Hartford Ballroom Blog

Step Lists For February 2016

2/29/2016

Dances Covered:
Level 1: East Coast Swing and Foxtrot
Level 2: Foxtrot
Level 3: Hustle
Level 4: Argentine Tango
Level 5: Samba

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

Berkshire Hall Step Lists For December 2015

12/31/2015

Dances Covered:

Beginner (Level 2): Argentine Tango
Intermediate (Level 3): Samba

Beginner: Argentine Tango

Please note, there are 3 types of tango: Milonga, Argentine Tango, and Vals. This month we mainly focused on Milonga, although I introduced something that was technically Argentine Tango.
Milonga:

Baldosa Box (6 steps)
Walking into, and out of Baldosa Box
Side together (repeat 5 and 6 as many times as you would like)
Traspie (rock steps, changes the rhythm to quick-quick-slow, can be done on any of the first 5 steps of the Baldosa Box)

Argentine Tango:

Forward ochos
Leader's rock to forward ochos
Bonus: Leader's parada (means "stop", where the leader "stops the ochos with his foot), to follower's pasada (means "go", where the follower initiates the next move by stepping over the leader's foot)

Intermediate: Samba

Routine: forward and back, side crosses, promenade, box step
counterpromenade
windmill (from counterpromenade)
international combination (promenade, bota fogo, voltas, spot turn voltas)

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

Step List For October 2014

10/31/2014

Dances Covered:

Level 1: Cha Cha, Foxtrot, and Merengue
Level 2: Foxtrot
Level 3: East Coast Swing
Level 4: Bolero
Level 5: Samba

Level 1: Cha Cha, Foxtrot, and Merengue

Cha Cha

Basic Step
Full Turn
Ladies' underarm turn

Foxtrot

basic
hesitation

Merengue

basic turns: outside and inside
how to do more than one turn
leader's turn

Level 2: Foxtrot

Basic step
Hesitation (a.k.a. corner or trouble step)
Promenade
Promenade with underarm turn
Side Rocks
Routine #1: 3 basics (steer to the wall), 3 promenade with an underarm turn on the second one, hesitation to finish
Routine #2: 3 basics (steer to the wall), 3 side rocks, hesitation to finish
Box Step

Level 3: East Coast Swing

Note: steps were done both in triple step and single step

Underarm turn
She goes/he goes
Hand change behind the back
Hand change behind the back with ladies underarm turn
Open break to cuddle
Cuddle with yo-yo ending
Single tuck
Double tuck
Over the head
Back walk
Back breaks
Promenade Walk, a.k.a. "Promenade Swivels" (works well if followed by back walk)
Peekaboo
Windmill (new as of Sunday 10/26)

Level 4: Bolero

Shadow crossovers and shadow back breaks with loop
Copa
Triple ronde into copa
She goes/He goes ending
Right hand loop ending
1 crossover, apart turn, 1 back break, underarm turn, 1 outside break, right hand loop ending
Half moon (crossover with the right hand, bring her across), arm hook, rock and fencing line, she goes/he goes ending
Rudolph Ronde (starts with open break and back spot turn, ends with copa)

Level 5: Samba

Forward rock, spiral turn into counterpromenade, bota fogo, bota fogo in place, maypole
Bota fogo into "easy" grapevine, ending with spot turn voltas
Bota fogo into "difficult" grapevine
Left turn into bota fogo (with guys going backwards), into ladies swivels

Step List For September 2014

9/30/2014

Level 1: Hustle, Salsa, and Merengue

Hustle

Basic step
Basic inside turn

Salsa

Basic step
Side Breaks
Basic Turn
Ladies' Underarm turn

Merengue

The basic turns: outside and inside
Cuddle, with a yo-yo ending
Backwrap, with a lasso ending

Level 2: East Coast Swing

Note: All steps were done both in single step and in triple step swing.

Basic
Underarm turn
Hand change behind the back
Open break to pickpocket
Open Break to cuddle

Level 3: Bolero

Basic (make sure it rotates to the left, and make sure there's CBM)
Crossover, with underarm turn ending
Crossover Alternative Ending #1: Right hand loop (a.k.a. "The Dove Commercial")
Crossover Alternative Ending #2: She goes/He goes
Back break with underarm turn ending
Open break with underarm turn ending
Open break into backwrap
Copa
Shadow Crossover and Shadow Back Break

Level 4: Samba

International Combination: promenade, bota fogo, voltas, spot turn voltas
Counterpromenade
Windmill from counterpromenade
Bota fogo promenade/counterpromenade
Bota fogo promenade/counterpromenade with leader's foot fake
Open Break with underarm turn
Roll Off The Arm (from open break into cuddle)
Maypole
Bota Fogo in place

Level 5: American Tango

closed promenade with ronde to 1 or 3 fans
right foot lunge from corte
rock to corte from promenade or open promenade (an ending to a song if you like)
closed promenade, challenge line, oversway, ronde, slip pivot

Step List For August 2014

8/31/2014

Dances Covered

Level 1: East Coast Swing, American Tango, and Merengue
Level 2: Bolero
Level 3: Samba
Level 4: American Tango
Level 5: Hustle

Level 1:

East Coast Swing

Basic step (single step)
Ladies' Underarm Turn
Hand Change Behind The Back

American Tango

Basic step
Corte
Forward Rock (bonus step)

Merengue

cuddle (inside turn)
basic outside and inside turns
backwrap (outside turn)
hand change behind the back
tangle

Level 2: Bolero

Basic step
Crossover With Ladies' Underarm Turn
Crossover With Apart Turn
Crossover Into Back Breaks
Shadow Crossover
Shadow Crossover Into Shadow Back Breaks

Level 3: Samba

Basic Movements (forward/back, side crosses, box step, samba walk, volta, bota fogo)
Side Crosses With Outside And Inside Turns
Promenade
Open Break With Underarm Turn
"Samba Twinkle" (bota fogo+box close)

Level 4: American Tango

Open Left Turn
Right Side Fans
Turning Rocks
Rock-And-Corte
Promenade With 3/4 Pivot
Closed Promenade With Challenge Line, Oversway, And Spanish Drag

Level 5: Hustle

Tangle To Ladies' Syncopated Tap Steps
Nate's Crazy Pickpocket (involves a right hand shake)
Ampersand Into Sliding Door
Parallel Sweetheart With Ladies' Free Spin
Butterfly Into Diva Walk
Triple Right Side Pass
Half-wrap To Cuddle From Closed Position Basic (Involves Ladies' Left Arm Reflex)
The Crazy Advanced Combination (Involves Sweetheart With Inside Turn, Cool Hand Slide Back To Sweetheart, Ampersand, To Cuddle)