different opinions)
Over balance: off the foot will cause foot to move.
Step fwd: flat foot, slide over balance, then Heel Toe
Spin Turn: RF slide out over balance
* Step back: ball , can put weight on. If using toe, it's using indirect center - ankle (direct centers: knee, sternum)
Cross perception vs. linear/parallel perception
The "circling" motion: winding up for back step, knee should not pass toe
Tango
Set up: RF not turned out; LF is not turned out
Tango close: 2nd side step partial weight, don't overshoot.
Open finish: shape by rotating to R, do not lower heel too early
Posture: knees more bent.
Closed Promenade: R arm forward. don't lose energy. R arm needs to be more consistent with tone, not too much pressure and not too loose.
Movement: stay flat. Feet flat, lift foot. Balance in middle of foot, not to much in ball of foot.
Energetic pathway: direction of over balance, may not be the same as direction of movement path
Over balance can be curved, but direction can be straight. Partner over balance complete each other.
Back step: create invitation, pull center, pull hips back,
Lower belly "in", doesn't shortern front, front longer than back, must not arch back. Respect natural arch of back, keep the arch when moving. Front is long and supported up. Keep arch: not decreased, not increased.
Fallaway: invite, break at hip.
Continue movement, not interrupted. Body doesn't stop, even when closing feet.
Promenade in Tango: R hip toward Man, L hip roll down, pull L hip, feels like sitting, seated. Hips L and R level, usually R hip is too high up. Make sure R hip level.
Carry the natural curve through movement. The part hat has to move happen in lower area than where you hold your core.
Move while in the meantime, "stay" with Man.
Promenade link: do not stop the movement.
Whisk after oversawy: move back, don't stop movement, continue.
Keep middle of body with Man. Bottom and Top away from Man.
Maintain good arch through strenth in lower belly that goes all the way up. Shoulders have to be able to fall back and can relax.
Heel turn drop oversway: Butt feels go out, break hip line; hip doen't flatten out at oversawy. (Swing dances have rise to finish the swing which flattens the hip crease). L knee flexed. LF pointed, articulated, extended. Bikini line, one side line goes up, the other side goes down.
Outside swivel where Man swivels: Lady does not stop movement, rotate R thigh, then L leg can continue to step.
Even when movement is sharp, movement does not freeze or stop.
Promenade Link: pivot on LF, but put pressure (pressure not weight) on R ball, 20-80, can produce sharp stop, impact. Then use standig Leg again. RF helps to stop the momentum.
Balance weight move back to middle of foot, not too much on ball of foot. When weight is too much on front of foot, it feels in front of Man's face. Use least effort to feel balanced.
Viennese Waltz
Forward half of Natural Turn: do not underturn.
Don't overshoot 2nd side step, weight is shot too far. 2nd step: stretch and then bend knee and stay flat
Don't pop up, more flat, focus on movement.
Keep volume, left. Stay connected with Man in upper body, lower body is free to move.
Different from Waltz, in V. Waltz, on 3, close and is already doing the action for next step.
Pay attention to allow middle body to sway without affecting head and tailbone.
Man and Lady takes turns to create new center for rotation. The person going backward, identify center of rotation to allow the turn of the other person. Step, anchor (without bringing head with it), change of sway under the head, with a purpose to invite the partner, create a center for partner to pass and rotate around.
Have some calmness in the dance even when going for bigger movement.
Foxtrot
Feather Step:
Stay on standing leg longer, the moving foot can prepare. The more to prepare, the body needs to actually go forward for a second, then Man put Lady back.
During count 3 and 4 (or 7 and 8 during Feather Finish), Lady has to balance on her RF flat (BH footwork, so on flat foot, don't stay on ball for too long), LF next to RF on toe (not ball, think about showing shoe size numbers), beautiful feet, it also puts body weight more forward, the right posture.
Using body - swing/sway 3D, for Lady: (practice upper body motion sitting on a chair - which neutralize the hips)
Preparation:
5 6: body horizontal rotated to left, vertical rotate to R (L side longer), and with frontal rotation
7 8: neutralize horizontal and vertical rotation (keep frontal rotation) for a moment then starting to the other direction
Feather Step:
S( 1 2): horizontally rotated to R about 45 degrees, vertical rotation to L (R side longer) , keep frontal rotation.
Q Q (3 4): at end of 4, neutralize horizontal and vertical rotation.
Three Step:
S (1 2): horizontally rotate to L about 45 degrees, vertically rotate to R (L side longer), keep head position - this position is not as natural as the other side because we are keep spine to L
Q Q (3 4): neutralize at end of 4.
In Foxtrot, the rise is from leg rise, not because of foot rise.