Per Ashley's request these next posts are about Samba.
Samba is not a dance that we cover very often here at UGA for a couple reasons: 1) most of our regular teaches don't feel comfortable with teaching dance 2) its really quite hard to pick up. While the moves themselves are not all that difficult there is a great deal of styling in Samba, which is crucial to making the dance look and feel like it is supposed to.
This video is Dance Vision and explains the basic. It does not go it in to how the styling for the abdominal muscles work. I'm still searching the web for a good styling video, if know of one please feel free to leave a comment.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Samba Basic: one- uh - two
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2 comments:
I like the video. It is a nice overview of the basic Samba step. Samba technique is one of the more difficult styles because it builds on the technique from the other latin dances. However, as with the other dances, samba style still has some basic components to it.
1. Posture- Just as you would with smooth and other latin dances, you want to maintain a strong posture with a slight forward lean.
2. Focus on the lower body- Too many times (particuarly men) we tend to let dance moves emanate from the upper body without including the lower body. Samba, as with the other dances requires that you move as one unit. The power to do this correctly comes from utilizing your power legs and your lower body to move through the steps.
3. Baby steps- As they point out in the video, focus on the bounce and the technique before you worry about footwork and going anywhere. You have to master rumba style first, then move on to cha-cha and mambo/salsa style. Once you have a good mastery of these, beginning to master samba style will be a little easier.
4. Concentrate on exercises that let you separate your upper torso movement from your pelvis/hip action. Isolations, basic side to side steps, and abdominal crunches are good exercises to help you work towards improving samba style.
As someone who has taught members of the group to do samba, I know it can be done, because there are many of them that do it well. If I can find a video (or make one) I will post it so you can see something on samba technique.
Mike Fulford
Mike:
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Those are really great tips!
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