Dance tuts

Salsa: Ocho

2009-09-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Ocho ("eight" in Spanish) is a combination when first a leader does a right turn and after him a follower does a right turn too, thus "drawing" a fugure 8 on the dance floor. There may be a several combination: a partner leaves his hand on waist level, or does an under-arm turn, or when the follower turns the leader may do a half turn to lead "no look walk through" after it.

There are several dances on DanceTuts where ocho salsa figure is tagged. On the video below it is nicely combined with several other intermediate salsa moves. You may watch this video with moves subtitled here.

The video is by "Latin Dance Factory" dance school from Houston, Texas. (YouTube user latindancefactory). They have a nice collection of intermediate level tutorials. Here is another one with moves subtitled. There they have "ocho" move too, followed by "no look walk through".

Beyonce's Single Ladies

2009-09-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Some hip hop videos are now on the site.

On the video below Michelle Hillier explains the moves from Beyonce's video clip "Single Ladies".

Jazz: Step Touch

2009-09-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

We will be filling jazz dance moves section on the site. Most of the jazz dance instructional videos on YouTube are from expertvillage. Here is a basic one introducing to step touch move

Salsa: Cross-body lead 360

2009-05-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

During cross-body lead 360 partners turn 360 degrees (some teachers call the move 360 turn). It is well explained in the video below by YouTube user G0tchaman

Salsa: Copa

2009-05-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

In the previous post a move copa was added to complete the pattern with other more complicated turns. Silvia Stoyanova on the video below dedicates several minutes to explain details of the move to the very beginners. The combination they show is completed with a simple haircomb to return hands from crossed to basic open position.

Silvia is a dance teacher from Chicago. More information about her school can be found at www.salsawithsilvia.com. She posted several videos on YouTube that may be interesting for beginners. For more information about salsa lessons, clubs and events around Chicago a website www.salsachicago.com is a good starting point.

Salsa: Windmill

2009-05-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

Anthony Persaud is an Internet salsa superstar. He is best known for his blog addicted2salsa.com for which he posted numerous detailed videos lessons on YouTube.

We added the video below to dancetuts collection because of a move windmill Anthony demonstrates together with Julie Merrill (originally posted on addicted2salsa). The move may be considered as a fancy styling variation of a cross-body lead with outside turn. Anthony completes the pattern with what he calls hourglass copa (a stylistic modification of normal copa) and finishes with cross-body lead 180. In the second part of the video Julie gives advice on ladies’ styling techniques. The video is the first lesson filmed by Anthony in HD (press HD button if your connection is fast enough).

Bachata: Inside Turn

2009-05-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Inside turn is a natural next bachata step for a beginner to learn after basic step that we discussed earlier. The embeded video below is also from http://www.expertvillage.com (expertvillage on YouTube). They show the turn both to the right and the left.

Salsa: Cuddle

2009-05-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Cuddle is a position when partners stand side by side. One can get to and out of this position in many ways. One example is the move Kentucky that we discussed couple of days ago. Some other variation that already featured on the dancetuts website are cuddle left turn, whip turn into cuddle and cuddle tunnel.

The video from Johnny Griffith (gottaswing5678 on YouTube) has several salsa moves for beginners, including a couple with a cuddle

Charleston: Basic step

2009-05-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Charleston is a dance named for the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Very detailed information about the dance can be found in the Wikipedia article about charleston, the basic step is well described in the Charleston part of Swing Dancing Wiki-book.

Video below shows basic step both for face-to-face and side-to-side dancing

The video is from the collection of social dance videos of YouTube user itsaboutmomentum for a school in Van Buren, Arkansas, Momentum Dance Concepts. We already featured a video from them dedicated to lindy circle.

Zouk: Basic step

2009-05-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Zouk is a dance similar to bachata which is danced to music originated in Caribbean islands. It is especially popular in French speaking countries and Brazil.

The basic step in the video below is well explained by Perle Lama, a French singer originally from the West Indies. It is posted on YouTube channel Pasquino52 for a zouk website in Italy.

Salsa: Back Break

2009-05-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Together with basic step, beginners are typically introduced to back break and side break. More complicated moves in salsa are frequently started with back breaks. The video below also shows a square pattern and back breaks with turns that they call New York steps

The video is made by dance school in Macclesfield, UK.

Salsa: Kentucky

2009-05-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

The move called Kentucky starts similar to enchufla, but the leader stops the follower at the hip then at the shoulder and exits by making a step behind to turn around to return to initial position. The video below illustrates the move very well

The video is filmed by Melendrez Dance Studios (latinastaire on YouTube). They are based in Florida and give lessons in many social dances.

Bachata: Basic step

2009-05-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

Bachata is a dance originated from Dominican Republic. It is danced to the music with the same name.

Similar to merengue, in basic step the leader starts stepping in left direction with left foot and makes a bachata "pop" on count 4, changes directions of the steps and makes another pop on count 8. The follower mirrors the steps of the leader.

The video below illustrates the basic step very well, they also give some styling advice

The video is from http://www.expertvillage.com/, a website where people share how-to videos on various topics (not only dances). They have extremely popular channel on YouTube (expertvillage). Many videos on the site are dedicated to social dances including salsa, bachata, lindy hop, etc.

Merengue: Basic step

2009-05-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Video from YouTube user moshunpics spends lots of time explaining concepts of merengue for beginners. They make three important points:

Keep time with the music.

Keep upper body level.

When dancing, take your time and do not worry how many bits are required to complete a move. Keep stepping each bit, and do not forget to move the hips.

The author of the video also promotes his online store of dance instructions DVDs.

Salsa: Cross-body lead

2009-05-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

Cross-body lead is very common salsa move. During it partners change their positions. Many variations to it exist (with inside turn, and outside turn, reversed crossed-body lead etc.) as well as many styling variations.

A video below shows has a good set of moves for beginners, including several variation of cross-body lead:

It is filmed by YouTube user latinsoul2008 representing a salsa dance school in Roosendaal (South part of Holland).

Lindy hop: sugar push

2009-05-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Sugar push is one of the basic lindy hop moves. During it partners stay facing each other for six counts come close for two and return to the starting position, just like in swing out.

The video below also shows some fancy styling variations of the move:

The video is by YouTube user jamcellar for
the Jam Cellar crew, that promotes swing dancing in Washington, DC and surroundings by hosting weekly parties and classes.

Lindy hop: lindy circle

2009-05-15T02:15:00.000-07:00

A paragraph below is from a great wiki-book about lindy hop:

Circles are traditional Lindy Hop dance moves where partners circle around each other. Sometimes, the lead stays in the middle and the follow moves around him. Sometimes, the follow stays in the middle and lead moves around her. Sometimes, both lead and follow move around a common center, around each other. The conventional direction for circles in Lindy Hop is clockwise, which is the opposite of ballroom, though dancers move in both directions.

The video below illustrates basic lindy hop steps including lindy circle

The video is from an excellenct collection of social dance videos from a YouTube user itsaboutmomentum for a school in Van Buren, Arkansas, Momentum Dance Concepts. They also have an excellent regular video blog, where they demonstrate various moves in many social dances, not only lindy hop, but also salsa, rumba, contry two step etc.

Salsa: Bailarina

2009-05-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

Bailarina is lady's styling technique. Mitchell Herrera (salsaforsure on YouTube) shows it on the video below

Salsa: Dile Que No

2009-05-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Dile que no is the Cuban version of the cross-body lead. The difference is that a leader's steps do not follow 180 degrees pattern and the first step is made sideways. Thus the couple almost turn in a circle. Similar to cross-body lead there may be variation when the follower turn: dile que no with turn. In English the name of the move means "tell her no".

The video below is made by the dance school in UK.

Salsa: Enchufla

2009-05-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

This move is common in Rueda. A great list of Rueda moves can be found in the wikibook about Rueda. We take some information from there.

There are quite a few variations of the name: enchufa, enchufla, enchufa, enchufe, or even enshufta. There are more videos on YouTube with name "enchufla", so we use it here. In English it means "plug her".

The leader turns the follower to her left, and at the same time moves around so that when she has finished her turn she is facing him. It's about 140 degrees around. This is common for enchufla to be followed by dile que no.

The video below is by YouTube user strictlysalsa. This is for the dance school in Glasgow & Edinburgh.

Enchufla on dancetuts.

Salsa: Siete

2009-05-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Youtube user bailahuntsville from Alabama posted more that 100 videos, usually with one move per video. They have an excellent web page for salsa classes and events around Huntsville.

On the video below the focus on the move called "siete" connecting it with "cross-body leads".

Siete means "seven" in Spanish. This is one of Rueda moves. There seems to be other its variations: siete con coca-cola, siete complicado, siete moderno ...

The moves in the video are subtitled on dancetuts. Here is another siete video there.