JitterBal: Moves & Combos

With this disc, we found it helpful to keep in mind something Steve said often in an earlier DVD series he did with Marcus and Barbl - he’d say of a move:

“It goes a little something like this…”

This DVD starts with a move he and Heidi call, “Continuous Crossovers” which is, well, just a name for what could be a reverse come-around, or, a counter-clockwise grapevine, or, whatever… In any event, it does indeed, “Go a little something like this…”

After that, they show their first combo, “Continuous Crossovers with Turns.” You could be picky and ask, “Whose crossovers? Whose turns? What direction?” but, you’d do better just to watch what they do and go, “Oh... OK. Could you slow that down a little?”

This would be a good time to tell you to ALWAYS play these DVDs back at least 20 per cent slower than “real time.” Steve and Heidi talk fast and teach fast because that seems to be their normal pace in life. Hey, at least you know what the move will look like at full speed… Until you learn it however, slow down the playback and repeat as necessary.

So much then - getting back to the moves - for what you’d call Balboa, or, Bal-Swing; the next thing is what they call “Hip Turns,” – which we know from WCS – and which should really follow the naming scheme they started with and be called, “Continuous Crossovers with Hip Turns.” But, why be picky? Be amused and move on.

There’s more fun to come, like, “The Salsa Catch” – which has nothing to do with ruining your shirt, or, carpet, with salsa, and “Crossbody Leads” that look a lot like 6-count side passes, and “Elbow Catches” that look like upper arm “stops” – and on and on. Come on, “It looks a little like this - and it sounds a little like that…” Just roll.

We liked seeing the catch-across-the-slot move here – we learned it from one of their earlier discs – and it worked well with the follower’s turn and, yep, “Salsa Catch” combo they presented. Common “Sailor Steps” transmuted into “Diva Walks” was a nice variation, as was the “The Dream” move reworked into a smoother, “The Dreamt.”

All in all, we had fun with this disc, although it was like trying to read a book on a noisy, bouncing yellow school bus… We were familiar enough with Balboa/Bal-Swing, Salsa, WCS, Tango, etc. to appreciate the moves they’d chosen to present – and to chuckle at some of the “ties” they used to string those moves into “Bal-Swing” combos…

It’s not grandpa’s Balboa, but if he could do it all over again, he’d have fun with this.

He’d be cranky learning it, however:

“Slow it down kid! And, talk louder!”