International Cha Cha | Latin
Welcome to the start of our online lessons and Fall semester! Our E-Board and coach are putting together online lessons so that we may keep dancing together while we’re apart. The first dance of the year is International Cha-cha-cha! Our student teachers, Abigail and Michael, have prepared this week’s lesson.
Lead part (men’s)
Follow Part (Women’s)
The Moves
The Basic
The simplest step of any dance is “The Basic”.
New Yorkers
Either your favorite or least favorite in cha-cha. New Yorkers can be done out the basic, where they will replace the “rock-steps” at the end of your cha-cha-chas.
Don’t forget to be flashy and proud! Throw your arm out and keep your chin up!
Spot Turns
Spot turns are an alternative to New Yorkers (why wouldn’t you love New Yorkers though). In a spot turn, you and your partner will do as shown here.
Hand-To-Hand
The last of New Yorker-esque moves, Hand-to-Hand has you open backwards from your cha-cha steps. Your connected hands will open to the direction that you danced from, the opposite of New Yorkers.
Shoulder-to-Shoulder
This move is very similar to the basic; however, you will step in the same direction on both rock-steps. A subtle move, but a welcome one nonetheless.
Fan (Advanced move)
Beginning of fan
Fan is a beautiful move for beginner dancers. The move begins with the first half of the basic, then transitions to a backwards cha-cha lock-step.
Continuing The fan
The Fan continues with a forward lock-step to the count of cha-cha-cha.
exit from fan
The fan ends with a Hockey Stick. It is a complicated move, but it looks amazing when done well.
That’s it for our online lesson today! If you have any other questions or want to learn more, please get in contact with our E-Board or student teachers. Thank you to Abigail and Michael for their amazing work this week!