How to Do Different Breaks | Bachata Dance

Edwin: Different breaks in bachata, so in bachata we had the tap, but there's a lot of other breaks that you can explore. We're going to teach you a couple of them. The first one we're going to talk about is the bachata heel break. So we're going to put out our heels, on the fours and the eights. Five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. The idea behind the heel is to make sure that your heel is nice and sharp on that break, just as if you were doing a tap.

Daniela: And ladies, make sure when you do your heel tap forward, you have your legs closed. We don't want to do one, two, three, heel, okay? It's right in front of you.

Edwin: Now for the next break, this one is a tap in the back. We're going to use the toe to either tap across or behind. We're going to show you different ways, so make sure you that you explore however you feel more comfortable. Five, six, seven and one, two, three, tap, five, six, seven, tap.

One, two, three, tap, five, six, seven, tap. One, two, three, tap. Five, six, seven, tap. That's going to be the tap behind. Remember you can put it right behind you or you can send it across, depending on how you feel. Make sure you do it with confidence and smooth. The next break is going to be the scoop. The scoop is going to be picking up your foot. Gentlemen, what we're going to do is just lift it up, like this.

Daniela: And ladies, we're going to scoop up, so as soon as your toe hits the floor that's when you bring it up. Make sure you don't kick it out.

Edwin: Let's try it. Five, six, seven, eight and one, two, three, up, five, six, seven, up. One, two, three, up. Five, six, seven, up and one, two, three, up. Five, six, seven, up. Now for those of you who are interested in getting better as performers, make sure that you always point your feet down. If you keep your feet like this, of course it's an option, but make sure that if you want to develop good habits, always point your feet down.

Now we're going to do the last one, which is the shuffle behind. This one is a little bit more complicated, so I want you to pay attention slowly. Five, six, seven, eight and one, two, three shuffle, five, six, seven, shuffle one, two, three, shuffle five, six, seven and shuffle.

So what's happening here is we're going to take three steps one, two and three. On the fourth step we're going to quickly alternate our feet, right/left, and then continue to the right for five, six, seven. And do the same thing on the other side, left/right. Let's try it a little bit faster. Five, six, seven, eight and one, two, three shuffle. Five, six, seven, one, two, three shuffle, five, six, seven shuffle one.

Now let's demonstrate all these breaks with music, so here we have the heel, then we have the tap behind and remember, you can cross it behind or send it straight back, depending on your choice. The next one is the scoop and gentlemen, of course you can scoop as well, gentlemen. But for us it's more natural to just bring the knee up. And the last one is the shuffle behind. Shuffle, one and those are your bachata breaks.