Further Practices

1. Rotating partnership clockwise
The previous sections portray the partnership as remaining oriented in a fixed direction. The reality is quite different, where partnerships tend to rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise during the course of a dance. Net changes in partnership orientation can be achieved with the fence steps by altering the size of the forward step relative to the backward one.

For example: a partnership can be made to rotate clockwise by the lead taking larger steps forward than backward; and follower taking larger steps backward than forward. Anti-clockwise rotations can also be achieved in a similar fashion but only to a lesser extent, since the forward step size of the follower is limited by the partnership offset.
 

2. Substitute replace with a step
With reference to the fence step: changing a replace to a step simply requires the addition of a foot placement. Then vary your fence step's:

1. foot position - think of using compass points i.e. north, east, south-west;
2. orientation - toes pointing forward, outward or inward; and
3. size.

Understand how these variables affect your entire orientation in the basic step. You should practice this solo, then as a lead in a partnership.
 

3. Symmetrical movement: merengue walks
A derivative of practice 2 (above) first introduced in Lower Body Action: Extras. Replaces are substituted with forward and backward steps. Remember that the walks can occur along curved lines as well as straight ones.
 

4. Lowering dance height
Lower your hips closer to the floor (a.k.a. lower your seat) by two centimetres, and then perform the basic step. Notice how it stops your stick knee from straightening; and increases the potential size of your fence step. Alternatively you can elect to keep your fence step small, and not straighten your leg.

Hip action generated in this practice is derived differently from that detailed in the Lower Body Action. Weight transfer is only partially complete on the fence steps, and delivered at an angle less than perpendicular to the floor. Knees are flexed, so the action is achieved less through joint compression and muscle relaxation. Instead, timing of the cradle-like swing of the hips becomes more important.

You can make the exercise more challenging by lowering your seat even further, but be mindful of the amount of strain you place on your knees - particularly that of your stick leg.
 

5. Lowering dance height, without foot placement
Lower your seat by flexing your knees, and execute the hip action (from the practice above) while keeping your feet on the spot. You should find your hips swinging like a door on the horizontal plane, and like a cradle on the vertical plane.

Learning tip: perform practice 4, imagining that your feet are glued to the floor.

This exercise is good for isolating hip movement. Vary this exercise by altering your dance height, and by picking your feet up and putting them down again (on the same spot) prior to each weight transfer.