First, I will address the specific physical action associated with the common elements of RISE. Then, in subsequent postings, we can look in more detail at how they fit together with each other, as well as combine with FOOTWORK to create a complete picture.
In order to straighten the legs, they must first be bent. All figures start with the legs bent. How much you bend your legs is something YOU decide. Greater bend in the legs makes it easier to take longer steps and allows for more three dimensional expression in the movement. But more bend in the legs requires more physical control and effort. Less experienced dancers might want to start with a moderate amount of leg bend until they develop a clear understanding of the physical actions of RISE and LOWERING. Once you have developed some control, you can always increase your depth.
What this means is that you have a ‘set height’, a starting place for RISE to occur, and for LOWERING to bring you back to.
I’m 5’6″ (1 m 67.5 cm) tall. When I bend my knees a comfortable amount my head ends up about 4 inches (10 cm) lower than when I’m standing with my legs straight, but not locked. That is my ‘set height’.
COMMENCE means, as you might expect, to start. Specifically to start straightening the legs, but not fully straighten them. How much? Well, unfortunately that depends, but in general if you use up about 1/2 the difference your set height and your full height, that is a pretty good place to be.
CONTINUE always and only comes after a COMMENCE and means, like you would expect, to continue to straighten the legs. What is not clear in isolation, is if it means to FINISH straightening the legs. We can only know that in context by looking at the RISE specification for the next step. If the next step is UP, then CONTINUE means use up all the remaining bend in the legs before you take the next step. If the next step is also CONTINUE then use up about 1/2 of what is left. Since there are no figures in the standard technique which CONTINUE to RISE for more than 2 steps in a row, this always works.
UP means the legs are straight, but not locked. In other words, we are standing at our full height. The only way to be taller is through the use of the feet. So if we are UP and we have a footwork of TOE we are as high as we can get. A step that is taken as UP is taken on a straight leg, and of course with the specified footwork.
LOWER means to bend the legs. While we often RISE in increments (Commence, Continue, Up), we Lower in one single action, and back to our set height, where we started. Exactly HOW we do this in relationship to footwork is where things start to get interesting.
RISE at end of means we come to our full standing height on a single step. This happens frequently in Foxtrot, which as a rule has “early rise” in comparison to Waltz, where the basic figures tend to start with COMMENCE to rise at end of 1. RISE is actually the easiest of the techniques to execute as we simply straighten the legs as we take the step in question.
SLIGHT RISE is used when we neither RISE, nor COMMENCE to rise. It is less than COMMENCE, and in certain contexts for the Leader is NOT followed by a lowering. This is because the Leader needs a dominance in posture in order to take the next step, such as a forward step with the L foot outside partner on the left side, as after a WING or CLOSED WING.
RISE SLIGHTLY is used for the Follower on the first step of a HEEL TURN. In practice this is an artifict of notation since in order to properly close the feet for the heel turn the Follower’s legs must be straight, which would be RISE at end of 1. But since the Follower is also going to stay flat in the feet, this special language is used. Really, it is redundant, since the footwork specification is clear that the step is TOE HEEL, but it does help to emphasize that the Follower needs to remain flat in the feet even though the Leader will be up on their toes.
DOWN is rarely used and essentially exists to emphasize that that the legs will remain bent after the step is taken. It is not just that there is NO rise. It means that the legs are bent before you take the step, and remain bent when weight is transferred onto that foot. It does not require you to be lower than normal, but in practice you will be as lower as you are ever going to get.
That covers the basics of the language of RISE. Next we will discuss how to combine those elements into meaningful groups and look at physical manifestation of RISE in basic figures in WALTZ. Later we can tackle RISE in Foxtrot.
Pages: 1 2
Leave a Reply