You know who's really tacky?
Who?
Annie. Annie is so tacky.
Yeah I know right? Annie is so tacky.
So I don't know how they came up with the name for this week's move, but it's called
the Tacky Annie, and it shows up all the time in lindy hop. I'm Rebecca Brightly of RebeccaBrightly.com,
and this week marks the beginning of part 2 of the Lindy Hop Steps Made Easy series!
Wooooo, solo jazz! Woo hoo, woo! Solo jazz! Solo jazz! Solo jazz!
Dance World Takeover with Rebecca and Paul.
All right, so the Tacky Annie. It's a really simple move, but it shows up all the time
in lindy hop. It's the fourth move in the Shim Sham solo jazz routine after the Stomp
Drags, the Break Step, and the Crosses. So you gotta know it!
There's two main variations on the Tacky Annie that I've seen. Tap, step, tap, step, tap,
step, tap, step.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
But this looks kinda boring. So let's add a little bit of flavor. First we're going
to add a little bit of pulse, an upward-downward movement, or a little bit of bounciness.
Tap, step, tap, step, tap, step. Okay, so you can see how my heels are lifting off the
floor a little bit. Just a little bit. Not a lot, no, because that looks really silly.
Just a little bit, just enough to make it jazzy.
Next, you really want to do something with your arms. It's a simple move, and I don't
really care what you do as long as they're not hanging there lifeless. Or like frozen
stiff. Because that doesn't look very good either. Look, this looks very ridiculous.
So you can swing them back and forth. Or hold them out to the side. Both of those look pretty
good. Then make sure you still got your pulse going on.
So let's do version 2 now. In version 1, you saw that I tapped my foot next to the other
foot, like this. In version 2, we're going to take that tap straight back. Tap, step,
tap, step, tap, step, tap, step.
So again, adding a bit of bounciness here is crucial.
Otherwise you look bored or confused. Adding a little bit pulse and arm movements immediately
makes your dancing look more confident.
So speaking of confidence, don't look at the floor when you're doing any kind of solo
jazz move. Practice looking at the wall right in front of you. So whenever you happen to
be dancing in front of real live people, you'll have the muscle memory to look up as opposed
to down which doesn't look as good.
So there it is, the Tacky Annie. I hope it made you feel cheesy and kitschy and tasteless.
Or perhaps gooey and gummy. You like that? I can use a thesaurus.
Next week, you're going to learn Scissor Kicks, which is a much harder move. And then later
on down the line this whole series will culminate in a second solo jazz routine. So keep watching!
In the meantime, if you want more fun, hard things to work on, you can subscribe to my
monthly video challenges at LindyMakers.com.
Or get free weekly dance tips by signing up for my email newsletter at RebeccaBrightly.com/hellyes.
See you next week!
[scatting]
See you next week! That's not how I wanted to do that. I wanted to wave. Instead I'm
like. The one-finger wave! It's like a Lee Broxson.