Ballroom Blitz #027

Video

youtu.be/C0gMDUGSbVM

Transcript

Ian: Hey random dancer on the internet. My name's Ian,

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey,

Ian & Lindsey: and this is a Ballroom Blitz.

Lindsey: Welcome back blitzers, today we are looking at a Samba move and it's an action that comes up a lot in Samba, it's a Volta but we're going to be looking specifically at the Solo Spot Volta.

[Demonstration without music]

Lindsey: The Solo Spot Volta is used, funnily enough, when you want to turn on the spot. So it's using our classic Samba bounce rhythm and the Volta action; which I will show you independently first, and then we'll see how that matches in with how we turn it around.

So, the Volta action first if I just do it to the side is this action that comes up a lot in our Samba where we are standing on one particular foot you can do it both ways but say I'm standing on my left foot here I bring my right in front and I bend my knees so that's our sort of Volta position, and if I'm doing multiple Voltas which we nearly always do we're going to take our other foot to the side and then bring that foot back into that same position and in that way we can sort of shift it where we need it.

So, with my Solo Spot Volta the idea is I should be able to turn a full turn around by doing my Drop. a. Drop. So if I'm turning it around if I'm ready to drop on my right foot I'm going to turn to the right so I'm doing a natural turn here a clockwise turn and it will look a bit like this.

[Demonstration of Solo Spot Volta to the Right]

Lindsey: If I've got my weight on my right foot and I want to do a spot filter I'm going to have that Volta action on my left foot which means I'm turning to the left; and I will have

[Demonstration of Solo Spot Volta to the Left]

Lindsey: turning all the way around.

So, when we're doing Solo Spot Volta our timing is the same as our basic movement so we'll have a 1a2 1a2 timing. So, if I do one to the right it will be

[Demonstration with counts]

Lindsey: If I want my Solo Spot Volta to get all the way around I'm going to show you side on the first dropping action where say I'm going to my right I'm going to come onto my right foot. I'm going to turn a quarter so that's my first step there with my weight on my right where I'm going to place my left toe is going to be kind of behind me if you think about where I started so I need to get my toe over here that means that I can turn on the spot and I'm back to that Volta position having turned a full turnaround.

One of the challenges as we turn around that swiftly is to keep our balance. What you'll find is that if you bend your knees in that Volta position and squeeze your thighs together, always making sure we're keeping the rest of us nice and upright, you will find you can keep your balance much better.

Often it's the follower doing this movement and they can either do it under the arm as the leader does something like a whisk, or they're often required to do it when the leader is doing a foot change into a different position, but you can do it with the leader and the follower both doing a spot falter at the same time with the leader say turning to the left while the follower is turning to the right, and then maybe going back the other way.

We're going to do a couple of Whisks first, and then you'll see Ian set up with his hand signaling that we're going to do spot faulters next.

So we'll have,

[Demonstration with counts - Whisks into Solo Spot Voltas]

Lindsey: If Ian wants to lead me doing a Spot Volta while he's doing Whisks it will look a bit like this.

[Demonstration with counts - Whisk with ladies underarm turn (Solo Spot Volta)]

[Demonstration with music]

Lindsey: So, that's it for the Solo Spot Volta. It's a very useful move to be able to do and it's a great example of what we can do with our Voltas; a really versatile action. So, see if you can get them into your next Samba when you're on the floor. Get into your local Studio to find out more and we'll see you next time.