For the ladies: we are going the third step on the spot always (for the lateral and for the turns). You can strecht your right arm outside after every lateral step and don’t forget to bring your left arm up while doing the left turn.
For the guys:
1. The pizza turn. First lead the lateral of the lady, then you turn. Don’t forget to “cross the street”.
2. The left turn of the lady. Cross the street again.
3. If you are turning in, you will go around the lady. You go with your left foot but you turn to the right. Focus on the lady, so you can turn easily.
4. For the left turn of the lady go with your body to the right and push the arm of the lady.
You can dance it from the basic step or from lateral step. For the ladies: you are turning on the line, try to go your steps always further on the line. Guys: you need some space if you want to lead the lady into the line, because the arms of the lady have to be stretched. You go the first step backwards with the left to pull the lady into the line (go with your body). You will hold both hands of the lady together. While turning the lady the hands are over her head, not over yours.
2. Elastic without elastic
For the ladies, you go just to the front like in the basic step. Guys: with the right hand you bring the lady to the front, the left hand stays in front of her face. On 3 you have to be in the other side weil you want to lead her into the cambre.
3. Cambre
While the lady is going back she have to bend to the front. Guys, first you lead the lady back and one moment later you lead her down with your left hand and with your right under arm. Ladies: do the preparation for the cambre, contract your center, put your pelvis to the front, your chest is in and your head is to the front. If you do the cambre, your knees go to the front while you are rolling backwards. Your head is the last part of your body going back. If the guy lead the wave, you start it moving your head to the front. Guys, watch the video to see how to lead the move with your body.
The strange name will help you to remember the step
We want to go around the lady but we don’t want, that she bend to the front. For it, guys, (1) you will hold your left hand in front of her face and (2) with your right hand you bring the lady to the front on 1 and backwards on the next 1. If the lady try to do the normal elastic, you can block her with your left hand.
Today we have an important lesson if you want to improve your basics. There is a connection between your feet and your upper body if you are going your steps.
If you go with the right to the front your upper body is turning a little bit to the right. If you go with the left to the front your upper body is turning a little bit to the left.
If you go backwards it’s the opposite: if you go with your left backwards, your upper body turns to the right and if you are going with your right backwards, your upper body is turning to the left.
Imagine you do the basic step:
1 to the front with the right: upper body to the right.
2 to the front with the left: upper body to the left.
On 3 you transfer the weight back to the right: going backwards with the right means your upper body is going to the left. But your upper body is already to the left (see the point before), so you don’t need to move your upper body.
1 backwards with the left: upper body to the right.
2 backwards with the right: upper body to the left.
On 3 transfer the weight to the front to your left: your upper body should go to the left but it’s already to the left, it means, you don’t move your upper body.
It’s important to pay attention to this details because they bring your dance to the next level.
Today we did some exercises to improve the musicality of your dance. Musicality means that if somebody is looking you dancing, this person can see the music in your body.
At the beginning if we are learning musicality in the zouk class, (1) we try to be sensitive about the structure of the music and (2) we learn to move our body with the music. We will speak today about the structure.
The structure is almost always the same in every song: you could count till 8 for times and then the music changes. It’s like four sentences with eight words each sentence. At the end of every sentence you can hear a little accent and after the four sentences there is a bigger accent in the music.
It’s very important if you practise this exercise with all kinds of songs because later you will feel the structure without thinking on it.
Today you will learn one combinaton but in two different ways.
We call a normal turn “zouk turn” and it’s a turn if the ladies are going the third step on the spot. The first combination we use the hole time a zouk turn and the guys are going around of the lady.
In the second combination we want to dance the same but with turns on the line. For the turns on the line, the guys need to respect the line of the lady (don’t stay on her way). It’s important too to pull into the line. Guys you first lead the line and after that the turn.
Going with your hips makes your dance more beautiful! If you do this easy exercise you will improve the quality of your move.
We are speaking about two energies:
- The energy of the torsion: if you go with your right to the front you will turn your upper body to your right. If you go with your left to the front, you will turn your upper body to the left.
- Pressing with the foot behind. If you go with the right you will press with the left foot. If you go with the left, you will press with the right foot.
You will hold this extra-energy till the end of the move, from 1 to 3.
