Beginner's Reel - Ottawa Valley Stepdancing

1. Introduction : Hi there. My name is Charlotte and I'm going to be teaching you how to stepdance. This is a comedian style of dance that originated in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario. It looks a lot like a combination between tap and Irish dance and is typically performed to celtic fiddle music. If you have dance experience, especially with tap, Irish, Highland were clogging, you'll probably be able to advance fairly quickly. Because of the similarities to stepdancing, however, this is a great place for anybody to start to help master basic terminology and technique. This set of videos we'll teach you the beginners reel. I also teach private lessons on Zoom if you're interested in personalized feedback or more customized routines. Now let's get started with our first class. 2. Terminology & Technique: So to start, I just wear regular tap shoes. Mine are from Capezio, but you can use any brand you'd like. You can even start off in running shoes before you commit to getting tap shoes. But it is a lot more fun when you can actually make the noises. And I'm just dancing on a piece of masonite that I got at the hardware store. But you can also use puckboard, You can dance on like a sheet of rubber if you don't want to be as loud. So the first piece of technique we're going to learn is called a shuffle. And a shuffle has three sounds. You're gonna start with picking up your foot. It doesn't matter which but and you're going to brush it forward, brush it back and step And so I'll show you that from this side as well. So you're going to pick up your foot, rushing forward, brought it back and step. And so all of these sounds, the two brushes in this step are all done with the ball of your foot only you don't want your heel to touch the ground, however, that is hard when you're doing it slowly, so it's fine to put your heels out of the need to balance. So again, from the side it's a brush and a brush and a step. So if you were to do that on your other foot, it would be a brush brush and a step. And I'll show you what to shop book look like from behind. So we usually start with our right foot. So you pick it up and you brush and you brush and you step and pick it up, and brush, brush, and step. And so the, normally the terminology I'll use when you're doing a shuffle is shuffle one, shuffle two, shuffle three. Some other pieces of terminology that you'll need to know. And we'll go over them again as I put them into steps. Some other things we're going to do is a heel. So that's when you pick up your foot, you lift from the knee and you put your heel down. And if I do it from this side, you put it in front of your other foot and you want to raise from your knee You don't want it to be like a pushing motion. You want it to be somewhat above. And then a toe is very similar, but you're just using the tip of your toe heel sometimes put it behind your other foot or just directly behind. And so from the side it looks like this. You want it to be behind your other foot. And then I want to differentiate between a step and a bang. So when we were doing the shop, poles at a step is on the ball of your foot and it's typically beside your other foot. Whereas a bang is with your whole foot. You want to put a lot of power behind it. Same thing with the heel. You want it to come from above and lift your knee. And you want to put energy into it. It's one of the loudest sound you make when you're stepdancing. The last thing I want to go over is a hop. Now, this is one of the most challenging parts of stepdancing. It's a very energetic style of dance. So it's very bouncy, got come off the ground quite a bit, especially with more complicated steps. So a hop is with one foot, you're going to jump off the ground and land. You want to try your best to stay on your toes. So when you're hopping that you can see, while I was hopping my field have not touched the ground from the back. It looks like this. So if I take a little while to get comfortable doing that, again, it is difficult to do slowly, so don't worry if while you're learning you have to put your heel down to balance. So that is all the basic terminology that you'll need to know. And I will go over it all again when we learn our first step. In the next video. 3. Step 1: So today we are going to be learning step one of the beginner's reel. So I'm going to turn around so that my right is the same as your right. All the steps that we're going to do start on the right foot, you're going to start with a shuffle, which is the three sounds. And it looks like this. It's a brush and a brush and a step. And then you're gonna do that on the other foot, a brush. And a brush and a step and pick it up and brush, brush, step. So you're gonna do three shuffles. And when you get faster, you'll want to be trying to stay on your toes as much as possible without letting your heels drop. And after the three shuffles, you're going to do two steps. So you're gonna step and step. And those are on your toes as well. Again, if you're having trouble balancing when it's slow, don't worry about putting your heels down. First part of this step looks like shuffle one shuffle two, shuffle three and step, step. And now in step dancing, we almost always repeat our right foot on our left foot. So we're going to do that again, but this time starting with the shuffle on our left foot. So you're going to pick up your left foot. Shuffle one, shuffle two shuffle three and step, step. So then when you put it all together, it's going to look like this. shuffle one, shuffle two, shuffle three. And step, step. Shuffle one, shuffle two, shuffle three and step step. So that all of step number one, and now I will show you what it looks like a little bit faster. So ready, 123, go: Shuffle one Shuffle two, shuffle three. Step, step. Shuffle one Shuffle two, Shuffle three step, step. Alright. And that is step number one. 4. Step 2: So today we are going to be learning step number two of the beginner's reel. So again, I'll turn around. So my right is the same as your right And this step is going to be very similar to the first step. We're going to also start with three shuffles. So let us give that a go. Ready, 123, go, shuffle one, shuffle two, shuffle three. But instead of doing step, step, we're gonna do two heels on your left. So we worked on our heels in the terminology lesson, that's the first lesson if you want to go look at that again, but we'll go over it again now. So you're gonna do a heel, you're gonna do two heels with your left foot in front of your right foot. So I'll do that to the side. It looks like heel heel. And again, you want to be lifting from your knee and not from behind. So let's try that again. So it's three shuffles into heels. Ready 123, go shuffle one shuffle two, shuffle three, heel, heel So now again, we're going to repeat it on our left foot. But as you can see, you're currently doing a heel with your left foot. So what you have to do to get into the proper position is when you do the second heel, you then need to pick it up and bring it back. So you don't want your heels to be sticking to the floor. You want them to be very bouncy and only stay in the ground for as long as they need to be made that sound. So when you do, heel, heel pick it up right away and then do three shuttles. Ready? 123 go, shuffle one, shuffle two shuffle three And now we're gonna do two heels on our right foot. Heel, heel, even though we're not going to learn the next step in this class, you wanna get practice to picking up your heel as on this, but as well because you are going to go into another shuffle for the next step. So it's still an picker. So let us try the whole step. So three shuffles and two heels on each foot. Ready? 123, shuffle one shuffle two, shuffle three, And heel, heel. We'll pick it up shuffle one shuffle two shuffle three and heel heel and then pick it up to get ready for the next step. All right, let's try it a little bit faster. Ready 123, shuffle one shuffle two, shuffle three and heel, heel, up shuffle one, shuffle two shuffle three, heel, heel, pick it up Alright, so that is step number two. 5. Step 3: Okay, so in this class we are going to be learning step number three. So again, I'm going to turn it around and I'm triggered on surprise by this anymore, but we're gonna start with three shuffled. So ready, 123, go sharp, fall, when she will soon, sharp fall three. And this time we're gonna do two tos. So the toe, a toe is when you tap the tip of your code on the ground, you and you want it to be behind your other foot. So in this case, we're gonna do one TO crossed behind and one toe directly behind. So it's gonna look like this. So tough. And you want that second toe to be directly behind. You don't want it to be out here. You want it to just be directly behind where your foot would naturally be. So let's try that again. So it's three shuffles into toes. Ready? 123, go sharp, knife, sharp, tool to shop from 30 and tow behind. So and then you're again, you're going to have to pick it up like the other step we just did to do another shuffled, but this one's a little bit easier because you put is already back. So all you have to do is pick it up and do three shovels ready 123, go shop til one. Sharp, fall too. Sharp. So three and tow crossed and Toba. So these toes are similar to the heels in that you don't want them to be too sticky on the ground. You want to do the Tao and the top and pick it up. You don't want them to stand the ground for much longer than they need to be just to make the SAT. So let's try the right foot and left foot together. Ready? 123. Gary, sharp, fall one. Fell, swoop. Show from three in. So so pick it up, show flow, one sharp fall, swoop, show both in tow and a brominated the next step in this class, but you do want to pick it up so that you're ready to do another shuffle. So let's try that step a little bit faster. Ready, 123, go. So sharp or C sharp? So three and tau. So up shop, so one, shove, all same shot, 1232. And that is step number three. 6. Step 4: So in this class we're going to be learning step number four of the beginner is real. So again, we're going to start with three shuffles. This is actually the last step that is going to have three shuffled. So the first four are the same in that way. Let's just start with the three shuffles. Ready 123, go shop for one. Shot flow too. She will three. And then we're gonna do to banks. So then you're going to pick up your foot. And so far we've been pretty much on our toes the whole time on the balls of our feet. But you're going to bang, which is your bowl foot lifting from the NEA and do Tang De. And banks are really strong and want them to be loud and you're really putting your whole foot down, it's going to be in front of your other foot. And the trick with doing these Benz is you're not going to put your weight on them. You're weight is going to stay on your back foot, in this case your right foot. So when you do the Tang and the betting, you're lifting both of them backup right away. You're not lifting up your back foot. You're not putting any weight on that front, but you need to stay sturdy and keep your weight on your right foot. So it's just playing. And then because we're doing the left foot after that, you then need to pick it up so that you're ready to do the shuffle on your left. So let's just try our right foot again. Ready, 123, go shall fall. One should flow to show till three and name. And now we're going to do our left foot starting with a shuffle, ready 123, go, shop, flow. One, show we'll see, will shrink and saying, Hey, and pick it up to get ready for the next step. All right, let's try that again. Ready 123, right foot. Shock, flow. One shot will soon shall fill the vague and bang. Then pick it up. Row one. She falls to fill the need. And then saying, Now let's try that one more time, a little bit faster. Ready? 123, got shot. No, one shot to shot from a day up shop. Well, one, xi two, xi three, and then up. Alright, and that is step number four. 7. Steps 1 - 4 with Music: Okay, so now that we've finished the first four steps, I'm going to show you what they look like music. So I'm gonna do want at about the speed that we learned them and then ones a little faster and feel free to try it along with me. I'll be seeing missteps as well. And this music is from Chad Wolf's new stepdad CD called clogs, drinks and reals. Oh, my and I will have that linked somewhere for you to check it out if you're interested. Ready. Go shop. How one? Shop? How to shop? Row three. Yeah. Oh, what? Shock. Shock till the end. Yep. Shock 01020301. Shot though to shop for me and he'll fill out. Well, why sharp fall sales shop. So the relief. So so how why shaft fell through shop. And so so I'll name wide shot to shot and betting. Shop. Shop will shop three and again saying, Okay, now I'm going to show you what it looks like a little bit faster. Both of these speeds are half-time to music's. So eventually it will get quite a bit faster, but we won't try to go there yet. There will be videos at the end of what it looks like. Foals, IGA, ready, go, shop go really. Sharp. C sharp, three, shock that, shock. 01, shop towel to shock the death. That's a one shot L2 from 03 CO seal out shot, one shot to shock the shell. Shock 01 from Lao-Tzu. So 01 shock, shock. So tau o y shopping center. And you end up shop. Not shocked. Oh, your shop. And you act. Okay. And that is what the first four steps of the beginner's real looks like to music. 8. Step 5: Okay, so now we're halfway through the beginners real. And for the second set of four steps, we're going to switch it up a little bit and not start with three shuffles. So this is step number five. And we're going to start with only two shuffles. So let's do that together. Ready? 123, go shaft one, shaft two. And then you're going to do a kick, which basically just looks like you're going to pick your foot up from the back and then kick forward. It doesn't have to be high and you're gonna straighten your leg and it doesn't make any sound. So from the side it's going to look like this. It's just kick. And then you're going to go step by step. And again, those steps are on the balls of your feet. So that whole ending part together looks like kick 12. And once you get a little faster, you can really transfer your weight after the cake to make this step a little more bouncy, which would look like kick one to use. And you can sort of pick up your feet to give that out to you as well. So the hole right foot, we can try that, sorts the two shuffles and then they kick 1-2-3. Ready 123, go shaft. Shaft will to kick 123. Let's try that one more time. Ready 123, go shaft. One. Shaft will kick one. And then you're ready to pick up your left foot and repeat the exact same thing. So shaft. Shaft, so Kc 12. So lets try the whole thing. So your right foot and your left button, right 123, go shop. So one shaft will kick 123 and left foot shall go shop, go to kick C. And then a little faster. But it's gonna look like ready 123, go shop, go. To kick them to free up, shop. Shop will kick. And that is step number five of the beginner's rail. 9. Step 6: Alright, so this is step number six of the beginner's real. And this step is also going to start with two shocks. So let's try back. Ready, 123, GO TO sleep. And now we're gonna do two hills, but it's going to be different than before because before we did two hills and we didn't planning weight onto those yields. We kept the weight on our back foot, but now we're going to put our weight onto the heels. So it's going to look like this. He'll he'll step. So let's try that again. So you're doing two heels and they're on your right foot and then your left foot. So it looks like this. He'll, he'll step. And again, like most things, it is tricky when it slides a balance, but it'll get easier as you get faster. I'll do it from this side. So it looks like he'll, he'll step. And again, those steps are up on the balls of your feet. And when it gets faster it'll look like he'll, he'll say. So. Let's try adding the two shuffles in front. So ready 123, go. She will share how to heal, heal. And then in order to do your left, but the last step is on your left foot. So that is going to be I'm going to call it touch because you're not switching fee. You're not putting any weight onto that step. It's just a touch and then you pick it up to do the shuffle on your left up to. So let's try that again. And when you do the heel, step, one, pick up your foot so that you're ready to do your left. So let's try the right foot again. Ready, 123, go. Shaq shot. You'll see, he'll, he'll step patch. And now let's go into our left but ready 123, go shaft, shaft two. And now we're gonna do our heels on starting on your left foot. He'll he'll sit back. And I'm also going to be a touch because you need to get ready for the next step. So when I do my heels, regardless of what footnotes on, I do tend to go out kind of why this also helps with balance. And then the steps come together so far to the right side, it would look like good for you. And again, it's a lot easier to balance when it's faster, which would look like. So let us try to write for m less that together. Ready 123, go. Shaft. One. Shaft will see. He'll, he'll touch up shell. So she sued. He'll he'll catch up. Alright. Let us do that one more time. A little faster. Or anyone to three gov shaft. Shaft. So here, that shaft. Shaft, so he'll, he'll catch up. Alright, and that is how you do step number six. 10. Step 7: So this is step number seven of the big killers, real. So this step, we're going to change it up yet again. We're not gonna do three shuffles. We're not gonna do two shuffles. We're going to do one shuffle. So, but the other thing that we did go over in the first lesson, that technique clustering is hops and this is where we're going to do a couple. So you're going to do one shuffle on your right foot re shaft. So one, and then you're going to do a single toe on your other foot. So you're gonna do it tomorrow and then you're going to hop, hop. You need to lift up your toe. So there's only one foot involved in a hub. And you're going to jump in the air and try your best to only land on the ball of your foot. So it looks like so. And you wanna make sure that you're not using your toe to get off the ground. You don't want to be doing a two hop and Mike pushing off the ground to get the total hopper completely separate. So you do toe, lift it up and then and then you're going to do up saying, so again, a bang. You're putting your whole sort of aggressive, very powerfully lifting from your me. So from the side it's going to look like so. And then you're gonna do one more hop. But again, you're not putting any weight on this bank. You're gonna do the bag lifted up and then the hub. So that whole part looks like. And then you're going to finish off with stack. So from high-end got looks like to oh, ha, ha, stack. A little faster, looks like TO step. So that's from the hole right foot. You're going to start with one Shuffle and then go into the Chao. Ready 123, go chef. So, so hot. And try that again. 123 go chef. So, so and then you're going to do the same thing on your left foot. So you're going to do chef go one and then a toh, toh. And so I'll show you that clip from inside I'll face this way. So it's toe was did up, lifted up and step. So another reason when you do the title that you want to lift it up right away is because you have to bring it all the way forward to do the bank. So while you're hoping you can start to move your leg. So if you watch when I do it, I'll go to o. So that is kinda finish the first hop when I go to my folks already up to do the bag. So let us just try the left, but starting with a shuffle, ready 123, go shaft. So water and power. Alright, let's try our right foot and are less but together. Ready 123. So, so step, step and left shot. So let's try that one more time, a little bit faster. Already. 123, go shaft, so top and the top step, shaft. So, so alright, and that is step number seven, only one more to go. 11. Step 8: Okay, this is step number eight and the final step of the beginner's real. There will be some videos after this showing you steps five to eight to music and then step one to eight at different speeds, working up to full speed to music. Anyway, let's learn the last step first. So this step is actually very similar to step number seven. We're still working on our hops, and it has the same format. So we're gonna start with one shuffled. So great, let's try that. Ready shall fill. And instead of doing it o, like we did in step seven, we're going to do a thing, but we're going to take a little fancier. So instead of doing just a bang in front, we're gonna do a bang to the side. So as much as you can, I try to turn my foot completely so it's facing the siren basically like making a link. It's honor, right angles my other foot, but just do whatever's comfortable, even introduced on a little bit of an angle, that's fine. You still wanna lift with your knee and put as much power in as you can see we're going to do today. And then you're gonna hop, and then you're gonna do another bang, but just didn't normal bang in front bang. And then we're going to finish the same way with this. So that Paul ending part looks like and how a stack. Alright, so let's try the right foot. So we're gonna do one Shuffle, ready 123, go shaft. So the call stack. And like I was saying before with the hops, you don't want to weight onto these things. You don't want to be leaning over them at all. And it's not a rocking motion, it's a behavior lifting it up completely and then hopping. So the hawk is completely on your right. So let's try that on our left. So starting with one Shuffle, ready 123, go, chef will run and then back to the side and saying how a hop step, step. So on this, but let's just try to bang HOT Pretty One, 23 go. All right, so let's try just the whole left, but starting with the shuffled already 123, go shop, go back. So then the whole thing right and left are 123, go she will. Saying saf, sef, left Chef, Joe. Okay. And then a little bit faster is ready 123, go Chef. And crop. Top. Left shaft. Ok. So that is step number eight. That is the last step of the beginner's real. And now it's time to put it to some music in the next class. 12. Steps 5 - 8 with Music: Okay, so we've already put steps one to four to music. And before we put the whole thing to music, We're gonna try steps five to eight. So that's starting with the kick step and going to the bang, bang hop step. So sex number 5678. And the first thing we're gonna do is try it to music that's about the same speed as we did the first four steps. And at the same speed we're doing as we were learning it. All in one shot. All these 0123. Well, what should kids? One to? Great shops. Job. How he'll he'll catch up. Shop, don't see patch. So if not, that then evolve as the staff shop. Then follows up and top down. Okay, so now we're going to try the exact same thing, Steps five to eight, a little bit faster. And then in the next class we're going to put all eight steps together. Xiang Wo, Xiang Bo, K, K, K through 12 TO touch shop. Shop. So you have, you know, so the thought that shotgun clones, so they have a cop, cop, cop, cop tax. Alright, so that's what steps 58 look like to music. 13. Full Reel with Music (slow): Okay, so in this class, we're going to take steps one to four and subscribed to eight and put them altogether and try the whole beginners freedom. So I'm going to start off with a pretty slow speeds similar to what we did in the last video. And then we're going to build up the speed a little bit. Yeah. So sharp. So you shop in one shot. Deal. Shell, shock. That well, yeah. Shaft. Shaft South. Shall go south. South. Now. You will have no job. So she said, well, I don't get a sharp shadow will see that. Try to draw that. I feel that the class size, size. So, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha. Okay, now I'm gonna show you what it looks like a little bit faster. And I'm not going to say the steps just so that if you're watching, you can hear better what my feet are doing or just so if you want to try it a little more independently. Okay? 14. Tips & Tricks for Dancing Faster: So before our last lesson where I show you what this routine looks like at full speed. I'm going to give you some tips and tricks for dancing faster. So one of the first things you wanted to do is we've been doing shuffles where you pick up your foot virtually all the way forward, bring it all the way back. And now all those emotions are really important. And you need to still keep them in mind no matter how fast you're dancing. But you can start to make it a little smaller. So instead of going. So you can start going, shop, go. So see how well those movements are still happening. But they're smaller, so you still need to pick up your foot, you still need to brush it forward, back and do a big. But you don't need to be bringing your light all the way back or all the way forward. The other thing that you want to keep in mind is when you're doing a shuffle, no matter how big or how small you are doing it, the sounds are happening in next year. Other foot, you might find that you're getting this sound, but then you're missing the second sound because you're trying to fit up in here. Whereas if you're bringing it back and hitting the ground next to your other foot, it's a lot easier. The other thing is if you find you're missing sounds like you're not inserting the second Shutter sound. Just hit the floor harder. Don't be afraid to really dig into the floor. So when I do fast shuffles, they look like this. I'm just gonna do a bunch of shuffles in a row, so feel free to join in. So it looks like shut federal gun shot, SHACAL-2, shot for shot film, shot to shot field three, shuffle. And I'll show you what it looks like from this side as well. So ready 123, go shop for one shot or two shots. So three, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to Chicago to try to close. And the other thing that I like to do is between shuffles. I like to add a little bit of bounce. So even if we're doing a step that doesn't have any hops in it, you can really transfer your weight. So shuffle, shuffle, shops locate that called for and then you can faster. It looks like this. Where that faster is by when I do my step, my other foot is already up, ready to do the next shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuts off. So that means that your foot is up and ready and you won't lose any time getting into your next shuffle. The other thing that I've always talks about it a little bit is saying when you're doing the toe hop bangs, steps, so you're doing TO top today. The reason why you don't know that you're toast, stick to the ground. You just want to make it staccato and then bring it forward. Is when it's fast, you need to do that URL TLB late. So that step will look like Chicago, one of my process. So I really brought my foot forward rate after doing the toe, all it needs to do is make the sound and then bring it forward. So those are some tips on dancing faster. My last piece of advice I can give you is just doing the routine over and over again. It's a lot easier to do it faster when you know what step is coming next. So once you have all eight steps solidified in your head and there's never a question of which step comes next. You'll also find it a lot easier to do it faster. 15. Full Reel with Music: Okay everyone, so this is the last class of the beginner's real. And I'd love to see how it looks when you do it. If you want to share your video on this page, and no matter what speed you're doing, it doesn't matter. I am just showing you all the possible speeds from slow to fast. So as you get better, you can start working up to a faster speed. So today I'm going to be showing you what it looks like full speed. So up until now, when we've been dancing to music, we've been doing it half speed, which just means that we're dancing and instead of and one beat, we're taking the length of two. So we're going to shove all set instead of shuffling. So half speed just need your gains at half the speed. So today I'm really showing you what the real looks like full speed and don't worry if you can't do it yet, you'll definitely get there. Check out my tips and tricks for dancing faster if you're struggling to get all your sounds or if you're just struggling to get up to this speed, this isn't as fast as you can possibly go and say this is sort of a medium real speed, so you can definitely go faster if you want to. But this is a pretty standard speed of music. And all the music that I had been playing has been from Chad wolf, CD clogs and drugs and reals are mine. And it's a great cd to practice settings into hears a huge variety of speeds and tombs and it's really fun to dance to. I'll have it linked in the description if you want to check it out. Alright, so thank you so much for taking this class. And this is the full beginner's real. Alright, thanks for watching.