Roots Archives Forum

Whenever I am in a reggae dance, I listen hard to the bass line and pick up on that for the tempo for my dance moves. And when I see friends struggling to catch the correct tempo for the dance moves, I get them to zone in on the bass. And suddenly, they can dance to the reggae beat.

Anyone else have a dancing tip to share?

Good tip! Dancing to the bass good,dancing to the high hat,not so good!:D

The funniest is seeing people dancing to the guitar/keyboard skank (up beat).

U know, in the movie Rockers, when Horsemouth dances at the take-over in the club, it is about 1:06;30, I love that part!

Survival wrote:U know, in the movie Rockers, when Horsemouth dances at the take-over in the club, it is about 1:06;30, I love that part!

hahah! yes i

have you noticed that all of them in the movie when they walk they step to the reggae beat

Its the bass and the riddim that gets my feet moving.I see a dance as a fittnest training session.At the start the dance floor is empty and the wall huggers are scared to go on the empty dance floor. The sound then drops a real steppers tune, right im off in my training,shakas droped the tune the dance has started, then the wall huggers aint so scared cos now theres a few people of the dance floor, and then simi circles form.
Later on when the dance is ram with over 1000 people it gets a bit crowded at the front, right im going to have to do some lightfoot heavy stepping and through that i need more space, so the crowd is slowly moved back 10 feet by the end of the tune,(which they have just noticed)and later on i might be called into action again to make some more space at the front.Im quite a little short man and can be 4 foot or 7 foot shanking when the real steppers get going, lets hope they got a high ceiling cos if not were going to bang our heads on the ceiling.
I also have slower dance moves to have a rest ready for the next roots killer to go off stepping again.by the end you feel you have run 20 miles.
peace spelling

I always wanted to know how to dance the different classic reggae dances as water pumping, shoulder move, rocking dolly, cool & deadly and so forth.

Someone should really create a video with a guide on how to do it and post it on youtube.

Stepping Razor sounds like the man for the challenge.

@ Kalcidis; What a cool idea. Anyone know how to do the dances?

@ Steppah: You and me separated at birth maybe? I am exactly the same in the dance. I treat it like a fitness session too. I even have a special pair of trainers bought special for the dance. With sucker grip souls to stop slip on the spilt drinks on the dancefloor. I have been used by many bands as a ice breaker because I am usually the first man on the dance floor. I don't need no alcohol to let loose, no inhibitions to start with so no need to lose them! And I love to do that high stepping dance, kinda reggae-pogo-jogging and thing.

@ Greg: When me walk with my music player in my ears I try to do that totally-loose-no-bones-connected-style walk they do so well in Rockers. I must look a right idiot walking through Lincoln streets with a reggae bounce in me heels!

@Reggae Rhythm Update and donstrumental: Yes, you are both so right. I see the novice in the dancehall trying to dance to the wrong instrument, very funny. But you can use the bass drum to catch the tempo in some styles.

@ All. Big up the RA massive! I never really expected a single reply to this topic! Thanks!

kalcidis wrote:I always wanted to know how to dance the different classic reggae dances as water pumping, shoulder move, rocking dolly, cool & deadly and so forth.

Yeah! I remember doing what we called "water pumpy" back in the early-mid 80's. Erm, there's no way I'll be making a YouTube clip of it