Those of you who already have dance experience coming into freehanding are lucky as fuck. I'm a freehander with no previous dance experience what-so-ever. I've been concentrating on footwork only for the past couple of weeks, and it's fucking hard.

For you beginners, I suggest you start practicing your footwork as soon as possible.

+1

i wish i could dance more. what footwork moves are you talking about?

I have a vision of what I want my footwork to look like. I can do it, but I want it to be REALLY smooth. I've also been working on a lot of shit on the ground.

As far as dance steps go, I don't really know the proper names for them: Spins, glides, slides, steps, etc.

Hey man. true dancers gone freehand have an edge but only because the can move. That heightens no creativity or sense of style what so ever. I had no dance history other then i watched A FUCK-TON of dance movies and movies that had dance in them. all the rest was talking to dancers youtubing and looking like a fool in front of dancers. Not to mention i asked people i saw do ceartin moves and who had a style i was interested in, to show me a basic move.

Foot work was one i really focused on but it was more for the dance aspect and then i incoperated it to Glowsticking. the best thing to do right now is hide away in your room and study study study! ! ! (and by study i mean youtube and dance movies)

Well what kind of foot work do you want to learn? You have gliding, uprocks and low rocks, actual coreography foot work.

granted foot work depending on what you want to learn is coming from someone in a crew-the dance is dance. so to take the dance not the mentality of crew is in no way breaking the rules. AND I DO NOT ENDORSE battling in any way what so ever.

Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mKbZJbGdUQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umuP8y2o3o...ED2&index=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3pcl-67I00

Thanks brothaman.

The "edge" is what I was talking about. The fact that dancers know how to move their feet and body is a huge advantage for a freehander. I started off with my hands, got good with them, and then moved on to my feet.

Thanks for the links. I've been looking at a lot of dance videos on you tube, and getting the techniques down. I don't have anyone around me that dances. I don't even know where to find a dance crew in Arizona man, lol. I've never seen one before.

I know what I want to do with my legs; I do what I want to do with my legs. I just want them tweaked better and have more fluidity. I've been practicing the "being lite on your feet" concept a lot, and that's leveled me up tramendously.

All I can do is practice, practice, practice!

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

-ono

what bout combining melbourne shuffle with freehand...?
sounds pretty cool to me.hehe...do u think it'll look nice?

thats wat i do. especially when transitioning to new songs. its kinda hard though, but throws it up, as in you're doing something quite different. but to have them combined together, all you can really do is a soft shuffle, b/c a harder shuffle or running man would look weird lol. gl.
=D

I can't say that I have any set foot work. I just let my feet flow with whatever music I'm sticking to. Sometimes I move around, and sometimes I don't. I don't really have a style.

Also-it depends on the type of dance previously studied... I studied ballet for years and it has nothing to do with freehanding. I dont do much for footwork-just mostly move in circles and what not...

melbourne shuffling-- maybe. in certain cases.

it's good to have a broad interest in dancing in general-- it improves all kinds of dancing, not just freehand dancing.

where do you think tutting in glowsticking came from?

i don't see how ballet could hurt.. if anything having training in knowing how to move gives you a step-up! =)

Eh I really don't think shuffling would be all that effective if you incorporated it with freehanding....maybe I just haven't seen the right person do it. Because you have something fluid and in some sense calm and then you throw something intense (even an old school shuffle is somewhat intense) and it kinda breaks both flow

Ballet has everything to do with freehanding; you know how to move graciously. That's one step up from me.

This! A year or so ago I decided I wanted to learn how to dance better and that's how it started. Then I just spent a ton of time in my room, turned up the music, and practiced in front of a mirror. For me, dancing has always been ever-evolving and I don't think I could ever get to a point where I thought that I didn't need to practice as much. If anything, I'm probably standing in front of the mirror a lot more now. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

As for footwork... I don't have any particular set that I do. I just like to keep everything moving and most of my practice goes into learning how my body is suppose to feel when it's syncronized with everything else.

I've never tried to get anything down too much...but I'll try to think about Martial Arts Ki moments and Some Kung Fu feet movements when I freehand. lol...sounds Corney but it works for me.

It's not corney - that's good.

Shuffling's definetly a bit hard to combine with freehand, and also jumpstyle. I have the opposite problem, my legs are ok, but my arms suck... It's just practicing, and well, combinining it afterwards, in the meantime just practice them separately, then combine them. C-walking and liquid might be best, but combining all type of dances can help.

I would never be caught jump styling.

Definitely not corny...for awhile I was trying to integrate Dragon Walks which is vaguely similar to gliding...

I would personally like to see more gliding done with freehanding. I think that shit can look so sick especially if your glides are really clean looking.

Shit, I remember at last year's meetup you did the front splits and then traced your legs. That was some hardcore shit right there. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sm_bigeek.gif)

My footwork sucks too. I been playing around with it a little more, trying to do a little glide right before I go into a leg trace, but it needs more work. I think it would be cool to see someone do an over the head helicopter and glide at the same time. If I ever met someone who could glide well, I would teach them the heli. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin2.gif)