onewheeldaveGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,252 posts
Location: sheffield, United Kingdom


Posted:
Moonwalking.


Has anyone worked on this at all?

Are there any decent web resources on mastering the technique (I'm not interested in other break dancey/popping type stuff, just the moonwalk)?

Currently I'm at the point where I've got the ankle/leg/foot movements and, from brief glimpses of myself in reflective surfaces and feedback from jugglers/spinners, I'm getting the effect some of the time.

Also, from feedback, I apparently have a bit of a problem with leaning forwards.

Where arms are concerned I don't know what they're supposed to be doing- whether the left arm is supposed to be forward when left leg is, or vice-versa; or even whether the arms are that important to achieve the effect.

So any feedback from someone who can do this well would be appreciated (if anyone does offer advice it would be good if they could state whether they can actually do a convincing moonwalk or not).

And a link to a decent video clip would be great (a clip on the actual internet rather than some kind of kazaa/bit-torrent resource).

I've done some searches and found these-

https://jerseyguy.com/commons/moonwalk.htm
which has got a short .avi movie clip

https://www.allmichaeljackson.com/dance-moves.html
with a animated GIF of a moonwalking skeleton

https://www.popandlock.com/html/moonwalk.html
which claims to have a .mov quicktime clip; but I can't get it to work

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
Ah!

For a cliche in the making, Check out Durbs' video, Contact Juggling - work in progress. Durbs is proper good at gliding and such. In the Video, he does an overhead walk with the Contact ball WHILE MOONWALKING. Beautiful!!

I've recently started to try this moonwalking malarky as well. I'm starting to get the hang of the 'weight on your 'off-foot' thing, and it's STARTING to look smooth.

For those of you that don't know how to moonwalk/glide, simply stand on tip-toe on one foot, and slide the other (flat) foot back (or any other direction you desire), alternate, repeat, rinse as desired.

The hard part is getting it really smooth, as Dave says.

I think that Durbs is also gonna run a little workshop on this sort of thing at Falmouth...

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
[Old link]

There Ya go!! biggrin

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


MikeIconGOLD Member
Pooh-Bah
2,109 posts
Location: Philadelphia, PA - USA


Posted:
Moonwalking is all about practice, as you should know by now, Dave. Just keep at it.

A few tips - Practice with good floor/foot conditions. Clean smooth floor surface in socks is probably the easiest (as seen in the first vid clip you posted). Once you get it down like that, you can move on to harder things like doing it with shoes and/or on carpet/pavement.

Hands dont really matter at first because you can really do anything with your hands depending on the effect you want to achieve. Dont really sweat it when just learning.

There is definately a certain feeling once you get the motion right. Your feet sort of jerk in and out of their positions even though you cant tell by looking at it.

If all else fails, try it on roller skates with stoppers at the toes... VERY EASY.

Once you get it down, try the reverse moonwalk smile

Let's turn those old bridges we crossed into ashes.
We'll blaze a new trail,
and torch the rough patches.

-Me


NucleopoiBRONZE Member
chemical attraction
1,097 posts
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England


Posted:
ahh people wanting to do the moonwalk and look like Micky J.

_khan_SILVER Member
old hand
768 posts
Location: San Francisco, California, USA


Posted:
dudes. i'm already onto the infinite-beat isolated antimoonwalk. looks a lot like walking. wink

taken out of context i must seem so strange
~ ani di franco


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Good heavens, youre moonwalking Dave? wink Next thing you know, you will be the running man wink



heheh sorry, me bad spank couldn't resist smile



The moonwalking one is where you step on your toes, instead of your heels, walking forward. So it looks like you are walking backwards, but you are actually going forward or something like that, right ???? I think Michael Jackson does it. Yes, it would be a good dance to learn; I think. wink



Though, if it's dance your into, then I'm not sure why u limited the posts to only moonwalking. There are a lot of great moves out there, and I'd enjoy posting a few links on The Melbourne Shuffle. This shuffle being a local folk dance, that although a tad passe, just won't go away.



For anyone that is interested in dancing with poi or other props, then there is some good discussions in the Help Sction, in a thread called Another dance thread, Kinda (sorry, link not work).



Cheers, and hey I'm looking forward to the video smile



beerchug

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


Mr ChutneySILVER Member
Tosser
1,712 posts
Location: Bristol,UK


Posted:
I think Durbs is the man to ask Dave- hes been practicing gliding and liquid for quite a while now if I remember correctly-

Apparently getting it really smooth depend on foot strength as much as technique, so once you have the bas idea, the more you ractice the cleaner and smother it'll get, not only because you're refining your technique, but also because the ball/toe section of your feet will be so much stronger that you'll be able to lean onto it more and extend the action.

Chut smile

colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
hello dave smile

i can do a fairly decent glide to my right and a fairly, slow jerky moonwalk.

my first reaction to your post was something like eek
all because of this line:

"Are there any decent web resources on mastering the technique (I'm not interested in other break dancey/popping type stuff, just the moonwalk)?"

its a bit like saying "i saw this guy with juggling balls doing a trick called the box and i want to learn that - i'm not interested in any of the other tricks you can do".

you should learn the basic principle of the float/glide and apply it as many directions and variations as possible.
which is a bit more like saying "ooo, contact juggling - i love the butterfly, i'm not interested in the rest but i wasnt every butterfly variation i can possibly find".

durbs' video is actually an extremely good resource for learning the basics.
he does a lovely couple of basic floats around 20 seconds in that are worth learning (only one foot glides in these).
around 1:10 there's a great example of applying basic gliding principles sideways too.
and the move that chut mentioned above is absolutely gorgeous - watch it lots smile


answer to your question and some extra tips:

Where arms are concerned I don't know what they're supposed to be doing- whether the left arm is supposed to be forward when left leg is, or vice-versa; or even whether the arms are that important to achieve the effect."

you can either emulate your normal walking style (right arm forwards, left leg forwards) or do something different with your upper body.
it is unusual to see right hand forward, right leg forward when gliding - this kind of movement is usually reserved for robot type stuff where you are trying to give the impression of an animated mannequin or string puppet.
i think these moves look best when you isolate your upper limbs either with respect to your upper body or with respect to your surroundings (see durbs' video yet again - ball isolated in space with durbs gliding towards/away from it).

the leaning forwards thing is hard but it helps on the bit of the moonwalk that looks really trippy - the bit where your floating foot goes back past the foot up on its toes.
with the foot on its toes, try to really point your knee forwards and concentrate on keeping the angle of your knee constant all the way through the glide which should give you a much better illusion.
the leaning forward might also help in make the weight shift from foot to foot less obvious.

use a mirror all the time - just looking down at yourself doesn't benefit you anywhere near as much.

good luck ubbrollsmile


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Hi Dave,

How's the moonwalking going?

I found some great stuff on moonwalking. Check the link to dance school at this dance site

Still waiting for the video wink

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


MikeIconGOLD Member
Pooh-Bah
2,109 posts
Location: Philadelphia, PA - USA


Posted:
Aw man, thanks for that link Stone. Im sooo gonna learn all the MJ moves smile

Let's turn those old bridges we crossed into ashes.
We'll blaze a new trail,
and torch the rough patches.

-Me


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
cool No problems IcoN,

if you are after other dance moves then I posted a link to the shuffle in the Help Sction, in a thread called Another dance thread, Kinda (sorry, link not work).

Cheers smile

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


onewheeldaveGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,252 posts
Location: sheffield, United Kingdom


Posted:
Cheers for the link Stone.

I would've posted a thanku earlier, but, due to the movie clips on the site being 'realplayer files' and realplayer being on my list of boycotted products (due to the harm they've caused with their software), I was waiting till I could find an alternative movie player that could play the files.

That's taking longer than I anticipated.

As for my progress with moonwalking; from the clips I've seen I'm pretty much on the right track in terms of technique, so I'll just have to keep practicing. Moonwalking practice is only really practical for me once a week when I'm at the juggling club, so I expect it'll be a while before I'm proficient.

Also, thanx to everyone else for their tips and links.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Hi Dave, I'm glad you found the link useful.

Sometimes you can open real files with windows media player, but grr I've have lots of problems media players and slow downloads.

Give me a hoy when you want to learn the Melbourne shuffle biggrin

Cheers

smile

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


Puresockaddict
406 posts
Location: Oxford, UK


Posted:
Written by: onewheeldave


I would've posted a thanku earlier, but, due to the movie clips on the site being 'realplayer files' and realplayer being on my list of boycotted products (due to the harm they've caused with their software), I was waiting till I could find an alternative movie player that could play the files.




The Real Alternative codec does the job rather well for me and hasn't caused me any problems. I haven't checked up to find anyone else's results though, I guess your mileage may vary.
https://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1054136293/1

There is also a Quicktime Alternative you may find useful kicking around on the net.

"Take that, math!"



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