Spot & Switch Turns in Cha Cha

Ballroom Blitz #141

Spot & Switch Turns in Cha Cha - Apr 10, 2025

Transcript

Ian: Hey, boys and girls on the interwebs. My name's Ian,

Lindsey: and I'm Lindsey,

Ian: and welcome to...

Ian & Lindsey: Ballroom Blitz.

Lindsey: Hello there dances, hope you're dancing is going well. Today we are looking at some Cha Cha, and it's more of a point of technique; something that you can play around with than a particular figure. We're going to be having a look at the difference between Spot and Switch Turns.

Being a very excitable dance, the Cha Cha likes its turns every now and then, and there are a couple of different ways that we can approach this. So, one of them, say we have just done a Chasse to the side, Cha-Cha Cha, and we have landed on a particular foot. If we wanted to do a Spot Turn, what we're going to do is we're going to turn in the direction that we have been Chasse-ing but taking our opposite foot across. So this is beat two, but you can see I've left my toe where it was after my Chasse. So where the toe lands at the end of the Chasse, it's going to stay there, and that's going to be my marker to come back to on my next step, before I turn to face my partner and do probably another Chasse. So that is called a Spot Turn. So you can think of it, I'm leaving my toe on the spot and cycling all the way around back to it.

So with the count, we've had Four-and-One. Two. Three. Four-and-One. So one of the important things to do on this one is to make sure that you are still getting your weight changes in. So, if I go in the other direction, or I might switch around so that you can see what foot I'm on, if I've gone Left-together-Left for my Chasse, I want to bring my weight onto my right foot. So my toe is still on the floor, and I've got some pressure through it there, helping me balance, but I have brought my weight onto my right foot. I need to then turn and bring my weight forward onto my left foot before I continue that turn and do my chasse to the right.

Lindsey: Now, say I wanted to do, turn very similar to that, but I wanted to do something a little bit different with my footwork; so, this is a Switch Turn. It's got the same kind of, count, but instead of leaving my toe where it is, I'm going to bring my free foot underneath me, and you get a different effect. So, if I have just on a chasse out to the side, I'm still going to take that first step, but instead of leaving this toe where it is as a marker, I'm going to bring it underneath me and then take a step out, essentially back to where I was, but with that sort of faster footwork kind of look. If I can turn around so you can see I have Four-and-One for my chasse, a Two for this step, and then I've got a little “and-Three”. So I still want to land that step coming back on beat three. But I have a little, syncopation of that slide in of the foot underneath me before I then turn and do my completing Chasse.

Now, because they are essentially, providing the same service of turning us around and we end up essentially back where we started either way, these are fairly interchangeable. So you might have your preference. Maybe you like the spot to where you're keeping your toe on the floor as a marker. Maybe the switch turn is for you because you feel it's a bit more dynamic. It doesn't really matter which one you choose, they will both turn you round, they will both bring you back to where you were, and it won't matter terribly if you're doing one of them and your partner is doing the other.; so nice and interchangeable. You'll find that you can use them for, Underarm Turns, Chases, all sorts of different moments where we are having that sort of full turn around over that bar.

[Demonstration with music]

Lindsey: So there you go, just a nice differentiation between your turns; something to play around with, like I said, they are nice and variable. You can pretty much interchange it, and you might find that one of them suits one particular figure, but you prefer the other method for a different one, so play around with it have some fun. Great fun for a Cha Cha and we'll see you next time.

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

Lindsey: comment,

Ian: share,

Lindsey: and subscribe!

Ian: Keep dancing.

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