Please help.. I am really confused now. My teacher told me that there is not supposed to be any rise or fall in Samba. She said it stays flat. How can you stay flat when the Samba is supposed to be about bounce, isn't it? I see the video clips here and they are clearly bouncing- I mean not a huge rise and fall like on a waltz but it is bouncy. My teacher was not really bouncing; rather she told me to keep the torso at the same place and absorb the bounce below the waist into the legs. HELP!!!!!

of course there is no rise and fall in Samba! It's a Latin dance. The bounce refers to the motion of the pelvis, which if done correctly gets absorbed in the abs. Watch a pro tape, there is little up and down action, not nearly enough to be called Rise and Fall. Also, Rise and Fall refers to an action over at least three steps. In Samba we are dealing with a quick body rhythm occurring on every step.

Good question . And you obtained correct concept prompt from anon.
It is necessary to review the instructional DVDs with top dancers.
ylchen

Sirus. To get the correct action it is necessary to get the right timing. This is 3/4. 1/4. 1. ( the one is the up down )Something is happening on each of thoes beats. You will hear about a body tick. This is like somebody has punched you in the stomach. The movement is to the front and the back and not sideways. Samba is accepted as the hardest dance to do correctly. I'll have to go a bit further here. The up down on one, is on the spot. Not to bounce up and back. This is most likely what your teacher is on about. I went to an idiot teacher once who actually told us to imagine we were stepping over a fallen log, forwards and backwards . Can you imagine we looked like a cork in a mill pond, or a yo yo. Really a good DVD is needed. All the best.

I went to an idiot teacher once who actually told us to imagine we were stepping over a fallen log, forwards and backwards

ANON 3

I take offense to the fact u called that teacher an idiot. The idea of teaching a basic Samba to a newbie was to have them imagine stepping over a fallen log. That also came from a world reknown champ. Yes that can change in time for for a newbie that is totally an acceptable approach. That is why we are teachers and u are a student HMMM ????

We have been dancing a little over 5 years and I remember a lot of these beginner things teachers use, so we could make some progress and build confidence. If they would have thrown the full technique at us day 1, that would have been our first and last day of ballroom dancing.

I remember when we started working on silver Foxtrot after a little over 1 year, that first night was 2 very frustrating hours. By than we had gained enough confidence to handle it and did progress pretty quickly on silver foxtrot, after the first frustrating evening. Teachers kept reminding us this was extremely diffiicult and would take more time than other things we had learned.

It was after 4 years before we really started to pickup on real Samba technique. We were jumping the puddle ( our teacher used jumping a puddle ) for 2 years.That is a challenging dance.

Our teachers have also been very good at adjusting the approach to were we were overall. We would start working a bit on a new dance every 3-6 months. Last dance we started was West Coast Swing and they threw the full technique at us day 1, because we were at a point were that was the best approach.

Amanon56. So are you a over the log person. If you look at the correct technique and timing you will find there is no beat value for that no man's land in between a front and back basic. If you count 1&2 as 1/2 1/2 1/2. That leaves half a beat to be used, thats where this idiot made his big mistake and used the 1/2 beat across no man's land. It should have been taught the correct timing of 3/4. 1/4. 1. The same in a Boto Fogo if it is counted
1 & 2 there is another 1/2 a beat to be used. The same in a two bars of Voltas. Using the count of 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 thats seven steps, at 1/2 a beat a step, that leaves a 1/2 left over. The correct count is 3/4. 1/4. 3/4. 1/4. 3/4. 1/4.1.
Do I have the right to call this guy an idiot or not. All he had to do was look in the technique book.

To get the right motion in the body in samba you have to have a strong understanding of your body movement in rumba all the dances are all the same with small variations of course.Rumba straight legs to achieve the rith body action,samba bent legs to achieve the right action . Try to find out instead how to conect your legs to your back instead in all dances and you will see how good it feels.