When thinking about this week, I wanted a celebratory dance for the end of spring break/edTPA prep.
So, I decided to do the salsa!
First I looked at this diagram and usually these work for me (see my past posts for more of these diagrams), but I couldn’t really understand what was going on since the feet are all clumped together, so I found this one:
This was a bit better since it showed the weight shift that I was having trouble seeing from the first one.
I used the first diagram to keep in mind the “1-2-3” pattern—the quick-quick-slow pattern. This is a pattern that, I’m finding, appears a lot in dance! It’s in both the waltz and the cha cha—which I’ve already done! The first diagram was good in terms of rhythm—6 counts in 8 counts of music. I decided to try my hand—er FOOT—at it. Here I am doing the salsa!
I think I got the quick-quick-slow pattern down best here out of all the dances I’ve done so far!
Let me know what you think!
So, it's been awhile since my last post! I'm sad that this had to take a backseat to site duties, job applications, and the Easter holiday weekend. BUT I am back and very eager to get back to dancing!
I did do some dancing in my absence. When I was doing the dishes each night I boogied to my Pandora playlist AND I briefly watched a few minutes of the premiere of "Dancing with Stars" with my mom as I was doing laundry. HOWEVER, I did get a chance in between teaching and other duties to do some research and think about a few things. Back when I went to the Synergy dance studio with my friends, I was taught how to dance the cha cha but I was not terribly good at it. So, I found the steps for the ladies' portion of the dance.
Seeing how it was still a BIT more complicated than the waltz, I sought out an explanatory video to help me out.
Then I wondered, could knowing the Charleston help me with this in any way? I was determined to find out.
According to this surprisingly well-researched explanation I found online, "These days, [the Charleson] more often lends steps to jive & quickstep, rather than being danced as its own, exclusive dance...[Dancers often] incorporate Charleston steps into other dances." Considering that there are more "quicksteps" in the cha cha, the Charleston could prove quite helpful here! After studying and reviewing the diagram several times, seeing patterns (almost like two triangles of motion it seems (step right, step up, rock step back where you were and then out left and together and out left and then back and rock step forward and right and right; it's repetitive!) and watching and dancing along with the video, I think I finally mastered it. I didn't want to complicate matters with adding music at this point (and so I could hear myself counting in my head), so it's just my feet! Check out my results and let me know what you think! |
About Sarah ConnollySarah Connolly is an aspiring dancer. Archives
April 2016
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