[music playing]

NEALE WHITTAKER: Hi, guys. Welcome back. My name's Neale Whittaker. I'm very excited to bring you a second instalment for 'Arts Bites' by The Arts Unit, New South Wales education system. Very exciting to be back. I'm giving you guys a new routine today. It's to a song called 'South of the River' by Tom Misch. He's a London artist-- very, very, very talented artist, in my opinion.

This routine is very articulated. It's very intricate. It's got a lot of musicality, and it can be very difficult if you haven't trained in this style before. What I'd like you to do is step up to the challenge. I'll give you all the counts. We'll go slow, we'll go fast, and we should be fine. All right, let's do it.

OK, so we're going to start on the 5. We're going to step on our left leg. You go 2, 3, 4. We step 5, 6, like this. Stepping on my left leg to start. We're going and, my right hand coming to my left shoulder, my left hand grabbing my left foot into a bit of a quad stretch. I've softened the supporting leg. And that's on the and count.

I want to have a little up groove as I do it. So when I'm walking forward, I have a certain attitude. I'm going 5, 6. I go up groove to grab the leg, and. I'm going to send it forward. My right hand's grabbing my left leg, like that. My left hand that was placed on the foot comes to the back of my back.

So when I walk forward, I'm going kick, kick, like that, and 7. And there's a real bounce to that step. So I'm walking forward on the 5. 3, 4. We step 5, 6, and 7, and. I'm going to send both my arms up into the ceiling. Out of this step, before, when I kick forward, you want to fall onto that foot. Send both hands up to the ceiling as if you were pushing the ceiling up.

My left leg becomes my supporting leg, and I turn to face the front to you guys again, spotting the front, whatever your front is. So when I come out of this bounce, and 7, end-- that's my prep. I'm going to send my body up. I'm turning via my right shoulder, like that. I'm going to throw my arms out to the side. Both my legs are going to the side at the same time. And I'm coming over to the corner this way.

I'm also thinking in terms of texture. And 7 and 8 is the turn, and then we're throwing it away real sharp. 1. And then we're smooth around the corner for the 2. 1, 2, like that.

Try it from the top. 2, 3, 4. Step 5, 6, and 7, and 8. 1, 2, like that. Then, a very funky bass guitar comes in. [mimics bass guitar] That's what it sounds like. Your count's very specific, and we're going to do some isolations. I'm going to teach you the isolations first without any of the movement.

This goes we're throwing our arms on the 1. 1, 2. This goes right shoulder, left shoulder. 3, end. We're going to nod our head. 4, end. We're going to look to the left. 5, and. My chest is going to explode to the front. 6, like that, and I'm going to implode through a contraction, and 7, 8. I'll show you again.

So this is 3, and. Lift my head, 4 and. Look to the left, 5, and. Lift my chest, 6. And then contract, 7, 8. Your texture is quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. So tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. The chest is cah, comes out of nowhere. And then this is like boom, big, ooey-gooey texture. We drop the chest, boom, and then we're going to ooey-gooey through the body.

So we throw things away. We go 1, 2. I'm going to sail around the corner as I do my two shoulders. So this is 1, 2. I go 3, and, and then I've found my centre. I lift my head, 4, and. I look to the left, 5, and. My chest explodes, 6. And then I drop it down, 7, 8. And I'm sending all my weight over my left leg, 7, 8.

I throw my arms up, and my right leg comes up with it. 1, like that, thinking bang the drum here. Both my feet come to a parallel, and then I look up, 2. So this is a 1, 2, just like that. Let's try from the top. We'll go slow, and then we'll go fast. Ready?

2, 3, 4, step 5, 6, and 7 and 8. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and 5, and a 7, 8. A 1, 2. Beautiful. Let's go fast. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and 8. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and 5, and 6, and 7, 8. A 1, 2. Just like that. All right, let's try it with the music.

[music - Tom Misch, 'South of the River']

TOM MISCH: (SINGING) I want to stay south of the river with the chains and the gold.

NEALE WHITTAKER: (LAUGHS) Well done, guys. All right, moving right along, this is a 1, 2. I'm going to give you the hands and arms only, because the feet are very tricky. We're going to go back to that in a second. This is 3 and. So I want you to open up your hands, 3 and. You press your hands down, 4 and. You're going to tap your hips, 5. Tap your ribs, and. Tap your head, 6. Going to throw it up in the air, a 7. And you're going to bring it down right, left, which is and 8.

And you'll hear it in the track. It goes bom, bom, bom, bom, cah, cah. Two big cah, cah sound effects. So doing that again with the arms. This is a 1, 2. Open the hands, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, and 8. Also, my hands are open when I throw them up into the air. And then I'm closing fist as I come down, and 8.

The feet are going a 1, 2. This is going right foot pressing down into the floor. My left foot is going to rotate out as I squish into the floor. I'm going to lift that leg, replace it down here. Squish the other way. And I'm going to come back as if to do it again. We're doing two of these. This groove you can do all day long, anytime you like.

So it's just pressing down into the floor, rotate the opposite leg. Press it down to the floor, rotate the opposite leg. We're doing two of these in the routine. So this is going a 1, 2. When we open our hands, it's 3 and, like that. Both my hands are going to come down like this. I'm going 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, and 8.

So you'll notice that as I'm travelling to the left, it's a variation of this groove, but it's a travelling version of it, like this. There's an up groove to it. There's also a body roll to it, if you want to get really specific. But the foundation of it is that we're going boom, boom. I go to start again, as if I'm going to repeat the cycle of grooves. When I send this left leg out, I'm going to repeat the heel this way.

It's very strange, but I'm going to put all my weight in that heel to reset my position. So if you watch from the side, I'm going tick, tick, tick, and-- that's the tricky part. And then you want to lift the toes up off the ground, putting all the weight in the heel. So this is a 1, 2, 3, and-- press down-- 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, and 8. And as you notice at the end, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, cah.

That left leg's lifting up, and it comes down, and 8. Very, very nice. Let's add it on from the top. Ready? 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and 8. 1, 2, 3, and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7, 8. A 1, 2, 3, and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, and 8, like that.

All right, we're almost at the end of our first checkpoint. I'm going to get you a little bit more movement, we'll try with the music, and we'll keep going. 7 and 8. This then leads with the right shoulder. I'm going to go 1 and 2. What I'm using is a wave technique, where I'm thinking articulating each joint at a given time. Lead with the shoulder, followed by the elbow, wrist, hand.

That's the first arm, like that. My left hand or arm is following along. So I'm leading with the right arm. Then I come around the corner like that. And then I'm pulling the cord back with my right arm. And that's pulling this left arm in. When I get to this position, I'm going to rotate and bring that right leg up into a retiré position with a soft supporting leg.

So this is 7 and 8. We go 1, 2, just like that. We're going to throw it away, 3 and 4, kick, ball, change. Throw your hands away. Kick, ball, change. I lean back into that kick. So instead of going da, da, da, and leaning forward, I bounce back, ball, change.

Tick, tick, tick, step. That right leg's going to come out of nowhere. So this coming out of the 1, 2. I'm throwing it away. 3 and 4 and. Pretending that there's an imaginary bar coming up from my chest, I go 5, grab the bar, pull it to the front. And I look to the front, 6. Then I throw everything away and I sail around the corner, a 7, 8.

I'm going to bounce, bounce, and stop, going boom, boom, boom at the end. And when I say I bounce texture, I mean we're bouncing off these imaginary walls. So I come around the corner, throwing everything away. And then I bounce here, here, and I stop on the last one. You'll hear it in the music. It's a drum kit sound effect. It goes [mimics cymbal], like that, a little cymbal. And we're thinking [mimics cymbal], and we're stopping at the end of that sound.

All right, let me take it back from a 1, 2. Ready? 6, 7, 8. A 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7 and 8. We go 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, 7, 8, and a 1. We're going to look up to the corner, 2, like that. You'll hear 'sss-kah,' like that. We're going to throw our hands up, boom, down. Boom, boom, just kind of like a gesture to the corner.

Boom, boom, we're going to roll the right arm over the left arm. We roll like this. We're going to bounce, and, like that. This happens very quickly, by the way. When we roll this right arm over the left, we roll, and then you want to fall into this right elbow. However, you'll be hitting that right elbow as you're doing the turn. You'll notice, as well, that as I'm doing this roll with the arms, my right leg releases to set itself to face the back.

As I'm turning, roll, boom, boom, like that. And 5 is the count. We're going bounce. We're going to catch a rope. 5, 6, 7. So you grab this rope and you pull it across the body. 5, 6, 7, and 8. And we're going to tick, tick back across the floor. Not too bad.

And that's the end of our section one. So let's recap a whole bunch of that, and then we'll pop it onto some music, and then you should be good to go. Let's try it from a 1, 2. Ready? Here we go. 7, 8. A 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7 and 8. We go 1, 2. Kick, ball, change, step. 5 and 6 and 7, 8. And a 1, look, 2. Throw and roll. Hit 5, 6, 7, which is and 8.

Let me show you from the very top. Let's go nice and slow all together, and then we'll go with the track. Woo, woo, woo! Here we go. Ready? 2, 3, 4. We step 5, 6, and 7 and 8. 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, 8. A 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7.

We go 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, a 7, 8. Go, go, go, go. 2, throw and roll, and 5, 6, 7. Like that. All right, I think we're ready for music. Let's do it.

[music - Tom Misch, 'South of the River]

TOM MISCH: (SINGING) I want to stay south of the river with the chains and the gold. We could be out here together, but you have places to go. Watching the sun--

NEALE WHITTAKER: Guys, congratulations. That is the end of part one for Tom Misch's 'South of the River.' What's very exciting about that is that there is a part 2. So keep your eyes out for part 2. Once you've figured out part 1, I want you to see if you can tackle that part 2 almost straight away. See if you can link them together, do the whole routine, start to finish.

Like I said at the start, it is a little bit tricky and fast at times, but that's OK. That's how we get better. All right, guys, good luck. I'll see you soon.