Ballroom Blitz #003

Spot Turns in Rumba - Feb 02, 2023

Transcript

Ian: Hey random dancer on the interwebs my name's Ian

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey

Ian & Lindsey: and this is the Ballroom Blitz

Ian: Yes today dancers we are focusing on Rumba, specifically spot turns let's have a look.

Spot turns are pretty much the first turn we learn and then we can upgrade them on our Rumba Journey you can also switch them into your Cha and get a little bit of a two for one but that's for another Blitz.

Ian: So, when we're dancing our Rumba but we know that we're following a two three four-and-one type arrangement and it's the same with our spot turns. We're going to turn over a spot and we're going to use the basic pattern of crossing as our step, gluing our feet to the floor and rocking changing weight as we continue to turn, and then settling four-and-one.

Of course the great thing about spot turns is if you can go one way you can go the other so we have step rock four-and-one, step rock four-and-one.

Ian: Now if you're trying this for the first time there are a few key things to make sure that you a) don't fall over and b) it doesn't feel too rubbish. First of all keep your steps nice and small we don't want to take massive steps and then our balance is an issue. So, we're going to cross our body and we just want to key off a few key elements.

We're going to turn about a quarter on the first step and we're going to key in one direction and you want to get your whole weight over this foot just like you would in any other Rumba step, and then I'm going to keep turning in the same direction as I rock my weight over but my feet aren't moving so it's just a nice swivel on the floor and you'll probably turn about a half a turn so now we're keying off another direction, and we're just going to simply take a nice slow side step finishing a 360 degree turn but our foot hasn't moved. That's why it's a spot turn it's over a single spot.

Ian: Footwork for lead and follow is exactly the same so if you both want to turn together say after something like a New York then you simply perform the turn in exactly the same way but of course lead and follow will be on opposite feet.

If the leader is going to put the follow in an underarm turn maybe after a simple basic then it will be still the same footwork but the follow passes under the arm instead of letting go of the leader.

[Demonstration without music]

[Demonstration to music]

Ian: And that is spot turns in Rumba. Try them out next time you're on the floor see you next time.