Samba
I have always wanted to be able to dance Samba. I finally decided that it was too difficult a dance to learn on my own and took my first private lesson in Samba with Barry Johnson at the Melbourne Ballroom last month on May 25, 2016.
I was very pleased with the lesson as Barry managed to cover the full routine. It helped tremendously that I had previously taken an advanced group Samba class and already knew many of the steps involved.
The most difficult step in the group class was the Closed Roks with turns. It took 2 classes before we managed to dance the step!!
Lance Sexton was the instructor who decided to up the ante and upgraded the Closed and Open Roks with outside and inside turns. The difficulty was in maintaining one's balance in executing the turns while dancing the Roks. We had a repeat lesson the following week before we could dance the figure.
I learned how to dance the Closed Roks from Lance Sexton. It was easy compared to what followed ... the outside and inside turns.
I had my very first taste of Samba back on October 23, 2013 when I asked Primo Garcia to show me during the last 15 minutes of my private lesson how to do a couple of basic steps. He showed me how to do the Whisks, Boto Fogos and Voltas.