How to Nightclub two step for dance exercise cooldowns

I just made a video http://youtu.be/jOyJXwcm6qg1for how to do the steps I usually do for Nightclub two step routines.  Nightclub two step can be done to a number of slow popular music songs.  In my class, we have used this rhythm for Beyonce's Halo, Demi Lovato's Heart Attack (See my routine at http://youtu.be/0WuqcFtNMj8) and even Cosmic Dancer from Billy Elliot!  It's a partner dance, but I have adjusted it so we can dance it by ourselves in a dance exercise class.

The timing is quick quick slow (QQS).  Each quick is 1 count.  Each slow is 2 counts.  So, this dance style can be used for many slow 8 count songs.  Lady in Red comes to mind!

On the basic step, make a big side step on the slow.  Push off with your launching foot.  The step should feel smooth, not bouncy up and down.  You head should stay on one level!  You can use your hips a little or not at all, but not as much as you would for a Latin dance.  The two quicks of the basic step are 1) small step diagonally back and 2) replace weight on other foot.  Then the slow is a big side step wth the same foot you used in #1.

You can do 3 basic steps and turn.  The turn will consist of 3 steps done to the QQS rhythm.  Students often make the 3rd step too fast and get off time with the music.  You can keep repeating 3 basic steps (RLR, LRL, RLR) and turn (LRL).   Or you can do 2 basic steps and a turn.  Each time you will start your basic step on a different side and turn in the opposite direction.

You can do a side travel step.  QQS.  1= side step to right.  2= left foot crosses in front of right. 3= right foot steps to right.   Repeat on the other side or alternate with basic steps.

You can add a grapevine, or four quick steps, in between sets of basics.

You can pivot turn.  You can pivot turn 90 degrees between each side travel step.  If you are side traveling to the right, pivot counterclockwise on step 3 of the side travel.   You can also pivot 180 and feel like you're flying!  I like to do 3 basics (RLR, LRL, RLR) and pivot counterclockwise on my right foot 180 degrees and then side travel to the left.  Keep repeating!  Fun!

Please watch the video!

Zumba and Yoga

I love to do a little Yoga right after Zumba.  Your muscles are warm and it's the best time to stretch and relax.  Once a week I go to a wonderful 60 minute Iyengar Yoga class that happens to be right after a Zumba class that I teach and in the same building!  Score!  I'm in love with the teacher.  She relaxes me and constantly makes me aware of my body alignment.  Even if I already know the concept, she describes it with such articulate description that I begin to think about it differently.  From her, I learn new ways to describe stretches to my students.

I always walk into Iyengar Yoga about 5 minutes early so that I can roll out my legs on the foam roller.     
When I first started rolling, the sides of legs pressing down on the roller literally made me scream in pain.  My teacher, however, said that the more it hurts, the more you need to roll.  So I kept rolling, and now it's not so painful anymore.  The t band is something most people don't stretch very well, so it can become quite tense.  Rolling is doing wonders for my t band.  Rolling is also great for you back.  In fact, you can massage your whole body with the roller.

As for Yoga on a regular basis, 20 minutes of Yoga would be ideal for me.  But since I teach a 60 minute Zumba class, I make the last 5 minutes all about stretches, including many yoga stretches, such as downward dog, happy baby, cow face pose, bound angle pose, half lord of the fishes pose, lotus pose, child's pose, extended puppy pose, and various forward bends.

Today I went to a 30 minute meditation followed by a 90 minute Vinyasa yoga class.  During the 30 minute meditation, the teacher asked us to open our hearts and clear our minds.  She told us that if anyone asked us a question at that moment, we would respond with our hearts rather than our minds.  We were to be present to the moment.

While I was supposed to be having such honest, tailored thoughts, here is what went through my mind.  "I'll open my eyes and see if anyone else is opening theirs.  Yes, the girl in the back has her eyes open the whole time.  Oh look at this crud between my toe nails.  Let's see - clear my mind of any unpleasant thoughts-  immediately my worst experiences and nightmares come to mind and I replay them in my head.  Why is my brand new yoga mat so sticky?  If I move, everyone will hear me unstick.  what- is that a new frown mark above my nose?  I wonder what I should make for lunch- do I need to buy anything on the way home?  Listen to this teacher's Russian accent.  Her butt is so perfect.

Yes, I'm a fast moving person, with little patience for meditation.  That's why there's Zumba!  Still, as a teacher it's important to challenge myself and visit other classes where more serious yoga practitioners are thriving.  Their dedication, flexibility, passion and concentration are my motivation.  Hopefully, with each yoga class, I can pick up a move or a way to describe a move that I can incorporate into my Zumba stretch.  Attending these classes also turns me into a student.  I'm no longer the best in the room; I learn to feel silly and humiliated and understand how my students must feel.  I go to better myself and challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone.

Find what it is that can enhance your performance and embrace it.  Step outside of your comfort zone and learn something new.

How to Dance Merengue for dance exercise

See the demo video   Here are some of the common steps I do during merengue routines:

Basic March Step:  March in place, but instead of thinking about lifting up your knee, as you would during a regular non-dancing march, concentrate on what your opposite foot is doing- the one that is down.  Really press that foot into the floor- so much that the hip on that sides pops up. Your opposite knee still comes up, but it's not your primary focus.  As your opposite knee comes up, the heel of the same foot always comes off the floor.  The ball of the foot keeps contact with the floor.  Just the heel rises.  The more you can make it rise, the better.  It gives you the look of high arches, which is the goal.  Imagine you're dancing with high heels.

Adding a Twist to the Basic Step:  Combine a hip twist with the basic march in place.  In a hip twist, your hips rotate around your spine.  As you put weight on your left foot, your right hip comes forward and twists to the left.  Squeeze your inner thighs together here.  As you put weight on our right foot, your left hip comes forward and twists to the right.  Squeeze.  Repeat.

Basic Side Step:  Move your right foot to the right on 1.  Move your left next to your right foot on 2. Repeat.
Use your hips to do these steps:  The reason your right foot moves to the right is because your left hip bumps up, causing your rib cage and body weight to shift to the right and push the right foot out of the way.  Then when your left foot meets your right foot on 2, your body position returns to neutral.

Basic Side Step with figure 8:  A figure 8 movement can also be used on the basic side step.  The left side of the figure 8 happens when you step to the right.  The right side happens when you bring your feet together.  Repeat the same on the other side.

Basic Side Step with hip circle:  Make counterclockwise hip circles as your travel to the right.  When your right foot move right, your hips travel left.  As your left foot closes in next to your right foot, do the backwards part of the hip circle.  Do the front part of the hip circle (hips moving left) as you step right again.
Do the opposite when you travel to the left.

Turning Basic Side Step with hip circle:  As you are stepping to the right you can turn around in circles to your left or counterclockwise.  Step, turn and do hip circles simultaneously.  When side stepping to the left, turn right or clockwise.

Turning Basic Side Step with hip circle and shimmy:  Now add a hip shimmy.  It is easier if you only shimmy on 2, as you're bringing your feet together.  It's easier to shimmy the hip of the foot that is up in the air.

3 Step or "side together side together":    Think:  Right, replace, together, Left, replace, together.  123,456  1 is a basic side step to the right, 2 is a basic side step to the left, on 3 the right foot moves left until it meets the left foot.  4 is a basic side step to the left.  5 is a basic side step to the right.  On 6, the left foot moves right till it meets the right foot.  Repeat.

Crossing 3 Step:  Do the same as the 3 Step, but cross your feet on 3 and 6.  Right, replace, cross in front.  Left, replace, cross in front.  Instead of bringing your feet together, one crosses in front of the other.  You can also do a crossing 3 step by crossing behind.  Right, replace, cross in back.  Left, replace, cross in back.  This step can be done to a few different rhythms:  1) Quick Quick Slow, Quick Quick slow:  The cross happens on slow.  2) 6 Quicks:  This will be very fast.  For either rhythm, you can use a basic side step or a basic step with a twist.  If you twist:
on 1) hip twist to left as your right foot steps to right
on 2) hip twist to left as your step back on your left foot
on 3) hip twist to left as your right foot crosses in front
Repeat the opposite on the other side.

Bouncy Side together Side together with figure 8:  1) Basic side step to the right with figure 8 pushoff.  2) Basic side step to the left with figure 8 pushoff.  3) Right foot closes in to left foot.  body becomes neutral.  Same on other side.  This will be fast.  To make it bouncy, push off you right foot at the end of 1 and push off your left foot and the end of 4.

Pony:  Start with the basic marching step. Add a vertical hip circle.  You reach the bottom of the circle on 1 and the top of the circle on 2.   Bend your knees to get lower on 1 and raise your heels to get higher on 2.  Absorb the rise and fall into your abs so that your upper body is not out of control and remains fairly steady.

Mambo Chasse:  I rarely see students have trouble with this one!  You can step on the mambo or do pelvis thrusts or hip bumps or many other creative moves.  Think of the chasse as a cha cha step.  The count goes
1, 2 = mambo (right foot forward, left foot in place)
3+4= chasse (side step, together, side step)(to the right)
1,2 = mambo on other side (left foot forward, right foot in place)
3+4= chasses (to the left)
On the chasse, you can either skip and not use your hips, and travel a lot OR you can quickly bump your  hips on each of the 3 steps and travel less.  Try both for variation.

Which Zumba teacher do you like better?

Everyone is always talking about which Zumba teachers are good.  Which ones are good depends on what you are looking for.  Just because your best friend likes one, doesn't mean you will like the same one.  What I've noticed is that students don't realize why they like one teacher more than another.  They'll say they get a better workout from one, or one is more fun, but they can't exactly pinpoint what the difference is.

Some positive teacher attributes are obvious.  This teacher cues really clearly.  She always points which way she's going to go next or shows with her fingers how many steps we have left.  She even uses her eyes and her facial expressions to cue.

She smiles and yells out crazy motivational pep talk the whole class.  She gets us going in a conga line or divides the room into a battle; she's just fun!

Some teachers are the mother hen.  They make it around to everyone in class and memorize all the names and know something about each student and call out their names and encourage them.

Many teachers have lost their reputation because of where their eyes are pointing.  "That teacher always faces us.  She's too hard to follow; I wish she'd just face the mirror."  I can't tell you how many times I've heard that.  For us teachers it's hard to absorb because at Zumba certification we learned we're supposed to face our participants.

I've also heard, "She's so stuck up.  She's always staring at herself in the mirror.  She doesn't look at her students; she doesn't even notice that we can't follow her."

Before I started teaching, I went to a class with a very friendly, energetic, enthusiastic teacher.  She did very easy, repetitive choreography, so it was super easy to follow her class, too easy for me.  But she could move her body well and was fun to imitate.  But I went to her class three times, and each time she picked me out and asked me to come to the front and dance.  As a student, I had mixed feelings.  Of course, it was a compliment.  She liked my dancing and wanted me to serve as an example.  But I wasn't a teacher yet, so I didn't have that "let me teach the class myself" attitude yet.  I just wanted to be the student and observe and learn; I didn't want to be a role model.

Some students don't want to be in a battle or in the middle of a circle and feeling the pressure of having to come up with a cool move.  Some students don't want to be put in the front of the class for everyone to watch.  They just want to melt into the class without too much attention on them.

Here's the main reason that I think students like or don't like a teacher, even if I've never heard a student say this herself:  You'll like the teacher who feels the music the same way you feel or want to feel the music.

I'm a teacher, so when I take another teacher's class, I always think "What would I do to this part of the music if I were teaching?"  Sometimes I think, "Well I definitely wouldn't do this."  Then I'm wishing I were up front and taking over the class at the moment.  Other times I think, "wow I do this same song in my class but I use different moves, but this teacher's moves are fun and go with the music too."  Maybe I picked a move that went with the lyrics, but she is picking a move that goes with the rhythm or a particular instrument in the background.  Other times I think, "wow, I've never used this song, but I'm really getting into this and the moves the teacher has selected for this song just make the song feel so right.  I feel like I'm part of the music!"

As a Zumba teacher who sometimes plays the role of a Zumba student, that's what I love the most about being a student.   It's that moment in the middle of class when you say to yourself, "Wow!  I'm feeling the music and I'm so into this.  This move is so fun and goes with the music so well!  I am the music!"  When I'm teaching, that's my goal all the time.  I have control over the choreography.  I'm trying to make my students feel the music too!

Some teachers mix their music to make each section longer so s/he can repeat the same move longer.  That makes the choreography easier to follow because there aren't as many cues and changes to pay attention to.  But it can also make the workout more boring for the same reason.  Some students want the routine that's easy to follow.  Others want a challenging routine with more changes and shorter sections.  You may not know what you want till you've tried several different classes!

Some teachers do more aerobic moves and less dancey moves.  There can be multiple explanations for this.  First, aerobic moves are easier to learn than dance moves.  They're designed to be easy.  Second,  aerobic moves can get your heart beating faster because you're more likely to do them correctly.  But doing dance moves with oomph can be so much more rewarding.

I've heard students say that they won't take a Zumba class from a teacher who doesn't look good.  If the teacher's body doesn't look fit, then why should that class be able to make the student fit?  These students need visual motivation.  "The teacher's body looks good; so maybe this will make me look good."

I've heard other students say that they like a teacher because she has a real body and she's not all skinny perfect.  Those students are thinking, "Hey, her body looks a lot like mine and she looks good doing all these moves, so I can learn to do that too."

I've had other teachers give me advice, "You need to build an image- do something to make students like you- wear lip gloss or makeup or style your hair a certain way."  Maybe that works for some teachers, and maybe some students are attracted to an instructor for non-dance or leadership reasons.  just lip gloss or hair style!  But I believe students come to me because they like my dance style, my choice of dance moves and my choice of songs, the fact that I change songs frequently, and the time, location and cost of my class.

Personally, when I was learning ballroom dance, my favorite teacher was the one whose body type was the closest to mine.  When I watched the teacher do the moves, I could more easily imagine what it was supposed to look like on me.  I'm a petite woman and 5'1".  It's a lot harder for me to imagine what a move should look like on me if I'm learning from a man or a tall, voluptuous woman.

One tall female student who came to my class once, asked me after class, if I knew any tall instructors.  I asked her why.  She said she thought that it would be easier for her to take a class from a tall instructor because "it's hard to move fast when you're tall."  She believed a tall instructor would do slower moves.  I explained to her that tall instructors would also use fast music and move fast.  Of course, she didn't believe me and still sought a tall instructor.  But I understood, what she really wanted, like me, was a body type she could identify with and imitate.

At the same time,  sometimes it's fun to take a lesson from an attractive person of the opposite sex.  Male Zumba teachers are extremely popular, and most of the participants are women!  My favorite hip hop teacher was a man.  My body couldn't imitate his exactly, but he was fun and entertaining to watch!  I can see how a woman whose husband doesn't dance would love to take Zumba with a male instructor.  A live man in front of you dancing and making eye contact with you!

Another student told me that she used to take class from a Zumba teacher who knew how to do all the moves but looked the same doing them all.  This student told me the teacher was so nice and friendly that everyone liked her anyway.  Now, it's hard for me to imagine a teacher who does all the moves but looks the same doing them all.  Perhaps she just did the same steps in cumbia and salsa and even in flamenco and merengue.  But I always listen to this type of input from my students because I'm trying to learn everyone's opinion about what makes a good Zumba teacher, so that I can become the best I can be.  If you have other ideas about why students favor one teacher over another, please share them in the comments!

How can I protect my knees while dancing?

Here are 10 tips for protecting your knees during dance:  See video at: http://youtu.be/1E96XUHlSCw

1) Reduce your body weight, so less weight will sit on top of your knees.  (easier to do if you can work out without hurting yourself!)
2) Don't wear really old workout shoes.  Shoes lose cushioning after a while.  Replace them!
3) During your warm up, be sure to bounce gently in your knees.  Don't totally straighten your legs and lock your knees.
4) Knee circles can strengthen knees and legs.  Start with your feet together.  Bend your knees till you're in a mild squat, keep your feet on the ground, and draw circles with your knees on a horizontal plane.  Try the same with your feet apart.  Do both directions.  Imagine you're circling a  hula hoop around your knees.  Include knee circles in your warmup, perhaps along with hip circles.
5) Many students tell me they can't do the hip rotator move that is common to hip hop or samba.  It looks like the knees are moving side to side rapidly.  But notice I called it a hip rotator movement.  Your knees are not moving at all; it's like an optical illusion.  It's all in the hip rotator.  The key is to align your knees with your toes.  Let your whole leg move as one unit, from hip rotator to toe, and the hip rotator does all the work.   Maintain muscle tone in your inner thigh to keep control over your leg so the knee stays aligned with the toes.  Also, if you press down into the floor with the ball of your foot, like you want to squish a cockroach, you will maintain pressure in your inner thigh and not let your knee flop around.  It's when you get lazy, do it sloppy, not put foot pressure into the floor and not engage your inner thighs, that you can lose control of your knee and let it wander and twist itself.  Always include a slow  hip rotator movement in your warmup and gradually pick up the speed.
6) If you want to do the chicken move, where your knees come apart and together again, make sure your feet are rocking side to side so that your knees stay in line with your feet.  If you attempt the chicken knees with feet flat on the floor, you will torque your knees and feel discomfort.
7) When doing lunges, don't let your knees go in front of your toes.  Even when you're taking giant steps forward, for example in ballroom waltz, don't let your knees pass your toes.
8) Absorb shock during landing steps.  After a jump or a hop or a big step, take up the landing in your knees by descending more after your foot touches the floor.  In other words, cushion your landing.  Don't let your foot noisily hit the floor: that would be crashing, not cushioning.  Crash landings are too much impact on your knees.  When you do knee raises and the knee is quickly coming up and the foot is quickly coming down and touching the floor again (common in Bollywood), don't think of it as stomping your foot.  Your thigh and abdominal muscles should be so engaged and tense that they stop your foot from crashing just as it's about to touch the floor.  If your muscles are stopping your foot, you shouldn't even hear your steps.  Now the impact on your knees is ever so subtle.
9) Don't jump till you feel really warmed up.  You may need to avoid jumping and stay low impact.  Or maybe you can half jump (let you heels leave the floor).  You can still have a lot of fun and get a great workout by staying low impact (keeping one foot on the floor at all times.)
10) If you have knee cartilage issues, try taking knox gelatin.  Mix it in your juice.  It's cheap and can strengthen your cartilage.
11) Use shoe gliders such as DanceSocks on your shoes if your are dancing on sticky floors.  Sticky floors will not let your twist freely and could injure your knees.

       

Maintaining Good Posture

Maintaining good posture will keep you from getting injured, ward off back pain and add many more years to your Zumba life.  Here is my back posture exercise:
Check out my video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSnRS1nCYg&list=UU2XDpjDVVmZyrrg3s9UADjg&index=1
Let's start with the head and work our way down. 

Head:  Don't slip into the habit of allowing a forward head position.  Most people need to slide their chin backward so their head is sitting on top of their spine.  You ears should be over your shoulder.  The back of your head should be lined up with the back of your heels.  Try standing agaist a wall and make the back of your head and your heels touch the wall at the same time.  And don't look down.  Look straight ahead!

Neck:  You want your neck to look long.  If you shoulders are hunched up, it will make your neck look short. 

Shoulders:  So press your  shoulders down.  Imagine someone is standing on your shoulders.  Or imagine you are holding heavy weights in your hands and it makes your shoulders fall down from gravity.  Many people store their stress and tension in their shoulders by hunching them up.  Avoid this.  Also, you need to roll your shoulders back so your chest is not hidden.

Chest:  Imagine a balloon is on your chest and lifting it up.  Now you can breathe better and fill your lungs with more oxygen.

Pelvis:  Tuck your pelvis in, so you are not standing with a swayback. 

Back: The small of your back, right above your butt, should be close to vertical.  This will make your butt look a little smaller and protect your lower back.  You also want to focus on the small of your back.  This section of your body is your power house.  If you place the palm of your hand on the small of your back, you should press your back against your hand, to fill up your hand.  Feel the energy coming out of the small of your back and filling up your hand.  This will keep anyone from pushing your forward.  It will help your balance.  It will help you be aware of where your body is in relation to the room and where your back is in relation to the body.  It is essential to partner dancing by creating a connection with your partner so you can lead and follow.  It will help you in other sports as well.  And it will ward off low back injury.

Abs:  Pull your belly button in toward your spine.  Then imagine how your abdominal muscles are divided into a right side and a left side.  Focus on curling the right and left sides toward the center.

Feet:  For general every day life, you want to be standing over your arches.  You want your weight even distributed through your foot.  Don't have all your weight on the balls of your feet.  If you do, your body will pitch forward.  You want your ears over shoulder, shoulder over hips, hips over knees, knees over arches of feet.  If you are Latin dancing however, you want to be pitched forward, with more weight on the balls of your feet; this dancing was designed with high heels in mind.

How to Tango for Zumba

     First off, my background and serious training is in ballroom tango.  I used to compete in international style ballroom dance.   I have also taken many social dance lessons in Argentine Tango.  I believe we can take the best that each tango has to offer and combine them for dance fitness.  The ballroom tango lends us the fitness aspect (large steps and pushing off with your legs) while the Argentine tango lends us some character and playfulness.

     Tango is written in 2/4 time, meaning there are 2 beats per measure and each quarter note equals one beat.  However, I count and cue in my classes in 8 count phrases because dance fitness students are used to counting in 8 count phrases.  That just means that I count the tango twice as fast.  When I count, one slow walk (S) gets 2 counts and a quick walk (Q) gets 1 count.  I put the slows and quicks in any combination that adds up to 8 beats.  It's easy to hear the 8 beat phrase in a tango song. 

     The character of Tango is about a man chasing a woman, but the woman isn't sure she needs to be caught.  So, there are stealthy, slow moments and quick, staccatto moments.  Imagine a cat stalking its pray; first, it quietly and stealthily moves in and then it suddenly attacks.  Video describing moves below: http://youtu.be/fGjGp2RC5OU

     Basic Ballroom Tango Walk

     Move your right foot stealthily forward on 1, but leave your left foot in place until 2, when you suddenly bring it to meet the right foot side by side.  Don't actually stop moving as the feet come together, but let them hover (barely stop) until your left foot stealthily goes forward on 3.  Then quickly bring in the right foot to meet the left on 4, and so on.  This can be done forward or backward.  These are the slows in tango.  The quicks don't have time for hovering and speeding up; they are just altogether quicker, more similar to how you would normally walk quickly.

     Now, to get more power and exercise out of these walks, try pushing off.  As your right foot is about to move forward on 1, you are actually rolling through your left foot and pushing off the ball of the left foot.  Then you can take a very large step forward on 1.  You will be engaging your thighs, calves and buttocks!

     A typical combination of slows and quicks in tango is S S Q Q S.  In a dance exercise class, you can do this forward for 8 and backward for 8; it will progress across the floor and take up room, but it will get everyone back to their original spots quickly.

   A sequence that would require less floor space is S Q Q hold (for 4) forward and S Q Q hold (for 4) backward.  For fun and variety, try hovering on the 4 count hold (by leaning slightly forward and then slight backward over the entire 4 counts).

     Add Ons to the Basic Ballroom Tango Walk

     After you do SQQ, instead of holding, you could do some optional add-ons that take up 4 counts.  If SQQ is right, left, right, then counts 5-8 could be two brushes to the left. (left foot slides left on 5, in on 6, left on 7 and together on 8). Then the left foot goes backward for SQQ, and the right foot slides to the right on 5 and 7.  You can do the same on the other side.

     Alternatively, you could flick on counts 5-8. SQQ, left flick, hold.  or SQQ, left flick twice. (One flick could be behind and one in front.  Be creative.)  When you flick your left foot, you are quickly lifting up your inner thigh and the inseam of your right foot, with staccato.

     You could even try some Argentine flavor by drawing a circle or figure 8 with your left toe instead of flicking.

     Basic Ballroom Tango Walk to the Side

     If moving to the right, face forward and push off the ball of your left foot on beat 1, until your left toe is pointed and you can push no farther, causing your body and right foot to simulataneously move to the right.  Keep your body weight over the weight of your right leg.  Then, on 2, bring your left foot in next to your right foot without moving your body.  Repeat.

     Crossing Feet While Moving Sideways

     Forward: Instead of bringing your feet together on 2, you could position your hips at an angle and let your 2nd foot cross and pass the 1st foot.  If you are traveling to the right and moving forward, let your left foot take a big step and cross far in front of your right foot.  Your inner thighs will brush together as your left foot passes your right.  Make sure the body above your waist continues to face forward, not angled to the right or completely turned right.  Only turn your hips diagonally to the right.

     Backward:  If you are traveling to the right and moving backward, angle your hips to the left. Instead of bringing your left foot next to your right foot on 2, let it pass behind your right foot, brushing your inner thighs together.

     Staccato Turn

     After a basic walk to the right on 1, with your feet still apart, you can change directions and go back to the left by making a staccato turn.  Keeping all your weight on the right foot, you will simultaneously turn your feet, knee, hip, chest and head diagonally to the left.  The turn will be rapid, sudden and staccato: all of a sudden.  You will usually turn on 1 and pause on 2.  The pause lends some drama after your sudden turn.

     Rock Step

     After you've taken a basic walk to the right, leave your feet far apart, but shift your body weight back over your left foot and then again over your right foot.  Repeat if desired.

     Combinations of the basic side walk

     1) An easy and common combination: Q Q Q Q
         Q: basic walk to the right
         Q: Bring feet together
         Q: basic walk to the right
         Q: Staccato turn to the left
         (Repeat on the other side.)

     2) The most classic combination is S S Q Q S: 
          S: basic walk to the right
          S: cross forward
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: Bring feet together
          S: basic walk to the right
          (Sometimes you can take your basic walk to the right and do a staccato turn at the same time- on the same beat.  Then you could do this combo on the other side and repeat it.)
      
      3) My commonly used side to side combo is S Q Q Q Q Q Q:
          S:  Cross backward- to the right
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: Cross forward
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: rock back
          Q: rock forward
          Q: rock back
           (Repeat on other side)

        4) An easy combo with fast timing variety is SSQ&QS
            S: big side step to right
            S: left foot closes together
            Q: side step to right
            &: left foot closes together
            Q: side step to right
            S: turn and transfer weight to right foot (both feet turn at same time to face diagonal left)
            (repeat on other side)

          5) Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q ( with crossing)
              1) Q: right foot crosses back
              2) Q: left foot steps to left side
              3) Q: right foot crosses front
              4) Q: left foot brushes to side (weight stays on right foot)
              5) Q: left foot crosses front.
              6) Q: right foot steps to right side
              7) Q: left foot crosses back
              8) Q: right foot brushes to side (weight stays on left foot)

                ( could scoop kick up and begin cross over on 4.  could raise right knee on 8.  same on opposite side.)