Ballroom Blitz #087

Video

youtu.be/p3994kaM6R8

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!

Lindsey: Hello dancers, welcome back to another Ballroom Blitz. We're going to be showing you a Cha Cha move today, and that move is Hand-to-Hands.

This move is one of the classic moves, it follows our Step and Replace, and then our signature Chasse Cha Cha Cha move. You can do them either side, and they're a great filler, and a great setup for some other moves later on down the track, so let's have a look.

[Demonstration without music]

Lindsey: So as you can see this move opens us up really nicely for our Step-Rock portion, a little bit like our New Yorks, but unlike our New Yorks this move starts with a backward step rather than a forward step.

The steps for the leaders and the followers are actually the same, it just depends on which foot we are ready on and you could be ready on both [either]. If I've just done a Chasse Left-a-Left, I will be ready to go on my right foot next. I will be turning to my right a quarter to take my backwards step along this new alignment, I rock, then I turn and face my partner again, so turning a quarter to the left ready for my Chasse Side-a-Side, and that will set me up nicely to do one on the other side. So if I'm ready to go on my left foot I'll turn a quarter to the left, that will send my back foot there, rock and Side-a-Side.

Now of course we are going to apply our Cuban timing to this step just like our other Cha Cha steps. So the beat for the music will go

[Demonstration with counts]

Lindsey: So one of the important things to happen when a leader wants to lead into a Hand-to-Hand is to make sure they have got the correct hand. So if you think about the position that you want to end up in, taking a backward step, you want to have hold of the hand that will be side on with your partner. So if Ian's ready to go backwards on his left foot, he actually wants to have a hold of me with his right hand. He then turns his quarter, leaves a bit of creative tension there through his hand, that will encourage me to turn and we both take our backward step there. If we want to do one on the other side he'll switch his hands, and that will set up the same movement, the same lead on the other side.

[Demonstration with music]

Lindsey: And that's all there is to it the Hand-to-Hands in the Cha Cha. You'll be unsurprised to learn that there is a corresponding move for the Rumba as well just taking out that Chasse and it gives us a great opportunity to have some free hands to try out some styling. So throw it into your Cha Cha, throw it into your Rumba, give it a go, let us know what you'd like to see next, and we'll see you next time.