{{About, the ballroom dance technique, , Rise and Fall (disambiguation){{!Rise and Fall, Rise and Fall Rises and falls is a category of the ballroom dance technique that refers to rises and falls of the body of a dancer achieved through actions of knees and feet (

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

s). This technique is primarily recognized in International Standard and

American Smooth This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those. This glossary lists terms used in various types of ballroom partner dances, leaving out terms of highly ...

dance categories. Rises and falls are important in

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

, foxtrot, quickstep, and

Viennese waltz Viennese waltz (german: Wiener Walzer) is a genre of ballroom dance. At least four different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in b ...

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

is described the "level" or "flat" dance, and its basic technique specifically eliminates rises/falls in the overall motion, with the exception of certain advanced figures and styles. The expression "rises and falls of the body" is a rather vague one, and in attempts to be more precise some texts refer to

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...

, rather than body. This may also be misleading if taken out of context: the center of gravity may be lowered, e.g., by bends and sways. In addition, a certain amount of body rise and fall may be achieved by hip action, used in

Latin dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America. The category of Latin dances in the international dancesport competi ...

, but absolutely proscribed in Standard and Smooth. Rises and falls of the body is a natural phenomenon during casual walking: when feet are apart the body is closer to the ground than when the feet are together. Some dances, e.g., Charleston, exaggerate this natural "bobbing", while in many others bobbing at each step is considered to be bad style or lack of proper technique.

Actions

''Foot rise'' refers to the rising of the body by pushing up onto the balls of the

feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

through the flexing of the ankles. ''Body rise'' sometimes refers to the rise without foot/ankle action, therefore the meaning of the expression should be understood from the context. ''No foot rise'': In descriptions of the footwork of step patterns it is abbreviated as ''NFR'' and means that the heel of the support foot remains in contact with the floor until the weight is transferred onto the other foot. Most often this description is applied to a step backwards in turning figures when the person is on the inside of the turn. ''Falls'', i.e., returns from the position of rise, are often separated into three actions. *''Lowering'' refers to returning to the normal position of flat feet and "soft" i.e., lightly flexed knees. *''Compression'' refers to further lowering through the bending of the knees in preparation of pushing off the foot into the next step. It is not to be confused with "compression", which refers to hip action in

Latin dances Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America. The category of Latin dances in the international dancesport competi ...

. The term "compression" is used to emphasize the fact that this lowering is not simply "dropping down", but rather the straining of the leg muscles (in an analogy with the compression of a spring) simultaneously with going down. This serves both smooth arrival onto the next support foot and preparation of the next step.

References

List of partner dance books Listed below are books that describe the techniques of various partner dances. Ballroom dancing Basic books for the International Style * Alex Moore: **''The Ballroom Technique'' **''Ballroom Dancing'', an elaboration on the above book (9th Edit ...

Ballroom dance technique

Actions

See also

References