Ballroom Blitz #085

Natural Opening Out Movement in Rumba - Nov 16, 2023

Transcript

Ian: Why hello there random dancer on the internet. My name's Ian,

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey,

Ian & Lindsey: and this is a Ballroom Blitz!

Ian: Hello blitzers welcome back to the channel. Today we are going to finish off a bit of a mini series, I guess you could say, a little while ago we did the Natural Top in Rumba, then we did a Blitz on how to get into that, even though we did do that in Cha Cha, but it's very very similar, and now we're going to give you I guess the most basic way to get out of your Natural Top. It's called the Natural Opening Out Movement, it's quite simple, quite easy, and if you have been getting into those Tops this is nice and easy to get you back to a familiar closed position so let's give it a look.

[Demonstration without music]

Ian: So you you can see from the demonstration this only takes one bar of music, it is super simple, it opens us out in the natural direction, the clockwise direction, that goes on the end of our Natural Top, returns us to closed and we could do basics or some other simple move from there. [It] doesn't take us through Fan or any more complex positions like other moves that you could use once you get used to your Natural Top, and how to exit, this is just keeping it nice and simple so that you can use the top without too much flash while you're getting started.

Now, what we're showing you today is of course the base model. This is a fairly simple figure so it has been pimped up along the way by a number of different people. You will see different flare added, the steps going in slightly different positions, more twist, and other rotations to get a little bit more out of such a simple figure. That's completely fine once you get the base steps and the base notion, I encourage you to do all the same, but start out nice and simple get it working, then flash it up.

So, leaders you have arrived at the end of the Natural Top which kind of means you will have some rotation, we've made some sort of turnabout after however many bars of the Natural Top you have used. But, you've now decided it's time to come out, we want to stop turning. The first thing we have to realize about this figure is we have to communicate that quite softly to our partner, we don't just want to come to a sudden grinding halt, that's quite jarring, and we have to appreciate that our steps have to mix in with that rotation. So essentially I am going to go to the side on my left foot, as I'm rotating around a little bit, so my torso will rotate. I encourage you to keep eyes on your follow just in case anything goes a little bit ary, but also to allow that torso twist as we're taking this step. So we've come out, we've probably ended [of] course being a Natural Top in a Cuban Cross position, so I'm due to go to the side on my left. I go to the side, that's my 2 Step. I'm now essentially going to, in terms of footwork, rock back onto my right for 3, and I'm now just going to close my feet over the 4-and-1. So if we take the rotation out and just go with the footwork, I'm going from a fairly closed footed position, I'm going out on my left 2 rock back on my right 3 close and change weight 4-1and I will have brought my follow back in front of me. If we add the rotation, we have our Cuban cross, we step out to the side, I want to make my follow turn a half after they have taken their step forward, so my torso rotates. I turn them so that they step back after turning a half, I will let Lindsey explain more about that in a moment, we're going to both rock in position without changing or stepping or rotating anymore, I'm now going to, as I close my feet and change weight, walk the follow forward so that they are in front of me, and then as I'm settling my weight turn them to face me. So if we wanted we could step into step 4 of a basic, that's the backward half for the leader, so you should be ready to move your right foot with all your weight on your left, and in this version basically with your feet both together.

Lindsey: Now followers we're about to take a step on our right foot, which means that we will have just finished our natural turn sorry Natural Top, by taking a sideway step on our left foot. So we should have our balance nicely there and we'll want that because we are essentially pivoting over that foot, so we're swiveling on that foot, following the frame around, so we're hoping to get a nice amount of turn and support from the leader's frame at this point, and as Ian said we will be turning a half before we take the next step, which will be backwards on on my right. So if I'm facing you now my step will go towards you, but it will be going backwards because I'll have turned a half. So I have, turn and step backwards, that is beat 2 rock 3, and then the frame of the leader will take me around, back in front of them, this will actually feel like a forward step on the right foot on 4-1, but by the time they sort of square up their frame and we square up with them you will find that that foot is back to the side again. So we have

[Demonstration of Followers Steps]

Ian: So if we demonstrate this as if we have just finished the Natural Top, I'm in my Cuban cross position, Lindsey has taken her foot to the side, and you will see as I step to the side towards the camera, Lindsey is going to step that way backwards this is step 2. I'm going going to turn my torso my, trunk, to face her, that gets the extra rotation and holds the frame in place. We rock in place 3 and as I close my feet I'm going to walk around 4 settling on 1. I end with my feet together but my weight on my left, Lindsey ends with her feet apart with her weight on her right, ready to step into whatever comes next.

[Demonstration with counts]

Ian: So you can see from putting both of those halves together there is a lot of work in the frame. It does stretch, we need to maintain tension we need to understand where our follow is stepping and the amount of rotation that the leader is putting in. This is the cause of some of the changes and you might find one adaptation is instead of stepping to the side, leaders you might choose to step forward, or a bit more forward to give you some help with that rotation, that's entirely up for grabs. But we can't let the frame go floppy, we can't have noodle arms, we can't sort of let it just relax and expect the follow to do their own work without any lead at all, because there is a lot of rotation there, there's a lot of option for turning a particular amount, when the weight changes, etc. So make sure we keep a nice amount of creative tension through the frame, not too much, but not too little, just right, so that we get the lead and the help without feeling strangled through the step.

[Demonstration with music]

Ian: There you go blitzers, the Natural Opening Out Movement in Rumba, the easiest way to get out of your Natural Top from the standard amount of steps, and if you've last of this long you will have noticed the whole package: getting into it with our redefined Basics, the Natural Top, and then how the Natural Opening Out Movement ends that whole little sequence. Try it out in your Rumba, remember it's basically the same in your Cha you just have to shorten your steps add those little Chasse movements, and then do that repeating pattern, and for the Natural Opening out just add your Cha Chasse at the end as well. Give it a go, try it in your Rumba, try it in your Cha, let us know how you go, and good luck. We will see you next time.