hookstep/turn HELP!

N

nobodaddy

New Member
Once again I'm posting to the the group hoping to elicit MORE good advise. My last post brought forth a plethora of good tips for leading in small confined space--ie a packed dance floor! Many thanks!

I have been trying, repeat trying, to get the leaders hook step/turn down, but it is driving me crazy! I started out learning the walk aroung version--hook your right foot behind your left, half turn, step on left, complete turn and step on right. But when I tried to advance to the actuall hook turn--hook the right foot, and then turn on 6 and 7--disaster! I'm always wild and out of control! I can't quite figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I think I'm wildly swinging my right foot way out to the side and this is throwing me off balance. Some foks have said to me, bend your knees and when you hook your right foot on "5," sort of kick it straight back and then around your left, and pivot on the right foot. Others are telling me some sort of pivot on the ball of your right foot and the heel of the left foot! Any advise and or practise techniques are desperately sought and gratefully acknowledged.

Thanks!
 
One thing I would check is to see if you are exagerating the hook. I've seen this a lot. Try almost stepping together rather than hooking behind and see if it improves your balance.
 
lol... your description actually reminds me of me when I was learing to spin. I used to go nuts, crap! I'm hooking yet I'm all over the place, not to mention that I almost fell every single time, until an older lady looked at me and said, Honey, why are you trying to turn with your legs, you'll only loose balance, why don't you swing the shoulders then have the feet follow. Dude, did it ever work!! I was like, $2000 dollars worth of cha-cha, tango, rumba, salsa and for free this lady teaches me how to spin with one sentence. I want my money back!!!

In all, hook in the five and swing/pull your shoulders on the 6 towards the direction you want to turn instead of trying to have your feet spin your body. you'll probably go right passed one spin and go into a second it becomes so easy. Why? There is no balance when you spin with your feet.. The feet follow the upper body so when you swing your shoulders the feet have no option but to keep up and follow. :D By swing I don't mean shoot them as fast as you can around. But a gentle pull to the shoulders in the direction you want to spin. The harder you do it, the faster you'll spin.

Best wishes, and hope your new found spins don't turn you into a spinnng top.
 
DanceMentor and borikensalsero,
Guys thanks for the excellent advise. One quick followup question for DanceMentor:
What do you mean by "placing your feet together, rather than hooking behind," can you explain in greater detail.

Thanks!
 
The following excerpt may help:

HOOK TURN - You can hook one foot behind the other and spin. You can either leave both feet in place or bring the foot you hooked behind with around to do another on the next two beats. These are the ones James Brown does and it's easy to stay in place with these. Spinning on one foot usually makes it easier to stay in one place too. To do a hook turn to the R from weight on the L foot, first place your R foot hooked behind and to the side of your L, and put half your weight on the R. Next, untwist your feet, turning 180 degrees to the R, keeping your L aligned with your hips, shoulders, and nose (i.e. don't twist or lean). You should end up with all weight on your L. You can then continue turning with a RLR paddle turn, or 1/2 paddle turn RL.
 
nobodaddy said:
DanceMentor and borikensalsero,
Guys thanks for the excellent advise. One quick followup question for DanceMentor:
What do you mean by "placing your feet together, rather than hooking behind," can you explain in greater detail.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Please, accept my appologies for my response here dancementor, hope I don't offend you by giving a little pointer before you clarify.

You really don't have to hook one foot behind the other, to me the big hook is more for looks than anything else. You can just place one foot next to the other, or slightly behind the other. Basically keeping the feet closer together as opposed to throwing them far appart when doing the hook.
 
Oh crap ya'll just gave me the holy grail! If there's one thing that I really needed to work on in my salsa it was hook turns and multiple spins. Thanks for the great tip!! WOOHOO!!
 
borikensalsero, you'll have to try much harder than that to offend me...and just because I'm the site administrator doesn't make me right all the time. Keep on posting, borikensalsero. Your doing doing great helping people! :D
 
Everything here is good advice. I'm only suggesting something more as I am all too aware that different people understand things from different perspectives. That being said...

One key to hook turns is keeping your hooking leg in contact with your supporting leg -- at least as far down as the knees (calves work great too). Try setting up this way, with pressure into the ball of your hooking foot, and the just unwind...no extra effort or spin. Should work like a charm.

Let me know if this makes sense and/or helps.
 
I made a post in the swing section regarding a move known as the Suzie Q. It was mentioned that a similar move is done in Salsa. This hook step must be what they were talking about; I'll have to try it. :D
 
Sorry spitfire, no go. The salsa version of Suzy Qs are a different beast altogether then the hook step... but feel free to try out the hook turn anyway! :wink:
 
SDsalsaguy said:
Sorry spitfire, no go. The salsa version of Suzy Qs are a different beast altogether then the hook step... but feel free to try out the hook turn anyway! :wink:
Click to expand...

Actually, now that I think about it the hook step is one I already use; this I realize from thinking about a favorite pattern of mine. :oops: My bad.
 
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