How to do the downtown | a roller skating tutorial

Today we're tackling one of my favorite dance moves to do on roller skates and that's the downtown. This move is incredibly popular amongst beginners who are looking for an easy move to do that actually develops your skating skills for more intermediate moves. There are also hundreds of variations to this move so it's something you will continually learn from and develop. I am not wearing gear in this video because I am already very comfortable on my skates but please if you're a beginner at the minimum wear your wrist guards because I have taken some nasty backwards spills doing this and I want to make sure you're protected. Now before we start with the steps I wanted to cover some drills you can do to prepare yourself for this move. These are the same drills I did when I started off. These are crossovers. What you'll be doing is crossing one leg over the other while the leg under rolls back and steps out to adjust to the original position. This will teach you to control and shift your weight and skates like you will need to during the downtown. Do this as slow as possible keeping yourself moving in a straight line engaging your core and your inner thigh muscles then practice doing it faster each time. The second drill is the same idea but across under. It's important to practice these drills at different speeds and both with your right and left leg initiating the move. Once you've got that down you can start learning the basic steps. Now to do the downtown keep in mind your A's and V's. I'm going to start heading to the right first so with my legs in an A position I'm going to lift my left leg and point it out so that it looks like one long line with my right leg and just like the crossover I'm going to bring that left leg down to replace the right leg. That right leg is going to get up and reset itself but this time it will land pointing out so your two feet are making a v-shape. In the v-shape the left leg will be initiating the move this time pointing in and going back and then similar to a cross under replace the right leg that goes up points in and resets to be in a shape. That's it those are the basic moves. Practice that again in both directions each time with a different lead foot. Start as slow as you like because when you've got it down moving faster will come easier. An important tip always bend your knees. Bending your knees will stabilize you so you don't wobble back and forth. Straight legs and skating are deadly. It may seem that with knees bent the move is harder to do but trust me it is not. So once you've got the basic steps for your feet focus on your hips. Your hips will also be switching directions as you do this move. When you're moving to the right with your left leg leading your hips should always face the direction the left foot is pointing. So if you're moving right to left with the right leg leading the hips should face the direction the right foot is pointing. It does reface and face forward in the middle of these moves. I really hope that makes sense. When my hips face in different directions my upper body itself just faces that direction normally so just focus on your hips and the rest will follow. Now when you feel comfortable doing all of this you can add your kick or your pump to your move. After 1a and 1v the foot you were leading with does a kick before you go back and start again with the other foot leading. You can kick or pump once. I do it twice. It's up to you. There's different variations and styles especially with different types of music and beats. You can do whatever flows well with the music you're dancing to. And that's it. That's the downtown. You are downtowning. It takes a lot of practice but keep at it because it's worth it. It's such a fun move to do. I even do it as a warm-up move right before my skating sessions. Once you're comfortable you can start the variations and I've seen people do it in circles or throw in a spin. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up and if you haven't subscribed you probably should because I have a ton of content planned for everyone. But if you're dying to know something or learn something in particular comment it on this video and I'll put it on my list. Bye!