1. The Cooking Dance (left)
Chosen by: Miss Ksyn, a Beyoncé backup dancer
How You Do It: Facing forward, bend your knees in a shallow plié and “bounce a little bit on your toes to get excited,” says Ksyn. “Then, stick one arm out straight and with the other arm, pretend you are holding a frying pan and that you have to keep it moving back and forth over the fire.” The movement can be sweeping, side-to-side, all in the wrist, or a combination of the three. Once you get comfortable, start swinging the pan in circles. “It’s all about the steady arm motion, like you’re really trying to cook something up in the kitchen.”
2. The Scoop Groove (center)
Chosen by: Amanda Robinson, Brooklynettes dancer
How You Do It: “Start out just rocking right to left, bending your legs a little bit,” explains Robinson. Next, “add your arms into it,” meaning lift them to chest level, elbows out to the side, and clench both fists. Then pull both of your arms out straight to the side, as if you were opening a set of double doors. Once they are fully extended, scoop down to either side, each arm making a downward C-curve. Snap them back up to chest height and repeat. In other words, “scoop down and pull, scoop down and pull. Add a little bit of shoulder action, and it’s just like that!”
3. The Pose (right)
Chosen by: Umi Akiyoshi, freshman at SUNY Purchase’s dance conservatory
How You Do It: “If you strike one simple, dramatic pose over and over again, you become an object to look at,” says Akiyoshi. Start from an upright position, with your arms resting at your sides. Then turn and crouch abruptly and dramatically to the right, “making a curve out of your spine.” Ultimately, she says, “the goal is to look like a model striking a pose. The more clichéd the move, the more readable it is.”