Today, The Dance Guru is giving you 10 top tips to help with your Forward Rumba Walks in Latin Dancing. Don’t forget to check out our other post on Rumba Walk technique and why you should be practising this all the time.
1. Starting Position – Get your starting position right. Tummy tucked in, bottom tucked in, back is not over arched, weight slightly forward but head upright, shoulders rotated back and down, pull your tummy button in towards your spine
2. Your upper body needs to stay upright and engaged, you don’t just start there and forget about it, you need to maintain it. Your upper body will be in opposition to your hip creating the Cuban motion
3. Are you bouncing up and down? Hopefully not, we should remain at the same height. If you’re losing height you are probably settling the hip too far and bending forwards
4. Maintain balls of the foot in contact with the floor. Only at the last minute when you push off the back leg do does the ball come off but the toes remain in contact
5. Check that for the split second after you place full weight on the front leg and before pushing off the back leg that both legs are straight. You should be creating a triangle between both feet and your hips
6. When pushing off your back leg, roll from the ball of the foot to the inside edge of the big toe, turning out the foot. This creates a straight line from your big toe to the hip this makes your leg longer and pushes the hips forward so you move over the forward leg
7. Always point the toes in the rear leg. It must get to fully pointed before moving to the next position. It’s the first thing to go and last thing to leave
8. Keep arms up, if you’re not in hold try for elbows at the same height and distance and slightly away from your body, there should be natural movement to the wrists and finger tips
9. Practice ballet exercise to increase turnout. We aim for 11pm and 1pm (if imagining a clock on the floor) too much turn out in Latin dancing is not appropriate
10. Practice your spotting. We often change direction in Rumba walks and using a good spotting technique will give you a sharpness and focus and your transitions will look cleaner
The motion of the Forward Rumba walk will combine each individual action so that they flow fluidly. As your weight moves forward the front leg is extended and toes pointed, your place weight on it as start to lower the heel as well as beginning to push off the back foot, achieving that split weight position for a moment. Nothing happens in isolation. We want to look as natural as possible whilst completing a movement that only ever happens on the Latin dance floor!
Checkout these videos for more helpful tips from Anna Kovalova on how to do the Rumba walks:
Basic Forward Walk Tutorial:
Basic Backward Walk Tutorial:
Advanced Forward Walk Tutorial:
Here are Anna Kovalova’s Top 3 Tips for Ladies Rumba Walk in high heels!:
Don't forget to check out our other post 'Why 30 minutes of Rumba Walks a day will change your body forever'.
