Balboa is a form of a Swing. It is danced with the Lead and follow dancing where their chests touch for a body lead connection.

Balboa is often danced to much faster music than is possible with Lindy hop.

Balboa moves are commonly used in the Lindy Hop, and in the mixture called Balswing.

History

This was invented in the 1930s in California and is a contemporary of Lindy hop.

Balboa is a dance named for the Balboa Peninsula, in Newport Beach, California where it was invented.

There is currently a resurgence going on.

Forms

Balboa has two main forms.

• Pure Balboa: In this form, dancers remain with their torsos touching, doing variations based on footwork. Main footwork variations include single-time Balboa, double-time Balboa, and triple-time Balboa.
• Bal Swing: In this form, dancers separate their bodies for spins and turns, much like in swing dance, returning to pure Balboa on occasion.

Description

Some of the original Balboa dancers once said "We can't tell you how to dance Balboa, but we can tell you when you are not dancing Balboa."

Basic bodywork

The dancers stand very close, touching from hip to upper chest. This makes it very easy to communicate with body language. The man places his right front torso facing the woman's center front torso. They are offset by about 45 degrees.

Basic footwork

Typically both dancers alternate between two positions on the floor, 6 or 8 inches (20 cm) apart.

Leads:

• Step back left.
• Step together right.
• Kick forward left.
• Step together left.
• Step forward right.
• Step together left.
• Kick back right.
• Step together right.

Follows:

• Step forward right.
• Step together left.
• Kick back right.
• Step together right.
• Step back left.
• Step together right.
• Kick forward left.
• Step together left.

Moves

• Basic: Rock step step step, kick step step step, kick step step step, repeat
• Spin:
• Push and Pull: with twists
• Crossovers:
• Lollies: Kick step, kick step. Usually, the man walks around the woman, who spins slowly.
• Paddles: Forward, backward
• Fall off the log:
• Turn around:
• Texas Tommy:

Famous dancers

• Maxie Dorf
• Dean Collins
• Willie Desatoff

External link

• History of Balboa (http://www.lindycircle.com/history/balboa/)