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Hartford Ballroom Blog


Step List For October 2017

11/3/2017

 

Dances Covered:

Level 1: Swing and Foxtrot
Level 2: East Coast Swing
Level 3: Cha Cha
Level 4: Slow Waltz
Level 5: Bolero

Level 1: Swing and Foxtrot

Swing-
  • Basic (single step)
  • Follower's underarm turn
  • Leader's underarm turn
Foxtrot-
  • Basic
  • Hesitation

Level 2: East Coast Swing

  • Tuck Turn
    • with a "stop sign" hand
    • with followers' free spin
    • with both leaders and followers turn (apart turn)
  • Charleston with tuck turn ending
  • Peekaboo
    • original (inside turn)
    • with leaders' hands on follower's back
    • with leaders' right hand only on followers' back (the cool way)

Level 3: Cha Cha

  • Crossover, back breaks, outside breaks (review)
  • Big box from outside breaks
  • Alternating underarm turn with man's loop to cross body lead and shadow crossover
  • Shadow crossover, turn and loop to shadow back breaks
  • Half moon (shadow crossover + cross body lead)
  • Triple progressive cha cha

Level 4: Slow Waltz

  • Twinkle with promenade chasse ("one, two-and-three")
  • Grapevine with apart turn (starts with a twinkle and check)
  • Chasse (the in-and-out move that starts with a twinkle with leader's turn)
  • Twinkle with inside turn to left turn
  • Zigzag with develope to inside turn ending
  • Butterfly, with leader's going across

Level 5: Bolero

  • Rope spin
  • Back spot turn with Rudolph Ronde
  • Half moon with quick turn
  • Right hand loop, with optional Cuban walk
  • Crossover with quick turn ("quick, quick, and-slow") to fencing line and right hand loop)
  • Three Threes (J-hook lead, followers' full spot turn to the left, back break and half spot turn to right, then "forward-and-forward-and side")

Step List For September 2107

10/3/2017

 

Dances Covered

Level 1: Salsa and Cha Cha
Level 2: Cha Cha
Level 3: Slow Waltz
Level 4: Bolero
Level 5: Argentine Tango

Read More

Berkshire Hall Step List For August 2017

9/1/2017

 

Dances Covered:

Beginner: Slow Waltz
Intermediate: Bolero

Read More

Step List For August 2017

9/1/2017

 

Dances Covered

Level 1: Bachata and Merengue
Level 2: Slow Waltz
Level 3: Bolero
Level 4: Argentine Tango
Level 5: West Coast Swing

Read More

Berkshire Hall Step List For July 2017

8/15/2017

1 Comment

 

Dances Covered:

Beginner: Bolero
​Intermediate: Argentine Tango

Beginner Bolero

  • Basic
  • Crossover
  • Back breaks
  • Open break
    • to underarm turn
    • to back wrap
    • to copa

Intermediate Argentine Tango

  • Crusada
  • Cross system crusada
  • forward ochos
  • back ochos
  • ocho cortado
  • Parada and Pasada
1 Comment

Step List For July 2017

8/15/2017

1 Comment

 

​Dances Covered:

Level 1: Rumba and Waltz
Level 2: Bolero
Level 3: Argentine Tango
Level 4: West Coast Swing
Level 5: Viennese Waltz

Level 1: Rumba and Waltz

Waltz:
  • box
  • progressive/travelling step
  • underarm turn
Rumba:
  • box step
  • chasse
  • underarm turn

Level 2: Bolero

  • Basic
  • Crossover
  • Back Break
  • Open Break
    • to underarm turn
    • to backwrap
    • to copa

Level 3: Argentine Tango

Milonga:
  • Baldosa Box
  • Traspie (rock step)
    • best done on either step 3 and/or 4
  • Repeat 5+6
  • Repeat 3,4,5,+6
Argentine Tango
  • Crusada
  • Calisita (keeping follower in one spot while leader circles around)
  • Forward Ochos
  • Back Ochos
  • Parada and Pasada

Level 4: West Coast Swing

  • Styling
    • music break ("freeze")
  • Right Side Pass with hand change behind back
  • Tick tock
    • with ladies' free spin
    • with right handshake
      • shoulder check
      • underarm turn (with optional man's loop at the end)
  • Twinkle

Level 5: Viennese Waltz

  • Cross body lead with turn into chasse
    • optional backwards chasse
  • Cross body lead with turn into explosion and braid, ending with a runaround
1 Comment

Steps Lists For January 2016

1/31/2016

 
This month's dances are:
Level 1: salsa and cha cha
Level 2: hustle
Level 3: Argentine tango
Level 4: samba
Level 5: rumba and bolero


Read More

Step Lists For December 2015

12/31/2015

 

​Dances Covered

Level 1: American Tango and Hustle
Level 2: Argentine Tango
Level 3: Samba
Level 4: Rumba and Bolero
Level 5: Cha cha

Level 1: American Tango and Hustle

Tango (Note- this is American Tango):
  • Basic
  • Corte
  • Promenade
Hustle:
  • Basic
  • Inside Turn
  • Pickpocket

Level 2: Argentine Tango

Keep in mind that there are 3 times of Argentine Tango: milonga, Argentine, and vals.  For the month of December we focused primarily on Milonga, which is the easiest of the 3.  Towards the end, we introduced something that belongs more in Argentine Tango.
Milonga:
  • Basic, aka "Baldosa Box" (6 steps)
  • Traspie ("quick-quick-slow"), can be done on any of the first 5 steps of the Baldosa Box
  • Side together (repeat "5-6" as many times as you'd like)
Argentine Tango:
  • ​Forward Ochos
  • Leader's out-of-the-way rock step to forward ochos
  • Forward Ochos to parada (means "stop", as in leader blocks the follower's foot and stops the ocho), to pasada (means "go", as in follower steps over the leader's foot and continues)

​Level 3: Samba

  • Basic forward and back
  • Basic side crosses
  • Side crosses with followers' underarm turn (outside turn)
  • Box step
  • Promenade
  • Routine: forward and back, side crosses, promenade, box step
  • Counterpromenade
  • Bota fogo with promenade and counterpromenade (goes back and forth)

Level 4: Rumba and Bolero

Rumba:
  • Box step with Cuban walk
  • Shadow crossovers (uses right handshake), turn and loop to shadow back break
  • Crossover with inside turn endings:
    • Right hand loop (inside turn with leader's right hand)
      • Optional: you can include Cuban walks in the right hand loop, between the loop and the final turn
  • She goes/he goes (inside turn with leader's left hand)
  • Half moon (one shadow crossover+one cross body lead), turn and loop to shadow back break (optional)
  • Half moon to arm hook, aida (rock-and-turn), fencing line (across-and-side), end with she goes/he goes
  • Open break to Copa*
  • Open break to triple fans, grapevine and ronde with a copa ending*
​*these moves do not require that you end with a fifth-position ending.  It's cleaner if you simply do a box step and slowly get back together

Bolero:
  • Shadow crossovers (uses right handshake), turn and loop to shadow back break
  • Crossover with inside turn endings:
    • Right hand loop (inside turn with leader's right hand)
      • Optional: you can include Cuban walks in the right hand loop, between the loop and the final turn
  • She goes/he goes (inside turn with leader's left hand)
  • Half moon (one shadow crossover+one cross body lead), turn and loop to shadow back break (optional)
  • Half moon to arm hook, aida (rock-and-turn), fencing line (across-and-side), end with she goes/he goes
  • Open break to Copa
  • Open break to triple fans, grapevine and ronde with a copa ending

​Level 5: Cha Cha

  • Sweetheart Twinkles
    • open break, leader's foot fake, back break (no cha-cha-cha), 5 twinkles (4+1, 2+3, etc.), back break (with cha-cha-cha), inside turn ending while leader foot fakes.
  • Cuban break combination with shoulder check ending
    • 2 crossovers, 2 Cuban breaks (2+3+4+1), 2 short Cuban breaks (2+3, 4+1), 1 Cuban break for follower only, shoulder check for the followers (technically check from the arm) 
  • Bota Fogos and Cuban break combination from an outside break
    • 2 outside turns, 2 bota fogos, Cuban break (2+3+4+1), 2 bota fogos (in other direction), Cuban break (in other direction), outside break
  • Crossover, grapevine into back break
    • "run-run-run"
  • 4 Natural Tops (aka "back spot turns")
    • Original
    • With an outside turn
    • with follower's swivels
with follower's grapevine

Step Lists For November 2015

11/30/2015

 

Dances Covered

Level 1: Waltz and Rumba
Level 2: Samba
Level 3: Rumba and Bolero
Level 4: Cha Cha
​Level 5: Slow Waltz

Level 1: Waltz and Rumba

Waltz:
  • basic traveling step (aka "progressive step")
  • box step
  • side hesitation
Rumba:
  • box step
  • chasse ("side-together-side")
  • underarm turn

Level 2: Samba

  • basic forward and back
  • side crosses
  • side crosses with ladies turn
  • promenade
  • box step
  • samba line dance

Level 3: Rumba and Bolero

Rumba:
  • crossover
  • back breaks
  • outside breaks
  • cross body lead
  • open break
  • open break to backwrap and walkaround
  • underarm turn with Cuban walks
Bolero:
  • crossover
  • back breaks
  • open break
  • open break to backwrap and walkaround
  • copa

Level 4: Cha Cha

  • Cross body lead to crossover, back breaks, and outside breaks
  • Cross body lead with right handshake to shadow crossover, shadow back breaks, and outside breaks
  • Cross body lead with ladies' turn
  • Shadow crossover (with right handshake), underarm turn with double hands crossed, men's loop into shadow back breaks
  • Crossover with Cuban breaks
  • Shoulder check from crossover
  • Paseo
  • Turkish Towel
  • Big Box step from outside breaks
  • Half moon

Level 5: Slow Waltz

*Note: all of these steps can be done either with feet coming together (Bronze styling), or with feet brushing past (Silver continuity styling).  Keep in mind that hover and impetus patterns always involve feet brushing.*
  • Left turn
  • Right turn with impetus
  • Hover and impetus
  • 4-way underarm turn
  • ​Waterfall

Berkshire Hall Step Lists For November 2015

11/30/2015

 

​Dances Covered: 

Beginner (Level 2): Samba
​Intermediate (Level 3): Rumba and Bolero

​Beginner: Samba

  • Basic forward and back
  • Basic side cross
  • Side cross with an underarm turn
  • Box step
  • promenade
  • Bota fogo
  • Bota fogo with leader's foot fake

​Intermediate: Rumba and Bolero

Rumba:
  • box step
  • crossover
  • open break
  • open break to backwrap and walkaround
  • Paseo
Bolero:
  • basic (make sure it rotates)
  • crossover
  • open break
  • open break to backwrap and walkaround
  • open break to copa
  • open break to triple fans and ronde with copa ending
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  • Home
  • About
    • The Teachers
    • Hartford Ballroom
    • Ballroom Dancing
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  • What We Offer
    • Private Lessons
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  • Directions
  • Contact
  • Blog