Transcript
Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what’s it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So the ball change action, it’s one of the most important elements you can learn for all your dancing, not just line dancing. And for the ball change, there’s really four types of actions. There’s the kick ball change, the point ball change, the knee ball change, and then just the ball change. So a kick ball change looks like this, kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change. And what are we really doing, let’s break it down. There’s a kick, then we say ball. That means ball of the kicking foot. Then you put a little bit of weight on that foot, just enough to pick it up and put the other one right back down, and that’s called a change. Cause it’s a complete change of weight onto a fairly flattened foot. So it goes kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change. That’s different then say going kick, change, change. See I didn’t do the ball. Kick, change, change, kick, change, change, looks different then kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change. Now one of the things about the kick, ball, change and a lot of what we’ll talk about with ball change is that you want to be sided with your weight. What that means, if you can see my head weight is over one foot. I’m kicking with this foot but my head weight is over one foot. When I do the ball action, I don’t shift my head weight, to then go back. I keep my head weight over this foot even though that foot comes up and down. Kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change, so I stay sided I’m dominate to one side of my body as I’m doing it. That’s gonna allow me to do it faster and quicker as the music starts to pick up. So it will be easier with this pattern. Same thing with the other foot. Kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change, and I’m sided again to kicking right, my weight is left. So now, when you kick ball change, practicing it, you should practice it in all directions. Kick fore, ball, change, kick side, ball, change, kick back, ball, change. So that’s a kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change, kick, ball, change. You should get comfortable doing that in all directions. The next thing is a point ball change. So point ball change is just like a kick ball change, but I point my foot, I don’t take my foot off the ground. So I go point, ball, change, point, ball, change. Same thing all directions, point, ball, change, point, ball, change, back, ball, change, back, ball, change. Again, my weight is dominant to the non-pointing foot. Right, point, ball, change, point, ball, change. Get good at doing both sides, point, ball, change, point, ball, change, point, ball, change, point, ball, change. Then we have what’s called a knee ball change. Knee ball change, soften both knees. So you can see from the side I soften both knees, then I’m gonna straighten both knees, straighten both knees. Now in doing that, I’m not gonna straighten both knees by going up and down with my head. I’m actually gonna soften the knees, keep my head at that level, and send my knees and my hips back. So I’m gonna go knee, then I’m gonna go ball, change. For me I’m gonna go left right. Ball, change, knee, ball, change, knee, ball, change, knee, ball, change, knee, ball change, it’s a forward and back action, the head staying very still, but you can go left right, or right left, depending on the line dance that you’re learning, yes. Same thing with the knees apart, I can go knee, ball, change, knee, ball, change. That’s both knees, then feet, both knees, then feet, both knees, then feet. And notice as I do this, my weight’s a little bit more to my right than it is to my left. I want to put my weight to the side that is not doing the ball action. So that goes knee on my, most my weight’s on my right, that means my left is gonna do the ball. Ball, change, knee, ball, change, knee, ball, change, knee, ball, change. So we have our knee, ball, change, get comfortable moving it around, forward and back. So we have kick, point, knee, and the last one is just the ball change by itself. What we’re gonna do is hold one, two, three, then we’re gonna go and four. So I’m gonna go one, two, three, I’m gonna take the ball of my left foot and go behind. I’m gonna go one, two, three, and four, come together, five, six, seven, other foot, and eight. So we’re gonna go one, two, three, ball, change, five, six, seven, ball, change, one, two, three, ball, change, five, six, seven, ball, change. The other way you can practice just a ball change is by going a little scoot forward, ball, change. So I can go one, two, three, ball, change, five, six, seven, ball, change, yea. So you’re just doing the ball change by itself. One, two, three, ball, change, five, six, seven, ball, change. Or, one, two, three, ball, change, five, six, seven, ball, change. So let’s do kick, point, knee just by it’s self, eight counts worth of each, ready? Go one and two, three and four, five and six, seven now point. One and two, three and four, five and six, now knee, ball, change. One and two, three and four, five and six, seven, ball, change. One, two, three, and four, five, six, seven, do that one again. One, two, three, and four, five, six, seven, and eight. Ball change actions, very important. Get comfortable with doing all of them, and kick and do the points in all directions. There’s your kick ball change.
