Samba

Dancing the Samba

This dance has a tradition going back hundreds of years being part of the Brazilian culture.

It's exciting and fairly fast. The steps' are very very small with the knee action being extreemly important.
The timing of the steps are very important - as with most styles.

A good way to practice for this style is to listen to the music and bounce your knees up and down, this helps with you feeling the rhythm of the music before tackling the steps.

When it was originally performed it was danced as a solo and had many hand movements.

Normally for this style - partners stand just a little apart from one another - to enable them to perform their individual steps.
In this style today there are fewer hand movements, unless the couple are performing in a competitive way.

Ballrooms are often crowded today so it is more normal for couples to have 5 or 6 step patterns.
Most steps are taken with the ball of the foot flat, but quarter beat steps are usually on the ball of the foot only.

Flexing and straightening of the knees is very, very important.

It is important to wear shoes that are flexible.

They should have soft soles so the foot can remain flexible - stiff shoes are uncomfortable and can also make your dancing look heavy. When performing this under social conditions - you would normally travel anti-clockwise around the floor.

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