Ballroom Blitz #126

Video

youtu.be/QuXFaT-hMPw

Transcript

Ian: Hey guys and gals on the internet. My name is Ian,

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey,

Ian: and welcome to

Ian & Lindsey: Ballroom Blitz.

Lindsey: Hello, lovely dancers, welcome back to the Ballroom Blitz channel. We are going to be looking at a Samba move or two today, so the action is Walks, and we're going to have a look at a couple of different versions. We're going to be looking at the Promenade Walks and also the Side Samba Walks.

Walks in Samba have a particular action that it's quite important and fun to get used to. Both of these types of walks will make use of it in slightly different ways, so let's have a look at the promenade walks first.

[demonstration of Promenade Walks (without music)]

Lindsey: So, as the name suggests, Promenade Walks are always done in a Promenade hold with your partner, which means that we'll be on opposite feet as we go. So, we're either both on the outside foot, and then both on the inside foot, you can do any number, you can start on whichever foot you are ready on, but yes, in a Promenade Position. So let's have a closer look though at that walking action in the Samba. So say I'm a follower in my Promenade Position, I'm ready to go on my right foot, I will take a walk forward, so I'm going to go toe lower on beat One of the bar, and then it's actually a hip action that produces that sort of Samba bounce kind of version that we get in the walks. So I'm going to, if I've taken a walk on my right, think about lifting my left hip next, so my foot back you will get readjusted slightly back and that will cause my foot, my forward foot to do this little slide; and that happens on beat two. So what we end up with is a classic kind of Samba rhythm happening with a One-a. Two.

When I land my first step of the walk, I put all my weight on that foot. You can see my knee is flexed and my foot is flat on the floor. Now, this flatness of my foot on the floor won't change as I do this next bit. So as I readjust to this hip and therefore that back foot, what's not going to happen is that I'm going to sort of release my heel or my toe or any other part of that previous foot. I'm actually going to take my weight over it and that slight action back, if I've got a lot of weight into, it won't happen. That's actually not a problem at all. If it doesn't slide, it doesn't slide as long as you've got your balance. But if I give a bit of hip, you can see that it's just come back slightly. What we don't want to happen is we take a step, and then we do something like this and end up in almost like a Pressed Point position. So you don't want to release your heel, you don't want to release your toe, and the slide back shouldn't be very far. What you sometimes see when people do Samba walks is a bit too much of a slide back, and they end up in this sort of position doing a bit of a teapot.

Lindsey: So you want to keep your weight fairly, sturdily over that foot. It's the hip that's moving, not the rest of your body, and that will result in, sort of nice balanced position at the end, even with that slide back. When I do this in a Promenade Position with my partner, I'm not absolutely square with the way I'm walking of course, because I need to take into account, my frame and where my partner is; so I'm slightly cheated towards my partner. So when I take my inside foot through a walk, that would be my outside foot, this inside foot, my left foot, in this case, coming through the one closest to my partner, what you'll feel is a slightly different sort of tension across yourself here. This outside foot will feel slightly sort of sideways. This middle foot coming through will feel across. That is not a problem at all. We still sort of release the hip and get that same, slide action coming through, but it will feel different from one side to the other.

So with the Promenade Walks, they can happen and often do on both feet. The Side Samba walk wants to be on the foot closest to your partner. So the inside foot, when that walks forward, that is an opportunity to lead a Side Samba Walk, if that's what the leader wants to do. So let's have a look at a normal Promenade Walk followed by a Side Samba Walk. So if we're here and we're ready on our outside foot, we can take a normal Promenade Samba Walk, so we go forward and slide when we come through it on this next one this is the opportunity that Ian has to lead a Side Samba Walk, so we come through on that foot, and then instead of leaving the free foot back, it actually comes out to the side with an action through the frame to let me know, the follower, what's going on.

A lot is similar in what is happening in the action for the Side Samba Walk, so we're taking a walk coming through landing on a flat foot and our weight is over that foot. The only difference now is that instead of shifting our foot backwards, it is going to shift out to the side of us, so when we slide and lift that hip, the foot slides slightly away from each other towards your own pointed foot.

Ian: So, leaders, the Side Samba Walk as Lindsey just said, is characterized by that sideways movement. The bit that you have to do is communicate if that's what you want to do, and as we'll see in a moment there are different versions and finishing positions that you can get to. So we want some idea of where we want to take the follower.

The first step will always be planted the same way, we can't do much with that. But, we need to communicate here that we're taking that sideways hip action. I like you to try and without over overdoing it, be a little bit exaggerated with the arms, and then push away, and then use the tension of the push to help communicate to the fellow how much to the side I want them to go, depending on where I want them to be for my next figure that I'm going to lead.

So we have a little bit of a build up, so that there is a big neon sign that we're going to the side, and as you can see here, I've taken Lindsey to the side, but not so much that we've broken any sort of hold. So if I just kept Promenade Walking, we could chain these together, and that straight away gives you a little bit of variety, from just your normal promenade moves.

Lindsey: Now, the chances are pretty good that you'll encounter the Promenade Walks first in the Samba, but the Side Sample Walk is a great move, just by itself, as Ian just said, you can go for a normal Promenade Walk, and then do a Side Samba Walk, it just sort of mixes things up a little bit, but it's also great for setting up a couple of other moves.

One is any Criss-Cross work that you want to do, with either Voltas or Bota Fogos, and it also sets up a third, walking action, figure that is called a Stationary Walk. So that Side Samba Walk is well worth, just getting your head around, trying it out because there's a lot that it can lead to.

[demonstration (with music)]

Lindsey: And there you go, beautiful dancers, the Samba Walks in both Promenade Position and the Side Samba Walk as well. So a little tip to the leaders, make sure that your frame is fairly still through the Promenade Walks, because then when you actually use it, to gear up and indicate the Side Samba Walks for the follower, it'll just make it easier for them to pick up that that's what's going on. So, try both of them out. Let us know how you go. We will at a later time show you some Criss-Cross work and the Stationary Walks as well, if we haven't already, so look out for that. Let us know what else you'd like to see and we will catch you next time.

Ian: Well, that's it for today's blitz boys and girls. Don't forget to like,

Lindsey: comment,

Ian: share,

Lindsey: and subscribe.

Ian & Lindsey: Bye!

Lindsey: That’s a keeper!