Dancing in the balls of your feet the whole time ??

[pielcanela]

In the dance group that I belong to, we are told to dance in the balls of our feet through out our whole performances. ( ( we use typical jazz shoes without any meaning full heel)) . Our director actually dances in the balls of his feet all the time, either performance or socially and we are encouraged to do the same.

I am wondering though if this is the right approach for social dancing, ( I supposed performance will be whatever vision the director has) .

I noticed that a smoothes does come about when going in the balls of my feet, my balance sure is challenged and it has improved, it does look stylish to a point, however I am wondering if this is actually sort charging the motion that using your whole feet would provide. Isn’t after all the whole idea that proper placement of feet creates Cuban motion and hip movement ? . by basically locking my feet in a “only balls of feet touch the floor” position, I am restricting the range of motion. ??

I been looking at videos of pros and I haven’t seen someone dancing in that way. Or maybe I am just not noticing enough.

I am confused, I will appreciate any of you all input,

[englezul]

In the dance group that I belong to, we are told to dance in the balls of our feet through out our whole performances. ( ( we use typical jazz shoes without any meaning full heel)) . Our director actually dances in the balls of his feet all the time, either performance or socially and we are encouraged to do the same.

I am wondering though if this is the right approach for social dancing, ( I supposed performance will be whatever vision the director has) .

I noticed that a smoothes does come about when going in the balls of my feet, my balance sure is challenged and it has improved, it does look stylish to a point, however I am wondering if this is actually sort charging the motion that using your whole feet would provide. Isn’t after all the whole idea that proper placement of feet creates Cuban motion and hip movement ? . by basically locking my feet in a “only balls of feet touch the floor” position, I am restricting the range of motion. ??

I been looking at videos of pros and I haven’t seen someone dancing in that way. Or maybe I am just not noticing enough.

I am confused, I will appreciate any of you all input,


That doesn't actually mean that your heel must be off the ground, it just means that 70-80% of your mass should be distributed on the ball of the foot. So that's why you can't see it.

Proper weight shifting creates the cuban motion. That's about transferring your weight on one foot only not about where exactly on that foot is the point of support for your mass.

Dancing on the ball of your foot will improve not only your smoothness (because basically this technique will act like suspensions and when done will eliminate the up and down bouncing that occurs when shifting your weights)
and also will increase your response time, and you can totally see this while doing some fast shines.

[borikensalsero]

I mainly dance on the ball of my feet, though when I want to change the look I will dance completely flat footed. Music must be right, otherwise, I can't keep up.

[Josh]

In the dance group that I belong to, we are told to dance in the balls of our feet through out our whole performances. ( ( we use typical jazz shoes without any meaning full heel)) . Our director actually dances in the balls of his feet all the time, either performance or socially and we are encouraged to do the same.

I am wondering though if this is the right approach for social dancing, ( I supposed performance will be whatever vision the director has) .

I noticed that a smoothes does come about when going in the balls of my feet, my balance sure is challenged and it has improved, it does look stylish to a point, however I am wondering if this is actually sort charging the motion that using your whole feet would provide. Isn’t after all the whole idea that proper placement of feet creates Cuban motion and hip movement ? . by basically locking my feet in a “only balls of feet touch the floor” position, I am restricting the range of motion. ??

I been looking at videos of pros and I haven’t seen someone dancing in that way. Or maybe I am just not noticing enough.

I am confused, I will appreciate any of you all input,

When social dancing, I primarily use the balls of the feet, though it will go into the heel too. If you dance flat-footed or the weight is on the heels too much, you will not be able to keep up with fast songs, and will look stiff with slow songs too.

Like englezul said, you're not stepping with the heels off the floor, it's just that your weight is distributed towards the front of the feet. Pros do it, or else they wouldn't be able to dance well. Cuban motion is created by stepping on the balls of the feet and the hip settles with straightening one leg and bending the other--but many salsa dancers do not have accentuated cuban motion. Especially as a guy, you don't want TOO much hip motion, as you would in a rumba or bolero.

You will restrict your hip motion if you dance with your feet parallel or with your toes turned in... dance with your feet slightly turned out, and this will enable your hips to move much more freely. Dancing on the balls of your feet will definitely not restrict you--it will free you! :wink:

Dancing on the balls of the feet is one of the first technique improvements most salsa dancers could utilize, and one that most good instructors emphasize first, but most still dance flat unfortunately.

[pielcanela]

thank you, everyone, as always another one of my questions has been very well answered :)

[Pacion]

...Especially as a guy, you don't want TOO much hip motion

Depends on who is watching! ;)

[Josh]

Depends on who is watching! ;)

hehe, good point. :)

[Lucretia]

Beeing a person who don't have English as my home language I wonder: do you say dancing on your balls or in your balls.

(My first reaction of this post was :lol: A missunderstanding perhaps...)

/luc

[waltzgirl]

It's dancing on the balls of your feet.

It's also "a person who doesn't have . . ." Sorry, I couldn't resist! Your English is excellent! :)

Beeing a person who don't have English as my home language I wonder: do you say dancing on your balls or in your balls.

(My first reaction of this post was :lol: A missunderstanding perhaps...)

/luc

[Lucretia]

Thanks :LOL:

(Do and does and such things are easy to mix up. ...for is it "do anybody" or "does anybody"... is it "do a lot of people" or "does a lot of people". A lot of people are many people. But placed on the same spot they might be regarded as a bunch of people which means "does a lot". I get so confused...)


/luc

[sweavo]

Don't worry, English itself is very broken.

"Do many people do this?" - easy
"Does a couple kiss?" - i am talking about the couple itself
"Do a couple of people make a couple?" - I'm talking about the (couple of) people
"Does more than one person make a couple?" - I'm saying "Is it true that more than one person makes a couple..."

Generally, we make the Do/Does part agree with the number of people, and try not to worry too much about the phrase in between. This "rule" would probably get criticized by a scholar, but you would sound like a regular speaker.

[englezul]

It's dancing on the balls of your feet.

It's also "a person who doesn't have . . ." Sorry, I couldn't resist! Your English is excellent! :)

I'm sorry waltzgirl, but you're wrong. See generic people are indeed advised to use the 'doesn't have' form, but that don't apply to cool peoplez. Which I reckon Lucretia is.

From Snoop Dog to P. Diddy, from Justin Timberlake to Wyclef everybody knows that if you go around saying "It doesn't matter" you instantly become the laughing stock of society, but switch that up with "It don't matter, it's aaight", wear vans and ice up, and you'll instantly become the next Prince of xxi century pop culture. You'll probably have to walk on your knees to maximize effect. You dig? Or you hatin' cause I is black?

So waltzgirl don't fight it, embrace it, one full day smile at everybody and give them a warm, heartfelt "what up?" and see how that gives them butterflies in their stomachs for feeling accepted.

:cool: EZ out!