Advanced Elements - Sit
(Nancy talking) I remember, when I learned the sit, it was relatively easy to do in a mediocre way but I found certain aspects difficult to remember and coordinate so that it could look really good.
- It was hard to remember to keep the back heel very high.
- It was hard to learn to let the leader take me where he wanted me which is the only way our back legs could be parallel.
- It was hard to let the leader control the speed of our going down rather than "helping".
(David talking) The thing we see leaders struggle with is the sense of giving the follower a nice flat place to lean rather than a pokey place. For many people, balance is also an issue. You need to find the stability of the "T" of the feet (the forward leg turned out and the back leg parallel).
- Artist Name:
- Eugenia Leon
- Song Title:
- Malena
- Album Title:
- Album unknown
- Artist Website:
- http://eugenialeon.com/
One of our favorite singers of the modern day.
- 00:05
- So the sit is actually one of my favorite,
I’m going to call it "tricks". - 00:08
- It’s not too hard actually to do not badly at all.
- 00:13
- And then it’s ridiculously hard to do extremely well.
- 00:15
- Hopefully we’ll help get you more
towards the extremely well. - 00:19
- Actually, there are a lot of things
in tango like that. - 00:30
- From another angle?
- 00:31
- Yes, from another angle.
- 00:40
- And then just for kicks.
- 00:46
- So fundamentally, when you do this,
the initial part is about this opening away. - 00:54
- So we step side and then we
open away from each other. - 00:57
- Which for the leader is kind of a little counter intuitive.
- 01:00
- So we step side,
and then I’m actually opening her away from me… - 01:05
- ..and me away from her.
- 01:07
- For the leaders, on your first step,
when you step side you’re stepping side past her… - 01:11
- ..you want her left thigh to be
one foots width past her left thigh. - 01:19
- Additionally, when you step side, you're going to step side
and a tiny hair forward towards her. - 01:25
- So as step, you’ll be doing, this.
- 01:29
- And that lets your thigh go past her
and closer to her. - 01:35
- So you see that the distance is narrowed.
- 01:39
- So I can end up sitting, leaning against him.
- 01:41
- From here, I’m going to open her body away,
so with my right arm, my right side… - 01:45
- ..I’m going to push forward.
- 01:47
- So after that side that was bigger,
I push forward to get her to go away. - 01:51
- But I actually open myself back,
which is a very strange coordination... - 01:55
- ..to have the right hand go forward and the right chest go back.
- 01:58
- And likewise, for the followers, you’re doing that same opposite.
- 02:06
- I open up. I open my body up and then I push her away,...
- 02:10
- ..as I pull with my left arm so
we both pivot away from each other. - 02:13
- And I’m pulling with my right arm, too, against him.
- 02:16
- And then, from there, we'll both step back onto both feet.
- 02:21
- You’ll see, if you look at it from this angle,
that when I step back… - 02:25
- ..my left thigh is actually touching her right thigh.
- 02:28
- Well I’m actually leaning into him a little bit.
- 02:35
- The balance sometimes can be difficult
and there are typically two reasons. - 02:38
- One reason is because it’s a difficult place to
balance without someone there. - 02:42
- And, so, for both leader and follower,
leaders you can go… - 02:46
- ..side, to your left, open up and plant back
and just can you be there comfortably by yourself? - 02:53
- Notice how turned out my front foot is.
- 02:55
- And see how high his back heel is.
- 02:58
- For the followers, as you do this, often times
the instinct is not to pivot enough. - 03:02
- So you want to make sure that both people
go back on a parallel line. - 03:06
- See how our back legs are parallel to each other.
- 03:15
- And sometimes this shoulder gets tough
and if so you can just let go. - 03:19
- Because it can go into the shoulder socket,
which is difficult. - 03:22
- We’ll show it a couple of times.
