How to learn basic dance
10 Basic Dance Moves Anyone Can Learn
Do you ever watch someone dance and wonder how they come up with moves so easily?
Great dancers often master a specific set of moves that they can fall back on again and again.
Read on for 10 basic dance moves you can learn in minutes and use every time you wanna dance.
P.S. You can learn all of these moves for FREE on STEEZY Studio! No cc required. đ
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1. The Two-Step
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When I first started dancing at parties, the Two-Step was the first move that truly came naturally to me.
It really is as simple as stepping from side to side to the beat!
If you're looking for something foolproof that allows you to just groove and enjoy the music...
Boom. Here it is.
2. The Monestary
This move was born in a club called Monestary out in St. Louis!
Itâs built on a Two-Step, so if you took that class, youâve already got a foundation for the footwork.
But rather than bringing your feet together, youâll tap them to the front with your knee and foot turned inward.
Then, as you tap the feet, youâll move your arms and shoulders in a circular movement.
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3. Booty Pop (Side To Side)
Like the Woah, this sexy move is super TikTok-friendly â but with more feminine energy.
To do a booty pop to the side, youâre gonna bend your knees, put your hands on one knee, and then bring the other leg from bent to straight while turning your knee inward.
If youâre a long-haired baddie, be sure to keep all your hair on one side so it doesnât flop in your face as you pop!
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âRead this article on How To Dance Sexy to get more tips on pulling off moves like this one!
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4. The Billy Bounce
Surprise â this club-ready move is built on⊠a bounce!
But what makes it unique is that your knees will come inward on each bounce rather than just up and down.
Once youâve got the funky lil knee bounce down, youâll add in an upward kick on each side.
The best thing about this move is that while the footwork takes a few minutes to learn, you donât necessarily need to add an arm movement to make it look cool.
Just keep your arms front and center.
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5. The Woah
Even if youâre not actively involved in the dance community, youâve probably seen people hitting the Woah â on TikTok, Reels... all over your newsfeed!
Whether you wanna make a viral video of your own, or youâre just looking for a fun, basic dance move to pull out at the clerb, this one is too good not to learn.
Since the locking arm motion is so sharp and pronounced, use the Woah to accent the heaviest bass beats in your favorite songs.
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6. The Dougie
Yes, the Dougie is a real dance move!
Like the Two-Step, youâll be shifting your weight from side to side, but this time, adding some shoulder movements and a lil more attitude.
Try this one out to some songs other than the one that made it famous â youâll find it works with any hype beat.
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7. Scoop Arm Into Hip Sway
Sooo this one is more of combo than a move, but it only takes a few minutes to learn and it works with any fun sassy songâŠ
So it deserves to be here, ok?!
For this move, youâre gonna scoop your arm across your chest, then bring it over your head, and finally point it in front of your chest.
Once you point the arm in front of you, youâll sway your hips from side to side and groove it out.
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8. The Bust Down
The Bust Down was popularized by LA rapper, Blueface, in his 2019 club jam âThotianaâ.
Youâre gonna grab your belt, put one arm in the air, and allow your body to dip with the beat.
âNote: Licking your eyebrows like Blueface is fun, but not required. đ
9. The Biz Markie
The Biz Markie is an old school party dance inspired by, you guessed it, rapper Biz Markie!
It rose to popularity in the 90s, when Biz Markie himself began performing it on stage.
As you practice it, remember to allow your shoulders to bounce â the bounce is what gives this move its cool, laidback flavor.
âWanna learn more about classic Hip Hop moves? Read this: How To Dance Hip Hop for Beginners
10. The Humpty
For this bouncy move, youâre gonna circle your hips to one side as your bend your knees.
Then, youâll jump and cross your legs, allowing your feet to tap the floor briefly before you jump back to your original legs apart position.
Once youâve got that down, you can complete the move by adding in a windmill motion with your arms.
The leg cross in this move makes it perfect for any Hip Hop song that features a double bass (aka that BOOM BOOM sound that you hear in songs like âLip Glossâ by Lil Mama)
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We hope you enjoyed learning some of our favorite basic dance moves.
Of course, this list is just a start!
In addition to the 10 moves on this list, STEEZY Studio has 100+ other FREE beginner classes where you can learn step-by-step from the worldâs best teachers.
What To Read Next:
30-Minute Dance Workouts That'll Trick You Into Becoming A Better Dancer
How To Learn Popping
How To Start Dancing Hip Hop For Beginners
How To Learn Dance At Home
How to Learn Dance at Home Step by Step: Complete guide
Watch Video1 min
Interested in dance and want to learn a few dance moves at home? Here's how.
Written by Red Bull Editorial Team
5 min readPublished on
Dance is one of the most multi-purpose skills out there. What else can you use in the club and as a workout? Lots of people learn to dance in structured settings like studios, but with the prevalence of the internet, many resources like videos and online communities for support, anyone can learn to dance at home.
How to Learn to Dance at Home
Want to improve your moves? Follow these steps to learn to dance at home:
1.
Select a styleStart by deciding what style of dance you want to learn. There are tons out there â individual dance styles like ballet, jazz, and hip hop, and partner styles like ballroom and salsa. Definitely figure out what type you're interested in before you get started, which will make it easier to find the best resources.
Dance
© Andrew Large / Red Bull Content Pool
2. Decide on technique or routine
Next, decide whether you want to learn basic technique or a specific dance. Most dance styles have foundational movements that trained dancers practice repeatedly to build their strength, endurance, and skill. However, some folks who are just learning for fun might prefer learning a specific dance, like Lil Uzi Vert's Futsal Shuffle rather than just practicing the basics.
3. Find the right video
1 min
Dance Home Guide: B-Boy Wigor
Zaczynamy wyzwanie: #RedBullHomeChallenge! Pukamy do drzwi domĂłw B-Boys i B-Girls, a oni pokazujÄ , jak mieszkajÄ . OczywiĆcie tanecznym krokiem! Zobacz wideo Dance Home Guide z B-Boyem Wigorem.
Now's the time to find your teacher: A video. There are tons of fantastic vids out there from professional dancers, teachers, musicians, and amateurs to help you learn to dance. Lots of websites offer classes, tutorials, or tips for burgeoning dancers â some are free and some cost money. If you're looking for a technique class, search for something like "hip hop dance class." If you want to learn a specific dance, search for the name of the dance along with "tutorial," like "Chicago Cell Block Tango tutorial."
4. Warm up
Dance Your Style 2019: Tokyp warm-up
© Red Bull
Before you dance, it's important you warm up. Get your heart rate up and your muscles warm by jogging in place. Do some stretching like touching your toes and opening your hips to loosen up.
Most dance styles require a bit of flexibility, so focus on a few exercises that will help lengthen tight muscles before you get going.
5. Do the lesson
Finally, it's time to dance! Play your video, and get moving! If you're using a smart TV, keep the remote nearby so you can pause and rewind when you need to see a step again. If you're using your phone or laptop, keep it close by for the same reason. Don't be afraid to do the same step or section a few times over â some steps take longer than others to master.
Tip: Try the moves in front of a mirror next to your video so you can see how you look.
6. Practice
They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a new skill â don't give up! Keep practicing with the same video and new videos with other teachers to get better at your dance. You'll see improvement the more you work at it.
B-Boy Junior poses for an action shot
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
Best Resources to Learn How to Dance
The internet is an amazing place.
So many resources exist for people to master dance at home. Consider these top learn-to-dance-at-home resources to get started.
Paid Options
Looking for some solid technical guidance? Consider these classes, tutorials, and lessons from professional dancers:
CLI Studios: Aspiring dancers can take classes in styles like ballet, jazz, and contemporary from big-name dancers like Kathryn McCormick from the hit show So You Think You Can Dance starting at $100 a month.
Dance Plug: Learn a wide variety of styles, like Bollywood and lyrical, in the form of classes, combinations, and routines, starting at $29 a month.
Steezy: Super interested in urban dance? Steezy focuses on learning movements from hip hop, krump, breaking, popping, and more. Get started for $20 a month or $99.99 a year.
Free Options
For a more cost-effective option (though you'll have to do more searching for solid content), try out these guys:
YouTube: YouTube is a great place to start to find dance class videos if you're still figuring out which styles you're interested in learning.
Vimeo: Vimeo has always been a favorite of creative types, so you might be able to find some solid videos there.
Twitch: A newcomer to the user-uploaded video game, but Twitch is a competitor nonetheless. You could find some gems on here!
Where to Start
Totally overwhelmed and not sure which style you should start with? Consider starting with one of the big top three: Ballet, jazz, or hip hop. Almost every other style of dance uses some ballet terminology (yes, even hip hop), so it might be helpful to learn a little ballet before anything else.
Jazz and hip hop are also foundational styles â jazz is the basis for contemporary dance and hip hop informs lots of popular, urban and music video dances. Want a list of a few dance styles to try? You got it. Keep in mind, there are hundreds of different dance styles out there â one of them is absolutely perfect for you!
Ballet
Jazz
Hip hop
Contemporary
Lyrical
Breaking
Ballroom
Bollywood
Tap
African dance
Latin dance
Swing dance
Flamenco
Learning to dance should be fun.
Take the time in the comfort of your living room to learn a new technique or routine to show off to your friends.
teaching basic movements and features of dance
Contents
Hip-hop, like any other dance direction, is best studied at a professional school. After all, only a qualified teacher will find an individual approach to a new student and teach the necessary movements. But if this is not possible, or if you want to come to class prepared, you can try to master the direction of hip-hop at home. How to dance the first movements, now we will tell.
Like any dance, hip-hop training includes getting acquainted not only with the basic movements of the style, but also with a certain philosophy. And in this direction it is special. Hip-hop came to us in the second half of the last century from the most disadvantaged areas of New York and Los Angeles. Tired of injustice, aggression and blood, teenagers, who mostly did not have the cleanest reputation, invented their own special way to resolve conflicts - with the help of dance battles and rap parties.
Hip-hop is a free dance, a challenge to society and a protest against any inequality. That is why the main thing in this style is not at all the clarity of the learned movements, but the sense of rhythm, improvisation and expression of the individuality of the performer.
Getting Started: Preparation and Basic Movements
Before learning hip-hop for beginners, you should make sure that you feel comfortable doing it. According to experienced dancers, three things will help you relax and start learning:
- Appropriate environment: flat floor, spacious room, full-length mirror.
- Loose clothing and comfortable shoes. Nothing should hinder movement.
- Hip-hop rhythmic music.
A little ritual will help you tune yourself into the wave of hip-hop: stand with your legs apart, put your hands down and close your eyes. Listen carefully to the sound of the music and try to learn to hear the beat. Rock to the beat. And now you have already mastered the first movement.
Congratulations! It's time to move on to more complex elements.
The basic movements of hip-hop are swing and step. You are already familiar with the first one. Now try to put your right foot to the side and stretch your right hand up. Bend your right leg, transferring your body weight to it, and lower your arm to shoulder level. Turn the body to the left, bend the left leg, and put the right leg on the toe. Now lower your right knee, arch your back and reach your hands to the floor. When you manage to complete this combination, consider yourself a good start in hip-hop.
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Here are some more basic hip-hop moves for beginners:
- Starting position - standing, feet shoulder-width apart, and arms along the body. We squeeze the brushes into a fist and alternately bring forward one hand, then the other. Then we connect the legs bent at the knee: left hand - right leg, right leg - left hand.
- Starting position - standing. We jump in place and cross our legs, and bend our arms as if we were rowing.
- Starting position - standing, feet slightly wider than shoulders. We put the right leg a little back, bend the legs at the knees, which at the same time look straight. With the right hand we cover the face, with the left, folded into a fist, we put it in the region of the heart. Then at the same time we tilt our head to the right and unclench the left hand, and after that we turn the right knee and right hand to the right.
- Starting position - standing, feet firmly pressed to the floor, knees slightly bent. We put the spread fingers of the right hand on the chest, keep the elbow parallel to the floor. We bend in an arc, as if we received a blow right in the heart. Then we make two turns in different directions, straighten our back and return to the starting position. The hand at this time falls from the heart to the waist. At the end, we throw the pelvis forward again, round the back and tighten the buttocks.
You can achieve the first results quite quickly. But when you start to study closely how to dance hip hop, you will soon notice that there are no clear movements and rules in this direction. Having mastered a few basic elements, the dancers begin to improvise, create their own combinations and dance as creative fantasy suggests.
How to continue: choosing a style
If you have mastered the first movements of hip-hop from videos and photos on the Internet, it's time to choose the direction in which you will develop further. Hip-hop culture is a wide range of dance styles that differ from each other both in elements and in general mood. The main ones are:
- Breakdance is still popular basic style of hip-hop, on which the direction originated.
- Popping - rhythmic contraction of various muscle groups to the music so that it looks like jolts on the performer's body;
- Wave - smooth and plastic movements of the body, the most famous of which is the wave with hands;
- Afro-jazz - shaking mainly the lower and most prominent part of the body in women;
- Crump - energetic shaking of various limbs to the music so that it seems as if someone has moved into the dancer;
- New Style, also known as freestyle, is an improvisational dance that combines not only hip-hop movements, but also elements borrowed from more than a dozen other dance styles.
- La Style - Hip-hop, where the emphasis is on entertainment, so this style is used mainly in videos and when staging shows.
- Ragga jazz is a dance tuned to the music: the performer's legs work under the drums, and the hands become active during the recitative.
- Locking - an energetic dance with "locks" - freezing in different positions for a few seconds or periodically slowing down the movement.
- Power move is a spectacular style that includes complex acrobatic elements, handstands, various twists, and transitions.
- C-walk is a âlanguageâ dance with a criminal past that emphasizes intense and very dynamic footwork.
Women's and men's hip-hop
The next step in how to learn hip-hop without leaving home is to bring a little femininity or, conversely, brutality into your existing skills - depending on your gender accessories. The thing is that female and male hip-hop are somewhat different from each other, and, therefore, representatives of the beautiful and strong half are trained in this direction in different ways.
Hip-hop dancing for beginner girls is based on plasticity, flexibility and unobtrusive sexuality. Girls wear baggy sweatpants and hoodies on a par with men, perform sweeping movements, but their execution looks different: hips, legs and shoulders are more involved, the elements are a little smoother and sexier.
Male hip-hop, on the contrary, is more daring, energetic and sometimes even aggressive. The focus is on the work of the arms and body, acrobatic elements and movements that require strength and male endurance.
If you prefer to learn this difficult direction from videos, it is better to initially choose hip hop training, where the movements will be performed by a dancer of your gender. Together with the right technique, you will be able to capture the gender characteristics of the choreographic elements.
A few more secrets
Learning to dance hip-hop at home, without classes with a professional teacher, is not easy, but real.
Especially if you add training with a few more components. Here, as in learning a foreign language, only complete immersion in the culture will help. So, here are some tips from âexperiencedâ hiphopers who have mastered a lot not under the guidance of a qualified mentor, but at home by the mirror:
- Videos with basic exercises will help you master some of the moves, but for additional skills, it is better to turn to online courses. Hip-hop lessons for beginners are regularly held online, often live.
- Hiphop parties and hangouts will help you melt into this culture and make new acquaintances. Yes, of course, everyone will laugh at your first dances, but no one drags you to the center of the circle. While you're learning, watch the pros dance, adopt a style, and memorize some moves to practice at home.
- Clear training regimen. Only with regular practice can you achieve results. In addition, our body is set to a certain schedule, and if you exercise at a certain time, it will prepare for stress.
As experienced dancers note, the optimal duration of even home workouts is two hours. This is enough for warming up, and for the lesson itself, and for stretching after. - Additional physical activities. If you are in the mood not just for basic hip-hop movements, but for serious hip-hop elements with tricks, strengthening the muscles of the whole body is indispensable. You will need strong arms, strong core muscles, and no extra weight. This can be achieved by exercising in the gym or additional weight training at home.
- Compliance with safety regulations. Be sure to dance in comfortable non-slip shoes and loose clothing. Do not start training without a proper warm-up, and when practicing acrobatic elements, lay something soft on the floor.
Video tutorials will be enough to learn how to dance hip-hop. But to become a real dancer, you need to study the subculture from the inside. It is believed that a hiphoper has achieved true mastery when he is in perfect control of his body, does not âslow downâ on the dance floor, knows how to improvise and select universal movements for any music.
Hip-hop dance lends itself only to the very persistent and disciplined, those who are able to understand and accept its "philosophy of freedom".
Do not forget that there are many professionals around who are ready to help you take your first steps in hip-hop or improve the skills you learned at home. Qualified teachers of the La Boca dance club will find an individual approach to you, work out with you the technique of performing movements and even acrobatic elements. You don't have to go far: "La Boca" is located in the very center of St. Petersburg - on "Petrogradka"
Video: basic hip-hop movements
basic moves for beginners with video
Contents
This is not just a dance direction, it is a whole subculture: stormy, but at the same time very romantic. A gentle African dance is performed exclusively in pairs.
Looking at people dancing kizomba, one might get the impression that they are in love - it looks so soft and sincere. Want to move like the couples in the video tutorials? The team of the Laboca dance club will be happy to teach you!
Rules of Kizomba
Kizomba accompaniment acquired its modern sounding due to electronic instruments. They also allow you to create the desired rhythm with a size of four by four measures. This style starts a new theme song every sixteen beats.
The movements of kizomba are very similar to bachata: they are also simple and uncomplicated. You can recognize kizomba by its smoother elements, the placement of accents with the hips, the very strong hugs of partners, the sedentary body and the synchronism of the performers in a pair. Leading, unlike Latin American dances, is carried out from the chest. Kizomba steps are done on soft, slightly bent knees. The head is kept straight all the time and does not "jump".
In couples, as in bachata, the man leads, the woman simply follows the direction given by him and decorates the dance with elements of improvisation.
The partners are as close as possible to each other, the man gently grabs the woman's back, and her left hand lies on his neck.
A distinctive feature of kizomba is the so-called Tarraschinha - the ability to dance with almost no noticeable movements. These are the waves, the swaying of the pelvis, the barely noticeable curves of the body, which make kizomba so seductive.
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Kizomba basic movements
It is important to realize that kizomba is an African dance that came to us from the rituals of wild tribes. It is believed that it began to spread across European dance floors quite by accident. And even though the direction has already acquired modern features, the main movements in kizomba have not changed: the performers must catch the rhythm of the music with their body and embody it in their movements and vibrations.
At the kizomba class you will not learn complex elements and intricate figures, but master the basic steps, get acquainted with tarraschinya and begin to dance calmly and smoothly.
