Lateral Wave
in Mexico City 🇲🇽
A body wave that travels sideways through the torso instead of front-to-back — creating a fluid, serpentine lateral motion.
Why it matters
Most dancers only wave front-to-back. Adding a lateral wave instantly doubles your body wave vocabulary. In partner work, lateral waves create side-to-side shared movement that feels completely different from the standard body wave. Musically, lateral waves match musical elements that have a 'swaying' quality — sustained melodies, call-and-response passages, or moments that call for something unexpected.
The lateral wave is a body wave executed in the frontal plane (side-to-side) rather than the sagittal plane (front-to-back). Instead of your chest pushing forward and the wave rolling down, your ribcage shifts to one side and the wave rolls laterally through the body — from shoulder to ribcage to hip, like a snake moving sideways. It's less commonly taught than the standard body wave but adds a completely different visual texture to your movement vocabulary.
Beginner
You need a solid standard body wave before attempting lateral waves. The prerequisite: can you do a clean chest-to-hip body wave? If yes, now try shifting the plane. Stand facing a mirror and shift your ribcage to the right. Now let that shift 'fall' down to your hip on the right side. That's the beginning of a lateral wave. It will feel strange — your body is used to front-back waves, not lateral ones.
Intermediate
Build the full lateral wave: initiate from one shoulder/ribcage side, wave down through the obliques and into the hip on the same side. Then reverse: hip initiates and waves back up to the shoulder. Practice both directions. Now make it continuous: wave down the right side, cross at the hips, wave up the left side, cross at the shoulders, and continue. This creates a figure-eight-like pattern that flows continuously.
Advanced
Combine lateral waves with other movements: lateral wave into a standard body wave (switching planes mid-wave). Lateral wave while traveling sideways. In partner work, matched lateral waves (both partners waving to the same side simultaneously) or counter-lateral waves (waving in opposite directions). Use lateral waves in unexpected moments — during a turn exit, during a musical transition, anywhere a standard wave would be expected. The surprise factor makes them powerful.
Practice drill
Stand facing a mirror, feet shoulder-width. Shift ribcage right (just the ribcage). Now let that shift cascade down to the right hip. Reverse: start from right hip, wave up to ribcage. Do 10 repetitions. Switch to left side. Then make it continuous: right side down, cross hips, left side up, cross shoulders, right side down. Five minutes at slow tempo, focusing on sequential movement.
Lateral Wave in Mexico City
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