Executing the Simple Steps Well

[ChaChaMama]

This is going to seem like a sort of weird question, but here goes....

I was in a studio showcase on March 11th in which my partner and I performed a paso doble, mostly drawing on bronze and silver syllabus material, though with a few flourishes since it was a showcase.

I was pleased with our performance on the whole, but I was struck by the fact that we did better with a lot of the figures that we initially thought of as trickier figures (like the coup de pique) than with the very simplest steps, like sur place steps. In one place, I felt like our sur place almost look a little tentative, or like we were just marking time.

Back in my younger years, when I was doing ballet, I remember a ballet teacher saying that one of the hardest things to get dancers to do well is to walk on stage. At the time, I was skeptical, but now I see her point.

How do you make the simplest steps look dancer-ly and deliberate?

ChaChaMama

 

[chachachacat]

How do you make the steps look dancerly and deliberate?

ChaChaMama, ciao! We are family, eh?

I suspect you know the answer deep inside. You have had ballet - (excellent! how much?)
Before you take the floor, breathe deeply, smile, pull everything up, (except of course your shoulders and back muscles), and dance onto that floor as if this is a part of the performance, because, it is! :applause:

 

[Chris Stratton]

The simpler the step, the less there is to hide behind, so the more correct it has to be to look good - or once you start to develop a feel for things, feel good.

 

[Twilight_Elena]

I totally agree with Chris. You might learn steps and styling and crazy routines that make you look like the Queen of freaking Enland, but it's the basic step's quality, IMO, that shows what you're made of. If you can bring elegance, perfect footwork and technique and fine styling into a simple rumba basic boxstep, it means you've got it all. In my dance school, advanced technique group students are doing the rumba basic or any other basic step. That's where all the technique shows.

Twilight Elena

 

[spatten]

This might be taking this idea in a slightly different diretion -but I think it is similar enough to mention.

I once had an acting coach that insisted the moment someone enters the stage - they should be in character and have a purpose. So if you are playing a chracter that is upset - you come onto stage upset. You don't walk into place and then turn it on.

Most of the competitions I have seen many dancers come onto the floor like athletes at a basketball game. Stetching, loosey gooey, walking onto the floor as if it were the street. They only get into pose when the music starts up.

I have always made a deliberate attempt to walk onto the floor with stature, poise and purpose. I think of being as graceful and as regal as I can. - Hopefully I don't come off looking like a pompous arse

Scott

 

[Chris Stratton]

Most of the competitions I have seen many dancers come onto the floor like athletes at a basketball game. Stetching, loosey gooey, walking onto the floor as if it were the street. They only get into pose when the music starts up.

Well, for the crowd that wants to cast dancesport as sport, that would be entering in character, wouldn't it?

I've mostly seen competitors enter formally, though with a lot of allowance for athlete-type concerns. I don't dispute that dancing is sport-like, but I would say I think the character should be formal within resonable limits of practicality, rather than pure sports-arena.

 

[spatten]

Well really - we are wearing Tailsuits and Ballgowns - with exceptions for Latin and syllabus. It seems to me this requires a certain air of formality.

I guess I'm just suggestion that whatever character you choose to portray on the floor - you portray from the moment you step on the floor till the moment you step off. Preferebly the character is in tune with your costume.

 

[Dancing4Life]

I think that in order to execute the simple steps well and make it look good, you have to be very comfortable with them.

For the longest time I was trying to have latin routines full of flashy #$%. It was fast, lots of spins etc. Then quite a few years later with a new partner all we did was basics. At first it wasn't too good or attractive, but as we worked at it, it became better and better.

For standard, I still measure a dancer by their foxtrot feathers and threes.

For latin, I think Eugene and Masha are wonderful champions of awesome basics: I think great majority of what they do is an offshoot of some very basic syllabus step. For standard, I really like Timothy Howsen and Joanne Bolton - elegance and simplicity to the max. [/quote]

 

[spatten]

My favourite couple in the Latin realm, who were masters of basic action was Dima and Olga Sukachov. But in the end I think their devotion to the basics limited how far they went. Other couples pushed the boundries a bit more and went further - in my opinion.

Some people might disagree with this, but I think it is fair.


I really enjoy watching Timothy and Joanne - also. I just got my Blackpool 04 DVD's and was really impressed with what I saw of them.

Your comment on Foxtrot reminds me of seeing (video) of William Pino dancing Reverse Waves for a majority of the Foxtrot heat.