Ballroom Blitz #106

Video

youtu.be/Jbw4__d-IWY

Transcript

Ian: Hey guys and girls from the inter-webs. My name's Ian,

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey,

Ian & Lindsey: and welcome to Ballroom Blitz.

Ian: Welcome blitzers, back to another Ballroom Blitz. Today we are heading into the Modern Ballroom world. Today we are heading into Slow Foxtrot, to a heel turn like no other; it is of course the Double Reverse Spin. Let's check it out.

(Demonstration without music)

Ian: The Double Reverse spin is a really gorgeous figure and unlike the name suggests you don't actually spin around a lot, and you don't spin around twice, and it's not as Tazzie Devil inspiring as the name suggests. You do have two separate spins, but that's more for the the theoreticians. For now, we're going to go through the basics of it, get the follows heel turning properly, get the leaders heel turning properly, and get you up onto the floor adding this figure into your Foxtrot, and even give you some suggestions for how to smash it into your Waltz and your Quickstep.

If you do need to revise your heel turns we will leave all the relative links in the description so that you can go back and watch those, we won't get too bogged down in the mechanics of that here, other than to say we are putting the follower into a Reverse Heel Turn, and then we're giving them two extra steps as they exit, which is very similar to what you see in other reverse turns Samba and Viennese Walts for example, with a crossing and a sliding of the feet; and leaders you are going to dance two steps to the followers four so that we can get all of the rotation in nice and settled and get a nice perfect figure with a balanced amount of rotation.

Ian: Leaders, you have two steps to the followers four and that means that with less steps, less mechanics, you have the job of balancing and rotating and controlling the figure; basically if you're going to dance this step you've got to be a leader and be prepared to be a leader. We're going to put the follower into a Reverse Heel Turn, that means you are driving on the left foot preparing to turn left, and you are Side-Stepping around, walking around the follower, putting them into their heel turn, and those are the two critical steps. Then you've got to keep rotating to get the follower to do their extra steps. So, steps wise for yourself you are going to drive forward, slow, putting yourself and your follower into that heel turn on the back of that drive, walking around them, and then allowing yourself to keep rotating without adding any extra steps. Now within that turning step, within that turning timing, there are options for once you've mastered the basic steps for what you can do with the other foot, some people like to Pivot some people like to Ronde, there are different schools of thought if you like. But, you can't get away from the fact that you have two steps, and you can't get away from the fact that the follow is doing a Reverse Heel Turn. So we must step forward slow, put them into the Reverse Heel Turn, and then pick your alignment that you want to drive out on. Here we're demonstrating just three quarters (3/4) of a rotation, so certainly not the "double reverse" two turns that a lot of people feel they should be getting when they hear the name Double Reverse Spin. So, we're only doing three quarters (3/4) of a rotation in this example, you can of course get more, any less and it starts to not need four steps for the follow, so three quarters (3/4) is about your minimum. If you want to go seven eighths (7/8) or one turn that's fine, start with three quarters (3/4), get the balance, and then you can get into the habit of bringing your follow round for your exit. But remember, two steps putting the follow into a Heel Turn, and those are your steps. Be a lead, and you're good to go.

Lindsey: Followers, we're quite used to being put into a Heel Turn if we've been doing some Slow Foxtrot, so the first few steps shouldn't really take us by surprise. We'll feel the leaders drive at us on their left foot, so we'll go backwards on our right. They will cut around us and we should be ready when we feel a turn to be doing a Heel Turn. So, like Ian said, we've done Heel Turns before, we've had a look at those, so we'll put a a link down below for you to have a look at if you need to revise that. So we've had our backwards on the right, we will turn on that right heel, so wherever it lands that's where we want our balance to be, our left foot comes up underneath us, as we turn around we change our weight onto it. Now, after that it could be a number of different things, it could just be a normal reverse turn, it could be some sort of Telemark, we're not quite sure. What will tell us that it is a Double Reverse Spin is that the leader, without taking any more steps, will continue the rotation. So we'll feel it through the frame, we'll feel it through the hip, that we are encouraged to keep on turning, and because of the position that we'll be in we will want to take some steps for it. So, our final two steps... Which way shall I go? ...backwards on the right, Heel Turn, we change our weight to our left here at the end of it, but we'll feel that rotation continue, that will encourage us to take a sideways step on our right, and then that classic reverse turn cross, so my left foot is sliding up underneath me. It will make me land with essentially my knees one behind the other, my weight will be on my left ready to go backwards into some other figure on the right. If I add in the timing for that I've got

(Demonstration of Followers Steps)

Ian: The double reverse spin does come with a number of timing options. Today we are sticking with the basic Slow Quick-Quick Slow, that really enables your Heel Turn for the follow to be executed in their standard timing, so this is the the easiest to get your Double Reverse Spin going. But, you can then explore different options, either exchanging where that second slow is or perhaps dancing them all slows or all quicks, you really can make it creative. But, use this one just to get the hang of the basic figure.

(Demonstration with counts)

(Demonstration with music)

Ian: There you have it boys and girls, dancers of all sorts; the Double Reverse Spin in the [Slow] Foxtrot. As we mentioned you can put this into your Modern Waltz and you can put it into your Quickstep. The principles of what we've talked about today stay exactly the same, you just have to change the rhythm for the appropriate dance that you're putting it in. That might mean that the timing needs to change but if you follow the guidelines for the dance you're in you shouldn't have any trouble. We will be running over those in due course so if you would like to see those sooner rather than later you will need to leave a comment. This is very popular in Modern Waltz, but don't forget as it has a Heel Turn in it, it is a native to [Slow] Foxtrot step. So try it in the [Slow] Foxtrot first, you will find then that the followers will not misinterpret the lead for the Heel Turn because they are expecting it as part of being in Slow Foxtrot. Just a little hint for you there. Until next time let us know what you'd like to see, leave a comment, leave a like, and we hope you enjoyed the video. For now, see you soon.