Recommended Figures for each level in American Style

DanceMentor

DanceMentor

Administrator
One of the reasons I dislike American style is the difficulty in decides which figures should be used for the different levels, because there are so many different syllabi floating around. I am hoping to get your help in determining some of the best patterns to use in each of the levels and dances. I need to know at least the following:
1) Newcomers: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Swing, Rumba, ChaCha, Mambo, Bolero
2) Intermediate Bronze: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Swing, Rumba, ChaCha, Mambo, Bolero
3) Full Bronze: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Swing, Rumba, ChaCha, Mambo, Bolero
4) Intermediate Silver: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango
5) Full Silver: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango

If you are able to help get some good information, I will promise to deliver back to you a separate section of this website devoted to this subject to help poeple in the future. It will be the start of what is known as a Wiki, an encyclopedia that everyone can edit.
 
I loaned out my syllabi, but for newcomers, I'd probably stick with the first five figures of each dance with maybe one or two variations that can cross from dance to dance (like cross body lead).

I'd likely teach/include:

1) Newcomers: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Swing, Rumba, ChaCha, Mambo, Bolero

- Forward/Progressive Basic
- Basic Box/Basic in Place
- Breaks (1st Pos, 2nd Pos, 5th Pos, Crossover/New Yorker, Open)
- UAT Left and Right
- Cross Body Lead
- Promenade Walks (if applicable)
- Change of Places R/L (if applicable)

I think this is enough information to assimilate in 40 lessons or less - assuming in all dances. I'm thinking this is basically all I got from my Bronze 1 lessons. I'd likely focus a LOT on timing and rhythm. Moving to/with the music is my #1 pet peeve though.
 
I wish people would stop teaching non-progressive patterns as the first thing students are exposed to in e.g. Waltz or Foxtrot. It is actually easier to get people to move in their basics, IME - the concept of "close feet with weight transfer" is a major stumbling block for many new dancers - and furthermore they're being taught something that serves to block to line of dance and is otherwise virtually useless.
 
I believe the NDCA published, at the very least, the bronze figures in their rules booklet, which they update each year.

I would just use that, since they use un-branded terminology and it also contains at least most of what is taught in FADS, AMI, DVIDIA, and ISTD, even if the names are a little different.

Also, NDCA comps are the most open to participants since they cater to pro's, pro-am, and amateur.
 
There's the USISTD syllabi for American style... not as generally accepted now, but just thought you might want to consider it. Not sure, but I think Larinda helped out with it to some degree if I remember correctly.
 
It also seems like the nice thing about the ISTD is there's someone there to explain the steps, and training resrouces, whereas with the NDCA, you're on your own.
 
I loaned my USISTD syllabi for smooth and rhythm out to my daughter's dance school... Crud. ;) I like the USSISTD syllabi much better than the NDCA one. Seems clearer.

And since there are so many commonalities between all the syllabi, it seems better to stick to what would be common among the first 5 figures, eh?
 
jon said:
I wish people would stop teaching non-progressive patterns as the first thing students are exposed to in e.g. Waltz or Foxtrot. It is actually easier to get people to move in their basics, IME - the concept of "close feet with weight transfer" is a major stumbling block for many new dancers - and furthermore they're being taught something that serves to block to line of dance and is otherwise virtually useless.
Click to expand...

what are the "non-progressive" patterns??

thx.
 
lynn said:
is there any reason why they're called non-progressive??
Click to expand...
The steps stop at the end of each figure - they cease to progress across the floor. They do not blend seemlessly with the next figure. The beginning American foxtrot is the prime example, since each figure (or unit) stops before the next.
 
Hmmm. Was I correct in saying box steps are non-progressive? A box step pretty much leaves you in one place and so is not progressive, I thought. But maybe I'm misunderstanding something. So if I do a forward left turn, backward left turn, change step, forward right turn, backward right turn in waltz, change step, etc. Are those progressive steps? Or is it something about the transition from one step to the next that makes it progressive? In particular, is this American Continuity?
 
I guess I'm a little confused between the idea between continuity and progressive, is there any difference between them?? I wonder if there's a textbook definition out there...
 
Continuity style means that your feet do not close at the end of the figure - they pass. It's not the same thing as progression.

A progressive step is one that progresses along the dance floor. A basic box is totally nonprogressive - it stays in the same place. A turning box can be caused to move down the floor when combined with change steps, so it's progressive in that context (but sometimes not very fast, depending on how it's done). Arguably, it's only the change step that's actually progressive.

Nonprogressive figures are annoying to others on the floor (when the dance is not a nonprogressive dance like rhumba), because they block up the flow of dancers who are progressing. There is an argument that starting beginners on exclusively nonprogressive steps makes them clog up the floor and subjects them to being overrun by dancers doing progressive figures.
 
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