Doing a volta to the man's left his left foot (toes) is pointed in the direction that he is going and he pulls the right foot forward heel first with the foot (toes) pointed about 45 degrees backwards with the heel going forward. I've seen this on both Corky-Shirly's tapes and Slavik and Karina's dvd.

My current teacher is trying to tell me not to lead that much with a heel and his right foot is straight or about 90 degrees.

Hope you can understand what I am describing. What would you do if the teacher is showing you something wrong like this--or maybe there is a variation element of the right foot in the volta? I plan on showing him the tapes next lesson since I don't want to do a volta wrong---Sambas are filled with voltas and probably is one of the main elements of the dance.

Anonymous. I'll bet telling the instructor he was wrong went down well. Tell me if I am wrong. On a Lock, I prefer to call it by its correct name which is a Latin Cross. On a Latin Cross going forward we bring the toe to the heel. On a Volta we bring the heel to the toe. On a Volta If the back foot is pointing down a LOD to get the heel to the toe looks ridicules. We are taught that on a Volta the front foot is to catch up , the back foot is the one that moves us. We have on occasions in class call out, Catch up, move, catch up, move.In other words the front foot never crosses over the back foot it only makes heel to toe. Best of Luck.

I had a teacher tell me the same thing about the heel lead of the right foot. He said do it more 90 degrees rather than the 45 degrees. I told him that he was wrong and showed him the Slavik and Karina dvd. I have the Corky and Shirly tape too and it leads with the heel. I have had lessons with two very high level Latin pros and they teach leading with the heel on Voltas and Bota Fogos too.

Voltas and Bota Fogos represents Samba more than any other movement. Seems that a teacher teaching Samba would at least get this right. Both are easier to do correctly slowly without music, but once you start dancing Samba at the fast tempo it gets much more difficult to do good technical Volta's and Bota Fogos. A good basic is not easy to do either. I isolate and practice all three often and work on technique. One needs to isolate the upper body and not bounce and wiggle. The bounce is more grounded into the floor and your body.

If your Volta's have no feeling and are just a gallop around the floor. Try getting the back heel high off the floor and keep it there. Make the Volta's small, its not a race. If at any stage you were to stop and bring the heels together they should be pointing at 5 to 1 on a clock face with no alteration to your feet

Anonymous. The reason I wrote 27 years v Five minutes confirms what you have written. So many things have changed even in the past couple of years. Take a Boto Fogo and compair it to a Volta. The first and second steps are now identical. If you wish to make it a Boto Fogo you can. If you wish to make it a Volta you can do that also. So we now have two ways of doing a Boto Fogo. I'm with you on the Volta, one thing to add. Once the height of the back foot is set it stays there at that height. If you have n't been doing this you will find you are able to use your hips much more to your advantage. If there is any argument as to where the feet should be on the first step of the Volta they are in a Latin Cross position That is right heel to left toe and no further than that. But you dont need me to tell you that, you have the DVD, all it takes is five minutes.
Best of luck there

Can you explain what you mean by the heels pointing at 5 to 1 on a clock face?

Nancey. The toes are pointing to 5 to 1, not the heels. The most important thing I was ever told about the Samba is when going to the left. The right foot catches up into a Latin Cross position.( heel to toe) it does not travell. The step that moves is the LF. And again the RF catches up. As the LF steps to the side you should be up on both toes. Then the Latin Cross which is a down step. Keep the Left heel high off the floor. Apart from that is the timing which is 3/4. 1/4. If you do two bars of Voltas the timing is 3/4 1/4. 3/4 1/4. 3/4 1/4. 1. Add that up you have two bars of Samba music. Samba is the most difficult of all the dances to do and to understand. Good luck.

Just LOVE this dance! I'm limited to group Samba lessons at this time, but I've learned a lot from this thread!
I'm curious. Since group lessons aren't as detailed as private lessons, I use to study the videos of the volta and bota fogo on this site in order to improve my technique, which was very helpful. Now those particular steps are no longer on video in the learning center. Does anyone know why? Could it be because they're considered too difficult to try to learn without an instructor?

Latina. A word of advice on a Botofogo. don't count it 1 a 2 . Thats 1/2 1/2 1/2. It should be 3/4 1/4 1. Then take a look at the correct timing for the Volta's. Good Luck.

Surely, by conventional reckoning, 1 a 2 IS always counted 3/4 1/4, not 1/2 1/2 (which would be 1 & 2)?