How To Do Forward Outside Choctaws (S-Step Tutorial)

Hello skaters, welcome back. I'm very glad you're here. I'm coach Julia and today we're going to learn chalk or also known as

step

s, depending on where in the world you are, there are many different types of chalk or

step

s, um, and they are considered one of the most challenging foot games, uh , turns, so if it's a little challenging for you, that's okay, just be patient with yourself while you learn them, now a chock or a step is cousin to a mohawk or a cstep, okay, so a mohawk will stay in the same edges and it will stay on the same circle, but it will turn from front to back and change feet, okay, then we will change feet, we will turn from front to back but we will stay on the same edge and We stay on the same circle, a chalk towards or the f step is like a cousin of the Mohawk, but we're changing circles and changing edges, so if we start on an outside edge we'll end up on the Inside Edge okay, so they're going to change circles and change edges, so the one we're going to do today I think it's the simplest for most of my students, at least it's going to be a Chaka front outside edge or an S step, okay? and we're going to do this on both the left and the right.

Now you're going to hear several different terms when it comes to CH TOS, you're going to hear closed, you're going to hear open and then we're going to hear them referred to by a lot of dance terms, so Rumba or swing is fine and that's a dance terminology because it's used a lot, they are used a lot in ice dancing. For today we're not going to use that rumit or That dance terminology we're just going to use it open and closed, so I'm going to address it as we teach because I think if I go through it right now, you're going to get confused, so we're going to start with a left front.

Chaka open outside, so I'm going to start with my left outside edge

forward

in front of me and my left hand in front of me so I can look open where I'm going to turn my back towards my circle, you can see. I'm using these curling circles as a reference, so my back is towards that curling circle when we start again. I'm going to push off with my right foot and then I'm going to center my weight on my foot, okay? We don't want it too high up in the front or we're not going to rotate, we're not going to rotate the feet, um, the feet are actually going to be

forward

or backward, they don't rotate, so if your feet rotate, then you're If you do bad this maneuver, you're going to want to take a clean step without turning your feet, that means we're going to be in the middle of our foot, okay, so I'm going to push, now my foot needs to go to the front for any movement. open chocka of any kind, you're going to step forward to get a closed chalk, you're going to step back, okay, just remember to open to the front, close to the back, okay, so again we're going to push towards that outside edge left front, place our foot.

In front now I'm trying to put my foot down for myself. I like to have students have their feet pretty close to each other unless they're doing it for good posture, some of those eye postures need to take a very wide step, but when we're learning this, it's good to be in control. Walk pretty close to each other, maybe a few inches apart, and I'm going to ask you to put your foot forward. It's okay, if when you are learning an open step you start taking the step. In the middle, the twist tends to turn into a mohawk when you're learning, so I want you to step up.

Now your foot should be as extended as possible. Okay, because we're going to go into our inner edge on the way back. back, so this front foot, which is my right foot, has to be turned completely from the hips so you can see my feet are as close as possible, sorry, you can see that my hips are almost resting on my path, So I skate forward. My left foot is making a pattern on the ice and my hips are as open as I can to that pattern. If they're closed and facing forward, it's going to be very difficult for me to step back on the next step.

So I want you to practice sitting with me. the back towards the circle, the hips as much rotated, the spine as rotated as possible and the free leg, in this case, the right foot in front. Okay, so practice that one a little bit, that's your starting position, so we actually step back on our chalk up to here, so we're going to step forward at the apex of our turn, our foot is going to bend, our knee is going to bend and we're going to take a step towards our inside edge, so we want that foot in front and then we're going to crouch down a little bit and take a step so now we're going to go back on our inside edge with any turn that we be a step like this, like the Mohawks or the TOS with chalk, any of those twists.

You have to rotate your shoulders and upper body before you can do anything with your feet. If you try to move your feet first, you won't have enough rotation in your upper body and you simply won't make it. We're going to end up doing a little three-way turn to make this happen, they're going to be fooled, okay? I can guarantee you that every student I have who tries to do a Mohawk turn or a chocka turn and doesn't check first is cheating. turn Okay, so we're ready to turn, we want to go down on that right leg, what are we going to do?

We're going to rotate our upper body before we take a step, so we're facing our left hand, we're open. but looking towards that left hand before we take a step, we're going to start turning towards the right hand so we can stand on our inside edge and follow that right hand, okay, so when you slide forward you'll be focused. open but focus on that left hand before you take a step, you're going to start moving to your right which makes it easier to take the step, so let's all do this together nice and smooth, we're going to push towards that outside edge, look to the left turn to the right, turn and let's take a step to the right, back, inside the edge, okay, now you can pronounce that swing at the beginning or do it with a nice calm step either way , it's still an open chocka out to the left, okay, so If we just take a step, you're going to put that foot in front nice and quiet and place it on that inside edge as carefully as you can.

If you want to put the forward left swing outside of Open Swing with T chalk, then come on. to go swing, rotate, step, okay, but anyway, anyway, you're going to check that the upper body bends a little bit towards the knees, so we're going to increase our knee bend and then we're going to give a step to get into a kind of This reminds me a little bit of ballet class, so getting into that paa and that allows us to step on the right edge as we change, so now let's change to a closed Mohawk. Well, we have a slightly different ending for the closed Mohawk because you're stepping back so you're not in your normal control position, so the opening is a little easier because it's a control position that we're used to for other things, if you've ever done a half flip, okay, that control position is the same thing, it just goes backwards, so it's a classic payoff that you'll be used to, so the closed one is a little different with the payoff. , the entrance will be the same but we will exchange where we are stepping.

So on the left we are looking to the left, our upper body is rotated, so up to here everything is the same, okay, this initial edge our focus is to the left, but as we start to change our focus To the right, our foot will slide back and we'll take a step behind us, so we'll still raise our knee. We bend as we step, so we're bending a little bit as we take that edge to help us get the hip to rotate, but as I step back we're going to increase a little bit so we can get that paa position and get to the right edge. with our right foot.

Now our right foot is still going to go to the inside edge because this is a chalk TOS of the outside edge, so we're starting on our outside edge stepping towards our inside edge, so we're here looking at our left hand, the hips are open, We're down on that left leg now, before we take a step, we're going to start rotating our upper body. and our foot is going to slide back and we're going to step our back into Edge. Now the ending is different, okay, since we stand behind us, let's check with our leg in front.

Okay, so we're still going to have our upper body in our layout, okay, so our upper body will be facing that left hand with our shoulders kind of open, okay, so we're not going to close, so we're looking towards our toe, but our shoulders are open, so they're looking along our sword, okay, think of your shoulders copying your sword, so I'm going to look at that right hand, but my left leg will be closed in front, okay, so I still have nice low thighs. really nice close spot, turn your toe and you're going to hold a position like this right now, as with any footwork, you need to practice this both ways, both feet, you don't want holes in your repertoire of skills. so practice both sides, even your harder side, real quick, we're going to go over both with the right leg, okay, so we're going to do a right forward outward open chak, so we're going to have that. right hand in front pushing towards our right front outer edge now since it's open I'm stepping forward looking to the right stepping forward look back okay so again we check the top of the body before taking the step, let me do it.

That again for you, so we're going to go all facing right before we take a step, we start turning to the left and that will make it easier for you to check this turn. Okay, looking to the right, left step. Okay, now be very clear with your edges. It is very easy in a chocka or paso to be soft on the edges. Make sure you are clear on the outside, clear on the inside. Be very intentional if you are doing footwork in a competition, if you are doing a step sequence and your footwork is clean, it will do it.

Improve your scores with the judges, okay, if you are taking a test and your edges are soft and we can't tell what Edge you are on, it will be reflected in your test scores as it is very easy to do. these chalk throws on floors, make sure you deliberately step on the edges where you really want to be, okay one more time, go ahead, outside, open chalk to step forward, okay, let's try a closed chalk again, since this is closed. stepping back, so same thing we're going to end up in that nice closed position for our control, starting with the right hand in front, we're going to swing forward, we move that foot back and then we step into a closed position, very good.

That closed position is a little uncomfortable. You can practice it on each leg if you feel that you have difficulty maintaining balance. It is a kind of mirror of the position that we took at the beginning and that we are now taking. back for that closed position at the end we're going to pump a little. I'm going to put my weight on my inside left edge right in the center we are not towards the toe we are not towards the heel I am going to turn my front leg, in this case it is my right and I am GNA, I place my shoulders as parallel as possible to my sword and then I do G to look to my left, so I look where I am.

I just got okay, so that's a position that you can definitely practice on its own, so it's nice and strong and your muscle memory can kick in after the twist. Okay, skater. I hope you enjoyed the Chaka o S Step

tutorial

. They are a challenging turn for some, so make sure you are really patient with yourself, stretch that flexibility and practice that time and eventually you will master them. If you enjoyed this video, please give us a thumbs up and, as always, I look forward to seeing you. To read all your comments in that section below, if you haven't already, hit the subscribe button and the little notification bell so you can see all my videos when they come out, happy skating and I'll see you next time.