How to Explain Positions for Ballroom Dancing
As ballroom dancing is an art taught in many places and many styles around the world, a common vocabulary has evolved to describe all the various moves in dancing in a consistent style, so that two dancers trained by different coaches are able to technically describe their moves and share with one another. This also allows for the publication of syllabi that anyone is able to understand as long as they are familiar with the abbreviations.
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Instructions
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How to Explain Positions for Ballroom Dancing
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Demonstrate the position. As many "positions" in ballroom dancing actually involve movement, this may be simply a beat's worth of an entire move, or a bar. This can be broken up into a number of discrete parts: foot position, body position, body alignment, turning, footwork, dance-specific motion, and description.
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2
Show the foot and body position. Describe how the position has changed from the previous position, relative to the foot. This is a combination of right foot or left foot, along with a direction such as "forward," or "side." Body position often does not change, but when it does, reference things such as "sway forward."
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3
Point out the alignment of your body relevant to the line of dance, which only matters in direction-specific dances. The directions are line of dance, backing line of dance, wall, and center. The wall is on the right of the line of dance, and the center is on the left of the line of dance. You can also face diagonal toward wall or center from 45 degrees off line of dance.
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4
Point out the turn relevant to that beat of the music. The turns can actually happen before or after the beat as well as during. Each turn has the moment it commences (before, during, or after), a direction, and an amount (such as 1/8 or 1/4 turn).
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Demonstrate the footwork specific to the move. This is whether the heel strikes on this beat, the heel then toe, the toe then heel, or just the toe. Show the dance-specific motion, such as rise and fall or cuban motion depending on the dance. If you have any other specific move notes, such as lifting your hand above your head, this is the proper time to demonstrate it.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit dressed for ballroom dancing image by Tracy Martinez from Fotolia.com
