The "light & Shade" concept
- Thread starter el_Che
- Start date
I've been pretty much obsessed with the basic step for the past year and one of the things I've found is that there are many many ways of dancing on the same timing.
The following is my attempt to give an answer to your question, which is based on my experiences, experiments and feeling. I'm not a teacher or an expert, and this is full of conjecture!
Now I think of dancing "on time" and "on rhythm" as being different. In this wording, I'm using timing in a metronomic sense and thinking of rhythm as something that has "texture" and "lumps". A lot of the people that I've danced with in the UK, and most of the time myself too, feel metronomic in the sense that each part of their basic step seems to have the same emphasis, i.e., it's "rhythmically flat" or regular.
I've seen a video on the Baso.tv and Santo Rico studio site where Tomas talks about having a "bounce" in the basic step, and he goes on to say to try and feel the space between the 3 and the 5, and the 7 and the 1. If you're a subscriber it's called: "Santo Rico Shines - Advanced Variations of the Basic Step"
Taking this concept a bit further, when I think of dancing to the conga, breaking on 2, there is a "light and shade" that I perceive in the basic step and the effect is like that of slowing down time. To exaggerate, it feels like 123 fiiiiive 67, which is probably practically accomplished by pushing the recovery step forward onto 4& and travelling more through the recovery steps and treating the break steps as changes of direction.
At the moment this is what gives me the most pleasure, when dancing to say, typical 70s Fania.
The following is my attempt to give an answer to your question, which is based on my experiences, experiments and feeling. I'm not a teacher or an expert, and this is full of conjecture!
Now I think of dancing "on time" and "on rhythm" as being different. In this wording, I'm using timing in a metronomic sense and thinking of rhythm as something that has "texture" and "lumps". A lot of the people that I've danced with in the UK, and most of the time myself too, feel metronomic in the sense that each part of their basic step seems to have the same emphasis, i.e., it's "rhythmically flat" or regular.
I've seen a video on the Baso.tv and Santo Rico studio site where Tomas talks about having a "bounce" in the basic step, and he goes on to say to try and feel the space between the 3 and the 5, and the 7 and the 1. If you're a subscriber it's called: "Santo Rico Shines - Advanced Variations of the Basic Step"
Taking this concept a bit further, when I think of dancing to the conga, breaking on 2, there is a "light and shade" that I perceive in the basic step and the effect is like that of slowing down time. To exaggerate, it feels like 123 fiiiiive 67, which is probably practically accomplished by pushing the recovery step forward onto 4& and travelling more through the recovery steps and treating the break steps as changes of direction.
At the moment this is what gives me the most pleasure, when dancing to say, typical 70s Fania.
Seen some people on SF mentioning this "concept" as a characteristic element of various CBL styles...
Anyone cares to explain what this thing is?
Feel free to add relevant examples as well
May I point you to this post from our member Jag75, where I would say you find an explanation of this concept.
sweavo
Changui
Luke has written a very lucid account of some high concept stuff there so I don't want to derail that line of conversation, but I interpret light and shade simply to mean contrast. Soft & sharp, quick and slow, high and low, power and gentle, happy and sad, all are light and shade to me. A triple spin looks like more when it's off the back of a lot of unspinny stuff... a check looks like more when the dance has flowed continuously up to that point. Light and shade is contrast. Look for places where you can contrast to the opposite of what you are doing and do the opposite. Look to places where you are doing something in the middle, and push it one direction then the other to create light and shade. So what I'm talking about is not incompatible with luke's description of the "lumpy" rhythm within the 8 counts.
So you are saying that the "light & shade" means sharply going from something into something else?
So, for example, is doing a CBL with an inside (woman's left) turn, stopping it in a sweetheart like fashion, then leading a few outside (woman's right) turns, is a good example of this principle?
So, for example, is doing a CBL with an inside (woman's left) turn, stopping it in a sweetheart like fashion, then leading a few outside (woman's right) turns, is a good example of this principle?
Seen some people on SF mentioning this "concept" as a characteristic element of various CBL styles...
Anyone cares to explain what this thing is?
Feel free to add relevant examples as well
It was originally a BR concept.. long before mambo, salsa etc existed
Light and shade, is more an interpretation of a specific song, in ANY genre.
The "hows, wheres, whens and whys " of motion. Look at any world class BR comp. ( the best e.g., plenty on the net ) to see how each in a Final comp interpret the same song.