How to Dance the Samba Easily?

How to Dance the Samba Easily

Are you a dance lover? Do you like to perform the various attractive dances? Do you want to learn how to dance the Samba? Well, join the band wagon. There are dancers out there wanting to learn how to dance the Samba and here I am giving you some guidelines. Please understand that most of the dances have some linking factor and hence if you are familiar with any one type of dancing then you are already one step ahead.

There are a lot of dances which originated from Africa such as the Mambo, Tango and also the Samba which is from Brazil. A samba dancer is often called “Sambista” in Brazil and this dance form was used as a cover up for performers of the “Capoeira” which was a forbidden martial art. Samba became very popular and internationally acclaimed and gradually this form of dancing got incorporated in dancing competitions and in dancing performed at balls.

While learning how to dance the Samba you must also be aware that this dance is similar to the Cha-Cha and the difference is in the footwork and music and the samba has a more bouncing quality.

Basic Steps: As we mentioned there is a lot of footwork in the Samba dance, but there are two Primary movements. They are the Basic Forward Step, and the Basic Backward Step. A combination of these two primary steps will form the six steps in the first primary movement. Please note while learning how to dance the Samba that the moves made by the partners will be exact opposite of each other. For example when the male lead performs the primary forward movement with his left foot female partner will perform the primary backward movement with her right foot and vice versa for all basic steps.

Basic Forward Movement:

Beat 1: Take a small forward step with the left foot. You should move toe first in a sliding movement and shift your body weight onto the left foot.

Beat 2: Now take a small forward step again with your right foot with the same sliding movement and shift weight to the ball of your right foot. This is called tapping and your heel does not touch the floor. The tapping is done with the ball of your foot and the toes and this is an intrinsic part of learning how to dance the Samba.

Beat 3: Return weight to left foot by placing it fully on the floor maintaining the up and down movement.

Basic Backward Movement: This movement is exactly the same as the above movement using the right foot to begin and instead of moving forward you move backward.

Back tap move: This movement is same as the primary movements with the difference that the tap is performed at the back of the foot which moves on the first count. It is quite easy to learn how to dance the Samba once you master the primary movements and learn to combine them into different patterns.

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