Featured Student of the Month
This is where you will find out how our featured student of the month is doing in their dancing. In their own words. Their challenges and their successes. You'll find you are not alone on your journey into ballroom dancing. Come visit here and share about your journey. Your Name
Rhythm Basics
What is rhythm? Simply put it is a repeating sequence of sounds, beats, and words. The most common words used in Ballroom daning are "Slow" "Quick" "and" ... The slow represents 2 beats of music. The quick represents one beat of music. The word and usually represents a half beat of music. For example you might hear your instructor say "Slow quick quick - Slow quick quick when dancing a Rumba. What you need to do is step and change weight fully on each word. The word tells you how long you must sustain your weight on each step. 2 beats for each slow and only one beat for each quick. For more on this concept see your instructors.
Basic Leading/Following Skills
"Two cannot dance together unless they agree." Leading in dance boils down to one thing. It is making a decision to move in a particular direction and then doing it. Doing it with confidence is essential. That is the leader's role.
Following is just as easy. The follower must agree to the leaders choice of direction. Remember "two cannot dance together unless they agree."
Identifying the Right Dance When the Music Starts
Knowing for sure what dance to dance when the music starts give you confidence. To be confident you need to acquire the skill of "hearing the beat" It's easy when you know what to listen for. It does take practice and its fun to listen to music.
You'll surprise yourself as you listen to music you like and realize that one or more of the ballroom dances fits the music.
Each dance in Ballroom & Latin dancing has a unique rhythmcal sound. In Ballroom and Latin dancing the sounds are low sounds and high sounds. We term them BOOMS & TICKS. Think bass drum for the booms and snare drums or cymbals for the ticks.
Some examples are...
Foxtrot: a medium speed; Boom tick Boom tick Boom tick
Waltz: a slow or medium speed; Boom tick tick Boom tick tick
Rumba: a slow speed; Boom tick tick tick - Boom tick tick tick
For more on this subject we suggest attending the "Hearing the Beat Workshop" when it is offered.
