Please give me the Bossa Nova beat
and basic step as simply as possible.
Thank you.

There is no popular or well-established ballroom dance in existence known as Bossa Nova, however, there is most certainly a Bossa Nova style of music, and it is very danceable.

The best way I can describe Bossa Nova music is as a relaxed, mellow Samba. The rhythm is essentially the same, and the tempo is often (but not necessarily) slower than Samba. You can therefore dance to Bossa Nova music almost anything in the Samba syllabus. Just take care to alter the interpretation according to the music, i.e. dance softer and more laid back.

As a basic step, I find the Side Basic or Whisk to be more suitable than the forward and back basic. I don't have a solid reason for this -- It just feels right to me. In fact, I almost view Bossa Nova as more of a "Nightclub Two-Step" than a Samba, with the exception that it feels better to dance the Samba "1 a2" rhythm than the NC 2-Step "QQS" (or "SQQ") rhythm. I also tend to dance it with little to none of the bounce associated with either of its two relatives.

If you've never heard of Nightclub Two-Step, look it up on YouTube. Then imagine it with the "1 a2" rhythm, and very little bounce. That's my best interpretation of how to dance to Bossa Nova music.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Actually.. there is.. It was introduced and taught in the UK in the early 60s, and, I also taught it (as did all the A/M schools ) it lasted for about 2 yrs and faded away.

It is still being danced by some people in the UK .

The basic is a very modified Whisk with a 1 a 2...3 a 4 count .
One could say the same about the twist.. yet I, and others taught numerous hrs... fad dances are seldom ignored by chain schools, and even tho they do not last, they are always a source of new business .

As I said, there is no *popular or well established* dance called Bossa Nova.

At any rate, the dance you describe sounds almost identical to the one I did (depending on what you mean by "modified"). After all, it seems like the logical thing to dance to such music.

Regards,
Jonathan

I've always been hesitant to stick my nose in here, since nobody's ever accused me of being a good dancer, but there was an album cover back when Bossa was popular (in the days when there was a new fad dance every week) that described the basic step as LF forward, RF closes to LF, LF replaces, with a QQS count, then the natural opposite (obviously it wasn't in exactly those terms, but you get the idea). That,very much a modified forward and back basic, plus the fact that Tom Jobim always said Bossa WAS samba, reinforces your idea. Some of the samba figures never felt appropriate to me at the slower tempo, but what the heck, it's a popular dance sans syllabus, so there's no objection to making stuff up as you go along.

I personally blame Eydie Gorme' for the bossa nova's lack of success.

jj