Ivy’s First Choreography: Amor Perdimos

Jennifer Choo Sue Chin | June 21, 2012

Ivy Low’s first attempt in line dance choreography, upon much persuasion and encouragement from her other half. It’s a bachata (level beg/int) choreographed to the song El Amor Que Perdimos by Prince Royce. It’s a beautiful and soothing song and steps are simple and matching. The dance was released during her recent I We Dancers Dance Celebration on 16 June 2012.

Check out the video and do try it out! Have fun with those Bachata hip-work!

Stepsheet

Note: Email me for the correct music version to fit correct phrasings and restarts!

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New Dance: Qing Fei De Yi

Jennifer Choo Sue Chin | June 11, 2012

I’m releasing Qing Fei De Yi first as I taught it in the MTLDA Line Dance Carnival early June.

This is the Teach & Demo video taken at Melaka on 3 June 2012. The dance was very well received and people enjoy the relaxing pace and simplicity of the dance. Not forgetting the relaxing music by Harlem Yu, popularised in the Taiwanese Drama Serials “Meteor Garden” starring F4 in 2001.

Have fun and chill out in the dance!

Copperknob Stepsheet
Original Stepsheet

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Evolution of Line Dancing

Jennifer | July 2, 2008

Evolution, a much controversial term, though, we can’t deny it’s happening all around us, our passion of line dancing inclusive.

3 yrs ago, when I started line dancing, we were doing a lot of dances to the tunes of country & western, and a few others of cha cha music. Line dancing was termed as an “Aunty dance” (and still is by certain ignorant groups) but line dancing has gone a long way and very much evolved into what we have today. Let’s see what are the prominent changes there are:

Then

Now

Dance to mainly Country & Western music, after all, it’s where Line Dancing originates from…

More Latin/Ballroom, pop and hip hop music are favourable nowadays

Most dances consist of simply just grapevines, weaves, shuffles, coasters…

More and more new (often challenging) steps are introduced into line dancing: Dorothy steps, mashed potatoes, body rolls, plie, arabesque …

No (or minimal) arm movements, just a lot of footwork and some hipwork. All movement done are just below the waist.

Arm movements, head movements (ie. Gyrate, Go Greased Lightning, Hare Ram). Dancing is moving every part of your body to the beat!

No props, but some can be done the contra way and some with partners

Props are sometimes included! Like caps! (Here We Go – Guyton Mundy)

All steps executed while standing

Steps can be executed while sitting or kneeling on the floor, I won’t be surprised if headspins will be included in the near future… gulp!

Simple and fun

Complicated but challenging and fun!

And nowadays, the younger generation are enjoying line dancing as much as the “Aunties” were, as many of the music of their generation were choreographed into amazing dances. I was from the 80’s & 90’s, and songs like Ice Ice Baby, which we used to dance during every party then, has a line dance (Ice – Shaz Walton). Imagine how excited we are! And nowadays, with latest groovy, top of the billboard songs choreographed into line dances, such as Low (Those Applebottom Jeans – Joey Warren) kept the youngsters and “Aunties” & “Uncles” alike, dance like never before, executing those “impossible” hip hop steps. 🙂 It sure made a lot of us feel younger again!

Was it like the “Chicken or Egg comes first?” case? Were the new hip songs the ones that attracted the younger generation? Or was it the younger generation that introduce the hip songs into line dancing?

I thought, maybe, a small group of younger generation started line dancing to hip songs which in turn attracted more line dancers of the younger generation.

Although we flow along the current of evolution, enjoying those new groovy and challenging hip hop line dances, we should never forget the genesis of line dancing – and I still do, very much enjoy the country and western dances, although I’ve been doing those less often nowadays…

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Tips & Techniques: Cuban Hips

Jennifer | June 22, 2008

Have you ever wished you could do the hip twists like the Latin dancers do? You can do it too, just need to know where and when to twist  your hips and some practise!

Here’s a breakdown for Cuban Hips for Right Chasse. You can apply the same techniques for Left Chasse and Forward/Back Lock steps.

Note: Remember to keep your body upright and face the front all the time. Only the hips will do the twisting!

  1. Twisting your hips to the left diagonal and keeping your left knee straight, bend your right knee slightly and bring your right ball to the right side. Generally, the weight is still on the left foot and slightly pressing to the right foot. (pic 1)
  2. On count &, quickly shift your weight to the right foot and at the same time twist your hips to the right diagonal. Also bring your left foot towards and next to the right foot and press on the left  ball slightly. When this happens, your right knee is straightened and left knee is bended. (pic 2)
  3. On the next count, quickly shift your weight to the left foot and at the same time twist your hips to the left diagonal. Also bring your right foot to the right side, pressing slightly on the ball. When this happens, your right knee is bended while your left knee is straight. (pic 3)
  4. At the end of the count, quickly shift your weight to the right foot by twisting your hips to the right diagonal again. This time your right knee is straightened. Weight is now entirely on the right foot.

Practise is the essence to success!

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