The Liquid Digest

Foundation Fridays #2: Footwork

This weekly feature will be dedicated to building a complete liquid dancer. 

The second foundational element of liquid that is most often ignored by beginners is footwork. Footwork is really how you can get from one place to another, and that movement allows for more variations in liquid paths. Footwork is crucial in using the space around you and being a dynamic dancer.

Up until recently, footwork hasn’t been addressed explicitly in liquid instruction. General handflow was taught, but the rest of the body was largely left up to the dancer. This was because of the innumerable approaches to liquid footwork (eg, popping, shuffle, house, martial arts). As well-intentioned as that may have been, it resulted in a large number of liquid dancers with great handflow but little to no footwork rather than a nice pool of creativity.

While I am currently trying to expand my footwork foundations, my comfort level is largely limited to popping footwork, so that is what I will be writing about today. If you would like to submit your own approach to footwork, please do so and I will be happy to publish it.

Popping footwork relies heavily on stylish walking, for lack of a better phrase, and heel-toe movements. The former can be practiced simultaneously with the posture drill. The latter can be broken down into the following categories for starters:

• Roman twist – pivot on both heels simultaneously, toes pointed in the same direction. Don’t grind your feet on the floor as you pivot; instead, try to shift your weight so that you are rolling along the edge of your foot.
• Romeo twist – pivot on one heel and one toe simultaneously and then switch, toes point in opposite directions. As with the Roman twist, don’t grind your feet, roll them.
• Egyptian twist – pivot on the balls of your feet, kicking one heel out sideways, and then bring it back while kicking the other heel out.
• Saccin – this is less about heel-toe pivots, but it is very useful when you want to look like you’re drifting from one spot to another. LPEric uses the technique well in his arcade clips.
• Glides – this is somewhat an extension of the Romeo twist aka floats. It’s a great illusion that fell out of favor among liquid dancers for no good reason.

Practice drills:

Dedicate one session per technique (eg, Roman twist on Monday, Romeo on Tuesday, etc.). Focus solely on form and staying on beat, while keeping good posture from Foundation Fridays #1.

Once the movements are second nature and you are able go in all directions, dedicate a session to transitioning between techniques (eg, Roman and Romeo on Monday, Romeo and Egyptian on Tuesday, etc.). With enough practice, you’ll be able to move to wherever you want to go and look good doing it without even thinking.