Samba Dancing

[Danielle]

hey all,

little bit of advise please, one of my favourite teachers is starting Samba classes, I'm quite keen to try it out (as i've heard its get exercie for your stomach!!!) but being totally dance niave I have no idea what the Samba is!!! Please could someone fill me in before i sign up!!! :whistle: :flower:

[Northants Girly]

hey all,

little bit of advise please, one of my favourite teachers is starting Samba classes, I'm quite keen to try it out (as i've heard its get exercie for your stomach!!!) but being totally dance niave I have no idea what the Samba is!!! Please could someone fill me in before i sign up!!! :whistle: :flower:Hi Danielle

I did the Samba class at Southport (? on the Saturday)

The class started off slowly with some basic steps and then we had to partner up to put them together.
Raphael (forumite) and I were briming with confidence that we could do all the steps and so decided to stick together rather than rotate :D

. . . . . and then the music was put on :rolleyes:

and oh my G*d was it FAST! :eek:

we managed to keep up with the routine - sort of - but we laughed so much my face ached afterwards! :rofl:

Sign up now I'm sure you will love it! - I would if there was a class up this neck of the woods :clap:

and PM Raphael and tell him to join you! :rofl: :rofl:

[Dizzy]

hey all,

little bit of advise please, one of my favourite teachers is starting Samba classes, I'm quite keen to try it out (as i've heard its get exercie for your stomach!!!) but being totally dance niave I have no idea what the Samba is!!! Please could someone fill me in before i sign up!!! :whistle: :flower:


Where is that going to be happening? In London?
If so, that sounds interesting.

[Paul F]

Hi Danielle,

Samba hey! Excellent.

This is one of my favourite Latin dances. As it happens myself and my partner have just finished our samba routine for Blackpool this year.
I think I may have lost 2 stones in the last 2 months practising it :nice:

I wont go into the history of it as most people fall asleep when i start talking about Latin dances :tears:
Suffice it to say that it IS quick dependant on where you go. There are quite a few socials that dont even play Samba during the night. This means that if you do learn it you will have a hard job of actually using it anywhere. A common problem not only with Latin but with international standard!
The other favourite latin dance of mine is the Paso Doble. Try getting a DJ to play that !! The words "blood" and "stone" spring to mind.

At the end of the day, you can take elements out of Samba, eg the bota fogo, and rework them into other styles. One of the things I did when i started dancing was to expose myself (in a legal way) :blush: to many different styles as I believe it all helps. Samba is one of those that will get your body moving in very strange ways :) but, ultimately, will release your muscles to movements they dont usually do.

The stomach thing comes from the Samba motion. Most people are familiar with the Cuban motion of the hips traveliing side to side as the weight is transferred. The samba motion is more of an up+down of the pelvis as a result of contracting and releasing the stomach muscles. At first it feels really really silly and you will only ever do it in a darkened room but eventually it feels ok - or you get to the point where you dont care :sick:

If you have any questions about it feel free to PM me and I will do my best to help.

[Danielle]

Where is that going to be happening? In London?
If so, that sounds interesting.

well stupidly forgot to grab a timetable after my lambada class last night - but have just asked my friend to grab one next week for me (as i go on hols tomo :clap: :clap: ) so will let you know as soon as i do!!!

[Danielle]

thanks for all the info Paul F and Northants girl, will definately give it a go, very excited!!!

[Paul F]

thanks for all the info Paul F and Northants girl, will definately give it a go, very excited!!!


No problem. Im sure you will love it. :cheers:

Let us know how it goes .

Enjoy your holiday. Anywhere nice?

[mick]

hey all,

little bit of advise please, one of my favourite teachers is starting Samba classes, I'm quite keen to try it out (as i've heard its get exercie for your stomach!!!) but being totally dance niave I have no idea what the Samba is!!! Please could someone fill me in before i sign up!!! :whistle: :flower:
I am the ghostly figure in white.
http://www.drumdin.com/image1.htm

See
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mally/samba/

[Andy McGregor]

I am the ghostly figure in white.
http://www.drumdin.com/image1.htm You can't fool us, that's Graham Norton on a bad jumper day :devil:

[Andreas]

Hi Danielle,

Samba hey! Excellent.

This is one of my favourite Latin dances. As it happens myself and my partner have just finished our samba routine for Blackpool this year.
I think I may have lost 2 stones in the last 2 months practising it :nice:


I think she is talking about Brasilian Samba as opposed to ballroom style samba. There is a significant difference.

As to Danielle's request: Samba is a VERY difficult dance to get 'right' and incredibly energetic. The Ballroom variant of it cuts down on the body action and is hence perhaps more graceful and (most probably) more beautiful, however, not anywhere near as impressive to watch and hard to learn.

Brasilian Samba works with most separations I have come across in the dances I have learned and it will take a while to get into it. From my experience, it was almost frustrating for a stiff person like myself to get those bit and pieces moving separately ... and there is still a long way to go.

As for the fun factor, Ballroom Samba requires that you have a partner, though you can play with some of the elements on your own. Brasilian Samba is a freestyle dance that you do on your own or in a group. Axe, which is Samba from Bahia (north Brasil) is famous for its group routines and those are heaps of fun.

:flower:

[Paul F]

Brasilian Samba is a freestyle dance that you do on your own or in a group. Axe, which is Samba from Bahia (north Brasil) is famous for its group routines and those are heaps of fun.

:flower:

That sounds really good fun. I did jump the gun a bit there assuming we were talking about taking up ballroom samba. Apologies :blush:

I have a lot of respect for people teaching the 'authentic' variations of the dances eg. samba.
I guess the same goes for Salsa. I have only come across one lady who really made me feel 'part' of the music. She described how people dance from her native country. She talked about how they dont concentrate on fixed steps or specific placement of the body etc. It made quite a lot of sense.

(hmmm maybe she only told that to me because I was so terrible :sick: )

Best of luck with the samba :clap:

[JamesGeary]

Quick footwork, fast music, usually mostly women. Dead after 1 song.

[Danielle]

Went on my hols and never followed up on this thread - was talking brazilian Samba, i don't really have the discipline for ballroom!!!!

Anyhow at the end of this month there is Latinfest in london with Lambada, Samba, etc all weekend - if 10+ people book at once there is a great discount!! We have 3 takers so far, if anyone else is interested please PM me your email address and i'll forward the details to you!!!

[Mary]

LilyB and Sparkles danced a Samba at jango on Monday - they both looked sooooo elegant! Couldn't tell you which variety though.

M

[Just Wiggle]

LilyB and Sparkles danced a Samba at jango on Monday - they both looked sooooo elegant! Couldn't tell you which variety though.

It was the ballroom version!

Indeed they were boto fogoing with the best!

[Divissima]

They looked wonderful - I felt very jealous. My samba is pretty elementary - but working on it :whistle:

Next weekend is Tango al fresco in Regent's Park - apparently Saturday is ballroom day. Sounds cool :waycool: