My winter break in Brazil wouldn’t be complete without me turning into a student and learning some new stuff, and my focus has now become Skate Dance. Rio based ICP instructor Erika Cordeiro has been my teacher in this field for over a year now and I continued my learning with hours and hours of private dance classes, either in a dance studio or outdoors on Rio’s streets and rinks. Last year everything was new and this year I was more clear about what I wanted to learn and what I needed to practice.

Each class involved Erika showing me a new dance step or part of a routine and me copying it, trying it out over and over and then writing notes about it so I wouldn’t forget it when I got home. You can see my note book and pen still in my hands in some of the videos included here. I used these notes when I was practicing to make sure I didn’t skip anything, and I noticed my tendency to only practice the steps I liked (and could do more easily), naturally avoiding the harder, more complicated ones. The videos are mainly for my own reference so that I have a visual reminder of each step to go with the notes. This is particularly important when the dance step involves hitting the off beat, which in Brazil is where everyone dances (and is the basis of samba) but for us Europeans can feel slightly ‘off’ and not obvious. It’s interesting to watch Brazilians when they are listening or dancing to music; they do not clap on the beat as we would, they always clap off the beat (counter time).

Whenever Erika and I skate together, we attract a lot of attention from passers by as we look pretty coordinated (once I’d got it) and I think skate dance is beautiful to watch when more than 1 person is doing the same steps. We went through each move one by one and then tried to link them together to make a sequence which got longer and longer and then got repeated. This sequence and others like it will form the basis of my dance courses this year.

For details of my upcoming spring dance courses (beginner and next level up) check out the dance page and also don’t miss the opportunity to skate and learn from Erika herself, who will be coming to the UK on 19^th and 20^th June for a whole weekend of workshops. She is a really dynamic and fun teacher and knows her stuff. She can move her body in ways I can only dream about. However, as I am always encouraging my students, practice makes perfect!