Once again it is the last Friday of the month and as usual we analyse another move as well as giving you a new video on our YouTube channel. This month’s move is from level 3 on the Tiempo España Dance Academy syllabus and it is one of the few moves that seems to be pretty much the same around the world with a few exceptions. As is common with these type of moves, different schools teach a different Alarde at the end but the base of the move tends to be the same internationally. When social dancing, it is completely irrelevant which type of Alarde is chosen to finish the move as Alarde – literally meaning “show” – is simply a way to make the move look nicer at the end without changing the structure of the move. It is completely up to the leader which type of Alarde they want to use to finish off a move and just by changing the Alarde at the end you can often make the same move look different when dancing to faster music as it creates a very visual effect that distracts from the fact that the steps are effectively the same.
This being said, while we occasionally teach a class on Alarde to give dancers the option to vary their moves when dancing socially, it is nice to have one standardised version where everyone does the same Alarde at the end of the move so that when the move is being called in Rueda there is a greater symmetry among the dancers. The Alarde shown in our video is one of the most common ways to finish the move and the one we use in our school for Ruedas. Other common variations include a Gancho or even a double Gancho at the end of the move.
Arco Iris literally means rainbow in Spanish which stems from the fact that the distinguishing feature of the move is the leader stretching out both hands and bringing them over their head while the follower turns behind their back so that the leader and follower end up in a back to back position. As the hands are stretched out and brought over the head they form the shape of an arch giving rise to the name Arco Iris. It is very important to stretch out the hands as high above the head as possible so as to distinguish the move from Juego De Manos type of variations where the follower will not be induced to turn. It is also important that the hands come straight up above the head rather than at an angle that makes either the follower or the leader lean backwards as this can lead to back problems and injuries.
While the move starts like Mini Setenta it is not usually included in the Setenta family of moves which is why the word “Setenta” does not feature in the name of the move. Therefore, we do not end the move with a Ronde in Rueda in our school like we would do for Setenta moves.
The hand signal of Arco Iris is the caller drawing an arch in the air with their flat right hand as shown in our video at https://youtu.be/Gs_z1mQa4g4.
