How to Samba

Transcript Tips for samba dancing. We are going to talk about three. One is posture, how to have a nice posture while doing your samba steps. First of all, you want to make sure that your knees are soft. That’s going to take the pressure off your lower back, and that’s going to keep your …

Transcript About samba, kind of our customs, it was brought to us Brazilians by the Europeans during colonial times. Believe me, it has changed a lot over the years. Today, during Carnival, most of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have the traditional costumes, especially during the samba school parade, but other …

Transcript Hi. My name is Michele Bastos and I am a dancer, a choreographer and teacher in New York City. I am from Salvador Bahia, Brazil and I started dancing at a very young age. Coming from a family of musicians and dancers, music was always present in the house. At different occasions my brothers …

Transcript So, where to find samba classes. You can always look online, and search to make sure that there is a location near you, that’s going to be convenient for you to go on the weekends, or just right after work. Just make sure that you can stick to your workout routine, and make samba …

Transcript Samba as a workout. Afro-Brazilian dances and samba, what type of workout is it? It is cardio based workout. You’re dancing an hour to an hour and a half. It depends on the intensity of the class. It could be low intensity so you’re just learning the basic moves. You’re traveling very little through …

Transcript What you wear to a samba class. Again, you want to make sure what type of samba class you are going to. If this is an intense cardio workout-based samba class, you want to make sure you’re wearing breathable fabric, because you’re going to be sweating, you’re going to be dancing and jumping through …

Transcript Samba reggae, it was born in Bahia in the 1970’s, and it’s a combination of Samba de Roda and the Jamaican reggae influenced by Bob Marley. We do love Bob Marley in Brazil especially in the north, east, and of course Rio de Janeiro. It’s lyrics are very powerful, and it’s really strong with …

Transcript What type of shoes to wear to do the samba? It depends on what type of environment. If you’re going to a samba class you must know what type of samba class you’re going to. For example, we have Afro-Brazilian samba classes. It’s usually an hour and a half, and it’s barefoot. One, most …

Transcript Now we are going to learn a step that has become recognized Bahia in by the name of Cho Chua. Cho Chua is a song and it’s an old song of Brazil and then it was re-done by a big famous Pagode band recently and with the Pagode music, the good thing about it …

Transcript So now we have seen samba side by side the step slide, and also the samba step forward with the slide back. We are going to add a variation, another step into the samba pagode routine, and that’s a single leg hip accent. Usually we’re going to turn just a twist more diagonal, and …

Transcript So now we are going to learn a very specific movement and the Bergauze from Salvador by Brazil, and it’s called Quebradeira, which means shake everything. So we are going to move the legs fast and we are going to move the hips, and the torso, in a very not coordinated way kind of …

Transcript How to do a short samba pagode from Bahia routine. You have a series of moves we have done; side by side, Samba step. We have done step forward and slide. We have done the single leg hip accent and the quebradeira move, the cho chua move. Now let’s put everything together. Remember, there …

Transcript So now we’re going to learn (?) from Bahia, step forward. It’s my favorite style, of course. That’s where I come from. I’m from Salvador Bahia, Brazil. I’m going to demonstrate just a few times, but we’re going to do it together. Okay. Certain principles of the side by side, slide, slide, side, slide. …

Transcript Samba [?], a side-by-side step. Very nice and simple, a basic step. What you want to think about is the energy comes from the ground. The knees are bent and soft through the whole time, and you want to have the weight on top of your hips as well. Nice and simple. Step to …

Transcript How to do a short Samba routine. So we already learned the basic Samba step, the basic footwork. We learned some step variations. We learned how to travel from side to side, forward and backwards. And we also learned how to turn. So now, we’re going to put everything together. So let’s dance to …

Transcript Samba pagode from Vajilla. What is it? It’s a combination of all Samba (?), all Samba roots, with (?) dance. It’s movement, shoulders, hips. It’s a little more aggressive and there is a freedom when it comes to movement. So the posture, actually we go through ups and downs, open and rounded shoulders and …

Transcript How to do the traveling move in samba. Samba is a social dance. You usually go to a samba party, you have a bunch of friends in there, your family, everyone is there. You want to interact with everyone, so you should be able to travel while doing the samba step, so you just …

Transcript I’m going to show you some moves that you can do. You can add it to your samba routine. That’s going to spice it up a little bit and make it a little bit more sexy and sensual. Let’s start with your hips and with your torso. Remember, we did a nice great warmup …

Transcript Now it’s time to learn some samba variations, some different steps. We are going to learn the step ball change. Very easy, very very easy. You already have your samba base footwork step, so now we’re going to add some different steps, some flor ayos like we call in Brazil, to these steps. So, …

Transcript So now we’re going to learn another variation on the Samba step. This step is a very traditional step in Bahia and Brazil in general, Rio de Janiero as well. It’s called Mata Formiga, so basically it means, ‘killing the ants.’ So you’re going to step and twist. Ready? So step the foot and …

Transcript Now we are going to learn how to turn with the base samba step. It is very easy. You want to the side that you are going to turn. So if you are going to turn to the right, you want to start with your right foot. If you’re going to turn to the …

Transcript So now let’s talk about changing the speed. So, let’s talk about changing the rhythm, changing from slow to fast. So, lets start slow with basic footwork, basic Samba step. Let’s start slow. The most important thing to remember the head of the phase is the one we want in the back. So, I’m …

Transcript So now we are going to learn two different variations of hips. How to use your hips with your base samba step. The first one is a nice clean hips facing forward, so the hip bones are in the same alignment facing forward through the whole time. The second one is actual allow your …

Transcript So, now, we’re going to learn how to use the arms with the samba step. So, very natural, just like walking. Arm in opposite of the front leg. So, when you start your right leg back, your right foot back, you’re going to bring your right arm forward. Step and place. And then as …

Transcript How to move your shoulders in samba. It’s very easy to move with the hips, right? Just listen to the music, and the hips will just start moving. It’s so natural. And it’s side by side, you just have to [me], and you move. Same thing for the shoulders. So let’s try, nice and …

Transcript Samba is an Afro-Brazilian traditional dance, straight from Brazil. It was originated in Salvador Bahia, where I’m from. The first regional form of Samba, it was Samba (?) Jihada, that was later brought into Rio de Janeiro. Samba (?) Jihada, it was just an informal dance, and it such the way of the slaves …

Transcript Let’s learn the basic samba step, the foot work. This is the basis for every samba dance class, so every different type of samba style that you’re going to see forward, and to see yourself do this. So, basically, from this low, we’re going to just learn how to get into this, shifting your …