3 years ago

When to do shines?

1) You can break apart for a shine whenever, but paying attention to the music - shows your musicality skills and that’s one mark of becoming a better dance
2) Usually a good time to do shines is when the lyrics/vocals stop during the bridge of the song. This can be indicated by particularly interesting instrumentation or solos where you can really hear drums doing something unusual, for example.
3) Sometimes you can shadow your partner and mimic the shine they are doing, or you can do your own thing. A shine is an opportunity for you to show off on the dance floor, Leads or follows. The best part of dancing is when the dancers play off each other. You add your own little flavor into a technique/lead, or a body movement or expression. Your follow does some nice styling, or adds some spice of their own.

For my leads: There are some follows that are a bit dangerous to dance with - they turn themselves randomly, they're forcefully offbeat, they hold onto your hand tightly, and many other examples. In these rare instances, you can throw in some extra shines, and just smile for large portions of the song with them.

As a final Note / A word of Caution: You must tailor your shines to the level of your partner.
Some follows LOVE to shine, so give them more shine time than others. Some follows will look absolutely terrified and just repeat their basic step if you leave them alone for too long. In that case do partnerwork with them instead.

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