Bachata moves

The same home, turned ninety degrees. Instead of travelling side to side, you rock the basic front and back — still grounded, still compact.

A square groove with more flavour. A box-shaped footprint that gives richer interplay than the straight basic.

Just walking — together. The basic taken on a stroll. You and your partner travel the floor in closed embrace without ever letting go of home.

Open the door, change the distance. The front-to-back basic that opens the embrace and sets up turns.

Halfway between close and open. A V-shaped semi-closed hold that hosts travel and gentle body movement.

The home you always come back to. The grounded lateral basic that every bachata move resolves into.

The signature snap of bachata. The hip pop on counts 4 and 8 that gives bachata its identity.

The open-position home base. Both hands joined, a comfortable arm's length apart. This is where turns are born and where half the library begins.

Opening the door from home. The deliberate move from closed embrace out to an open two-hand hold — and *staying* there. The hinge between bachata's two worlds.

The complete left-and-right phrase. The full 8-count side basic completing both halves with pronounced taps.

Step apart, then come back together. A breath of space in the middle of the dance — you open the frame, hold the stretch for a beat, and recover. Small move, big musicality.

The box step, slowly spinning. Same square on the floor, but you rotate a quarter each time around — so the whole couple drifts in a gentle circle.

A little weight, rocked in place. Instead of travelling, you rock forward-back over your feet to mark a beat. The simplest way to *answer* the music without going anywhere.

The box, tilted — a launchpad for footwork. A box oriented on the diagonal that reorients the couple and feeds footwork breaks.

Open out of the embrace. A turn that opens the closed embrace into an open hand hold.

Play with time itself. A deliberate pause, slow, or sharp hit that marks a musical event — a move made of time, not steps.

Your first taste of Dominican footwork. Where the basic taps, you sneak in a tiny triple instead — and suddenly the floor has texture.

Double-time the tap. A quick triple step that replaces the tap with a syncopated burst.

Stop dancing the beat — dance the bass. Footwork that hits the low end instead of the count, so your feet answer the part of the song everyone else ignores.

A named shine from the source. A specific traditional Dominican footwork pattern woven into the flow.

Catch the held note. A deliberate non-step that suspends the basic to mark a musical accent.

A borrowed shine, kept grounded. A forward-back rock footwork inserted as a Dominican-style shine.

Let go of the basic and just play. A fast, syncopated footwork showcase where you string together everything Dominican — heels, mambo, triples — into your own break. The floor is yours for eight counts.

Heel-heel accents on the break. A syncopated heel-tap footwork shine danced during instrumental energy.

Both of you, shining. Improvised footwork during a break where both partners trade phrases.

The half-second that makes a turn work. Before any turn comes the prep — the small wind-up that tells your partner "you're about to spin, here's where."

Her first turn, led from home. The same underarm turn as the open-hold version — but started right out of closed embrace, so it's the gentlest possible introduction to turning.

The workhorse turn. The follow's underarm turn from an open hand hold — the most-used turn in bachata.

Pass, brush backs, and come out the other side. A playful place-change where you slide past each other back to back, then face up again — surprisingly easy, looks great.

Your first real sentence in bachata. Three basics, a cross-body lead, then a turn straight out of it. Not choreography — the proof that moves snap together.

Hands crossed, ready to unwind. A two-hand hold with the arms crossed — a coiled-spring frame that sets up turns and pretzels down the line.

A quiet bit of sleight of hand. The lead passes the connected hand behind his own back to swap sides — smooth, subtle, and a great setup for what comes next.

The connective tissue. A pure connector that passes the follow's hand to change the open hold.

The turn that goes the other way. She turns away from you instead of toward you — same prep, opposite direction, and a whole new exit to play with.

You spin too. A clean 180 where the lead turns himself while keeping the connection — the first move that puts *you* in the spotlight, not just your partner.

The lead gets to spin too. The lead's own half or full turn while the follow keeps the basic.

In and out, manage the distance. A connector that moves between the closed embrace and an open hold.

Break, switch, break again. A three-part open break with hand changes on each side.

Two for the price of one prep. The same inside turn she already knows — but she keeps going for a second rotation. The first taste of a multi-turn.

Let go — then catch her right back. A controlled release in the middle of a turn, hand free for a beat, then reconnected. The first move that feels a little daring.

The mirror-image turn. The follow's outside turn, rotating away from the lead.

One turn that changes its mind. The follow turns one way, then flows straight into turning the other — tracing an S on the floor. Looks advanced, leads like a conversation.

One full, committed rotation. Not a quick spin — a complete, travelled 360 with control all the way around. The turn that finally looks finished.

Turn through a crossed hold. A turn led from a cross-hand hold that resolves into an open L-to-R hold.

One impulse, two rotations. Two chained turns across a full musical phrase.

Let go and let her fly. A released solo spin the follow controls and lands on her own axis.

Three rotations, one clean prep. The follow turns three or more times and lands exactly on balance. Pure technique — and it lives or dies on the prep you give.

A turn that winds down like a coil. The follow spirals on her own axis, the rotation tightening as she goes. Advanced, elegant — and entirely safe when it stays vertical.

The basic, made to walk. The side basic displaced sideways to travel the couple down the line.

Move together, facing out. A lateral travelling step danced side by side, often into shadow.

Walking side by side, hearts pointed the same way. You wrap into a sweetheart hold and stroll together — the prettiest way a beginner can travel.

She goes around, the picture changes. The central travelling figure that swaps the couple's sides of the slot.

The cross-body, with a twirl on the way through. She travels across the slot as always — but adds a spin as she goes. Same door you open, prettier exit.

Cat and mouse across the floor. A playful travelling figure of advance and retreat.

The cross-body, stretched and rolling. A cross-body lead with a wave or roll layered onto the travel.

Wave while you walk. Linked body waves carried across the floor in shadow or side-by-side — the move where isolation control and travel finally happen at the same time.

Ripple while you move. A travelling base with a body roll integrated into each step.

Walk a wide arc together. A curved walk-around turn that repositions both partners across the floor.

The wrap that says hello and goodbye in one breath. You gather her into a cradle, hold for a beat, then send her right back out. Simple, warm, and the doorway to the whole wrap family.

Trade spots without letting go. A turning lead walks you both around a shared centre until you've swapped places — the bachata cousin of salsa's enchufla.

A tender wrapped moment. The follow drawn in and wrapped against the lead's side.

The folded-arm wrap. A wrapped position with the follow's arm gently folded behind her back.

The hammerlock, but you're both facing the same way. The familiar folded-arm shape led from shadow — closer, more sensual, and a gateway to a whole shadow-side vocabulary.

A snappy wrap-and-unwind. A compact inside turn into a wrap, then re-led out — accent plus position change.

Both arms, both wrapped. The hammerlock taken to both sides — a fuller, sculptural wrap that looks intricate and leads cleaner than it looks, if you go gently.

The arm passes, the head stays free. A smooth transition where the arm travels around the neck as a pathway — never a steering handle.

Tangle, then untangle in order. An arm-tangle position entered and exited by a reversible sequence of turns.

Same direction, new texture. The follow in front facing forward, a platform for waves and isolations.

How to get out of shadow gracefully. Everyone learns to get *into* shadow; this is the clean way back out — so shadow becomes a place you pass through, not a dead end.

Wave together, facing out. A side body wave danced in shadow position by both partners.

Hands over both heads. A hat-motion hand pass that changes the connection and adds a flourish.

Fill the lock with a ripple. A body wave layered onto the held hammerlock position.

Live in the shadow for a while. Enter shadow, wave through it, travel in it, and exit clean — a whole flowing chapter danced in the same-facing connection. The deep end of sensual.

Move the ribcage, nothing else. An isolated ribcage slide led through the frame to hit accents.

The feeling that makes bachata *bachata*. A soft, knee-driven bounce that lets the hip drop on every beat. Get this and your basic stops looking like walking.

The engine of the bachata tap. An isolated hip movement that powers the tap and adds sensual texture.

The signature ripple, the safe direction. A top-down forward ripple through the body, led safely through the frame.

Your hands join the dance. The same side basic, now with a simple arm line that frames the body. The first styling layer — where a beginner starts to look like a dancer.

A vertical oval through the torso. A looping body wave often danced synchronized with the partner.

One hip roll into the next, into the next. Where single isolations become a phrase. You stop *doing moves* and start *flowing* through the slow part of a song.

Trace an eight with the hips. A continuous front-to-back looping hip path for slow sensual texture.

Move your ribs, leave everything else still. The hidden engine behind every clean body roll and wave. Master this and the pretty stuff suddenly gets easy.

A flash of playfulness from the shoulders up. A quick shimmy or a slow shoulder roll — the styling that adds personality without moving your feet an inch.

The wave, at speed. The same head-to-hip ripple as the body wave, but folded into four counts — quick, sharp, made for a busy passage in the music.

The wave, with a safety border. A backward or side body wave led top-down, kept upright to protect the spine.

The lead waves too. The lead's own forward body wave as styling and invitation.

Hollow, then open. A contemporary-borrowed torso curve and expansion led through the frame.

A slow circle of the head that finishes a phrase. The styling that makes a wave land — small, controlled, and pure expression. The last thing to learn, the first thing people notice.

A turn that breathes. A slow turn with body movement ribboned into the entry and exit.

Gather her in, then let it spring. A sensual compression — you draw the frame inward, coil the connection, and set up the release that follows. Tension you can hear.

Everything sensual, strung into one breath. A wave melts into a body roll melts into an isolation — a whole sensual phrase that flows without a single seam. The capstone of body movement.

Small, slow, never neck-led. A controlled head roll carried by the follow's own neck and core — never pushed.

Earn the dip before you take it. The controlled lean that teaches both partners how weight, frame, and trust work — so when you do dip, nobody falls.

The upper-back arc, protected. A supported back bend originating in the upper back, never the neck or lumbar.

The dip, done right — all three parts. A controlled entry, a supported hold, a smooth recover. Beautiful when the technique is complete; risky when it isn't. So we teach the whole thing.

The deep climax, fully supported. A deep dip reserved for a major climax, with full controlled support.

Wrap, melt, and dip — one continuous idea. An advanced sequence that flows from a hammerlock into a supported dip and back up. The full sentence: lock, sensual transition, dip, recover.

Gently to the side, on the peak. A lateral dip taken gently at the peak of the music with full support.

Sink and rise, spine safe. A controlled knee-bend descent and rise that protects the spine.

A supported incline, not a drop. A controlled lean-in supported through the frame, kept within the follow's range.