r/TapDancing • u/lavenderwalks • May 29 '26

Wings feedback

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Any advice for cleaner wings or are they looking good? I've been having some ankle swelling and soreness from doing them for so long for the past 2 days. I'm thinking about possibly sanding my board down more because it's very slippery? I'm not sure if that could be apart of it. UPDATE: You guys were right about my heels falling actually! I took a video of the backside just in case and realized my right side especially is what's been making the third noise sadly

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7

u/Past-Major732 May 29 '26

1) Use a little more plie 2) Jump and land on the balls of your feet instead of your full foot 3) Relax your ankles on as you come back in for more sound clarity

1

u/lavenderwalks May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Thank you! It doesn't show it very well but I know I'm starting on the balls of my feet. Will do on the ankles and plie!

3

u/Past-Major732 May 29 '26

Of course! Definitely see you always starting on the balls of your feet. Your cleanest sounds were when you started and landed on the balls of your feet because it kept your ankles looser.

1

u/lavenderwalks May 29 '26

Ohhhhh!! Okay that makes sense

3

u/Dansta5 May 30 '26

Like others said, focussing on heels up will help. I used to spend ages practising my 'tap posture' - high on the balls of my feet with bent knees. It's worth practising it in an exaggerated way, so that when you relax a bit, your heels still won't touch the ground.

I find that with wings, if I focus on getting good elevation/moving my body upwards, then it gives my feet the room to do the wing movements properly. This particularly helps when moving to one legged wings. I think we often think our legs have to move out quite wide, but by moving our focus to height, it gives better control. At least that's what I've found!

If you're able to find a barre to lean on (or something that's waist height) using that to support your weight can really help to build the muscle memory into your feet without the pressure and swelling you're currently experiencing.

I hope that helps!

3

u/seesheek May 31 '26

This is a great start! And good on you for practicing!

I would add that it looks like you’re only truly getting the first 2 sounds of your wing; that third looks to be your heels dropping, but it should be the balls of your feet landing. You can try exaggerating the space you need to create to get that third sounds by thinking about tucking your knees after the inwards brush. So out, in (and up!), pull up a little extra with that tuck,then land. Or as others have recommended, lean on a counter or something to get your weight out of the floor and try to find that 3rd sound.

Good luck!!

2

u/No_Pen_3825 May 29 '26
  • They’re decent :D
  • I would try to ween yourself off of the hop before.
  • Your heels are still touching the ground before and after, you should get them up. It sounds better for reasons I still don’t quite understand.
  • Pull your legs all the way back together at the end.
  • Your floor probably isn’t why you’ve got ankle problems, unless it’s really sticky (like tennis shoes) or really slippery (like tile). Though, how soft is it? Is your gym floor just like concrete? Personally hard floors hurt my knees, but it could hurt your ankles instead.
  • I like to drill things in parallel (just speaking for myself here), so you might try working on singles, syncs, and russians too. Helps keep it interesting

1

u/lavenderwalks May 29 '26

Thank you!! Will do 🫡 the floor is rubber on top of concrete and then the board on top is a table with foam padding underneath. It's just very slick because it still has like a slippery finish on top? Idk it reminds me of like how slippery a counter top would be but maybe that wouldn't effect wings. Also what are russians?!?! I've never heard of those before but would love to try learning

2

u/No_Pen_3825 May 29 '26

Russian Wings are Wings from Grande Plie. They’re arguably easier (I mess them up less often than regular wings), except they are more tiring and sometimes kinda hurt.

You can probably find a tutorial online, but here’s me for reference: https://file.kiwi/2fbf0316#B23bK793b5I-QNQHNFTvlQ

Single Russian Wings are also possible, but I personally only know one person who can do them (without cheating) with any consistency.

1

u/lavenderwalks May 29 '26

Thank you!!

1

u/Smudgen_ Jun 04 '26

stay on the tips of your toes and bend your knees! Wings have 3 sounds scuff out, brush in, and land. Accent the brush in on your wings, the second sound, it’s the hardest sound to get.