Hartford Ballroom Blog

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")

Dances Covered

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

Berkshire Hall Step List For August 2017

9/1/2017

Dances Covered:

Beginner: Slow Waltz
Intermediate: Bolero

Dances Covered

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

Berkshire Hall Step List For July 2017

8/15/2017

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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

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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

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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

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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