How to do cutting shapes dance
the War at the Heart of London's New Dance Scene
For too long now, British youth culture has lacked its own dance move. What used to be a defining trope of every movement – from Charleston swingers and moonstomping skinheads, to swaying, wet look 2-step lads and slamdancing suburban maggots – has dwindled to an afterthought in recent years. Somewhere along the line, dancing became a personal choice – something you could do if you really wanted to, rather than something you had to do if you wanted to climb the social ladder within your own subculture.
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It used to be that first you got the dance moves, then you got the power, then you got the women. Lately, it's seemed more like first you get the dance moves, then you get laughed at, then everyone avoids you while you wildly flay your arms around in a sad typhoon of sweat and loneliness.
But in the last few months people have been bringing a new dance to the streets of London. A dance that's dividing opinion in a way we haven't seen since people got curb-stomped for wearing a KoЯn hoodie. It's known as "cutting shapes", or – more popularly – "shuffling". Some people are dedicating their lives to it and others are intent on getting it banned from clubs forever.
Shuffling as a dance form isn't exactly kicking any doors down. I'm by no means an expert, but to me, the people who do it seem like the kind of guys who used to dance very seriously to Michael Jackson at family weddings, and then spent their teenage years going to mainstream drum and bass nights and watching depressing LMFAO spoofs. I suppose the best way to describe it would be something like "Sammy Davis Jr crip-walking on molly". Look on YouTube and you'll find it's not a purely London phenomenon; shufflers in Melbourne and Tokyo have racked up millions of views with tutorials, dance-offs and smartphone-shot displays of kitchen floor virtuosity.
What separates the London scene, however, is the music they're vibing to and how seriously people are taking it. People are shuffling on buses, in barber shops and getting their young children to shuffle in cars.
You might think it looks stupid (I think it looks pretty good, for the record), but believe me, it's a scene of its own creation.
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In the rest of the world, the music of choice seems to be unlistenable hardstyle remixes, speed-techno and the breakdown in "Party Rock Anthem". For them, it's a novelty pursuit, like the running man, the chicken dance or the "Dirt off Your Shoulder" brush. In London, they're listening to European deep house and forming their own crews. In the rest of the world, they're gormless college kids bopping to Scooter, in London, they're estate guys who act like they're starring in their own version of Drive soundtracked by André Lodemann. (Also, they fucking love Julio Bashmore. I don't know why, but "Au Seve" is like their "Gabrielle" / "Chopper" / "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). All of which means that, to me, shuffling feels less like a fad, and more like a legit, nascent dance scene.
The dance is closely linked to the rise of house music in Britain in the last few years, having swayed from the super clubs of the 90s, back down through the niche underground, its seemingly on its way back to the high street again.
The likes of Eats Everything, Seth Troxler, omniscient crossover scene-king Bashmore and the roster of the polarising Hot Creations label have taken the deep beat overground.
The parts of east London where work meets play have become a 4/4 party district – a heaving, amorphous, cross-venue mega-disco with rosary-beaded Tony Maneros and snapbacked Crazy Legs cracking their ankles on the disgusting, rumbling floors of clubs in the Operation Condor triangle: Vibe Bar, 93ft East and Aquarium. They wear Ray Bans, they splurge money and they pop mollies. A few Camberwell design students head-bopping to Levon Vincent at a Phonica matinee instore this is not.
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To use one of my favourite club flyer cliches, the shuffle house scene is "grown and sexy". It's Moet, not Red Stripe; Ralph Lauren, not Carhartt Heritage. It's a racially-diverse, all-encompassing scene that might just be the genesis of a new club culture in this country. It might not be cool, but how many of us would have been into disco in 1977? How many of us were into garage the first time round? Cultural history is always written by those who weren't actually there.
Of course the hipsters hate it, but fuck them. They've become no better than the resentful East London natives they were complaining about six years ago for heckling them about their winklepickers. If culture was decided by people like that, we'd all still be listening to The Cazals.
The aim of this was to let the shufflers know they aren't wanted. Hopefully they'll stick to their own shit parties & not act the cunt #anti
— FootShuffleWankers (@AFSC2013) January 17, 2013
What's interesting, though, is that most of the hate comes from within the scene. The internet is awash with hashtags and Facebook groups bemoaning and demonising the steps, claiming everything from the simple "it looks shit" to the rather lofty and extremely pretentious "It's killing house music". Quite frankly, guys, if Pitbull couldn't kill house music when he sampled "The Bomb", then I don't think shufflers stand a chance.
To get a better understanding of the scene and what it means to those involved, I called up Shapes Cutters Incoperated' (SCI) [sic] founder member and godfather of the scene, Kerry Boyd, AKA MadKezza.
Check him out below doing what he does best:
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VICE: Can you tell me a little bit about SCI – where you come from and how you got together?
Kerry Boyd: We're all London based, but all from different parts of London – south, north, east and west.
Were you always into house music or is it something you got into recently?
My first experience of house music was when I was 14, and a lot of the tracks I heard when I was younger are the ones I still hear today. That’s the same for Swarv, as our parents and sisters all listened to house. House is brilliant and it's been involved in our lives from an early age.
Okay. What was it about house that made you fall in love with it? Like, really got you into it?
I don’t know, really. It just makes me want to move and express myself.
When did you start to see people shuffling to house?
The first time I saw people shuffling was probably in one of those illegal house raves in the 80s.
Cool. How long did it take people to take notice of your moves? When did you start to realise that you were better than everybody else at it?
I don’t know if I'd say I was better than anybody else, but I suppose it was mainly last year.
Have you always been into dancing? Or is it something about the new house scene that made you take it up?
Well, I was doing some dancing, as we all were. But I think for me it's maybe more about expressing myself through house music now. I've just got deep into dancing over the past year.
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What are the best clubs and nights for shape-cutting and shuffling?
Ava Word at XOYO, Eastern Electrics, Can't Stop Won't Stop. You know, all the big raves and some of the small places on Brick Lane, like Vibe Bar and Brick House.
What tunes are getting you going at the moment?
Um, one of them is "Lonely Travels" by Shea Burke. But there are so many tunes out there that it's hard to narrow it down to one.
Each tune hits you in a different way, so it's hard to have favourites because there are just so many.
Sure. The shuffling scene seems to be about looking sharp as well as dancing. What kind of looks do you see at house raves?
To be honest, I don’t really pay much attention to how people dress. But I guess people just like to look good with their girl, you know? Because a lot of people like dancing at the raves, more people are wearing trainers than shoes. Trainers with smart-looking clothing.
Since the rave days, house music has long been associated with drugs, particularly ecstasy. Do you see much of that going on, or is it a different vibe atnew house nights?
I think it’s a different kind of vibe. Like I said, when I go to a rave, I'm just there for the music, so I’m just concentrating on the music and want to dance. But I think there are drugs in all music. You know the saying "sex, drugs and rock 'n roll"?
I do.
I haven't seen it first hand, but people are probably more discreet these days.
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Is there a difference between shuffling and cutting shapes, or is it just different terminology for the same thing?
They do go hand in hand, but shuffling is more to do with the feet. It’s the shuffling of the feet. Whereas, shape-cutting is using the body to make different shapes.
Do you ever have dance-offs or clashes with other shufflers?
Not me, personally, but someone in our team does that. She won the "Can't Stop Won't Stop" dance-off this Christmas.
Do you think it’s a scene that's growing?
I’d say it's growing in that a lot of people are getting involved now, but it's sort of always been there. And there are more people getting into it now who weren’t into it before, but I don’t know if it's like a sheep following or if they actually like the music as well. The music is for everyone, so I suppose it'll grow.
What do your friends think about house music and shuffling?
I haven’t got loads of friends who have the same background. The people doing it are into the same things I'm into: house music.
There's been a bit of hate directed at shuffling, like the anti-shuffle hashtag and the "footshuffle wankers" Twitter account, not to mention [the club night] Creche's Facebook post banning shufflers from all its nights. What do you think about that?
I'd say people are allowed an opinion. But, you know, some of the people are talking like the shuffle just came out yesterday or last week, whereas it's actually been here since the 1920s, when it was the Charleston. So it's always been about, but there's that saying, "Old times don’t come back again." Half of the things we're doing were done years before, but it's just been turned around and revamped. Some of the things anti-shuffling campaigners are saying are more borderline racism than actual criticism of shuffling, though.
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You have a lot of videos of you shuffling in your driveway. Why did you pick that particular location?
That started because, as you see, I’ve done the videos myself. So I put a speaker out there and just put the camera on top of the speaker so I could hear the music and the camera could film me directly. So that’s how that started.
There also seems to be some "urban music" purists suggesting that house music is somehow "sissy" music. What do do say to them?
Well, I suppose house music is worldwide. House music is for everyone. So, to be honest, I don’t know how to answer that because I’m not a sissy and I like house music. And I know plenty of other people who aren’t sissies and like house music. Some people have their opinion and aren't into certain things. They're going to want to say what they say and you can't stop them doing that, can you?
I suppose not. Lastly, what’s the future of shape-cutting? What’s the future for you?
I suppose it'll keep growing.
It could blow up, but it will come back again if it does, because shape-shifting – as it was first called – has been around for ages. So, like they say, if you don't die out, you'll come back again. But it's looking good at the moment.
Cool. Thanks, Kerry!
-
So what do I think of shuffling? I think why not? The grievances that haters seem to have is that somehow the dance brings selfishness into an egalitarian scene, that it's peacocking and posing rather than hugging and gurning. There seems to be an issue that it's sexualised and ostentatious, rather than a show of emotional solidarity through bad dancing and head-nodding. And yeah, they're right, it probably is.
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Is that a bad thing, though? Of course not. You'd have to be a real Cromwell type to hate people expressing themselves and having fun that much. It might be about showing off, but what was disco all about? And what would house be without disco? It wouldn't exist.
I reckon leave the dancefloor fascists to their Facebook petitioning and keep on shuffling.
Follow Clive on Twitter: @thugclive
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Shuffle Dance | Cutting Shapes 2022 playlist
69 tracks - 3 h 09 min
- Tracks
| 01 | Ferrari (Oliver Heldens Remix) | James Hype | Ferrari (Oliver Heldens Remix) | 03:08 | ||
| Composers: Mario Winans - Michael Carlos Jones - Sean "Puffy" Combs - Taurian Adonis Shropshire - Chauncey Lamont Hawkins - Frank Romano - James Edward Lee Marsland - Joshua Grimmett - Michele Carmine - Johannes Shore | ||||||
| 01 | Anything (Club Mix) | Marc Benjamin | Anything (Club Mix) | 02:28 | ||
| Composers: Daan Makkinga - Eric Van Tijn - Jochem Fluitsma - Marc Benjamin Latupapua - Guus Mulder - Simon Gitsels | ||||||
| 01 | Journey (Take Me Where You Wanna) | Don Diablo | Journey (Take Me Where You Wanna) | 03:13 | ||
| Writer: Antonie Lowenthal / Composers: Don Diablo | ||||||
| 10 | That Feeling | Biscits | Without U | 02:46 | ||
| Composers: Camden Cox - Karen Harding - Luke Jones | ||||||
| 01 | Anyway | NUZB | Anyway | 03:16 | ||
| Composers: Normalio Francisco da Silva Junior | ||||||
| 01 | Feelin' Me | PBH & JACK | Feelin' Me | 02:41 | ||
| Composers: Michael Marcel Keith - Darren Tavaris Jones - Jason PD Boyd | ||||||
| 01 | Belly Dancer | Imanbek | Belly Dancer | 02:31 | ||
| Writer: Aliaune Thiam - Lynval Golding - Neville Staples - Terence Edward Hall | ||||||
| 01 | Move Your Body | Öwnboss | Move Your Body | 02:37 | ||
| Writer: Eduardo Fornassa Zaniolo - Kalebe Soares Terenclo | ||||||
| 01 | B2B | James Hype | B2B | 02:40 | ||
| Composers: James Edward Lee Marsland - Tita Emma Lau | ||||||
| 01 | Beatbox (What About Us) | MOGUAI | Beatbox | 02:29 | ||
| Composers: Andre Tegeler - Michael Bellina - Philipp Andre Fuldner - John Dexter - Magnus Schroeter | ||||||
| 01 | Remember (feat. Stevie Appleton) | Sonny Fodera | Remember | 03:19 | ||
| Composers: Kye Gibbon - Matthew Robson-Scott | ||||||
| 01 | Believe In Ghosts | Oliver Heldens | Believe In Ghosts | 02:46 | ||
| Composers: Oliver Heldens - warner case | ||||||
| 01 | Pump It Up | 3 Are Legend | Pump It Up | 02:47 | ||
| Writer: Michael Anthony Hall / Composers: Leonardo Stella - Michael Anthony Hall - Martín Luna | ||||||
| 01 | Eat Organic | PBH & JACK | Eat Organic | 02:30 | ||
| 01 | Call It Love (Klingande Remix) | Felix Jaehn | Call It Love (Klingande Remix) | 02:29 | ||
| Composers: Felix Jaehn - Dag Lundberg - Ray Dalton - Sebastian Arman - Dennis Bierbrodt - Guido Kramer - Jürgen Dohr - Daniel Deimann - Joacim Bo Persson - Stefan Dabruck | ||||||
| 01 | Everything | Black Caviar | Everything | 02:42 | ||
| Composers: Black Caviar - Empher | ||||||
| 01 | Listen Up | Firebeatz | Listen Up | 02:03 | ||
| Writer: Gaston Steenkist - Jurre van Doeselaar - Rene Ter Horst - Tim Benjamin Smulders | ||||||
| 01 | Boom Boom | Smack | Boom Boom | 02:12 | ||
| Composers: Smack - Alexandre Abescat - Tom Mokrane - Ruochen Shi | ||||||
| 01 | Electricity | DubVision | Electricity | 02:34 | ||
| Writer: Alex Ryberg / Composers: Victor Leicher - Stephan Leicher - Otto Jettman | ||||||
| 01 | Left & Right | Öwnboss | Left & Right | 02:34 | ||
| Writer: Alina Paulsen - Eduardo Fornasa Zaniolo - Felix Hain - Lucas Hain - Sebastien Bliem | ||||||
| 01 | No Piensa | Don Diablo | No Piensa | 02:29 | ||
| Composers: Don Diablo - Rakim Hasheem Allen - Alec Petrus - Boaz de Jong - ben schlaf | ||||||
| 01 | Lift Me Up | Dallerium | Lift Me Up | 02:55 | ||
| Writer: Dino Travas - Tomislav Zovko | ||||||
| 01 | Late Night Feels (Öwnboss Remix) | Sam Feldt | Late Night Feels (Öwnboss Remix) | 03:10 | ||
| Composers: David Bradley Wilson - Dewain Whitmore Jr - Dominic Lyttle - Kyle Mark Trewartha - Michael Glen Trewartha - Orion Kiho Meshorer - Sammy Renders - Samuel Brandt - Tobias Danielsson | ||||||
| 01 | Bang Bang | Sevek | Bang Bang | 02:24 | ||
| Writer: Sonny Bono | ||||||
| 01 | Every Day | Lucas & Steve | Every Day | 02:36 | ||
| Writer: Antonina Armata - Ken Miller - Robert Veale Jerald | ||||||
| 01 | We Don’t Need | Oliver Heldens | We Don’t Need | 03:08 | ||
| Writer: Roger Waters | ||||||
| 01 | Set The Tempo (feat. HQA) | PBH & JACK | Set The Tempo (feat. HQA) | 03:03 | ||
| Composers: Ben Blease - John Ford | ||||||
| 01 | LOW | Oliver Heldens | LOW | 03:23 | ||
| Writer: Anabel Englund - Martin Bresso - Neil Ormandy - Olivier Heldens | ||||||
| 01 | Gotta Let U Go | Don Diablo | Gotta Let U Go | 02:29 | ||
| Writer: Mohamed Moretta / Composers: Mohamed Moretta | ||||||
| 06 | Red Alert (Mr. Belt & Wezol Remix - Edit) | Basement Jaxx | Red Alert (Remixes) | 03:53 | ||
| Composers: Felix Buxton - Simon Ratcliffe - Harvey Mason Jr - Tyrone Brown - Leonard Gibbs - James Simmons - John Blake - Millard Vinson - Richard Steacker | ||||||
| 01 | Tonight | Snakehips | Tonight | 03:40 | ||
| Composers: Brandi Massey - Drew Milligan - Oliver Dickinson - James David - Martin Joseph Leonard Bresso | ||||||
| 01 | Hot In It | Tiësto | Hot In It | 02:09 | ||
| Writer: Tijs Verwest - Charli XCX - Hight - KIDDO - Frank Nobel - Linus Nordström | ||||||
| 01 | Like This | Merk & Kremont | Like This | 02:22 | ||
| Composers: Giordano Cremona - Federico Mercuri - Riccardo Falconelli | ||||||
| 01 | Verdansk | Skepsis | Verdansk | 02:33 | ||
| Composers: Scott Elliott Jenkins - Callum James Macdonald | ||||||
| 01 | Click | Tujamo | Click | 02:31 | ||
| Writer: Cornelius Kuron - Eddy Owusu Addai - Johannes Burger - Kilian Wilke - Matthias Richter | ||||||
| 01 | Thinking About You | Galoski | Thinking About You | 02:23 | ||
| Composers: Aleksandar Galoski - Yaroslav Polikarpov - Philip Strand - Emelie Eriksson | ||||||
| 01 | Sideways | Plastik Funk | Sideways | 02:47 | ||
| Composers: Rafael Ximenez-Carrillo - Rodolfo Seragnoli - Britt Pols - Dirk Duderstadt - Marco Duderstadt | ||||||
| 01 | No Fun | Armin van Buuren | No Fun | 02:10 | ||
| Writer: Andrew Bullimore / Composers: Armin van Buuren - Felix Ferdinand - Zak F. Ron - Andrew Bullimore - Jon Maguire | ||||||
| 01 | Get Down | Galoski | Get Down | 02:23 | ||
| Composers: Aleksandar Galoski - Daniel Löfgren - Yaroslav Polikarpov | ||||||
| 01 | Welcome Back Home (feat. | Showtek | Welcome Back Home (feat. MC Ambush) | 03:12 | ||
MC Ambush) Dances
Author: Pavel Gather
Psychologist, Lecturer Salsa and Tango
Dances
Author: Pavel Pavel
Psychologist, Lecturer Salsa
on At the start, you always want to get a quick result. When it doesn't happen, the hypothesis arises that everything takes time. After a conditionally acceptable time, humility comes to mastering pair dances, which, perhaps, is not given, and I will just do what I learned somehow.
This is the most common story of those who believe that the mere act of attending a pair dance class is enough to learn how to dance.
Absolutely not. If you want to really dance well, you have to make an effort outside of the dance class. A good teacher will definitely be needed, but the initiative should be on your side.
1. Listen to music
The most common and accessible advice that is given already in the first lessons. And it definitely works. Music creates a certain atmosphere of the dance and intuitively you want to move to it. It doesn't matter where you listen to music - in the car, on headphones while walking or doing household chores.
An addition that will help you dance better is your active participation in the music. Sing along, dance or simply beat musical accents with any free parts of the body. In the subway, for example, it is enough to tap out bright moments with your fingers, in the car to sing along with sounds, and at home you can jump for pleasure.
2. Watch videos of good dancers
It's complicated, but also obvious.
It’s more difficult, because without recommendations from more experienced dancers, unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find a good quality video on the net (I mean not the resolution quality, but the content itself).
Meaningful video viewing is about building an understanding of HOW dancers make a particular impression on a partner or viewer. Technology is at the heart of everything. Understanding how the pros do it is a big step forward.
It is important to distinguish a show from a disco dance, a staged performance from an improvisation, a stylized dance from an authentic one, etc. Ask for recommendations and dance teachers will always throw off a couple of videos of worthy landmarks.
Tango Z. Showreel.
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3. Dance in salsatecas/milongas/discotheques
A very delicate moment when it is worth coming to the first party.
From a technical point of view, most students in 1-3 months have a sufficient set of figures and techniques to come and dance calmly. Psychologically, the same moment can be stretched out for an indefinite time. After all, it is imperative to “not lose face”, “learn more figures” and be sure what to do in case “there is an unfamiliar movement”.
In fact, the partygoers don't really care (except for a small layer of non-professional teachers who want to help inexperienced dancers by treating them as customers in the future). It is important to come and try dancing after a month of classes. You can only with friends or guys from your group. This will be enough to feel the adrenaline and inspiration from the dance.
4. Dance with partners or partners not of your level
The conventional wisdom that you need to practice in groups of your level does not withstand the test of experience. Perhaps now your eyes widened in surprise, and you want to meaningfully read the phrase again.
Yes, you saw everything correctly: when you dance with a partner of your level, you don’t grow anywhere.
It's important to understand that not only does it work one way and you have to dance with cooler dancers, but it works even more effectively the other way. It is no coincidence that teaching pair dances dramatically raises the level of the teacher himself. You have an endless stream of very beginner dancers.
How it works. A more experienced partner needs to be "stretched". It's easy and obvious. With beginners, you need to take more initiative on yourself, see the general pattern of the dance more widely, turn on and insure more, try to be an example and be more careful. The quality of interaction begins to grow significantly. And wonderful partners too.
Dancing with partners of your level doesn't make you grow. Dance with both beginners and more advanced dancers
Dominican Bachata Women's Style Online Course
Want to learn how to hypnotize those around you with the most appetizing part of your body? On the course we will tell you all the secrets.
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5. Learn to dance for a partner and for a partner
Turks and Argentines are one of the best partners in the world. In Russia, partners are highly valued. Why? The answer is simple. In Argentina and Turkey, it is not questionable for men to ask another man to lead in one piece or another and give feedback on the quality of the lead. For them, it will be a great shame to hear moralizing from a partner, or even more so to be known in the community as an insecure partner.
In Russia, due to the constant, often far-fetched, opinion that there are more women in pair dances, partners calmly get up and study their partner's part. Such partners then grow into very cool dancers and teachers. In no case do this at parties, only in class. Here we are talking only about the learning strategy. At parties, be yourself.
6. Do not memorize the links
Always try to look deeper and understand the through principle and idea of movement.
Understanding what and how is done will make it possible to independently generate any sequences and chips.
Human memory is limited and there will always be a moment when something will escape and your repertoire will be limited by the size of RAM.
In Argentine tango, for example, there are seven levels of movement construction that, when mastered, will allow you to make millions of combinations. And how many dance sequences can you really remember? In rueda, more than 150 figures dance in a rare circle. It's hard to keep more in mind.
7. Develop your body
Many years of experience in teaching couple dance shows that as soon as everyone pairs up in a class, any progress in individual style ends. But it is the individual style that distinguishes everyone at the disco: partners change, and style is always with you.
The body as the main instrument of dance must be very plastic, responsive and emotional. Surprisingly, not all pair dance schools have a general physical warm-up.
It is vital to tune the body and understand how it works.
You can always train extra and concentrate more on the basic steps, as their true value is as body work. The sequence of steps is, in fact, the simplest thing that can be in pair dancing. The quality of individual performance determines the craftsmanship.
8. Try on the images of inspiring dancers
A psychological life hack for those who have already mastered the steps, but still feel that there is not enough brightness and drive. Most are terribly afraid of being someone else's "clone". Here the action is the same as under the influence of hypnosis - the more you resist, the more you plunge into an altered state of consciousness.
With a high degree of probability, you are already dancing like someone else's "clone". A meaningful fitting of someone else's image is that you mentally take the image of the one who inspires you (inspiration is critical in this case) and "put on" yourself.
Then you start dancing and trying to feel in general how it is to be able, for example, to be the best partner or the sexiest partner in a disco. This is much more difficult than it seems. But it works extremely efficiently.
9. Dance to offbeat music
Habitual rhythms keep you tight. Tango salon or speedy timba leave little room for experimentation and fantasy. Pattern dancing is always noticeable and is reserved for beginners.
The truly new is born outside of the usual. Look for places to experiment. If there is no place, organize self-training. The main thing is not to get carried away, because music determines the style. We bring something new to pair dances, rather than trying to change them.
Search, improvise, don’t be afraid to go beyond, develop in different directions, be inspired by music atypical for the style
10. Try your hand at basic dance directions
dances exist according to their own non-choreographic laws.
This is the deepest delusion, which has turned into a ceiling for the qualitative development of partner dances. After all, all professional dancers, for example, in salsa or bachata, build their ideas on the basic choreographic principles.
Do not think that choreography is only applicable on stage. Any meaningful movement of the body can be choreographic. In general, try classical or modern choreography. Basically, hip-hop can work too.
11. Look for battle sensations
Pair dances return us to an active position of manifestation of our body. As in the days of our ancient ancestors, we impress the members of the opposite sex by how dexterous, hardy, sexy, etc. we are. Modern laws of the jungle in the entourage of large cities.
If you look around the dance floor, it becomes clear that the majority are clearly herbivores (not in the sense of vegetarians, but in relation to those around them).
I am sure that predators are always more interesting in terms of the attractiveness of the image - try to find a counterbalance among herbivores, for example, a cat woman or a lion man.
The conversation is about an internal position, not about aggressiveness. Lability and lack of control are inherent in adolescents, and not in adult self-sufficient people.
Accordingly, even a training or friendly battle gives, on the one hand, practical skills - to make a bright sequence of movements, bring an idea to a climax, show a spectacular feature, on the other hand, develops the psychological basis of the dance - self-confidence, resistance to extraneous attention, self-control and self-control in complex elements.
12. Communicate with professionals
The environment shapes the internal position. Basically, real passionaries of the dance community are ready to openly talk, discuss and support the development of dance in every possible way.
Universal principles and the ideas they articulate have a much longer and more practical perspective than meets the eye.
Accept that, for example, behind the words "listen to your partner" is not only a beautiful metaphor, but also a practical skill to literally listen to your partner. At the same time, always treat every thought, even the most respected teacher, as a private opinion.
Your skill will lie in finding the scope of the idea even in conflicting opinions. Most often, the contradiction is speculative and the truth lies in the angle of perception or situationality.
Your dancing growth will stop sooner or later. This can happen at the level of three basic steps or years of experience in teaching and show performances. Regardless of your level, the suggested 12 life hacks can get you off the ground and greatly accelerate your dance growth. There is no way here without your motivation and activity. Take your dance development into your own hands. 9Ol000 Dangerous sexuality
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Self-destruction of the couple dance community
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Mamita Fridays: salsa, bachata
Destroying the myths about leading pair dances
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The seven deadly sins of teachers
Why we will never dance bachata like the Dominicans
Why tango?
Dispute over musicality
Selection of dances according to alcohol preferences
Where to find inspiration for dancing?
Terrible tango nuevo
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Argentinean tango through the eyes of a salsa dancer
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Which is more effective: individual or group lessons?
Sexual overtones in couple dances
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- Blog0225 How to learn to dance twerk
In recent years, twerk is gaining more and more popularity among the youth.
Dynamic movements of one of the most piquant parts of the female body, helps dancers to liberate themselves and pump sexuality. In addition, this is a powerful fitness workout, where the main focus is on the work of the gluteal muscles and thighs. As a result of such shock physical activity, the body is tightened and acquires the desired rounded shape.
In pursuit of beautiful buttocks and slender legs, modern girls do not need to resort to plastic surgery and go to the surgeon. You can achieve the desired result with the help of twerk classes. Consider whether it is so easy for beginners to master this direction, and what are the benefits of fashionable dance for the body.
What is twerking
Twerking is a new dance direction, which is based on the movement of the buttocks and hips.
Sometimes it is called booty dance (bootydance) or booty shake (bootyshake).
The history of twerk is closely intertwined with ancient African tribal customs. The girls performed a dance with characteristic sexual movements to attract the attention of the opposite sex. It was a kind of signal, a suggestion of intimacy. If a man was ready to have a relationship with a girl he liked, then in response he took part in the dance and demonstrated similar movements.
At the beginning of the 21st century, America remembered this forgotten African tradition and decided to take it as the basis of the dance. The new direction was called twerk. It took a decade for local choreographers to stage and perfect the technique. And only then the twerk was demonstrated to the world.
The public was not ready for a long time to accept a new direction, which was perceived as sexually provocative and hurt the feelings of adherents of the classics. However, if you delve a little into history, it becomes clear that the appearance and origin of most dance styles was initially criticized.
For example, it was unacceptable for a decent lady to perform tango. But gradually, such heated debates around twerk faded away, and now girls who professionally master this type of dance are only admired.
Twerking continues to conquer the world. If earlier women used to attract male tribesmen with dances, now they resort to buti neck to form and maintain a beautiful figure. Guys are also increasingly paying attention to booty dance.
Dance cannot exist apart from music. And for a long time, twerk was in dire need of instrumental accompaniment. Performing completely new movements to well-known tunes was not interesting. There is an opinion that for commercial success, a musical style must combine both an element of novelty and reminiscent of what was before. Otherwise, the public will not understand and will not accept the revolutionary idea. Music for booty dance consists of various types of rap, typical of some southern states.
Benefits of classes
Gradually, a new fashionable dance moved from TV screens to the halls of sports centers and added to the list of popular types of training.
So, residents of Moscow can master the twerk technique step by step in the La Salute fitness club. Training is conducted by experienced instructors.
Classes are a powerful cardio load, which helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system of the body, improve blood circulation. Special exercises help to remove extra centimeters in the waist and hips, tighten the figure and improve the appearance of the buttocks, giving them elasticity and roundness.
The benefits of twerking don't end there. This kind of physical activity has a beneficial effect on the female body, not only from the outside. The movements during the dance are a kind of massage for the internal organs. It helps to reduce or completely eliminate menstrual pain, reduce excess bile, get rid of cellulite.
Dancing twerk is also a powerful psychological resource. During the lesson, a woman develops the skill of owning her own body and thus can be liberated, reveal and strengthen her sexuality, and increase self-esteem.
Contraindications
Twerk classes do not require any special physical preparation or physique. In terms of health, there are restrictions only for those who have problems with the spine and the musculoskeletal system.
During the dance there is a serious load on the knees. These points should be taken into account by everyone who wants to learn booty neck. At the slightest pain, you must immediately stop the lesson and immediately consult a doctor. You also need to be wary if after class it hurts to sit or lie on your side.
How to learn to twerk
Twerk is a very dynamic dance, and the muscles are under a lot of stress, so the body needs a mandatory warm-up before training. You can practice tilting the torso to the sides, forward and backward. Exercises should be done slowly, while feeling how the muscles are stretched and warmed up. It is useful to sit on the longitudinal and transverse twine, if the stretch allows.
Since the main focus in twerking is on the buttocks, thighs, lower back, the main base of exercises consists of the following elements:
- vibration of the gluteal muscles;
- rotation of the hips and lower back;
- work alternately with different buttocks;
- hip 8 rep;
- hip thrusts.
Beginners can try to learn the basic movements at home, this will help various video tutorials, which show the elements of twerk for beginners in stages.
After stretching, you can move on to learning the basic movements that help you master the technique from scratch:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, straighten your back, squat. In this position, it is necessary to rotate the hip joint, making a figure eight.
- Place your palms on the floor and quickly bend and unbend your knees, vibrating your pelvis.
- Squat down with your hands on your belt.
Try to actively shake your lower torso so that your legs and hips vibrate as you do so. This is an important exercise, one of the main elements of the dance. - Continue with hip crunches with knees bent. To do this, return to the starting position, turn the toe of the right leg inward along with the knee, while shaking the buttocks with the force of the thigh. Do the same with the left leg. It turns out a twist movement.
Thus, you can learn to twerk by starting with the basic elements, which successively turn into bundles, and you get a complete dance.
Comfortable tracksuit, shorts or leggings are suitable for training. Shoes - sneakers or sneakers.
At first glance, it may seem that there is nothing complicated in the described movements. But it's not. There are few basic exercises, but not everyone can master them correctly. Therefore, armed with a little home preparation, you can safely proceed to classes under the guidance of an experienced trainer at the LaSalute dance studio.
What music to dance to
The bootyshake dance requires suitable accompaniment. Since the movements of this direction are quite dynamic, the incendiary samba, rap, hip-hop, R&B will be an ideal option. There are several popular songs that go well with dance - these are "BubbleButt" and "Bandz A Make Her Dance".
Why twerking doesn't work
There are reasons why movements may not come out correctly:
- Lack of flexibility in the lumbar spine and hips. In this case, additional stretching exercises will help.
- Deflection problem. If during training you take the body back due to the shoulders and thoracic spine, and not the lower back, then nothing will work.
- Tightness of the body, tension. Immediately liberated and immersed in the atmosphere of twerk may not come out of the first lesson. From this movement look "wooden". In this case, you just need to give yourself time and gradually join the general rhythm of mood.
