22 Minute Afro Grooves Routine Trainer of the Month Club Well+Good

Hi everyone. My name is Kanae and I'm your trainer of the month with Well and Good. Today, we're gonna be learning Afro dance steps. And if you've never done Afro dance before, have no fear. We have a video that is specifically on intro to Afro dance, covering some fundamentals and technique for you guys so that you can feel like a star today. So with that said, let's get into it. So we are gonna start with a step called Focus from Nigeria. This is super fun. It's one of my favorites and it's very simple. So we're gonna start just by putting your fingers out like this. So what we're gonna do is we're going to point with the opposite hand and opposite leg, okay? So when my left foot is stepping, my right hand is pointing, left hand, right foot, okay? This step is about connection. So imagine being in front of someone and utilizing it as like a greeting or utilizing it as saying like, hey, what's up? How are you doing? That's kind of the energy that you wanna apply to this step, okay? So with that, we're gonna use our head and we're gonna tilt our head slightly to the left and right, but think about that tilt as being an acknowledgement of another human being in front of you, okay? So let's try that. So we're gonna go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm looking right at you. I'm saying, hello, how you doing? Hey, hey, hey, and a boom, chickity, boom, chickity, boom, chickity, boom, and done. That's it, that's focus. You got it. It's easy, right? So let's move on to bushiano. This is a step from Ghana and we're gonna start by bending the knees in a grounded stance. We are also going to have most of the weight falling in the balls of our feet, okay? And I want us to just start by taking some steps backwards. So let's start with the right foot. We're just gonna go back, back, back, back, and back, okay? So now let's repeat that, but now let's engage the pelvis. So the pelvis is gonna pop forward when we take a step back, okay? And that's gonna look like this, okay? So as you see, as my foot moves back, I'm already pushing my pelvis backwards so that when I step, it can come forward. Hopefully that makes sense, okay? So let's try that nice and slow, just steps for now. So we're gonna go back on the right, here we go. Back, back, and back. You see how the pelvis is coming forward every time my foot touches the ground, okay? Let's try it one more time. Here we go, starting with the right, we're gonna go back with the pelvis coming forward on each step, okay? So next we're gonna bring the hands in. You can do hands many different ways. So today I'm just giving you one choice. We're gonna bring the hands in towards the center and I want your path to start with your hand up and the elbows should be like a 90 degree angle or basically just kind of naturally here. So it shouldn't be too high, but the path kind of starts in this way, okay? So you're gonna go, boom, okay? So don't throw the hand, don't let the hand appear, it's not a magic trick. You want the hand to come down and in front of the body like this. So maybe just practice having a few moments where the hand is coming in front of the body this way, okay? So we're gonna add all those pieces together. Again, starting with the right leg, down low, having the weight in the balls of our feet. We're gonna take a step, we're gonna do right arm, right hand, okay? So we go one, two, three, and four, okay? Let's try it again. Here we go, five, six, seven, and one, two, three, four. Okay, one last piece. So with this, we're gonna go one, two, three, and four. Okay, what's the and four? Ha ha, that's gonna be the and four. It's the best part, okay? So we're gonna go step, step, step, and pulse, okay? So there's no step there, it's all pelvis. So it's really important that you have this pelvis engaged because without it, there's no spice on the step. It's just arms and that's not what we want. We wanna get that pelvis involved and it's gonna bring a lot of flavor into your movement, okay? So again, we come back right, left, right, and pulse, okay? And for this, I'm just tapping the hands up, down, up, down, like that, okay? So let's try it a few times. Let's do an eight count, so twice, okay? Five, six, seven, here we go. Right step, two, and pulse. Left step, two, and pulse, and that's busciano, okay? So now that we have our first two steps, let's put those into a sequence. So we're gonna do one eight count of focus and then one eight count of busciano back to back, okay? We'll do it nice and slow and I'll count you off. So I'm gonna say five, six, seven, eight, and then you begin on one with me, here we go. Five, six, seven, start with focus. One, two, three, four, five, six, busciano coming. We go one, two, three, and four, five, six, seven, and eight. Amazing, two steps in the bag. Okay, moving on to Malewa. This is a really beautiful step from Congo. There's many variations of this step, but today I'm just gonna give you one. So let's get into it, here we go. So you're gonna start, again, surprising, legs bent. You want to have kind of a, I would say, a moderate knees bent stance because we're gonna go down lower, okay? But you do want to start with those knees bent first, okay? Just for the feet, we're gonna go right forward, left forward, right back, left back, okay? So let's just try that together. We're gonna go right forward, left forward, right back, left back. Now we're gonna add levels to this. So the first two steps, we're gonna go a little lower. Last two steps, we're gonna come higher, okay? So here we go, five, six, seven, and one, two, three, four. Easy so far. Here's the part where it gets juicy and beautiful, is bringing in that chest engagement, okay? So we are going to bring the chest forward with the step. So if you want to just practice right now, engaging that chest forward, and we don't want to just go forward and back, forward and back, but it should feel a little bit like a roll in the chest, okay, and we do want that roll to come into the shoulders as well. So you don't wanna just be here, but you wanna be here, okay? Shoulders and chest rolling. Okay, so we're gonna have the shoulders and chest come forward on the step. So check your initial engagement into this movement. Make sure that the chest is leading with that right foot forward, okay? So let's take some steps with this together. Remember, we're going forward, forward, back, back, and the chest is gonna be engaged every single time. So I'm going forward with the chest, forward with the chest, forward with the chest, forward with the chest. Wow, that's a mouthful, whew! Okay, so we wanna make sure that we are bringing that chest nice and easy forward, and you do wanna kind of have it feel like, like water that's flowing, something that's a cycle. You don't wanna have any breaks in the chest. And then also for hands, we're just gonna be marching. So we're doing hands that are opposite leg, opposite foot, okay, which means right to left and left to right, okay? All right, so now let's put that all together. Forward, back, down, up, and having that chest engaged and making sure that those circles are nice and fluid. Here we go. Five, six, seven, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Great, moving on to our next step. Zankou is such an iconic step. It's a little older at this point, but it's still used throughout Afro dance. And like I said, it's iconic. So pretty much many people know what this step is, the zankou, and there's different ways of doing it. Today, I'm just gonna give you one way of doing this amazing step, and here we go. So first things first, let's focus on the feet. That can kind of be the most complicated part about this step, and we're gonna be working with a step-tap sequence, okay? So starting with the right, I'm gonna step and then tap with my left, and then move to the left side, step-tap. You wanna make sure that your weight is coming fully onto each side. So right now, as we're doing it slowly, it should feel like a little hop with all the weight on one side or another. I'm exaggerating this right now just to give you the practice of the sense of moving from side to side and keeping all that weight hopping left and right, okay? So let's bring that pace up a little bit. Tap, tap, tap, tap, step, tap, step, tap, step, tap, step, tap, step, tap. You also wanna make sure that you are grounded, having the knees bent, having that butt be heavy and low to the ground as if you had a poopy diaper, okay? And then we're gonna go ahead and bring in the arms, okay? So you're gonna have an X, which is very, very important. That's what's telling everybody that you're doing zanku. And my favorite execution of the upper body includes a little shimmy. So you just wanna bring those shoulders side to side in a little shimmy and have the X and that's it. This is zanku, you guys. Zanku, ooh, also from Nigeria. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. That's it, you guys, okay? So now we have malewa and zanku to add. So let's try an eight count of malewa first and then an eight count of zanku together, okay? I'm gonna count down five, six, seven, eight. We start malewa on one together. Here we go. Five, six, seven, eight. We go one, two, three, four, five, six, zanku and one and two and three and four, five, six, seven, eight. Okay, let's add that now to our first two steps. So we will do focus, bushiano, malewa and then zanku. Ready? Here we go, nice and slow. Five, six, seven, eight. We go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, bushiano. One, two, three, ta, ta, and six. Here we go, malewa. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, zanku and a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. That's four steps, y'all. You're doing amazing, okay? Get those pads on the back. Maybe grab some water right now. I'm gonna keep talking. So we're moving on. We have two steps left. One is gura. Gura is honestly one of the steps that my students love the most. It's really fun, super bouncy, comes from Ghana and just has an overall playful vibe to it, okay? So you're gonna start with the knees, or excuse me, the feet shoulder width, a little more than shoulder width apart and you're gonna bend the knees and we're gonna push the knees out so it would be one, two, three, four, okay? So we're gonna push those knees out and you wanna make sure that you're also just in general kind of bouncy and light in the body. So you don't wanna be stiff as you're doing this but you wanna make sure, again, it's light, bouncy, knees are bent, your energy is heavy like you have a weighted blanket on and the energy is going down to the earth, okay? So next, upper body, what are we doing? Super simple. We can do this on both sides as well. We're gonna start with the left, have your left hand out and you're gonna reach over and give it a clap, okay? So important is that you don't bring this hand forth towards your body but you actually use your right hand to lean over and you see that you can see my shoulder, my right shoulder, so it's really like, boom, leaning all the way over, okay? So we start one, then you're gonna tap the inner side of your left elbow and then you're gonna tap your chest and then the last part, boom. You're gonna bring your head to the right of your body and you're gonna bring that right arm toward your head. You're not trying to hit it. So putting all those together, we're gonna have the knees out, bounciness and then we add that one, two, three, four, okay? So let's try it together. Five, six, seven, here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Okay, let's try the other side. So we'll go boom, boom, boom, boom, here we go. Five, six, seven and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, okay? And that was Gouda. Last, but definitely not least, this is probably the most challenging step on this list, depending on if you have danced other styles, might not be as challenging, but if you are kind of new to dance and movement, definitely be kind to yourself on this one because it's not a beginner step. The reason I'm including it though is because it's super popular and this step is called Poco, created by Poco Lee. Again, from Nigeria, okay? So we're gonna start with having our knees slightly bent. This time we're gonna keep the feet a little bit closer together. So it can be like shoulder width apart or even a little bit closer. So that's fine too. And we're gonna start by bringing our right foot forward. Right, left, right. And then we're gonna do the same thing on the left side. Left, right, left, okay? So I'm gonna have you guys follow along with me. We're gonna go slow and we're gonna get faster, okay? The challenge with this step is not if you can go right, left, right, and left, right, left, but it's how fast you can do it, okay? So let's get quick together. Here we go. Starting on the right. Five, six, seven, here we go. Right, left, right. Left, right, left. Keeping those knees bent and the body grounded, okay? Right, left, right. Left, right, left. Right, left, right. Left, right, left. Right, left, right. Left, right, left. Right, left, right. Left, right, left. Ooh, ooh. The spice is coming in. Eh, right, left, right. Left, right, left. We doing po'oko. Eh, eh, eh, eh. Ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta. Eh, eh, getting faster, even faster. Oh my God, what are we gonna do? Faster, faster, faster, faster, and let's stop right here. Okay, that's poco for you. What's happening with the upper body? This is one of those steps that people variate and make their own, and it's kind of a moment of flexing, usually. Like when you're at the club or at a party and you're doing this, first of all, many people who are in the Afro dance community or in basically Africans or anybody who likes African culture and is around Afro music all the time, you'll kind of know when you see one person doing it, a lot of people join in, okay? As it is with a lot of these movements, we use dance as a form of communication and connection. So it's not just about doing it right. It's not just about learning the technique, but it's learning the language of dance and how to utilize that in your community, okay? Anyways, back to the movement. What we're gonna do is, I just want you to have some fun kind of playing with different ways of holding your hands. This is an opportunity for you to variate and kind of put your own personality into it. And you can do a lot of different things. I'm giving options right now, but you can do many different choices, okay? So one more time with the feet. Let's go slow one more time. We're gonna go right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left. And we're making sure to lift all those steps off of the ground. Instead, you don't wanna get into this place where you're not taking those steps. And so the rhythm that you're gonna hear with your feet is gonna go ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, ta-ka-ta, okay? And that's poco. So now that we've gone through all the steps, we are going to put it in a sequence. This is for practice, okay? So it's fine if you're going through it and you don't do something perfectly or you miss the beginning of the next step. That's okay. This is just to get in drilling time with these so that we can get it more comfortably in the body. So let's go through the sequence and then we're gonna do the sequence with music. So again, slow from the start, we're gonna go focus, bushiano, maleua, zanku, gura, and poco, okay? Gura, we're gonna do on the left once and then on the right once, okay? So let's try that together. Five, six, seven, starting with focus. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, bushiano. One, two, three, ta-ta, and five, six, now maleua, one, two, three, four, five, six, zanku, here we go. One, two, three, four, five, gura on the left, here we go. And one, two, three, four on the right. One, two, poco, here we go. And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. All right, so let's get into it. I'm gonna count us in. Again, we start five, six, seven, eight, and one. I'm gonna call out the steps like I just did and let's have some, guys, just relax. Remember to stay low, keeping the weight heavy towards the ground and the body relaxed. So if you need to take some breaths and just shake it out so we're not super stiff. Get it all out, okay? Starting with focus and one, two, three, four, bushiano, here we go. Eight, one, two, ah-ah, five, six, maleua, and one, two, three, four, five, zanku, here we go. One, two, three, four, gura on the left, and ah, boom, tikiti, boom. On the right, boom, tikiti, boom, poco, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and wow. There you go. So I really encourage you to take this sequence and practice it with your favorite Afro songs. This is something that you can spend a lot of time focused on. Thanks so much for dancing with me. Again, my name is Kanae and this has been your trainer of the month club with Well and Good. To never miss a video, hit that subscribe button and I will see you next week.