Anyone see them?

No, it was a blur.

79 scored with 3 or 4 disallowed - so nearly 3 per second.

I noticed he took smaller steps just like Flavia the top female scorer. Logically that makes sense.

Artem was the only guy who appeared to travel too...

He almost looked like he was going to go round the floor too at one point but seemed to botofogo while moving backwards (if that makes sense)...

*Surely this thread should be with the other thread about the pro dance botofogo challenge?

well his back is better

If there is one person in the world capable of beating Artem's miraculous 79 Botafogos in 30 seconds it will be reigning latin world champion Yulia Zagoruychenko (#207 blonde with white skirt, watch her feet in the cha cha). I have emailed Zoe Bird suggesting a Botafogo showdown on BBC between Artem and Yulia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5kul...DC812651C315D9

Hmm. What are they and what do you serve them with?

Yulia isn't the reigning world champion, Joanna is! Who is also capable of beating Artem. To be honest there are a lot of professionals and amateurs who can beat Artem's record.

I really want to see Maurizio or Stefano give this a shot.

Yulia and Riccardo won the official WDC World Championship in Moscow in April 2011. Joanna won London in October and Blackpool in May, recognised by most including myself as the most prestigious test, but officially Yulia is queen until next April in Moscow.

Bring on your candidates. Two candidates dancing at the same time on two adjacent botafogo mats, that would be the ultimate dance-out at the OK Corral.

No-one can possibly beat Yulia botafogoing, not even Joanna.

Bring 'em on.

Can somebody knowlegeable please explain exactly what they are? I watched Brendan last night but wasn't sure what it was I was watching!

I believe this fast-footwork dancing was made popular by the Botofogas Ensemble in Hungary. No doubt someone can offer much faster examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARKsqZF8vc0

Here is Botofogoing from recently retired latin world champions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za-jol3P7Y8

It's a step in Samba. Best way to explain is to show you what they are. In this video the first 7 seconds the step they do is called "Bota fogo". It's the step that allows them to cross each other.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfl2u...eature=related

basically, if we make the step very simple, start by standing on you right foot, cross your left foot in front. Now step with your right foot to the right, but don't transfer all your weight onto your right leg. Now without moving your left foot transfer all your weight back onto your left leg. You've now completed 1 botafogo. Now you should be able to cross your right leg in front, step with your left foot to your left without transferring all your weight, and then transfer your weight back onto your right leg, botafogo number 2. And so on.

There is hips action that happens when you're transferring weight and you can turn during the step as well, but it's difficult to explain with writing!

Ooh, there we go, another video of botafogos in isolation. Fastforward to 00:44. The name of the move is written on the bottom left hand side of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSb__...eature=related

Botafogos (correctly Bota Fogos) a basic step in the samba.


To dance them:

Start with feet slightly apart, weight on one foot - for the sake of this, say the right foot- then

Take left foot forward and slight across in front of the right foot, put weight on it.
Take right foot to side with part weight on it
Replace weight onto left foot

Repeat starting with right foot forward ....

They can be danced on the spot, with couple face to face, side by side, or one slightly in front of the other. Or they can travel forwards, backwards or even in a circle.

Bet you're really glad you asked now!


Whoops - just noticed while I was typing this your question was already answered above

You explained much better than I did!

Thank you everybody. I presume no arm movement necessary? Don't worry - won't send you the clip of me doing it!

I suspect it would be hard to maintain best balance without arm movement. I would love to review Artem's botafogos but 08 December 2011 ITT clip appears not to be on Youtube -- can anyone help with Iplayer then upload? Residents outside UK cannot access IPlayer.

Viewers can hear music during the world record attempts, not sure if the contestants hear the same music. If so it would have put the dancer off where music rhythm cannot keep up with dancer movement.

Well... in some ways it is. There is a body movement that goes with botafogos, and the body movement creates the arm movements. But I really don't think you want the detail!

But, if you want to be fast (which is not really the purpose of botafogos, but for the purpose of the SCD challenge), you want to reduce your arm or upper body movement as much as possible and use your hips to move your legs faster. Think of a pendulum that's hanging off a pole. Your upper body is the pendulum and the legs are the string and pendulum, and your hips are the lower part of the pole. If you want the pendulum to move well (without the string bending) and fast, you have to keep the pole centred and move the lower part of the pole to move the pendulum.

Are botofogs the same step that matt baker did in his young hearts run free samba with aliona?

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSuzie.../1/8OdZ0pj5R-U should take you to the relevant ITT

1.15 in is the start of the item. Hope this works!

Why wasn't Vinthent in? Flavia was

He said he had been busy filming the Christmas special when this was done.

Yes I saw Artem's Botafogos record attempt, it was amazing considering his recent back injury. Artem is a worthy Botafogos champion and Guinness world record holder.

Thanks a million Rose, I really enjoyed that. SCD9 will be memorable for the botafogo comp, and the first minute clip with Holly was quite charming too.

James botafogo'ed with his arms outstretched (for balance) but stationary, however Artem moved his arms up and down with purpose. As each foot was unavoidably lifted off the floor the body's centre of gravity would have slightly risen, then as the foot came down so did Arem's c of g. Wonder if Artem's arm movement up and down with great speed was instinctive gyroscope-like compensation to cancel out the c of g rises and falls due to his feet and paid for by them. Flavia said Artem's botofogoing was the most accurate -- like precise chronometer clockwork movements on a heaving sea?

It all happened so quickly, only slow-motion replay can analyse how Artem did it 13% better than Brendan the next best. Quite thrilling, feel quite energised each time I rewatch it.
Come Yulia, show us the very best.

I would have thought so; botafogos are a trademark step in the Samba.