Basic Latin Dance Cowboy Step Techniques
With the development of society and the development of the economy, people's living standards are constantly improving, and the content of life is becoming more fulfilling. People often go into parks, squares, and dance halls (fields) for "morning practice" of social dance on the second day of intense work with high rhythm and efficiency. In fact, the popularity of morning dance practice in major and medium-sized cities across the country, and even in densely populated places such as counties and towns, is an objective reflection of people's living needs. Next, I will bring you the basic steps of Latin dance cowboy. I hope it will be helpful to you.
Latin dance jive’s combined steps
One of the difficulties in learning to jive is the jive’s combined steps. To dance jive, you must first dance the combined steps. The number of beats for combined steps is 3amp; 4. When jumping, you can jump in any direction with or without turning, front, back, left, right, or any 360-degree direction. You can also jump in a rotation (American spin) when combined with steps. When jumping forward or backward to combine steps, you can use lockstep or not.
The center of gravity of the combined step is mainly on the ball of the forefoot and the inside of the toe. In professional terms, it is called the inside of the "thumb ball". The thumb ball refers to the ball of the forefoot. Although the footwork in the first and second steps is a thumb ball, the heels of these steps are close to the floor or even touching the floor. When a sufficient amount of rotation is made in the third step, the footwork in this step is also a "thumb ball" ", the center of gravity is on the forefoot.
When a man or woman jumps forward and steps together, the footwork is: forefoot, toes, forefoot. When jumping backward and combining steps, it's toes, forefoot, and toes.
The combined steps commonly used in jive dancing to the left, right or forward and backward (lock steps) are the most basic dance steps. Many dance steps are modified and developed on this basis, so for Beginners must practice repeatedly to achieve mastery and freedom.
To dance the combined step of jive well, you must master the rhythm of the combined step. The number of beats of the combined step is 3 & 4, of which 3 accounts for three-quarters of the beat and amp; accounts for one-quarter. One beat, 4 counts for one beat, and the entire combined step counts for two beats. There are many beginners who dance the jive's combined step rhythm to fast, fast or slow, which turns into a just-in-time combined step rhythm, and it feels wrong.
There are many beginners who, although the rhythm of the dance is correct, still feels like they are dancing cha-cha. The reason is that the second step of the dance is wrong. In the cha-cha and merge step, the second step is walking and coming together, but in the jive dance merge step, the second step is dancing and coming together. The feeling is very different. This must be understood carefully. I found that this is the reason why most Latin dance enthusiasts cannot dance jive well even after learning it for many years.
So what is the difference between walking and coming over and jumping and coming over?
When walking and coming together, just like walking normally, first move the center of gravity to the supporting leg, and then bring the other leg over. When jumping and coming together, there is no action process of moving the center of gravity. It is just that the leg that is coming over generates a force with the ground and the body on the side of the leg that is coming over bounces up and the legs come together. Many teachers cannot explain this essential point clearly, no matter how good they are at dancing. I will write down my understanding here. Friends who like to dance jive, please experience it carefully. Maybe you have always been puzzled by the question, and my words "awoke the dreamer".
When dancing jive, you must also add hip (butt) movements when dancing left and right, otherwise you will lose a lot of charm. When dancing the jive, the hips have to swing from side to side. Many people dance without hip movements. Even if the rhythm is right and the second step of the leg synchronization is correct, it doesn't look good. For example, if you step to the left, your hips will swing to the left, and in the third step, your hips will move to the left. In the combined step to the right, the hips should swing to the right, and in the third step, the hips should move to the right. Of course, other auxiliary dance steps also involve hip swings. You can refer to the hip swings in rumba dance. However, in jive dance, the hips do not have to rotate like in rumba dance. They only need to swing slightly from side to side.
The makeup of boys and girls in Latin dance competitions is very different
In children’s Latin dance competitions, the basic principles of children’s makeup and hairstyle should be clean, cute, natural, and simple, so that children can Show the beauty of innocence while dancing.
In the "Sports Dance Dress Code", there are regulations regarding the makeup of the children's group: makeup is not allowed, false eyelashes, false nails, sequins, artificial olive oil and nail polish are not allowed; jewelry is not allowed; Wear complicated high hairstyles, wear wigs or hair accessories, dye your hair, and use glittery hairspray.
In the competition, the above regulations need to be strictly followed. Girls can wear their hair in a bun or a simple ponytail. Boys should keep their hair as short as possible without applying hairspray. If you have good makeup skills, you can give the girl a "nude makeup" that looks like she has no makeup. Children's skin is better. You can even skip foundation, draw your eyebrows, apply some eye shadow that is close to the skin tone, and apply a light blush. It looks very energetic. Girls should not wear large false eyelashes, eye shadow that is very conspicuous or strange, or glitter that can cause skin irritation. Boys don’t need to wear makeup at all.
Girls’ hairstyle should also be the simplest bun or ponytail. Girls can wear a small amount of bright headwear and do not need to have complicated hairstyles or perms. Boys can use a small amount of hairspray to make their hair stand up slightly.
Learning Latin dance for children requires a good foundation.
But in teaching, we can use some tips to let students lay a good foundation and try to be as good as professional players. Here, I would like to talk about some of the simplest and most easily overlooked elements in teaching.
The correctness of the music rhythm is the most important in judging the competition. Regardless of whether the dance is good or bad, if the music rhythm is wrong, the player will be eliminated directly. This shows the importance of music rhythm. However, many young players do not grasp the rhythm of music accurately, or do not play the music correctly at all, which forces teachers to think calmly: Is this because the children cannot understand the music or is there something wrong with the teaching? The answer is obvious.
Many teachers shout out the rhythm to students while playing music during class, which can easily lead to students' dependence. Teachers should let students count the beats themselves and cultivate the habit of counting rhythm with the music. For students with a congenital poor sense of rhythm, teachers can train them to clap in time, listen to the music carefully, and then catch the heaviest first beat "one", or listen carefully to the unique fourth beat "dong dong" of Latin music. When teaching, teachers can also use congo drums to beat out the rhythm, so that students can intuitively feel the characteristics and feeling of Latin rhythm.
Prerequisites for learning children’s Latin dance - body
Before taking Latin class, teachers usually lead students to conduct 20-40 minutes of body training. This is very important, but it should also be noted that the content of the exercises should be helpful to Latin dance, rather than simple kicks, leg presses, and lower forks.
Ballet body training is very helpful to Latin dance. In the fusion ballet training, I will use a few very simple movements: such as practicing wiping the floor, front side, and back side. You can find The feeling of the feet and the floor; for example, in ballet standing position, one's feet are changed to a small figure, also called Latin stance. The requirements are to raise the head and chest, draw in the abdomen and straighten the back, pull the neck upward, press the shoulders downward, and clamp the thighs .
After long-term training, students will develop a good sense of uprightness. In addition, ballet hand positions can also be used for reference, but breathing must be added, as described in this sentence: "Hands without breathing are like dry branches, but with breathing, the hands feel like willows swaying in the wind. Vitality. ”
To learn children’s Latin dance, you should master the basic steps
When I first started teaching, I didn’t pay much attention to the training of basic steps and spent my time learning gold, silver and bronze medals and routines. There will be more. However, I gradually discovered that once a student is confused by the flower steps and cannot calm down to practice the basic steps, it will be difficult for his level to be greatly improved.
So in class, I will arrange an hour of basic step training: slow down the music speed, perform Kuklacha from the original position (8 figures to hips), squeeze (change center of gravity), square step , Kuklaccha training in 4 directions (front, back, left, and right), New York step, fixed point turn, hand in hand, forward and backward, etc.
Want your child to learn children’s Latin dance well? Have you mastered the above points?
Latin dance improves your posture and temperament
Latin dance can change your posture. It sounds incredible, but many people really become different after participating in Latin dance training. , everyone knows that Asian people’s necks are generally shorter than those of white people. After Xiaoli participated in Latin dance training for a year, he obviously found that his posture was different, and his overall temperament and image had changed significantly. This is the magic of Latin dance. .
Change the posture - lengthen the neck
The back of the head is straight, and the neck is completely upright when viewed from the side. The face does not look forward, and the shoulders are sunken. When viewed from the side, the shoulders are With a thin straight line, the face and chin are raised, looking straight ahead. Develop this good habit during the day and choose a low pillow when sleeping at night. When you lengthen your neck, your back will naturally straighten. You will look more energetic, and the fine lines on your neck will appear less. If you persist for a few months, you will find that you have grown taller. This is caused by changing your posture. Bonus.
Change the posture - small movements of the neck
Move the neck from time to time, such as circling the head (circling the head: lower the head, put the right ear close to the shoulder, tilt the head back, the left side Ears close to shoulders), turn sideways (face vertical to the ground, turn horizontally to the side, eyes level), move the neck back and forth, left and right (the same as the neck movements in Xinjiang Wuzhong). Develop a good habit of moving your neck, such as sitting in front of the computer, in the subway, anytime and anywhere.
Such simple actions or habits will speed up lymph circulation, strengthen neck muscles, reduce chin and cheek fat, make the head look smaller, and the neck become longer and thicker, and can make the body look longer and thicker. People have a very beautiful attitude. This is especially noticeable when women wear off-the-shoulder dresses, while men wearing tie-and-tie shirts can also highlight their head and neck.
Latin dance skills. Learning skills that you must know when learning Latin dance.
Latin dance is also called Latin style dance or free social dance. Latin dance is a popular folk dance. It is characterized by casualness, leisure, and relaxation. It has a greater space for free play. It is a passionate, romantic, energetic, and fiery style with distinctive characteristics formed by the Latin American people in the long history. This form of artistic expression is deeply loved by Latin American people and has become an indispensable and important part of their lives.
Latin dance can create beautiful leg shapes, so many people have invested in learning Latin dance, but it still requires skills to dance well. Let’s learn together how to dance Latin dance well.
One of the learning tips you must know when learning Latin dance: Partial exercises of the arms
The word "dancing" best explains the status of "arms" in dance. Its extension makes Body language is richer. Latin dance is very good at shaping the lines of your arms. Straighten both arms, slowly lift them upward from both sides of the body to the top of your head, and at the same time gently rotate your wrists clockwise, then lower your arms while rotating your wrists in the opposite direction.
Go straight to the point: the soft inside of the pen and the delicate and weak forearm.
Action tips: Always keep your arms straight. When raising your head, keep your arms close to your ears, and keep your wrists down for a moment in the opposite direction.
Tip 2 that you must know when learning Latin dance: partial leg exercises
Even beauty pageants have the term "Miss Beautiful Legs". But you should know that the concept of beautiful legs is not about slim "bamboo legs", nor is it annoying carrot legs. Tight muscles are required from the calves to the thighs.
When practicing sliding steps, bend your legs slightly, slide your right foot one step to the right, tighten the muscles of your left leg, straighten your toes, and retract your left leg as the hip joint swings to the right. vice versa.
Get to the point: thighs that lack exercise and calves that are chronically swollen.
Action tips: Straighten your toes and feel the pressure on your inner thighs for the best effect. At the same time, you should also pay attention to erecting your waist and chest.
The three learning tips you must know when learning Latin dance: Fragments of butt exercises
To bring out a strong waist, sexy buttocks are the key, not just twisting the waist. Buttocks. So this tip looks similar to the waist twist exercise piece. Just pay attention to tightening the muscles of the buttocks, lift the hip joint to the highest point, stay for a moment, and then lift the hip joint to the highest point in the opposite direction.
Get to the point: flat and sagging buttocks.
Action tips: Straighten the spine, tilt the hips back, keep the chest straight, and keep the upper body basically still.
The four learning tips you must know when learning Latin dance: shaping of back muscle groups
Latin fitness dance drives every part of the body to release inner feelings, and the back is not a weakness of expression. When the arms dance in a wave shape behind the body, use the back muscles to drive the arm movements, slowly dance upwards and then lower them.
Go straight to the point: the loose fat accumulated on the back.
Action tips: The arms should use the strength of the back muscles and the cooperation of the shoulders to dance slowly. The slow rhythm can best feel the exercise of the muscles.
Learning Tip 5 that you must know when learning Latin dance: Exercise snippets of twisting the waist
May is the month of dancing. To activate lazy body cells, you can't simply move your arms and legs. You need to mobilize the strength of your whole body. The waist is the center of the dance. Swinging, twisting, and pitching the body all depend on her style.
Keep your legs together, slightly bend your knees, and relax your hip joints at two points. While squatting up, center your upper body and twist your hips in a figure-8 shape. Lift the hip joint upward to the highest point, and then use the strength on both sides of the waist to lift the other hip joint to the highest point.
Go straight to the point: loose and protruding abdomen and entire waistline area.
Action tips: Using waist strength to drive the hip joint twist is the key. At the same time, the upper body should be kept stable and the shoulders should not swing.
Accurate use of Latin dance rhythm
Many friends have asked me how to find rhythm, or how to use rhythm. In teaching, I have occasionally seen many students, even students who have studied Latin dance for 3 or 4 years, still unable to distinguish the rhythm. As we all know, rhythm is the basis of dance, equivalent to the skeleton of the human body; melody is the expression of dance, equivalent to the flesh and blood of the human body. The dance that follows the melody correctly is beautiful, which is the same as whether a person is beautiful or not. The wrong use of rhythm is like a person suffering from rickets.
In our Latin dances, the starting rhythm of rumba cha cha is on 4, while samba and so on are on 1. But I don’t know if everyone has noticed that the rhythm of all music is nothing more than 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1, 2, 3. In fact, distinguishing the rhythm of music does not depend on the type of dance. Whether it is modern dance, ballet dance, ballet, etc., their rhythms are all the above two. So, we just need to listen to the music and find their 1, 2, 3, and 4. Since I am learning Latin dance, I will mainly talk about the former.
If you have played jazz drums, you will find that the beating time of the bass drum is often in the 1st part of the music. Therefore, in music, we will hear the loudest and deepest drum sound at rhythm 1. This is what I often call a remake of music. If you can clearly find this sound, congratulations, you can already distinguish the rhythm of the music. Because as long as you can find 1, then naturally it will be 2, 3, 4... We can call it the accent-finding method. It works well for any music with drum beats.
However, how do we find the rhythm if there is no drum beat in some music, or if there is no drum beat in the intro of the music? In fact, this is also very simple.
First of all, I can tell you that the first beat of all music is 1. If you can catch it accurately, then you can also distinguish the rhythm. But for many non-professional players, this is difficult. Then I can tell you another method, which I call the melody-finding method. First let’s take a look at the picture below.
This is the simplified score of "My Sun". Have you noticed that the rhythm of this song is 2/4, that is, there are 2 beats between the two |'s. Then we can express our rhythm like this |1 2|3 4|. There are two beats between each space, and the two spaces add up to 4 beats. If you use lyrics to identify the rhythm, then "Ah" is 1, "How" is 2, "Hui" is 3, and "Huang" is 4. This just completes a sentence. Therefore, when we hear a singer singing lyrics, the first word he sings is usually 1. And if you listen to the melody, "05 43 2 1" happens to be one sentence. It can also be said that the first note of each melody should be 1. Of course, it is not ruled out that there will be changes in the middle of the melody, or the first word of the lyrics will be on the 4 in the previous paragraph. Therefore, these two methods require everyone to practice more and be able to master them flexibly to accurately distinguish the rhythm.
Just finding the rhythm is not enough. How to better use our rhythm in dance is a very critical issue. Assume Rhythm 1 is 1 meter long and its center is at 50 centimeters. When we dance, should our feet be at 30 centimeters, 50 centimeters or 60 centimeters? I believe everyone will tell me that I stepped on the 50 cm position. In fact, if you step on the 30cm position or something else, it is not wrong, but it cannot be said to be accurate. The 50cm position is the most accurate1. A more vivid metaphor is that the moment the drum hits the drum surface, that is, the moment our feet hit the floor, this is the accurate rhythm.
Now we have to think about it. When we dance, should we perform movements when we hear "2" for example, or should we prepare to perform movements when we hear "1"? My answer is the latter. Because when our ears hear the rhythm, it is transmitted to the brain for analysis, and then to the limbs to start moving. This process takes about 1.5 seconds. If we hear "2" and then move, then we are likely to step on the 80 cm position of "2". If the reaction is slower, it will be "3". Therefore, we need to be able to accurately judge the time of "2" when we hear "1". Then let your body stand by, and finally step on the 50 cm position of "2" accurately.
In rumba, the singular number of the rhythm is a rebeat, that is, in each measure 2-3-4-1, 3 and 1 are rebeats. When rebeating, the movements are extended, and the action time should be lengthened. The body accumulates power internally, and it explodes quickly at 2 and 4. The actual movements of these two beats are shorter than the music. This is done to make the movements look more flexible and relaxed. It is recommended that your breathing should also match the rhythm, inhale when tapping hard and exhale when tapping lightly. ;