How to Ska
Ska dancing, or skanking, is a simple, fun dance that's been around since the 1960s. You can skank to ska music, reggae, dancehall, rocksteady, and even some punk and hardcore music. This guide will teach you, step by step, how to do the ska.
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Things You'll Need
- Ska, reggae, rocksteady or dancehall music A space to dance Moderate physical fitness
Instructions
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The Dance Steps
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1
Listen to the music for a few minutes. Count the beats in each bar; there should be four. You'll be doing four distinct dance steps, one on each beat, and then repeating the steps.
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2
Stand with your feet about a hips'-width apart, and bend your elbows so that your hands are up by your waist. Keep your hands in loose fists.
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3
On Beat 1: Bring your left elbow forward, across your body, and slightly downward. At the same time, bring your right knee up toward your left elbow. The knee doesn't have to touch the elbow; it'll be closer or farther away depending on how vigorously you're skanking.
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4
On Beat 2: Bring your left elbow and right knee back to the starting position.
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5
On Beat 3: Do the opposite of what you just did in Step 2. Bring your right elbow forward, across your body, and slightly downward. At the same time, bring your left knee up toward your right elbow.
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6
On Beat 4: Bring your right elbow and left knee back to the starting position.
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7
Repeat steps 3 through 6, and keep repeating till you're tired. Now you're skanking!
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1
Tips & Warnings
Relax. You don't need to make each move precise. Just move in time to the music. You'll find your head moving up and down or side to side as you skank. Let it do what feels most comfortable to you. Sometimes a song will seem too fast to skank along with. In this case, you can do one of two things: either skank really fast, moving your knees and elbows on the 1 and 3 beats, or skank more slowly, moving your knees and elbows every other beat. If more slowly, you'll move your knees and elbows every time you count 1, and come back to your starting position every time you count 3. You're skanking in half-time. You can pick your feet up as much or as little as you like. Some people skip or run in place while they skank; others do a little shuffle; still others hardly lift their feet at all.
Standing behind someone who's skanking vigorously can be hazardous to your shins! Make sure you give other dancers plenty of space. Depending on how sharp you want to look, it may not be possible for you to wear comfortable clothing. If you're in a nicely tailored suit, skank with a little more restraint to avoid rips.
