Transcript

Aaron: Hey, guys. It’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: Here with Dance Times Square, in New York City. And today, we’re going to be talking about the Cha-Cha Syncopated Cuban Breaks. We’re going to start side by side here. We’re going to start again with our basic action, starting with our left foot to the side. One, two, three, cha-cha one.

Now we’re going to take our left foot and step across our right, syncopating as we go. Two and three, and four and one. And repeating that now with our right foot across to our left. Two and three, and four and one, two, three, back into our basic action.

Let’s take a look at that one more time with the counts, starting with our left foot. One, two, three, cha-cha one, two and three, and four and one, two and three, and four and one, two, three, four and one. Now just to clarify again our footwork in that syncopation, we’re changing weight with each beat value there.

So it’s going to look like this again; two and three, and four and one. Now we’re not actually going to take our feet up off the floor, once we get comfortable with that timing and that rhythm. It’s going to look a little smoother and a little more like this as we go; two and three and four and one. A lot more hip action and just keeping our weight in the balls of our feet, right there on the floor. And that’s how we do the Syncopated Cuban Break.

Transcript

Christina: Hi guys, I’m Christina.

Aaron: And I’m Aaron, here again with Dance Times Square, in New York City.

Christina: We’re going to talk a little bit about how to choose a great cha-cha shoe. So we’re going to talk about the ladies’ choices of shoes, and then Aaron will jump in and talk about the guys. So ladies, when you’re a cha-cha dance shoe or a shoe for any Latin dancing, you want to make sure that it has a strong metal shank that is in the center part of the foot, which provides a lot of good support.

In the front part of the shoe, you want to make sure that it’s flexible, both when you point your foot but also flexible back the other way, just so that you have maximum movement in your feet, and you can really use and work the floor. Ladies, you want your toes to come right to the edge of the shoe. You don’t want your toes necessarily hanging over.

On the other end of that, you don’t want your shoes having too much shoe left from where your toe ends, because that can roll under as you dance and trip you up. Some really great dance shoes are Supadance, Dance Naturals. In New York City, Worldtone is a great shoe store that has a lot of different varieties, from competition shoes to just kind of a social shoe if you’re just going to go out dancing. There’s a lot of different choices in terms of straps.

Some ladies have straps that are lower across the foot, some ladies prefer straps that are more around the ankle. Important to keep in mind, you want to elongate your leg line, so you want the shoe to be an extension of your leg and of your foot, so keeping them kind of in a neutral skin tone color that’s appropriate to you, to give you the longest look possible. So those are some things for the ladies, and I’ll turn it over to Aaron for the guys.

Aaron: All right, guys, it’s going to be a little bit easier for us. We can pretty much get away with dancing with just about anything we’re comfortable in, from flats to a Cuban heel. So what I’m looking for when I go out is something with a sueded bottom, something that’s going to have a little bit of grip on there, that’s going to allow me to not slide out on those hardwood dance floors or whatever type of floor it may be.

Also, any kind of dress shoe, even sneakers work guys, for us. But we want to look a little more classy, a little more dressed up, which really fits the style and characteristic of these dances; I mean let’s be honest. What I look for when I go in for a competition shoe is something more in the line of the men’s sort of Cuban heels, which is pretty standard in the dance sport world. You’ll see all the men out there competing in Latin dancing wearing. They’re always pretty much going to be your standard black, but they do come in other styles, as well. That’s pretty much it for us, guys.

Christina: For the ladies, in terms of heel height they range anywhere from 2 inches to 2 1/2 to 3 inches. You really want to kind of cap it off at 3 inches. Anything above that will put your weight forward which is good, but the higher the heel the more forward your weight is, and then sometimes it’s just a battle between you and the shoe to keep your balance.

Another great option for ladies is Phil LaDuca. He makes great shoes for Latin dancing, as well as character shoes. If you guys have any questions for us here at Dance Times Square, you can email us at info@dancetimessquare with any of your shoe questions or dance questions, and we’d love to hear from you and respond back, and hopefully see you in our studio.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys, it’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: Here again with Dance Times Square in New York City. Today, we’re going to be talking about how to dance an advanced cross body lead for the gentlemen n cha-cha. So we’re going to start with the gentlemen’s part separately.

So guys, what we’re going to be doing again is, we’re going to be starting with our left leg and our basic action. Side, back, replace, side, together, side, forward, replace. Now I’m just going to rotate this so you can see it, side, together, side. Two, three, cha-cha one. Now as we rock forward, two, three we’re going to open to our left. Side, together, side.

And on this third step we’re going to lunge into our left leg, leading away from the lady and replacing two, three, cha-cha one. Coming back into closed position two, three. Just so you can see that again. Cha-cha, lunge, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, side, together, lunge, two, three, four and one.

Now let’s take a look and see what that actually looks like with a partner, guys. So you can get an idea of what it is we’re doing here. So I’m going to invite Christina in. We’re going to start with our basic again.

One, two, three, four and one, two, three, opening up for the cross body lead, side, together, lunge, replace, three, four and one, again two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, and just like we had talked about before, two, three, leading our frame with the lady giving to her, three, four and one, okay?

Christina: Now let’s try that to some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys, I’m Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: We’re coming at you today from Dance Times Square, here in New York City. And today we’re going to be talking about the cha-cha lock steps. Now this is a really cool element and one of my favorites. Works as a great alternative to our cha-cha running steps and in our chase turns, so we’re going to take a look at these.

Starting again with our basic action, starting with our left leg to our side, one, two, three. Now from here we’re going to take our right leg and take a forward step, and then lead with crossing our left foot behind, bringing our knees together. And then following that up with another forward step with our right foot, and then two, three.

And reversing it now, a little trickier stepping back, crossing our right foot over our left, and then stepping back again on our left, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, ending to the side, cha-cha one. Back into our side basic, and that’s how you do the cha-cha lockstep.

Now let’s try that with a partner. And one, two, three, lowering our handhold, so as we have an open space in which to use this leg action, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one. Now let’s try that with some music.

Transcript

Hey, my name is Melanie LePatton and my dance studio is Tony Meridith and Melanie LePatton Dance Times Square. Come and visit, but, we’re on the subject of cha-cha music.

For a dancer, music is medicine to our ears. We’re looking for something that is really inspiring and motivating, and we want something that is going to make us want to get up and have to dance. So while searching for your cha-cha music, now you want to listen for. You’re looking for something on that down beat for a definite one, and you want to hear the little stuccato, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three. You know this. So you’ll be looking for that stacatto beat.

If you want to find some ballroom dancing, you can go to BallroomDancing.com. You can listen to things by Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, J-Lo, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, and Chris Puetthoff have fabulous old music. You can also go to Google, type in cha-cha music, you can go to iTunes, punch in the same thing. I have a CD and it’s a really fun CD. It’s kind of different, kind of poppy. It’s ballroom remix. So check that out for sure.

You know what you can also do? You can check out ballroom dance deejays. There are some excellent ballroom dance deehjays. They actually play the music at the dance competitions and that really gets the dancers going. You want to find something that makes you want to move. And just so you know, we can cha-cha just as well to Jay-Z, Ludacris, Beyonce, Jimi Hendrix, or Led Zepplin. We don’t have to cha-cha to strict tempo cha-cha music.

Get that music that you think is your favorite. I bet you can dance a cha-cha to it that you didn’t even know you could.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys. I’m Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Erin: And we’re coming at you today from Dance Time Square in New York City. Today we’re going to be talking about the cha-cha chase with a full turn. Today we’re going to start this just like we did our previous chase turn, with our left foot. Starting side. One, two, three, cha-cha, one. Stepping forward on our left foot and turning to our right. Three, and this time gradually turning our cha-cha, cha-cha. One, back to face our partners. Two, three, cha-cha. One, two, three, side, together, side. Back, replace, cha-cha. One.

And one, two, three, cha-cha. One, stepping forward on our left, turning to our right. Two, three, side, together, side. Back, replace, cha-cha. One, forward, turn, cha-cha. One, two, three, cha-cha. One.

Now let’s try that with our partners. Starting by getting into our dance frame, connecting with our partner. And one, two, three, lowering the hand hold, cha-cha. One, as the gentleman initiates, two, three. Turning side, together, side. Facing the lady. Three, cha-cha. One, and one more time, two, three. Side, together, side. Two, three, cha-cha. One, and coming back into close hold. Basic ending one.

That’s how you do the cha-cha chase with a whole turn.

Transcript

Hi, guys. My name is Melanie LaPatin. My dance studio is Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin’s Dance Times Square, located in the heart of Times Square, New York City. I want to talk to you a little bit about ballroom and Latin dancing. You know it is totally cool, so much fun, yet it can be challenging. With a little practice, just like anything else, this is a skill that just about anyone can master.

Can you imagine how cool it would be, guys, for you to walk into a club or a party anywhere, be able to recognize what music you’re hearing, see someone you’d like to dance with, ask her to dance and you can get up and tear it up on the dance floor? And girls, you know if you see a guy that knows how to move, you will not turn that down.

So a little bit about me. I have been privileged enough and lucky enough to have performed, competed, taught, lectured, choreographed ballroom dancing for 30 years. That’s a long time. It’s been an amazing journey, and my goal is to get as many people dancing in the world as possible, because I’ve found so much joy in it, and I see what ballroom dancing does for people.

And I just have the need to get everyone to enjoy that as well, because it’s so passionate. It’s so awesome. There’s no better feeling than taking someone in your arms, and being able to have a conversation with someone non-verbally. Dancing is powerful.

I’ve had the opportunity to work on several films to choreograph for celebrities such as Pierce Brosnan, Vanessa Williams, Russell Crowe, Emma Watson. I’ve also been lucky enough to choreograph for “So You Think You Can Dance,” which is just an amazing experience.

So I think you can say that I’m kind of well-rounded in the field of ballroom dancing. If you want to dance, it doesn’t matter what level. Beginners to world champions, we can teach you how to dance. Give us a call. You see the website on the bottom of the screen.

If you have any questions, you can email me, Melanie@dancetimessquare.com. We’re located at 156 West 44th Street. We have fantastic instructors. We teach private lessons, group classes. We go out dancing to really great nightclubs. It’s a blast, and you can ballroom dance.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys its Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: With Dance Time Square in New York City coming at you again.

Today we’re going to be talking about the Cucaracha in our Cha-Cha. So, what we’re going to be starting with here is our basic action. Starting with our left foot to our side and one, two, three, four and one. Now we’re going to be replacing our weight back to the side. Side, replace, together and taking our weight to our right, side, replace, together and rocking forward on our left, two, three, side together side, back in to our basic action and repeating that again. Four and one, two and three, four and one, two, three, four and one, a little faster one, two, three, four and one, two and three, four and one, two, three, four and one. Now let’s take a look at that together with our partners. And one, two, three, four and one, two and three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two and three, four and one, two, three, four and one.

Christina: Now let’s try that with some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi, guys. It’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: With Dance Times Square, here in New York City. Today, we’re going to be talking a little bit about the history of the Cha-Cha. This dance was actually born in the late 1940’s, coming from a cross between the rumba and the mambo. And a lot of these big band sounds in the nightclubs in Havana, and everything at the time, these extended jam sessions between these American and Cuban musicians, actually gave birth to a new sound.

A cross between that Cuban rumba and the mambo, and was this syncopated rhythm that we know as the Cha-Cha. It was brought over to the United States, and popularized into what we now know as the ballroom Cha-Cha, and what we see a little bit on these competition shows, and “Dancing With the Stars,” and such and is very popular in the dance sport world now.

What characterizes this dance aside from rumba and the mambo, is that the Cha-Cha is a very cheeky and playful, flirtatious dance between the man and the woman. It was originally known as “the dance between the rooster and the hen.” Sort of just this courting dance, of back and forth, always sort of playing one off of the other; very, very flirtatious. Very cheeky; two very distinct characters. A very masculine and a very feminine role in this dance, always giving and taking from the other.

Christina: And it’s very much a game of cat and mouse, sort of. Where you have one partner will kind of chase after the other one and the other partner will maybe be responsive, or maybe decide in that move that they’re not very responsive, and they kind of go the other way and then turn around very quickly and kind of go back.

It’s very much a playing back and forth between the partners, playing cat and mouse, hard to get. But it’s very fun. It’s very flirtatious. A lot of fun rhythms in Cha-Cha, and it’s just a really great dance, socially and competitively.

Aaron: Extremely light and playful, as well as fast and very active. It can go from one end of the spectrum to the other. It could be very relaxed and very social, or it could be very competitive and very fast, very flirtatious, almost like a game of tag. It’s a lot of fun. It’s the closest we get to that out there on the dance floor, I think. That’s a little bit about the history of the Cha-Cha, guys.

Transcript

Hey guys, it’s Aaron here, from Dance Times Square in New York City, with a couple of arm styling tips for the gentlemen. Now first off in our Latin dances in our cha-cha, we want to talk about this very masculine character that we’re working on creating for the gentleman. So we want to start with our poise.

We want to be nice and pulled-up in our spine, shoulders down and back, nice and relaxed, starting from here. Now this arm action, this arm styling is going to come from our bodies and our core. It’s not just the arms out here, just flying and flailing all over the place. So what we’re going to do is start with our left leg free, gentlemen.

And we’re going to start by just marching in place, one, two, three. So we can use this with fists, with open hands, either way the arms are going to be working in opposition, as we step to the right, extending the right arm.

And to the left as one is reaching the other is pulling in and working from the upper body. We’ll do that without the arms. Right side, left side. Very strong, very masculine character here. And one, two, three, cha-cha, one, two, three, cha-cha, one. Also creating that frame around the lady, and dancing to her.

Sending our energy out through our arms to her, so again, it doesn’t feel as feminine as it does for the ladies. Trying to again create that very grounded, very macho character that the man has in this dance, very characteristic of. So again, working those arms in opposition, out to the side.

Underneath the shoulders, so we’re not reaching with the shoulder. Through the arms and extending that energy out through the fingertips. And one, two, three, cha-cha, one, two, three, cha-cha, one. Really working those lat muscles, pulling down. Just like when we were in the gym, guys. Three, cha-cha, one, two, three, cha-cha, one. And those are a few arm styling tips for the guys.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys. It’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: From Dance Times Square here in New York City, and today we’re going to be talking about our top three tips in the Cha-Cha. Number one is going to be our gaze and our connection with our partner. This is a very intimate and very important connection we have with our partners. Eye to eye, we don’t want to drop this gaze. We don’t want to give the impression we’re looking in the wrong place, either.

So we don’t want to drop our gaze to the floor, guys here, and just be looking at our feet. Then we have no awareness of our partner and what they might be thinking, feeling, what their next move could possibly be. You never know. A lot of these ladies will sometimes sort of try to guess what I’m going to do next. It gets me in a lot of trouble.

Christina: Another reason you don’t want to look down is a lot of the times you’ll think, “If I look down and I watch my feet, I’ll know what I’m doing and I’ll be able to dance better.” But what generally happens is you see your partner’s feet and you see your feet, and then it just gets very confusing. It doesn’t really help at all. In fact, it makes things worse.

Aaron: You’re going to miss a lot of these visual leads and cues that are going to come from up here above the waist level. Tip number two, posture. We want to have a very strong posture, a very good poise in these dances, as well. It’s going to help with the masculine and feminine characters. Very strong, very on top of our game, ready to go, so here just to demonstrate a little bit of that and what that’s like.

We don’t want to be settled with our weight back pulling away from our partners, pulling each other off of our own balance and feet. We want to center our weight slightly forward, over the balls of the feet. Here, where we are able to give each other our weight, and she can feel my body movement and I don’t have to pull her around on the dance floor.

As well to say, is that I don’t give her a wimpy weak frame, and I’m dancing down here and I look defeated. No, no, no, we want to be very strong. Two very strong characters in this dance, for the man and the woman. So very important, tip number two is posture. Our final tip is that we don’t want to take a step too big for our own body.

We don’t want to step outside of our own frame, in other words, so we want to keep the steps nice and comfortable, so that we’re in control at all times. Some of this dance music is very fast, particularly here in the Cha-Cha, where we have this syncopated rhythm, this cha-cha-cha happening. We want to shorten our steps and keep them underneath our shoulders, only moving as far as we can take our bodies.

Cha-cha-cha, rock, step, cha-cha one, two three, four and one, right underneath the shoulders. Two, three, four and one. Now if we do that end correctly for you, you just get an idea of how ridiculous this actually looks. So we’re going to start, one, two, three, cha-cha one, two three, cha-cha one. Throwing ourselves out of all sorts of balance and control here.

So tip number three is we definitely want to shorten those steps up, make them a little more compact. Just keep them right underneath our frame. Right underneath the shoulders, so that we’re always in control, everything looks cool and collected. And those are our top three tips for the Cha-Cha.

Transcript

Christina: Hi guys, this is Christina.

Aaron: And Aaron, from Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin’s Dance Times Square, here in New York City.

Christina: So today we’re going to show you the open break with alternating underarm turns. So we’re going to start with the basic, one, two, three, four, and one into the open break, two, three, four, and one. An underarm turn for the lady, two, three, four, and one, an underarm turn for the man.

Aaron: Or otherwise known as a spot turn.

Christina and Aaron: Two, three.

Christina: Four and one, one more underarm turn for the lady, four and one. So let’s try that again.

Aaron: One, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one.

Christina: Now let’s try that to some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi guys, it’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: Here again with Dance Times Square in New York City. Today, we’re going to be taking some of the cha-cha moves that you’ve seen in this series so far, and we’re going to be showing you where we eventually take those to. So without any further ado, we’re going to throw on some music and just get to it.

Transcript

Christina: Hi guys, this is Christina.

Aaron: And Aaron with Dance Times Square here, in New York City.

Christina: So we’re going to talk now about how to do a Cuban Break. So we’re going to start side by side with our basic cha-cha, and then we’re going to move in to the Cuban Break. So we’re going to start side, one, two, three, four and one. So now here, we’re going to take our left foot and cross it over the right foot, and we’re going to change the rhythm up a little bit and it will look like this.

Two and three, four and one, two and three, four and one, basic two, three, four and one. All right, let’s try that again. So going to the side on one, two, three, four and one, two and three, four and one, two and three, four and one, basic two, three, four and one. Now let’s try that with some music. Five, six, seven eight.

Transcript

Christina: Hi, guys. This is Christina.

Aaron: And Aaron, with Dance Time Square here in New York City.

Christina: Right now we’re going to talk a little bit about the different hand holds that we can use when dancing the cha cha. The first and most obvious one would be our traditional dance frame. We’ll show you what that looks like.

From here we can do the basic cha cha movement, and then we can move into a different hand hold for a different move. For example, if we moved to a double hand hold, we’re holding each others hands, so it’s exactly what it sounds like. This is a good lead in for the crossover break. When we are in a crossover break position, we are in a single hand hold. It’s man’s left to lady’s right, so that’s another hand position that we have.

We also sometimes can use what’s called a handshake hold, so it’s right hand to right hand. This is a variation you can use for a number of moves in cha cha, but just be aware that it is a hand hold that we have. Do you have anything to add?

Aaron: No hand hold.

Christina: Yeah, that’s true. No hand hold. We can also do things in tandem, or side by side, in which case we would not have any hand hold.

Aaron: And giving us obviously the opportunity for the men to also dance to the lady, and also to help frame and shape her, as well.

Christina: So those are the different hand holds that we have in the cha cha.

Aaron: Now we’re going to dance a little bit about the music, and highlight each one of these hand holds so that you can actually see them in action.

Transcript

Hi, guys. This is Christina from Dance Times Square in New York City. Right now, I’m going to talk a little bit about ladies’ arm-styling. Ladies, if you want to get up and you can kind of practice along with me. We’re going to stand. Make sure you have your good dance posture, so you’re very tall, very upright. Your spine is aligned, shoulders back.

Now we’re going to take our right arm, and I want you to just take your elbow out, and then bring it down. So leading with the elbow out from the core of the body, out and down. We’ll try that with the left side. Out and down. Out and down.

Now let’s take that to a full extension of the arm, beginning with the elbow and extending out, and then bringing back in with the hand and the elbow, so again, out and in. Other side, out and in. So always leading with the elbow, but keeping the shoulders down, so you don’t want to get the shoulder involved.

You want to keep it low from the elbow, keeping the shoulder down and back down. That’s just kind of an exercise to get you moving and keeping everything from the elbows out from the core. You want to keep your shoulders down and back.

Another move that we can talk about ladies’ arm styling is the crossover break. As a lady when we are going side, together, side, you have some options with this arm. You can bring it up or you could bring it parallel with your shoulder. You could bring it to your hip. You could put it around your head.

Anything that kind of brings your arms close to your body, around your head and down. You can kind of skim down past your waist, down to your hips. Any movement that kind of makes you feel feminine, as long as it’s coming from the core, that’s a great option for you to do in any of your cha-cha moves.

Transcript

Christina: Hi guys, I’m Christina.

Aaron: And I’m Aaron coming at you today from Dance Time Square here in New York City.

Christina: Today, we’re going to talk about a move called the ‘Outside Partner Breaks.’ So we’re going to jump right in, getting in our dance position. This is going to come from a side basic. So gentlemen will start side left, ladies side right. One two three four and one and then both partners will rotate slightly. To step outside partner, the lady will step behind with her right foot; the gentleman will step in front with his left. Two, three side together, side two three side together side two three side together, side. And one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one.

Aaron: Okay guys, so let’s take look at that one from another angle. And one two three side together side, gentleman steps outside the lady with his left foot, two three Cha-Cha one two three Cha-Cha one two three Cha -Cha one. And that’s how you do the Outside Partner Breaks. Alright guys, now let’s try that one with some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hey, guys. It’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: From Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin’s Dance Times Square, here in New York City, and today, we’re going to be talking about the Cha-Cha Open Break. We’re going to take dance frame. We’re going to start with our basic step, one, two, three, cha-cha one. We’re going to lower the hold and we’re going to rock away. Instead of rocking forward on our left foot, this time for the gentleman, we’re going to be rocking back away from the lady, sending her away.

Christina: Ladies, we are rocking with our right foot.

Aaron: Two, three, cha-cha one. Back into our basic action. Now this is a really great step, because it’s going to allow us to take a two handhold, and get a little more space between us and our partner, so that we can move into some of these other great steps, such as our forward and back basic action. Cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three and back to the side. And one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one.

Christina: Let’s try that to some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hi, guys. It’s Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: Here again with Dance Time Square in New York City. And today we’re going to be talking about the triple cha cha locking action in our cha cha.

What we’re going to do here today is we’re going to start with our basic action, starting with our left foot again, and one, two, three, forward, lock, forward. Forward, lock, forward. Forward, lock, forward. And rock, step, back, cross, uncross, back, cross, uncross, back, cross, back, and rock, step, starting again with our basic action. Side, together, side. And one more time. One, two, three, four. And one, two, and three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, and three, four, and one, two, three, cha cha, one.

And that’s how you do the triple cha cha locking action in your cha cha.

Christina: Let’s try this again with some music.

Transcript

Aaron: Hey guys, its Aaron.

Christina: And I’m Christina.

Aaron: From Dance Times Square, here in New York City. Today, we’re going to be talking about the cha-cha spot turns. So we’re going to start this, again with our left foot, and we’re going to move into our basic action. One, two, three, cha-cha one.

Now instead of a break forward on our left foot, Christina and I are going to take our left foot and step directly to our right. Forward, pivot, forward, turning the face to front again, cha-cha one. Now repeating that same action with our right foot. Forward, pivot, forward, side, together, side, two, three, side, together, side, two, three, side, together, side.

And that’s how you do the cha-cha spot turn. Now let’s try that with a partner. And one, two, three, side, together, side, two, three, side together, side, two, three, side together, side, two, three, side together, side. One, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one. Now let’s try that with music.

Transcript

Today we’re going to show you how to dance the cha-cha chase step with a half tur, and we’re going to be starting again with our left foot on one, two, three, cha-cha one. Stepping forward onto our left and turning a half turn to our right. Three, cha-cha one,again, stepping forward on our right and turning to our left. Two, three, cha-cha one. A spot turn to our right, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one. All right, guys. Now let’s try that with a partner.

We’re going to take our dance frame, and starting one, two, three. Lowering the handhold. Cha-cha one, as the gentleman is going to step forward on his left, turning to his right. Three, cha-cha one. Stepping forward on our right, and turning back to our left and chasing the lady. Cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three. One more time. Cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha one, two, three, cha-cha, one. And that’s how you dance the cha-cha chase with a half turn.

Transcript

Christina: Hi guys, this is Christina.

Aaron: And Aaron, again we’re Dance Times Square, here in New York City.

Christina: Right now, we’re going to talk about how to do an advanced cross body lead, with an inside turn for the lady. So I’m going to go ahead and start off with the lady’s part, and then Aaron will join in together and kind of talk to the guys about how to lead it.

So for the ladies, we’re going to start with the basic going to the side, one, two, three, four and one, two, three. Now we’re going to have three forward steps. It could be either a running step or a lock step. Four and one. Now we’re going to step forward with our left foot, while pivoting to create this turning action.

Two, three, four, and one. Stepping back on the left, two, three and going back to the basic for the ladies. So I’ll show it again from this side here. One, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one. So now I’ll dance it with Aaron, and he’ll talk to the guys about how to lead this.

Aaron: So guys, we’re starting with our left foot to the side on one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four, and one, following up behind, two, three, four, and one.

Christina: So let’s try that to some music.

Transcript

Christina: Hi, guys, I’m Christina.

Aaron: And I’m Aaron. Coming at you today from Dance Times Square, in New York City.

Christina: And today, we’re going to show you a really basic routine that is a really great routine for beginners, so it’s something that will make you look really cool on the dance floor, but it’s not going to take you too long to master it.

So we’re going to start in our dance frame with one cha-cha basic, so we’re going to go one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, to crossover breaks, two, three, crossover break, two, three, last one here, two, three and an underarm turn for the lady, two, three, four and one, back into the basic to repeat the routine again. Four and one, two, three, four, and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one. Let’s try it to music.

Transcript

Hey guys, it’s Melanie from Dance Times Square Studio, from New York City. This subject I’m going to talk about right now is really important, and really exciting and really fabulous. I hope I can keep it really short and sweet, but it’s going to be really difficult so here I go, connection in lead and follow.

This is such a fantastic, fascinating subject. So for an example, I’m going to give you an example. We are like instruments and you want to fine tune your lead and follow. First and foremost, we do not as a collective say, push and pull, not in our vocabulary. We do not use our muscles to lead and follow.

We use our body, our body weight, but before you take connection with your partner you want to get your own dancer ready to go. So you want to stand in your nice dance frame, because we’re doing the cha-cha you want to settle down into your legs and feet, and really feel that floor. The dance floor is your friend, you want to create a very interesting, exciting conversation with your partner.

Some people will feel like you’re driving a truck, and others will feel like you’re driving a Maserati, but you want to be able to go from, like 10 to 85 in just a few seconds, by the way you lead and how you follow. We talk about action/reaction, give and take, lead and follow. So what you want to do first is you want to get in your own dancer’s frame. You want to feel like a dancer.

You want to connect with yourself and then you connect with your partner by giving from your lats, towards your partner. So you can feel your partner’s legs and feet. You know where they are guys and ladies, you’re allowing the guys to know, you’re giving them the answer to what they’ve just asked.

So guys, you can shift your partner from foot to foot. You can turn them around, and you could be very specific. Guys, do not assume we know what you want us to do, because after 30-years of dancing with my partner Tony, I still cannot read his mind; imagine that. He has to indicate and I have to be ready and aware, and in the moment.

Speaking of in the moment, am I talking too fast for you guys? Speaking of in the moment, I get so excited, because this is so awesome. In the moment, that’s what you want to think about doing when you’re dancing with your partner.

You want to hear that music. You see that person across the floor, you have to dance. You ask that person to dance and you start to get in the moment. The only thing you know is your partner, the music, and being in that moment and enjoying it to the max.