How to move your arms when dancing
7 TikTok Dance Moves You Can Learn At Home
TikTok is filled with short, fun dance routines that you can watch for endless hours (trust me, I've done it), share with friends, and learn at home with STEEZY.
But, let's face it.
If you don't have a dance background, the short, hard to follow tutorials on TikTok can be a frustrating roadblock to joining in on the fun.
Here are simple, easy ways you can learn the 7 most popular moves on TikTok.
1. The CitiRokk
The CitiRokk is that one SUPER POPULAR TikTok dance move where you rock your body from side to side and cross your arms in front of your chest.
Watch this video with the move’s creator, CitiBoyRio, to see how the move took over TikTok!
*BONUS*
While the CitiRokk was popularized on TikTok by the Renegade dance routine, CitiBoyRio just dropped a new routine of his own!
Learn the CitiRokk Shuffle routine just in time before it goes viral. 😎
Hit this link to learn both the CitiRokk and the CitiRokk shuffle step-by-step on STEEZY Studio.
2. The Woah
Just WATCHING people hit the Woah gets me excited.
It's simple, hype, and easy to apply to any song with a dope bass beat.
If you've been lurking on TikTok for any time at all, you've probably already seen it yourself and understand how it's supposed to look.
How you create the reverb motion, where to position your arms, and when to move your body to hit the beat on time is all you need to learn. 👇
3. The Swagg Bouncee
Do your hips naturally sway from side to side when a good song comes on?
Think of the Swagg Bouncee as your natural hip-sway's cooler, trendier sibling.
Lil Rich Swagg, who created the Swagg Bouncee, says to “Stay on your tippy toes to get a full range of motion,” in his STEEZY Studio class.
By committing to the move and making it bigger, you'll look more confident!
4. The Kangsta Wok
In the video below, this TikTok dance move's creator, Zaya Sosho, explains how he based the Kangsta Wok on a "dip" move he saw during a cypher.
When you do the Kangsta Wok, make sure not to over- or under-exert your energy.
Attack each level drop with a little intensity to make the move look extra hype, but don't go so hard that your body tenses up!
You want to make it look effortlessly cool. 😎
Still not totally sure how to make that happen?
Don't worry... Zaya Sosho will teach you in the tutorial below!
Use this guide to help to you practice too!
5. The Smeeze
This move first entered the dance scene in 2009, but at the time, it was mainly used during battles and parties.
When TikTok arrived in 2018, the move's creator, Chonkie, knew this was the perfect platform to bring the Smeeze to the next level.
With hashtags like #SMEEZEEVERYWHERE, and dance crews like the Jabbawockeez picking it up, the Smeeze quickly became a TikTok favorite.
You can learn more about it from Chonkie himself in this video!
While millions of people are, in fact, Smeezin' everywhere, the move can be a little tricky due to the alternating movements of the arms and legs.
Use this step-by-step tutorial to get the timing jussssst right!
6. The Bust Down
As far as TikTok dance moves go, the Bust Down is definitely on the sexier end of the spectrum.
Characterized by a scoop/thrust motion of the hips, the move is great for raunchy club jams like "Thotiana" by Blueface – the song that popularized the move!
If adding a lil sexy swagger to your movement feels like climbing Mt.
Everest, know that practice and repetition will be your best friend!
STEEZY's tutorial breaks the move down simply and efficiently, so you can learn it in just 9 minutes and repeat sections LITERALLY AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT.
Trust us, you'll have swag down to a science.👨🔬
7. The Cosby Walk
Yes, when executed the right way, the simple act of marching can become a dope dance move!
Watch our video with Rated R, creator of the Cosby Walk, to see exactly what we mean:
As you're learning this move, make sure you're placing your feet firmly on the floor and evenly distributing your weight!
If your bottom half is weak and wobbly, you'll look more bambi than bad@$$.
Related article: Why Staying Light On Your Feet Is Actually Bad Advice
As much as we love watching the mesmerizing 15-second dance tutorials that already live on TikTok.
..
It's LIFE-CHANGING to have legit dancers break moves down and make them easy to learn.
Now, you have everything you need to master the hottest dance moves and join fun challenges on TikTok.
Start learning now for free!
How to Improve Your Arm Styling in Salsa & Bachata: 14 Tips
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Arm styling is one of the easiest ways to add personality to your dancing. It can create elegance, sensuality, playfulness, drama and more. It also helps our body movement to look more natural.
Yet arm styling is also surprisingly tricky. It takes practice and know-how to avoid stiff, awkward movements. Fortunately, there are several tips and tricks that will help you create fluid, natural movements that add style and pizazz to your dancing. Here are 14 tips that range from technical to creative and basic to advanced:
Table of Contents
1. Know When and Where to Use Arm Styling
Every single follower on the social dance floor has tried to do arm styling only to miss a led move or accidentally hit someone.
Quite a few leaders have done it, too. It’s a common mistake that’s part of the learning curve of dancing.
You need to learn to recognise the indications that it’s safe to style, as well as the moments when you’re better off keeping your arms in a neutral position. For example, when following, it’s generally safe to use arm styling after you’ve finished a turn or when you have a free hand. When leading, you’ll want to save it for when a follower won’t interpret it as a lead, e.g. when they’re turning.
It’s not just about when, though. It’s also about where. It may be safe to style to your side during a move, but not above your head. Or you may find you have enough space to touch your chest or head but not to fully extend your arms.
Bear in mind that as dance styles evolve, the safe moments may change. Take the yoyo move, where the lead and follow are in a wrap/cuddle/abrazo, then the follow is spun out and back in again. At one point, teachers commonly taught follows to raise their free arm above their head on the return before bringing it down over the lead’s head.
Now, however, in bachata, leads often add a head roll, dip or body movement to the end of that returning spin. This means followers are better off keeping their arms in neutral turn position as they return—although immediately after spinning out is still, for now, fair game.
The lesson to take from this? Don’t worry if you mess up, ask lots of questions in class about how you know it’s safe to style and pay attention to what your partner is doing.
Credit: Nicole Glass Photography / Shutterstock.com
2. Know When to Tone Down Your Arm Styling
Arm styling can be flashy and dramatic. It captures viewers’ attention, and when done well, highlights the movement you’re doing. But it can also draw the eye away from what you’re doing with the rest of your body. So if you’re using lots of hip movement, you don’t necessarily want your arms to go all out with styling. Instead, keep those movements minimal, bring them closer to your hips or mimic your hips’ movement.
Remember that arm styling doesn’t have to involve extending your arm so that everyone in the room can see. Small movements can be powerful, especially when they’re used intentionally. Try using your fingers and wrists to create small flourishes, trailing a hand along your collarbone or framing your face.
3. Know How to Connect Your Arms With Your Body
Arm styling often, but not always, looks best when it’s connected to your torso. This is especially true when you’re doing basic arm movements during fundamental steps. Practise moving just your torso to see how it naturally creates arm movement without any effort on your part. Then, try using this natural movement when styling to see how it simultaneously exaggerates your arm movement and makes it seem more natural.
4. Think About Lines of Movement
Your arms are rarely your only moving body part, which means you can pick styling that exaggerates the direction and energy of the rest of your body. Doing a wave or body roll? Arm movements that match your body movement can help make the wave seem more fluid and natural.
Doing a travelling turn along a line? You could finish by using your arm to extend that line and make the movement seem even more dramatic.
That said, remember the first tip: know when it’s safe to style. You don’t want to fling your arm behind you without looking first.
5. Understand Your Joints
To co-opt a social media meme, arm styling is not about where you’re going. It’s about how you get there. The movements that take you from place A to place B are what make you look good—and your joints are what make that happen.
When it comes to arm styling, these joints are at the shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers. Explore the rotation you have in these joints. Practise moving them in different ways. Remember that they are connected, too. Since we don’t have 360° rotation, we may need to use our elbow or shoulder joints to help our wrists and hands move in the way we want.
And if ever you’re not sure how to do a piece of styling, look at what the joints are doing and when.
It will often hold the key.
6. Smoothen Your Transitions
Most arm styling contains transitions: essential movements that are rarely the highlight of the styling, but can be the difference between it looking elegant or awkward. Your palm might go from facing down to facing up, or from in to facing out. Your fingers might extend then curl then extend again. Your hand might go from the left side of your face to the right.
Whatever it is, polishing the transition will make your styling more graceful and effective. So: pay attention to when and how these transitions happen. Ask questions about the technique. Rehearse the movements until they become natural.
7. Improve Your Flexibility
Flexibility isn’t essential for arm styling, but it will give you more movement to work with. You will find yourself styling more smoothly, especially in transitions, and being able to make greater use of space. Shoulder opening and wrist flexibility exercises will help. Don’t overwork yourself, though—shoulders are delicate and important.
8. Know if You Want Tension
Tension can add sharpness and drama to movements and, especially when it’s your fingers, create the impression of elegance and length. But it can also slow you down and add stiffness. Knowing where and when to use tension, and more importantly why, will help make movements more your precise, clean and visually compelling.
9. Get Creative
There’s nothing wrong with having a go-to piece of styling that you can do flawlessly, but don’t be afraid to experiment, try something new and trust your instincts. If you’ve always done the same movement when coming out of a turn, pick a couple of others and see how they change the look and feel of the move. Try them out with different songs, particularly ones with different styles and speeds, and at different moments in the songs. As you do this, you’ll start to get a feel for how you can use styling not just to decorate your movements but express yourself.
10. Control—And Play With—Your Speed
Do you want your styling to last one beat? A half-basic? Or highlight a certain instrument? Playing with the speed of your arm styling can create a completely different sensation, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
11. Know Your Personality
You might be able to execute flawless styling, but unless the movements match your personality, you’re not going to fully enjoy it. Instead, lean into who are you are and how you like to present yourself. Do you want to feel sensual? Fun? Flirty? Cute? Full of attitude? Playful? Dramatic? Elegant? No matter who you are, you can express that with dancing. So instead of trying to replicate someone else’s style and movements, pick and choose the styling moves that make you feel great.
12. Trial It in Front of a Mirror
The difference between elegant and awkward movements lies in the tiny details. Practising in front of a mirror or recording yourself will help you discover areas to improve, many of which will just require small tweaks. For example, you might discover that you’re blocking your face with your arm or holding your shoulder too stiffly. Once you’ve spotted these issues, the fixes are simple.
Dancing in front of a mirror will allow you to self-correct in real time, but recording yourself can also be motivating.
When you come back to those videos after a few weeks or months, you’ll see how much you’ve improved.
13. Style With Confidence
Confidence can make even the simplest styling look good. Nervousness and timidity, on the other hand, will automatically make your movements smaller, more closed and more hesitant and awkward. So, pick something you can do with confidence and enjoy the moment. It will show.
However, don’t let a lack of confidence limit your styling. If you’re unsure about a move, practise it at home until you feel good about it. You can also test it out in a class environment before taking it onto the social dance floor.
14. Practise, Practise and Practise Some More
Perfection doesn’t exist, but practice will get you pretty close. Repeat the movements until they’re clean, fluid and natural. A few practice sessions and you’ll find you don’t even need to think about the movements: you’ll do them automatically.
Arm styling is a bold, fun way to express your personality and add polish and flair to your dance moves.
And with these tips, you’ll be able to style with confidence. So, what are you waiting for? Get in front of your mirror, start experimenting and enjoy yourself.
Ella Baila
Ella Baila is the alias of a bachata teacher. She dabbles in most Afro-Latin dances and is blues-curious.
Dance movements with hands
To move well in a disco, it is enough to have a sense of rhythm. Add to this dance movements with your hands and now you are already rocking to an unfamiliar melody, in an interesting company. To make all this a reality, it is enough to spend half an hour and rehearse a couple of “chips” in front of the mirror.
Waves with hands
Waving remains out of time and out of fashion, it is the ability to imitate wave movements with hands. We start with the right hand. Bend your elbow and bring your palm upside down in front of you, so that the palm is parallel to the floor, and you look at it a little from above - down. The elbow and shoulder are relaxed, the tension is only in the fingers.
Now try to repeat the movement of the wave, smoothly raising your palm up and describing an arc, lowering it down. Focus on the palm of the hand, fingers, forearm, elbow and shoulder are in a relaxed state and move inertly behind the hand. Start with a large amplitude and gradually reduce it to learn how to make a wave quickly. It will take 10 minutes to master this movement. Wave with both hands at the same time, pointing the palms towards each other, and when they cross, let the crossed wave go up, this is a full-fledged dance movement that looks good even without connecting the legs.
Criss-cross
To occupy hands during the dance, you can perform cross-cross movements. Extend your left hand, clenched into a fist, in front of you, but not evenly, but slightly at an angle, so that the hand goes slightly to the right. Now extend your right hand, clenched into a fist, so that the letter X is formed. To make this movement work, you need to add a little dynamics. For example, crossing the right hand with the left, return it several times to its original position (to the beat of the music), then raise the crossed arms above the head and open the cross, lowering and pulling the hands to the belt with clenched fists, as is done in karate.
Or you can open your arms and lower them through the sides, describing an arc, performing tactile movements with your legs.
Women's hand dance moves
Girls will definitely want more smooth hand dance moves, we have some recommendations for them too.
Yula
The movement is performed when there is enough space around, as it involves rotation. Raise your arms above your head, leaving your elbows "soft", which means they can be slightly bent so that the arm is relaxed and supple. The palm is collected in a weak fist with index fingers released, which look up. At the same time, the left and right wrists begin to rotate from right to left along a small radius. After the second circle, the amplitude increases, and the forearm begins to rotate after the wrist, after 2 turns, both hands, rotating in the same direction, describe a circle above the head. Such a movement requires practice and self-confidence. It is ideal for breaks or slow songs where the footwork is constrained by a slow rhythm.
Look at me
The simplest and most popular movement that girls love to do to any music is stroking. A straightened palm is placed, for example, on the neck and led down, through the center of the chest and from the solar plexus to the side, leaving the arm bent at the elbow at the waist. In this performance, the movement will be called “look at my chest”, if you do the same with both hands from the waist, rising along the sides to the chest, from there to the neck, change direction there, slightly return to the sides, go to the back and finish the movement with your hands on pope, then it will turn out "look at my figure." Such options are quite frank, and it is better to use them either in a purely female company, or for a personal dance for your man. If you run your hands only over your neck and play with your hair at the same time, then you get the “look at my hair” movement, which can be performed at any disco, with any leg movements. By the way, “look at my hair” is included in the female style of many social dances, for example, salsa and bachata.
12 life hacks, to quickly learn how to dance from Mamita Dance
Dancing
Author: Pavel Gather
Psychologist, teacher of Salsa and Tango
Dances
Author: Pavel Pavel Pavel Pavel Pavel, Teacher and Tango 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. 1. Listen to music The most common and accessible advice that is given already in the first lessons. 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. 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. Online modern tango courses Tango nuevo is the most advanced version of tango. We can quickly learn to dance from zero to a steep level.
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.
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.
Technology is at the heart of everything. Understanding how the pros do it is a big step forward.
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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 stand up to 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 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.
| Interesting |
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 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 partner 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, do not be afraid to go beyond, develop in different directions, be inspired by music atypical for 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 with how dexterous, hardy, sexy, etc. we are. Modern jungle laws in the entourage of big 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.
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| Salsa |
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School of Sals Dangerous sexuality
Salsa: destroyers of stereotypes
Couple dancing as a source of strength.
