Huit in Paso Doble

Ballroom Blitz #103

Huit in Paso Doble - Feb 22, 2024

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 Ballroom blitzers back to the Blitz Bullring. We are dancing some Paso Doble today it is the Huit.

In this case the word Huit is French for the number eight. Unsurprisingly the figure Huit has Huit steps, has eight steps, but it looks nothing like a number eight it makes nothing like a figure eight or anything like that, that's where the similarities end. We are going to be representing the Matador swishing the cape, which of course is the follower, the Matador being the leader, and then you would follow it with a step that hopefully symbolizes the ire that you have just instilled in the bull. So, let's have a look at the Huit.

[demonstration without music]

Ian: So from that demonstration you can see it's not too complex in a lot of ways, but the two parts are very very different, and you can sort of see that the follower, being the cape, is being swished from one side by the Matador and that's really what this figure represents. The Matador, once getting into position, is just Surplusing for most of the figure, but that doesn't mean that they don't have anything to do. The leader must maintain some body control to make sure that they don't topple over while Surplusing on the spot, and to make the look of the figure be in line with the story you're telling. So, while the steps might be simple for the leader they're not the only thing going on. The follower on the other hand, has to cross from both sides and doesn't take weighted steps on every step, so there's a little bit going on. We're going to do the base model that you saw there, but then you can make this move more expansive and much more impactful and powerful looking, once you get the basics so you know what rules you're breaking.

So let's have a look at the leaders steps in a bit more detail

So, the Huit commences in Prominade Position, so we have arrived in Prominade Position weight for the leaders is of course on the left foot ready to commence the figure on the right. I'm going to take my step in Prominade Position, my follower will come with me. I'm now going to turn about an eighth as I close my feet and now, on the spot, footwork wise I'm going to do six Surplus for, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and footwork wise that's all the Huit is. But, as we've said there's a lot of things going on in the upper body, so if I have my follow in my frame I'm going to take my first step, as I take my second step, my closing step, I'm inspiring them to go beyond me, and then on step three I'm going to change their direction from that way, to that way, and I need to inspire that in the frame. Then I'm going to walk them across me for four and five and on six inspire them to change back to looking that way, that's six, and then on seven, eight, return them back to me for a close, I'll let Lindsey go over the steps, but if we add that with our Surplus action we have

[demonstration of leaders steps]

Ian: And you can see there if that gets a little bit too expansive it's very easy to over overbalance [or] topple out of this figure, so it takes a lot of core strength, a lot of nice Paso Doble framework and to make sure you're working together, so that the steps don't get too big and too unruly.

Lindsey: Followers you are the cape, so you've got all the action work here. As Ian said, we are in Promenade Position when we start, our weight is on our right foot, so we're going to start this figure on our left, that's quite usual in a Paso Doble. We take that step with a heel step through on one, and then we will feel the leader stop but also promote us to keep on going further. So we'll take a second step on our right foot, off to the side but then we'll feel the frame shift and it will bring us back onto our left foot again, about where it was before. So the first three, three steps, are step, toe, settle, and now we are facing back the other way in a sort of Counter-Prominade Position. We're then going to repeat a very similar thing, we're being encouraged to go that way so we do indeed go that way, but again we're brought up short and we settle back down again. We've only got two more steps seven and eight, we're brought in front of the leader and then squared upward with them at the end so we finish this figure in a nice steady closed hold.

So all together we have

[demonstration of followers steps]

Lindsey: Now you may have noticed as I was demonstrating, that the very edge steps, if you like, so steps two, one, two, I'm not quite able to bring my weight fully over that foot the leader's frame is going to stop me. So you'll find that you kind of have partial weight at that point on the turn ready to sort of swoop back the other way. So that's something that you can play around with that technique your connection with your partner to get the most out of this figure.

[demonstration with counts]

[demonstration with music]

Ian: There you have it, the French Huit in the Paso Doble. Only eight steps, very different halves, when you think of the picture that you're building it makes a lot more sense than the name does, really. Don't make it too big until you get the the hang of that shaping but then once you get the hang of those steps and that styling give it a whirl, try and make it a little bit more expansive. Leaders you can separate your feet if you want to to give yourself a little bit more room to move and just try and tell that story with a bit more of a puffed up chest. Either way you swing, have fun Paso is never as hard as people make it out to be. It should be danced more at the social level because it is just a lot of fun when you don't take it too seriously. Smash it into your dancing, give it a go, have fun, let us know what else you want us to do on the channel, especially with our new tech coming out very soon and we will put that in on the list and get it up on the blitz for you. Until then see you next time.

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