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Balmaceda y Vasconi Beginner Lesson Notes

Been having these notes stuck in my phone for over a month now, so here's to more practicing and remembering!

Basic Weight Transfer & Movement

- Transfer your weight wholly, visualise your hip as a cover for your leg so when you switch legs or move, the cover should always end up on top. Never leave weight behind or in between.
- When you move to the side, at the half way point you have to collect, and this has to be natural. Think of the landing point as where you want all your weight to ground down on and to be and lift the free foot to make sure that all weight is truly on the standing one.
- Keep the thoughts of the "hip as a cover", the hip is the motor that powers the movement, the chest acts as presence and intent and the leg ultimately is the resolution.

Finding your axis

- Think of four strings, one at the top at the head vertical, one from your chest forward, one from your hip backward to counter the chest, and one from the knee forward.
- To find your axis, this is therefore a forward pull from the chest, an upward pull from the head, a counter back pull from the hip and the knees are soft and springy.
- Another visual is to think of two walls surrounding your front and back, one in front of the chest and aligned with the toes and one at the back of your hip/butt aligned with your heels. You always try and keep this balance so you are not too far front or back.
- A tip to think of the movement is this, when you generate energy to step forward, you do not overcompensate by moving to the tips of your toes, because you will then pitch forward. Instead, try and move the weight to the heel to counter an extreme movement. Same goes for backward, do not start moving the weight toward the heel, move the weight to the front of the foot as a counter. This helps control the movement smoothly and stops the pitching back and forth.
- The size of the foot is a final estimation for how far forward and back you can rock your weight without being off balance. This is also a limit to your maximum movement.

Circles
- There is an orb of energy, like a DNA spiral up and then down in a mobius loop.
- To go right, the circles goes from the top to the left. To go forward, the orb is moving from the top, in front of you and past you.
- The human energy in the body is an 8, alternating swinging arms and legs, where if you see a monkey, it walks in an 0, with the same leg and same arm. .

Ochos
- The guys movement for Ochos requires a movement around with the hips and not the drop of the shoulder. The girls movement occurs where the hip arrives square above the foot then the rotation happens. This is what makes is seamless. 

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