Critique Critique~

[Dapenda]

Critique this guy, please!

Head staring at the ceiling? Awkward body positions? Needs a better haircut?
Any critique on any of the dances would be great. Btw, the ones last time were awesome

My partner's wearing the red dress

Waltz
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Quickstep
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Foxtrot
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Tango
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A big thanks to Corundum28 for the vids

[Warren J. Dew]

There were too many people in red dresses in the foxtrot, so I'll comment based on the waltz. By the way, for some reason it wouldn't display for me here; I had to click on it again and watch directly to Youtube.

The basic partnering and body shaping look good. I can tell you're trying to do the things that you are seeing on some of the better videos you've posted, and that's good. You and your partner are a good match stylistically and physically.

One thing I would want to fix would be the hold. For most of the dance, your left hand is held too far from your body - your left elbow is much too straight. This looks untidy, and tends to pull the lady too far across towards your left side. It also puts you too much in front of each other for forward and back steps, especially for outside partner; as a result, you both end up sticking your behinds out too much in the outside partner steps to avoid running your knees into each other.

How much should you change it? Well, your arm positions in promenade are better - at 0:59 into the waltz they are right where they should be. Try to get that same arm position when you are in closed as well as when you are in promenade. Basically picture that position, with the lady returning her head to the left and both of you closing your hips - that would be pretty close to ideal for closed position. You might need to learn to use your arms less and your body more for the leads into and out of promenade in order to keep the arm position more constant.

The other thing I'd really want to improve would be the continuity of the rises, especially in figures that end in an open foot position, with the feet apart rather than closed. It looks like you reach the limit of your rise about half way between counts 2 and 3, and then you just stand there until it comes time to plop down onto step 3.

What you want to be doing there is continuing the feel of the rise and the elongation of the step all the way until count 3. That will require more ankle extension, which in turn probably requires increased ankle strength and perhaps foot strength. You might want to ask your coach for some exercises.

Edit: found the right foxtrot video. Pretty much the same critiques as for the waltz.