How to Do Reverse Turns in Samba

SAMBA! SAMBA! When you hear the words your body already begins to move to the rhythm as if it had a life of its own. The creators of this dance, slaves on the Brazilian sugar plantations, felt the exact same thing. Samba remained a dance in Brazil and shared only by Brazilians for a long time. Of course, the rhythm was so sensual, dreamy and insinuating that it had long been adapted by Brazilians of all walks of life. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that it became known in the western world. The dance is known for its timing which is quite different than most on 1a 2 or quick a quick, and its distinguishable bounce and hip movement. Once you have learned the timing, the basic steps, the bounce movement and the hip movement then you will want to go on to steps that are a little more complicated such as the salsa reverse turn. The following will let you add a little more spice to your Samba with the reverse turn:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

How to do the Samba Reverse Turn

1. Get your side steps going.

2. Add your bounce and add some soft figure eight motion to your hips and remember to keep your shoulders straight.

3. Get in the mood. Remember be lively and think of all the dancing at Carnival in Rio.

4. Start the reverse turn by putting your left foot forward.

5. Take your right foot to the side about 60 degrees. Keep on the balls of your right foot as you turn.

6. Cross your left foot to back as you turn.

7. Coming out of the turn, take your right foot and close with left foot.

8. Move your left foot to side and then pull your right foot together.

Tips & Warnings

• Timing is everything in samba so it's important that you keep your timing to 1a2 3a4. The woman does the same steps as the man when following but in reverse. When he puts his right foot forward the woman puts hers back.
• An essential part of the samba is the energy that you are using to dance. Samba is a celebration of life and needs to be danced like that. Samba is lusty. It is animal like and needs to be danced with animal energy or the meaning is lost. Imagine dancing half dressed in the semi tropics, with nothing and nobody around but the beat of the music and your racing heart.