At the AGM in Perth , This article was presented by the Education officer, Paula Armstrong.
The Importance of the First Step in the Smooth Rhythms.
A building stands without cracks or defects largely on the quality of its foundation. The same is true for nearly all of the movements in the smooth rhythms. The importance of the first step is often overlooked, and more importantly ignored in movements we take as being basic or not critical. The first step lays the foundation for two really important aspects of dancing – alignment and flight. Now you could argue that dancing can be enjoyable without them, but when you can incorporate these it just takes it to a new level in both appearance and how it feels. And this is one of the simpler tips in theory to master; trouble is theory can go out the window when you are worrying about all the other things.
The golden rule for the first step is that most times we want that step to go straight in the direction we are facing –
whether we are going forward or back. Change of direction is generated half way through the second step. To work on this
lets look at a couple of movements we just take for granted as “being easy and we don’t need to look at”. And since the man
is supposed to be steering the ship a lot of this is up to him. For all of this though the lady only needs to turn the information
around to suit. A common misinterpretation is what the definition of a turn is, - and when the turn is initiated.
MANUVER (Waltz & Foxtrot) - We think of a manuver in terms of the man having to step in front and cut the lady off.
Instinctively the man’s first reaction is to turn the right foot and place it in front of the lady so that even before the second
step is taken he is almost facing the lady. At the end of step 1 or the start of step 2 we are already in closed position. All of
our flight is taken up in putting us in front of the lady, stepping directly to the wall on the second and side step, and not in
actually moving much in line of dance.
Try this and you double the distance travelled and still only have taken the same length of step.
Step 1 – Right foot straight ahead – don’t even think of turning. If we start in semi closed at the end of step 1 we are still
in semi closed. If we start in CP DLW we are still in this position.
Step 2 – Start aiming straight ahead, but – as the left foot passes the right foot the man initiates a turn so that when he puts
the left foot down it is almost in a straight line, but he is now facing diagonal reverse and wall. We should emphasis here he
is still rotating so this is just a snapshot of where he is looking. When we say almost in a straight line, the amount of
deviation will be determined by the starting position. If we start in SCP LOD then there will be more side action. If we start
in CP DLW then there should not be much side action.
Step 3 – Finish the rotation as he closes the right foot to the left. We are not in closed position until the very end of the third
step. The closing action should be more a function of the rotation rather than the step causing the turn.
2 RIGHT TURNS - Instinctively, the mans’ first action is to turn and take a step backwards towards the wall if we are
starting this from a manuvered position. Hopefully on step 4 he takes a reasonably straight forward step as this is between
his partners’ feet.
If we were to use the floor boards as a reference, and we visualise the boards as being about 100mm across
(4” in the old books), then this movement should be danced straight down the floor boards and only taking up no more than
the width of about 4 or 5 of them. At no point during this movement should we be any closer to the wall than we are now.
Step 1 – Left foot straight back down line of dance. At the end of step 1 the man should still be facing RLOD.
Step 2 – The right foot starts to go straight back, but again as it reaches the left foot the man should now be initiating a
turn through his hips and shoulders. When he puts his right foot down it should be pointing to DLC. The shoulders should
still be rotating.
Step 3 – A closing step while still rotating and now CP DLC.
Step 4 – Left foot straight forward and no turn. At the end of step 1 we are still in CP DLC.
Step 5 – The foot starts to go straight forward, but again as it passes the left foot the man initiates a turn so that when he
puts the right foot down it is facing the wall. As we go up the phase level this should be more DLW. Still rotating the
shoulders at this point.
Step 6 – A closing step while still rotating.
The same principles can be applied to a lot of other movements to generate more flight, and yet not taking any
longer steps. Examples:
2 LEFT TURNS – Same principle as Right Turns
LEFT TURNING BOX – Steps 1, 4, 7, & 10 are all either straight forward or back. The turn is generated on the following
step each time.
WEAVE – The first step is straight forward, a change of direction is generated on step 2.