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| Why Does Ballroom Dancing Exercise The Brain?
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Why Does Ballroom Dancing Exercise The Brain?
There are many types of ballroom (and Latin) dances. In this article, I will talk about waltzing (the dance that I am the most familiar with.)
- Waltzes are done to music-which may or may not be vocal. The
music for waltzing is in 3/4 time. By this, we mean that there
are 3 beats in a bar; and that it is the 1/4 note-that gets one
beat.
- There are several ways to do waltzes. One is the Viennese waltz.
it is a special method-of waltzing to songs that have a fast(or
fairly fast)tempo-such as "Mockingbird Hill"
- The ballroom dancer first listens to a few bars-to "get a feel"
for the type of music. Depending on the meter signature, the music
may suggest doing a fox trot, tango, or rhumba(or whatever.) If
the tempo is fast, he would take short quick steps; for a slower
tempo, he would take slower, somewhat longer (in distance) steps.
- To learn to waltz, you must know what is meant by ACCENTED beats
(and UNACCENTED beats.) Step 1 (of the ONE-two-three)is done to
the accented beats. Step 2, and 3 are done to unaccented beats.
- Both partners move either forward, backward(or diagonally)during
the accented beats. In the unaccented beats, both partners move
a foot sideways-to the left-or to the right.
- In teaching waltz, the man's role and the woman's role is taught
separately. The man is taught how to lead. For flexibility, he
is taught to execute a variety of dance patterns.
- Step 3 involves moving one foot-sideways-towards the other foot. This step is called the CLOSE.
- The purpose of the CLOSE is to facilitate the transition-from
one dance pattern to the other. If the weight is evenly distributed
on both feet,the man could(for example)move his right foot forward
or backward OR move his left foot-forward-to execute a one-quarter
turn(i.e. a forward-side-together movement.)
- The man may move his partner across the whole dance floor. He also chooses his steps carefully to prevent his partner from crashing into the wall-or into other couples! (There is a way-to make a turn-when entering a corner.)
The man positions his head-to enable him to see what is going
on-so he can guide. So does the woman. If the woman knows that
her partner(by taking a step backward)would crash into someone
else, there is a body signal she can use-to suggest that he should
go forward instead.)
- The woman's footwork is a "mirror image"-of the man's footwork.. If the man moves his left foot forward, the woman moves her right foot backward. If the man moves his right foot sideways to the right, the woman moves her left foot -sideways towards the left.
- If the dance floor is very crowded, the man will take shorter
steps, and/or huddle his partner closely - to prevent her from
crashing into other couples.
- If the man does NOT want to go all across the dance floor, he would do a six-part BOX step (after the CLOSE he
- Moves his right foot backwards
- then moves his left foot sideways towards the left,
- then moves his right foot ! sideways-towards the left(to effect the CLOSE.)
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| NOTE: If you would like to email me, my email address is: skippingdancers@hotmail.com
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