How to Do Half Turns in the Cha Cha Dance

Video Transcript

"CHRISTINA HAGGERTY: Hi. My name is Christina Haggerty, and today, you are learning Cha-cha-cha on two. I am breaking down some of the basic steps for you. The most basic step that I know is the half turns. I call it half turns because we turn half way, and then, we turn halfway back. Okay, we never do a full turn here. I'll do the basic. It starts one, two, three, Cha-cha-cha, six, seven, eight, and one, step forward two, pivot. A pivot--what pivot means is you step on the foot, you lift your heels off the floor, and you'd actually turn the direction that you're going. It's used a lot in basketball. They always talk about the pivot, so step forward, pivot. As you pivot, you step on the right, feet come together. Now, we're going to repeat the same thing by stepping forward on the right, pivot. As you pivot, you'll step onto the left, and you use your Cha-cha-cha to come back. So again, step. Here's our basic, one, two, three, four, and five, six, seven, here's the turn. Step forward, shift to right, Cha-cha-cha, step right, pivot, left, Cha-cha-cha. Again, let's do it slowly. Weight shifts on the right. Step forward on the left. Pivot, step onto the right. Here's your Cha-cha-cha, left, right, left. Now, step forward on the right, pivot to the left, Cha-cha-cha. And you're back to forward break for your basic. So let's try it again. Step one, two, three, Cha-cha-cha, six, seven, Cha-cha-cha, step forward, pivot right, Cha-cha-cha, step right, pivot left, Cha-cha-cha."