Advanced Step, 3/14/2010, Final Product!

All right. Now we get to the good stuff! Here is how the 3 combos get pulled together.

After breaking down all of the combos, practice them on the right and left leads. Then weave them together as taught. While weaving, be sure to tell the class which moves are the "filler" moves (see choreography notes below). When you think they are ready, start from the top and take out the filler moves, jumping directly to the next combo's first move. This condenses the routine down from 96 counts to 64.

I love this way of teaching Advanced Step because when you take out the filler, and assuming you've double checked approach angles and how many counts each move takes, your final run throughs have a completely different feel because once you hit Combo 2, the moves are now occurring on different beats of the musical phrase from the way the class has practiced them so far in class. It's almost like doing a completely different routine, except that everyone is familiar with all the moves. And, everything feels much faster, even though it really isn't.

So, here's the final choreography:

"1-3-7" (10)
Knee-ball-change over, x2 (6)
Reverse up, Rock back, ball-change-kick (8)
Hamstring, x2 (4) -- filler move
Up & Switch feet on top, exit into tango (9)
Double stomp & spin into a straddle (5)
Drag & Pivot (6)
Stomp Across, box (8)
1 Basic (4) -- filler move
Kick & Rock (5)
Up-up, HOLD, Double switch on top & exit (7)
4-knee repeater, x2 (20) -- filler move

Have fun with it!

Advanced Step, 3/14/2010, Combo 3

And, here is Combo 3 of this step class. I'm sure everyone noticed that I put the same background picture on the videos that form one class.

Now, on this video, more than half of it is two 4-knee repeaters. I know, I know... it doesn't feel very "advanced" when there is that much easy stuff in it. Just trust me. You'll see why in the final video.

Combo 3:
Kick & Rock (5)
Up-up, HOLD, Double switch on top, exit (7)
4-knee repeater, x2 (20)

Enjoy!!

Advanced Step, 3/14/2010, Combo 2

Here is Combo 2. Just like in Combo 1, the breakdown is shown in the video.

Combo 2:
Up & Switch on top, exit into Tango (9)
Double Stomp & spin into a Straddle (5)
Drag & Pivot (6)
Stomp Across, Box (8)
Basic (4)

There are several versions of the "stomp across, box" shown in the breakdown. You can use any of them, including keeping the stomp at the end instead of the box.

Have fun with this one!

Advanced Step, 3/14/2010, Combo 1

Okay, so let's get on with some videos! This is combo 1 of 3, Advanced Step. The breakdown is shown in the video, and the final choreography is as follows:

Combo 1:
"1-3-7" (10)
Knee-ball-Change over, x2 (6)
Reverse up, Rock back, Ball-Change Kick (8)
Hamstring curls, x2 (8)

One Step Closer - Pun Intended!

Hi everyone!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on my blog. After this, I have some videos to post, along with the choreography.

But first, I wanted to say that I've taken one more step towards my goal of being able to provide workshops to other Step instructors. In January, I passed my ACE certification test!!! Yea! and Phew! I've been working on developing the content of the workshop, and hope to be able to get started with providing CECs and CEUs for ACE and AFAA very soon.

The first workshop I've put together is to provide a way to make the whole process of planning a class and its breakdown a whole lot faster and easier. This workshop would be for people who already teach Step. I'm also considering a very basic class that is just "how to teach Step", which would be for people who want to learn to teach Step.

If you have any comments, please send me an email, or place a comment on this entry. I'm sorry to say that I had to turn on "comment moderation" again, because some folks started posting some links to ... well, let's just say... non-fitness-type websites. You get my drift... So, fear not, I will post any legitimate comments, but they won't appear until I moderate them.

Dana