3 Basic Flamenco Footwork Techniques
Flamenco is such a captivating dance form. It is quite enthralling and enticing for any novice to begin a journey of learning it. There are many techniques involved in the learning process, and footwork is one of them. The footwork is a part dance with the upper body and part percussion with the feet. Most flamenco dancers use their feet to create percussive rhythmic patterns, mixing with the music created by the flamenco musicians. Look for flamenco dance classes to learn the basic flamenco footwork.
Digs
When doing the dig, the ball of the foot, “digs” into the floor. To do this, take a good backswing, and let your foot drop, so that the ball of your foot hits the floor with a thud. Note, you don’t need to put any force into this movement. Just be sure you let your leg be heavy so it drops with speed and weight. You’ll also find you get a better sound using this technique, than driving the foot into the floor.
Golpe
This is a kind of a stamp using the whole area of the foot on the floor. To do this, let your footfall into the floor as if you’re dropping a hammer. Remember not to lift your whole leg while stamping straight down. Just start in a backswing, so your foot moves forward into the stamp. Also, make sure your weight never strays off your standing leg, and your working heel strikes the floor right next to your other foot. Then, repeat the process with the other leg.
Tacón
This is also known as the heel and toe. In this footwork, the heel of the foot strikes the floor from the whole foot being lifted first or dropping with the planta, which is the ball of the foot, already being on the floor.
There are many other steps you can learn in flamenco dance classes. Look for a good dance teacher to help enhance your skills better.
