Advanced Balboa & Bal-Swing

Intermediate and Advanced Balboa/Bal-Swing: Sylvia Sykes and Nick Williams

The material on these two disks isn’t always necessarily Intermediate or Advanced, but as arranged these are a logical progression from the “beginner” material of their first two disks and each thing presented leads to next thing fairly well. This is all good instruction, but none of it is much good without study and practice. Pay attention - it really is as simple as “watch, study, and practice.” A lot of practice…

In their Beginner’s Balboa and Bal-Swing – we felt the material was sometimes presented haphazardly and that some editing of “Oops” moments was in order. These Intermediate and Advanced DVDs are improved with fewer “Oops” left in (none huge) and the explanations are more pointed and useful. There’s a lot more “good” stuff here than first meets the eye or ear… Not perfect, but much that’s very good.

On the Advanced DVD “Maxie’s Slide” was well done, especially for the follows, but, as usual with this pattern there’s confusion about the “extra 1,2.” Nick and Sylvia – as is common with such moves in classrooms - are inconsistent about their numbering and you wind up going, “Uh… What?” We’ve liked the instruction on this DVD slightly better than Koch and Kaufer’s efforts on their Bal-Swing DVDs (also on Danceflix) but we still want to offer “newbies” what we’ve figured out about this particular pattern…

It would help if there was an explanation of exactly where the “extra” 1,2 “goes” because it’s “seems” – and sort of is - different for the lead and follow. If you’re experienced, then you know as a follow that the lead’s position on “7,8” is the “cue” that you’ll do two turns – of “1,2,1,2” with the second 1,2 being the start of a standard 8-count where the lead comes back to collect you. If you’re not experienced with the move - you’re not sure where the “extra” 1,2 is supposed to be until you do a lot of trail runs… A lot…

If you’re a newbie lead, you’re not sure because the “extra” 1,2 looks and feels nothing like a 1,2 that you’ve done in a “basic” or in a progressive step, or, in a come-arounds. That’s because it’s just a 1,2 count in place and no step at all. Once you “kill” that 1,2 by just standing there and clapping, you then start a normal 8-count to get back to the follow.

The “extra” 1, 2 for the lead could just as easily be called a 9,10… But, it’s hard to teach the pattern that way because it doesn’t mirror the follow’s count… So… You study, you flub, you review, you practice, and, if nothing else, you “get it” most of the time by working it out on your own. Or, maybe our hints will help. Can’t hurt.

The numbers, fortunately, are just a learning tool; once you get the moves down on your respective sides you then just forget all the numbers and dance – which is the goal of the entire exercise after all. Step it out until you both get used to it. It’s a fun pattern.

As always, watch these with a DVD player or computer software that can slow down the video and sound. It’s very helpful to be able to slow things down so you can hear and see things slowly enough for the lesson points to sink all the way in… Really helpful!