Short walls in: Waltz

[Chris Stratton]

With post-syllabus freedom in sight, I've been starting to think about how to wisely use it. One thing I realized is that while I have a lot of ideas for long walls, I don't have much habitually ready to throw at short ones, probably at least in part due to narrow or obstructed practice floors.

So what are some nice things to do across the short side?

[dTas]

i guess i'm a little confused... what wouldn't you do along the short side?

[Chris Stratton]

Well, it's nice to string things together in a way that has some sense of purpose joinging together mutliple figures. My long walls are starting to have that kind of flow, but I realize I'm often just tossing together random figures to cross the short side.

[Vince A]

I hear you . . . I have a similar problem. We generally have to "start" a competition dance along a long wall, becasue it is just darn difficult to get those move done along a short wall with two immediate turns (on the short wall). That make sense???

[swan]

Originally Posted by Vince A

I hear you . . . I have a similar problem. We generally have to "start" a competition dance along a long wall, becasue it is just darn difficult to get those move done along a short wall with two immediate turns (on the short wall). That make sense???

We actually start at the end of long wall (so really start the routine along the short wall) w/ Natural Spin Turn, 2 pivots and come out on the long wall w/ Overturn Turning to R - this flows quite well.

Progressive Chasse to R works on the short wall well to connect to other figures.

[tacad]

Originally Posted by Chris Stratton

With post-syllabus freedom in sight,...

If I can jump in for a second, what do you mean by post-syllabus freedom. Is that a certain level of competition?

[Joe]

He means unrestricted levels, i.e. open patterns.

The problem is that floors vary widely (so to speak) in the length of their short sides. What works in the studio may not work on a comp floor, or vice versa.

Pivots are a good way to go.

[Katarzyna]

Joe, I think I agree with you. When I think of short waltz wall, I think rotation and pivots.

[JoepiE]

No mather what, don't ever make lines (I hope this is English) on the short side of the floor. You could do them deep in the corner, but only if you can afford not being seen for a little while or if you are sure the judges will look for you on the dancefloor (iow only if you're really good and know you're gonna win).

What you could do is spinns and pivots and chassee figures, like Katherine said. But you must make sure you're able to change your direction of movement at almost any time on the short wall. It usually is really crowded there, especially in Quickstep, where the long side is used for scatterd chassees and all kinds of running variations.

[Egoist]

I'll join the pivots bandwagon.