Tony Du’s Blog

I have so much fun in my dance class today. This is the second fun class of the whole week. The first one is my archery class. I’m getting a lot better, hitting the “bull eye” more often. On monday, i used a heavy 35 lbs bow and to my suprise my arrow acctually pierce through the metal (O_O) holder of the target. Anyway, let me get on with the main topic:

So we finally finish with rumba in my Latin ballroom class. Rumba is hard but very fun to dance. Today we learn a new type of dance called Paso Doble. My first impression is that the dance is very fast, but that what make it fun and exciting. “When you have a bad day, turn on Paso Doble and dance. All the stress will be gone” - my teacher said. I agree with him after listen to the music and learn a couple moves. Wanna listen to a example of Paso Doble music? click on the song “Gipsy King - Paso Doble” on the side bar.

Some information about Paso Doble:

The music is written in either 2/4 or 6/8 time and is counted 1.2 in the 2/4 time signatures and 1.2.3/4.5.6 in the 6/8 signatures. In the 2/4 time each beat receives a weight change (1.2) whereas in 6/8 time only the 1 and the 4 receive the weight changes. (1–/4–)

It is danced at a tempo of 60-62 bars per minute. (On bar = 1.2). Espana Cani or the Spanish Gypsy Dance is the most widely used orchestration for DanceSport competition and Championship levels. It is broken down into the following count/phrase groupings: 32-4-16-16-16-4-32-16-16-6-32-16-32-6

There are three main climatic points in Paso Doble, which may be expressed by correctly linking the figures so as to end a figure exactly on the accented or climatic point. Those points are specifically on the 86th count, the 158th count and the last or 244th count.

Based on the phrasing table above those counts correspond with the 2nd count of the second “4″, and the last count of the first “6″ and the final count of the last “6″. As a general rule a good Paso Dancer ought to begin a figure at the beginning of a bar and end a figure on the end of the bar to properly express the correct rhythmical interpretation.