Part X · Running drills
Carioca
Move sideways by crossing your back foot in front of the lead foot, then behind it, over and over. Your hips swivel with every cross while your chest and shoulders keep facing forward, the one drill before your run that moves you sideways.
The one cue
Hips turn, shoulders still
The lesson
- 01
Walk it first
Stand side-on to where you are going, on a flat path or grass. Step the lead foot out, cross the back foot in front of it, step the lead foot out again, then cross the back foot behind. Arms loose and a little out to the sides. Walk it slowly until it runs without thinking.
- 02
Let the hips swivel
Each cross turns your hips a little: one way as the foot crosses in front, back the other way as it crosses behind. If only your feet cross and your hips stay locked, you are stepping around the turn instead of through it.
- 03
Chest faces forward
Your chest and shoulders keep facing the same way the whole time, side-on to where you are going. The hips turn under a still upper body. That split between the two is the skill.
- 04
Light and quick
Once the pattern is smooth, get up on the balls of your feet and speed up a little, with short, light contacts. Speed comes only after the pattern is clean. If you start to trip, slow down again.
- 05
The test
One direction on the first bout, the other on the second. Notice which way feels clumsier. Smooth both ways, quiet feet and a still chest means you have it.
Watch for
- Hips not turning. The legs stiffen, the steps get short, and the drill becomes a sideways shuffle.
- Shoulders twisting with the hips. The whole body turns as one block and the split the drill trains is gone.
- Going fast before the pattern is clean. You cross on the wrong foot or trip over your own feet.
- Turning to face the way you are travelling. It becomes a jog with crossed feet, and the hips stop swivelling.
Why is it called carioca? A carioca is someone from Rio de Janeiro; the drill borrows the name of a samba step. Nobody recorded who named it.
Is carioca the same as the grapevine? Close. Many coaches use the names for the same drill. In dance and step classes a grapevine usually crosses behind only, then brings the feet together; carioca crosses in front and behind, without stopping.
What is carioca good for? Running is straight ahead, so your hips rarely turn and move sideways like this. Carioca loosens them in that direction and trains your hips to turn while your upper body stays still. It is coordination work, not a strength exercise.
How many, and when? 2 × 20 seconds, one direction each, with 25 seconds of walking between, on a flat path or grass. It comes second in the drills at the start of a run, after ankling (small, quick ankle steps), so the drills themselves are your warm-up.
Next drill
Single-Leg Balance to Run→From two feet moving sideways to one foot standing still. Then you turn that stillness into a run forward.
From the book
14Strong feet. Strong everything.→