Travel Steps Study Guide 6.5: Step Across

Single Steps Across and Grapevines

Cross-over steps are useful for maintaining close foot spacing, but stepping across your body’s center line also creates variety and interest in your combinations.  While plain walking steps can be used in dance, sharply-directed crossover steps give a fancier impression since they are rarely used in everyday locomotion.  There also useful as accents, to emphasize a beat. 

Try these footwork patterns to see how a step across compares visually to a step out .

	Step	Step	Step	Hold
1	Across Front	Forward	Forward	Hip Lift
2	Across Back	Forward	Forward	Hip Lift
3	Forward	Forward	Forward	Hip Lift
4	Side	Forward	Forward	Hip Lift

You may notice that a step across initiates your travel with a more decisive look—stepping across communicates a direction change.  Depending on how you use your upper body, stepping across to the front can communicate strong intention, while stepping across to the back can give a more relaxed feeling. 

Grapevines, footwork patterns with steps alternately crossing front and back, emphasize the stylization that a crossover step brings to travel.  The Travel Steps DVD shows two variations on a grapevine step:  a step-in-place variation, and one that uses a step out.  Try these two grapevines now.

Start with a step-in-place grapevine travelling to the right.  Begin with your weight on your right foot.  Step your left foot across in front. Bring your right foot to the right to step in place underneath your right hip.  Step your left foot across in back.  Again bring your right foot to the right to step in place underneath your right hip.  Just as with step, cross-behind footwork, your crossover steps are the steps that move your body to a new place on the floor.    Use this grapevine step to give an impression of daintiness to your footwork.  It’s also the grapevine of choice when wearing a costume with a narrow skirt or revealing slit.

For contrast, try a step-out grapevine.  Begin the same way, with your weight on your right foot, and an initial step across on the left.  Your next step is a step out to the right, creating a wide space between your feet.  Step your left foot behind, and again step out with the right foot to a wide stance.  Continuing with this footwork pattern, you will observe that you cover the floor much more quickly.  Use this grapevine to rapidly move from one spot to another, or to create a bolder flavor in your dancing.

If you are new to grapevines, try a few variations of each step, leading from both the left and right.  The most common footwork sequence is to begin the grapevine with a crossover step in front, but initiating with a step behind creates an interesting variation.  Or try beginning with a step in place, and crossing over to the front or back on count two.  To move in one direction and then the other, take three steps and hold on “4,” or take seven steps and hold on “8.”  Try adding layers to either the grapevine steps or the hold at the end of each segment.  A simple upbeat variation starts with a step across in front and uses a hip twist on the grapevine and a touch on the hold; an elegant option is to start with a step across to the back, put a gentle sway on the grapevine steps, and layer the hold with an arabesque and a leg sweep.  Working with music, experiment with layers and timing to create more variations.

→ Next in the Travel Steps Study Guide: Changing Direction with Hip Rotation; Belly Dance “Pas de Bourrée”; & Cross-Pivot 

← Previous: Step, Cross-Behind


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