How to Do a Hop Back | Irish Step Dancing

Full Playlist: - - Watch more How to Do Irish Step Dancing videos: How to do hop backs in Irish step dance. Beginning with the right foot the dancer lifts the leg, extends it, bends it, and places it down behind with a slight hop. We’ll look at that again on the right foot. Lifts the leg, bends it, replaces it behind. Then alternates onto the left side. Lift the left leg, bend it, place it behind. A series of hop backs looks like this right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg and trying hop backs a little more slowly you can see how the dancer first extends and then bends the leg. This is also known as a envelope in classical ballet. Always returning to the balls of the feet. If we watch that from the side angle you can see how the motion is almost like peddling a bicycle backward. Right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg. With each landing of the hop the dancer returns to the balls of the feet never lowering the heals throughout the series of hop backs. How to do hop backs in Irish dance.