Okay, you dancers out there, I have a technique question....

I was watching the compulsory dances tonight on TV (the ones I saw were the Ravensburger Waltz). In the third part of the pattern, it looks like the lady does an LFO rocker right after a progressive, and on the LBO part of the rocker, the free leg is in back. I've never tried doing a rocker this way (just starting to learn them in isolation) but it looks really really neat! Right now the way I'm learning them, my free leg is in front just before and then also after the turn. How does one do it with the free leg in back after the turn? It almost seems to me like I'm relying on the free leg in front to help me stay on a BO edge after the turn (instead of going to a BI, which would make it a really wonky 3 turn).

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I'm not really sure how to answer your question......if you want the free leg behind, you just.....put it there. How's that for helpful?? You can do rockers w/ the free leg in either position, in fact, if you watched all the compulsories tonight, you probably noticed it done 2 different ways--one the free leg swings through before the turn and then back in front after the turn, and the other it swings through & then stays back. You have to have good knees (meaning good knee bend & rise/fall) to make it work.

Personally I find it harder to let it swing front, I had a terrible struggle w/ the Rocker Foxtrot because of that rocker. Swinging the foot back through has a tendency to let that whole right side of your body close back up, which then gets you stuck & tends to drop you to an inside edge.

Well.....for not answering your question, I sure managed to babble on for a good amount of time......

I do rockers with the the foot in front on the entrance, then in back after the turn. I can't picture doing it with the foot in front immediately after the turn, unless you are bringing it in front on the end of the lobe. I tried it a bit on the floor and it was swingy and always an inside edge.

I would think that a rocker with the foot in back would be very easy to cheat - or at least scrape, since you can't use your foot as a forward rudder to get you all the way over onto a FO edge. I would say that you'd have to really round the FO edge and keep your opposite hand in front, because the free foot back would try to pull you off the edge too soon if you're not careful.

I do them like Vesperholly, but I have to admit that mine are probably a bit cheated - I don't really try the Rocker Foxtrot (the first dance that has one in it) because of that awful Mohawk in hold. But I do want to put a rocker in our free dance, haven't found a good place for it yet, though!

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I do my Ravensburger rocker with the foot coming in front, but to do it without, you just deepen your knee bend on when you would normally pull your foot in front. This deepens the edge in the same way the pulling the foot in front does.

I would love to see videos of both of these ways of doing the rocker - anyone up for filming herself and posting it?

I have not been taught a rocker yet, but I think I'm ready to try it.

Joan, here's a video:

RFO rocker (12MB)

Keep in mind this is my bad side!

Me too (at least used to ...). I can see, as you say, bringing the leg through after the turn but can't see how it could be done correctly the other way ... mmm, be interesting to see what people come up with

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Thanks! You make it look easy - when I try it, I can't control the exit edge.

Yes, thanks vesperholly for posting that video. Your "bad" side looks pretty good--better than my "good" side. (And my bad side isn't yet always recognizable as a rocker!)

I like how it feels during the turn part (between the FO and the BO edges) when it's done right.

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Well, I just had a lesson today on rockers. Turns out doing the Rocker Foxtrot really messed up my LFO rocker - I overrotate the entrance thus screwing up the exit. My coach said my "bad" side, RFO, was actually better!

I don't think my coach believes we're going to be able to do the rocker that I've choreographed into our free dance properly, but I think I will! We weren't winning with it in our lesson - I did quite a nice rocker, but Husband had no idea what to do while I was doing it, and asked Coach what the man did in the R. Foxtrot. "Just two edges!" said Coach, grinning...... well, we'll see.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!