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A Lead should know and use hundreds of basic figures and moves but only use a tiny selection in any one dance. It is much better to use ten figures five times than fifty figures one time in a dance.

The benefits of a small selection, and of repeating many of the figures several times are multitude:

1. It gives the dance character.
2. It makes the dance more relaxed.
3. It makes it easier for the Follow.
4. It promotes musicality.

In a nutshell: Theme and repetition give the Lead and the Follow more time to do other things than just leading and following.

In this first example of Theme and Repetition, the focus is on Arcoiris variations (4 times), on Exhíbela (13 times) both one and two handed, and on doing Vacilala inside Exhibela (3 times).

Sequence of figures

The video is 2 minutes and 13 seconds long with this sequence of basic figures:

1. Enchufla
2. Exhibela
3. Rodeo
4. Exhibela
5. Vacilala inside Exhíbela
6. Rodeo
7. Two Handed Exhíbela into Hammerlock
8. Enchufle into Arcoíris start position
9. Arcoíris
10. DQN
11. Casino Clásico
12. Rodeo
13. Two handed Exhíbela into Hammerlock
14. Enchufla into Arcoíris start position
15. DQN
16. Vacilala on “3-5-6”
17. Enchufla
18. Two handed Exhíbela into Hammerlock
19. Enchufla into start position of Arcoíris
20. Arcoíris
21. Lead stepping back into Hook Turn
22. Enchufla
23. Rodeo
24. Paséala
25. Exhíbela
26. Vacilala inside Exhíbela
27. Rodeo
28. Exhíbela
29. Exhíbela
30. Exhíbela
31. Exhíbela
32. Rodeo
33. Exhíbela
34. Vacilala inside Exhíbela
35. Rodeo
36. Two Handed Exhíbela into Hammerlock
37. Enchufla into Arcoíris start position
38. Arcoíris
39. Lead stepping back into Hook Turn
40. Enchufla
41. Exhíbela

Unique figures

1. Enchufla – 4 times
2. Exhibela – 9 times
3. Rodeo – 7 times
4. Vacilala inside Exhíbela 3
5. Two Handed Exhíbela into Hammerlock – 4 times
6. Enchufle into Arcoíris start position – 4 times
7. Arcoíris – 4 times
8. Casino Clásico – 1 time
9. Vacilala on “3-5-6” – 1 time
10. Lead stepping back into Hook Turn – 2 times

That is: only 10 figures used. Even for a full song of 5 minutes, the number of figures would probably not be much higher. After the 16th figure, there are no new ones. Common figures I use a lot but not used in this dance: Guapea, Sombrero, Coca-Cola, Enchufla Doble, Setenta, Panqué, Paseo Walk, Saloneo, Uno, Dos, Enchufla Continuado, Rodeo Inverso figures, Adiós, Free Vacilala, etc., etc.