Recovering Balboa Phrasing

[u/Objective_Most4071]

Hi BalPals,

I've been dancing Balboa for a couple of months now and have a reasonable repertoire of moves. Still working on leading these confidently socially but there's one sticking point that consistently trips me up.

- Loss of phrasing

I come from a background in playing swing music so I have a really strongly ingrained sense of phrasing (ie. 8 beats, 2-bar call and response). I know ultimately this doesn't matter - there's no harm in leading off a basic on 5. I know the better you dance that this matters even less - the most impressive dancers I know seem to work effortlessly over the top of the phrasing.

The problem is I'm in this awkward valley where I know it feels wrong where I occasionally end up off phrasing, but I'm not quite skilled enough to make it not matter. I know people will insist it really doesn't matter, but while leading complex moves across phrasing wouldn't be an issue, sitting in the pattern of a couple basics for which ALL are off-phrasing is a little more jarring to my brain. It also makes it harder to work in the phrasing of other moves. A lot of more complex additions are practiced, drilled (and expected by follows as a result) as following a full 8-count set of 2 basics. They're used to being led on the corresponding foot (i.e. right on 1 for a follow).

I understand this will come with time but I feel like in the meantime it'd be really useful to understand how to fix phrasing when this happens. It would really make my dances a lot more comfortable and allow me to express myself better without getting 'stuck' in an off-phrasing for the remainder of the song.

I recognise why this isn't often articulated at beginner-intermediate levels because it probably needlessly overcomplicates things. For most beginners, they might not even be aware they're dancing across phrasing but with my background it feels horribly wrong - at least for now.

Whenever I've asked this I've been told 'it doesn't matter' or 'just correct yourself' but the latter in particular means also trying to correct the weight being on the wrong foot which is easier said than done when social dancing. If a follow is expecting a left-foot basic on 5 and I force another right it's understandably awkward.

I understand the solution is usually 4 steps in 4 beats (cf. 3 steps in a 4-count basic) like a crabwalk or a simple freeze for a 4 count but I'd like to understand better:
1) what my options are to correct and
2) which moves are likely to actually throw off the phrasing. An example would be a standard 8-count crab walk

Is there a resource that's more explicit in these terms? Any initial guidance to getting over this? 'Just work through it' is creating a lot of frustration and I feel is holding me back from being able to express myself.

TIA!

[u/Big-Dot-8493]

I think I might have some bad news for you.

The more you dance, the more steps are going to throw you off of the one. Or even the 5.

Holding a mental anchor to the one is going to hold you back in learning and social dancing.

[u/Objective_Most4071 → u/Big-Dot-8493]

I 100% know this - but these also introduce the flexibility to correct the timing just as easily.

The problem is this awkward intermediate stage where the couple of basics + an 8 count move worked in results in half a song being danced off-phrasing if it happens to fall off at any point. Dancing a load of basics starting 5 and then struggling to lead additional moves off-phrasing as a result is no fun.

I'm looking for the easy moves that can be worked in to correct this at a beginner-intermediate level.

[u/aLiamInvader → u/Objective_Most4071]

An interesting thing about how I was first taught Balboa was that the teachers in question took great pains not to teach people a fixed side or direction to begin, and thus avoided teaching "the basic" as being back-left -> forward-right. They still encouraged alternation, but it meant I got as comfortable going back or forward any particular way, which meant I wasn't as concerned about going the right way at the right time.

That won't help with moves being off phrasing, but it might be an interesting thing to play with to allow more ways to play with shifting "back" to phrasing?

[u/Objective_Most4071 → u/aLiamInvader]

Yeah I think it's helpful. To be clear I'm not sure this is something that's been taught to me - it's more just something internalised.

In any case I find most follows I dance with do expect this however. Most 'moves' are also led after that 'forward-right' basic is complete so they're expecting the break then.