Latin Practica : Sept '17 Chapter

Salsa Beginners Move No.15: Crossbody lead with a left hook turn

10 quirky people you will meet if you like to Salsa

And if you are one of them…hmmm…enough said!

Yang

50 first basics: I take the adage ‘Every day is a new day’ a little too seriously. I am the guy who comes to class day in and day out, but cannot seem to remember a thing. I suffer from a bout of amnesia as soon as I enter the studio. Spot turn? What’s that?

The all over guy: I don’t understand much, but I sure do prance around a lot. Technicalities? Who needs that? I pay a deaf ear to the teacher and make my own rules. I scare my partner as she does not know where I will step next. On her leg? Maybe.

Now you lead me: I do not like taking charge. So what if the man is the leader of the dance? I will happily take the backseat and let my partner lead me. Anyway girls are over enthusiastic and I am happy to oblige.

Houston, target in sight…Mayday! Mayday!: I am a decent dancer, but I blank out when I approach girls. I dance so well inside my head that I could put champions to shame. But put the fairer sex in front of me and all I can manage is a cross body lead with about 22 basics. If only the pretty girls could see inside my head. Alas!

Are you insured yet?: The word gentle is missing from my dictionary. I believe the only way to dance is to push around a girl like a rag doll. If your shoulder does not pop out from the socket, consider yourself lucky.

Yin

The I am today’s woman, I take charge (even when not required): I am an independent and ambitious woman. I am not a follower. I am a rebel. I will defy the rules of Salsa. Men? They cannot lead me. It was after me the term ‘self leading’ was coined.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: I am the prettiest of them all. Dance studios with huge mirrors everywhere are all to check myself out. Even when my teacher is explaining how to do my tricky multiple spins, my attention is on whether my hair is in place or if my lipstick has smudged. And while dancing, I always need to face the mirror; my partner can face the wall for all I care.

Baggage of the dancers past: I have danced all my life. So what I am learning a new dance form, it is child’s play for me. I will walk into class and pick up the skill in less than half the time of other minions. I am a great dancer and I know it.

Ability. Check. Willingness. Check. Attitude. Not so much: I am a reasonably good dancer and I want to learn. BUT I just don’t want to put in a lot of effort. I will probably try something new once and if I don’t get it, I will sulk. If only I attempted the damn body wave a few more times, I could master it. 

My arms are an unnatural extension of me: The legs move perfectly, the torso is also doing fine. But what do I do of my hands? They feel like a lifeless burden. Where do I put them? On my hips? On the guy’s shoulders? Styling will be the end of me.

These are tales of my experience dancing with men and women. Yes, women too as one needs to when teaching…no other reason, though that would be so cool.

I have danced with all of these types. You know who you are!

This is just a funny take. Please take this with a giant pinch of salt. In fact, I am in there too. Guess which one am I!!!

Leave your comments below…

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Ladies Salsa Shine

Salsa Beginners Move No.14: left turn in a haste, bounced off the waist

Salsa Beginners Move No. 13: many a hook, between the flick and the tuck

Salsa Beginners Move No.11: neck roll flip

Salsa Beginners Move No.10: drop - catch - spin

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol.1 Ep.7

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 6

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 5

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 3

9 things I learnt in my 1 year with Baile -de- Salon

Advanced salsera and now our trainee instructor Maneka completes a year at Baile -de- Salon

Here's her guest post on 9 things she has learnt at Baile -de- Salon

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I am not as good a dancer as I thought

But I am getting there super soon

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I for the life of me cannot find my core 

Much to the chagrin of my instructor Ajaz

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I am very patient...surprise, surprise!

Teaching Salsa is fun and I love my students

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Learning musicality is difficult

I wish I get that pat down, so Ajaz can stop rolling his eyes

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Dancing has brought new meaning to my life

I cannot believe I stopped dancing for so many years…what with the corporate life sucking you in

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Keep an open mind and good things happen to you

Yeah…dancing taught me that!

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Dancing is an awesome way to get fit

I haven’t felt this good in a lot of years

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You are never too old to make new friends

Some awesome people I have met in the last year have helped me find my voice

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And most importantly, I have never been happier

I think it has something to do with happy hormones (read endorphins, exercising and all that jazz).

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Thank you Baile-de-Salon for bringing the passion back in my life!

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 1

Salsa Beginners: Alternating right turn loop

Salsa Shine: Beginners / Improvers Level

Lead v/s Follow: 5 quick tips for a suave Salsa experience

Leaders:

1. Keep your leads lucid and distinct. What is easy to understand is easier to execute.
2. Leads need to be timely, not forceful.
3. Look at the dance from your partner’s perspective with respect to movement and direction; ‘her left, my right’ will put you on a collision course sooner or later.
4. Make a mental note of how your partner responds to cues. Start slow and improve upon what both can manage; discard movements that your partner clearly doesn’t understand.
5. Set your partner free. Shines are a good way to test how comfortable either partners are with musicality and free movement.

Followers:

1. Be cognitive, not pre-emptive. Trying to guess the lead is just too speculative and it robs you of the time to use the music.
2. Let the music set you free. There is never just one way of interpreting the music/lead. Keep experimenting.
3. Give subtle cues to the partner if he/she is being too rigid or forceful.
4. Don’t let styling get in the way of your dancing. You need to make sure that your styling goes with the flow of the dance and does not catch your partner off guard.
5. While most men struggle with basic lead and timing, followers can communicate a change in rhythm and pace by adjusting the frame/body language or sometimes even through facial expressions. You can lead too, without the partner even realising. 

Salsa Concepts: Reverse Cross Body Lead

For some reason, most of the basic (travelling) Salsa concepts favour movement from a single direction. The lady’s left and man’s right -- the movement for either gender may not necessarily be co-related.

I believe it is important for beginners to explore movement from either side of the ‘line’ of dancing; especially men. Women do get the opportunity to travel / turn across both sides, but generally movement for men remains lop-sided. Consciously creating patterns from either side can help men add at least 30% more variation to their partner-work and make them a lot more unpredictable (hopefully).

There isn’t any content available on the internet -- either via videos or literature -- on the Reverse Cross Body Lead (RCBL). Even in the classroom, most instructors don’t specifically focus on the RCBL, unless it is built into a pattern.

Here is an attempt to fundamentally break down the footwork for the RCBL. Rather than keeping the footwork (for men) as a mirror image to the Cross Body Lead (CBL), a variation has been attempted by yours truly.

How to:

For simplicity of understanding and execution, the RCBL is almost a mirror image of the CBL.

Women’s Footwork:

(1,2,3): Regular back basic

5: Step forward with left foot

6: Step forward with right foot

7: Pivot 180 degrees over the right shoulder and end with left foot next to the right

Men’s Footwork:

1: Step with left towards the lady (regular step)

2: Right foot shifts out to the left side (behind the left leg or even surpassing it as the case may be)

3: Left foot moves next to right. Ensure  you continue to face the lady; however, the frame / feet do not create any obstruction for the lady

5: Step back with the right foot (tagging the lady for the RCBL lead)

6: Shift the left foot (to the right) and attempt to get the feet back in to the line of dancing

7: Pivot 180 degrees on the left foot as you slide the right foot back (right foot finishes next to left)

This variation in footwork for men helps create a different angle for the lead (less predictability), makes the movement sharper (adds finesse), and assists in adding more push / pull variations (integrates concepts better).

There isn’t much to tinker around with the women’s footwork, considering the lead serves as a means to an end (execution).

Salsa Concepts: Cross Body Turn

The Cross Body Turn (CBT) or Cross Body lead with an inside turn is an extension of the CBL (Blog Post). The lady executes a travelling turn to the left (counter-clockwise) as the man leads her through his CBL footwork.

How to:

In terms of execution the CBT is relatively more challenging for the women as it builds upon the CBL, however for men the footwork remains the same as CBL (opportunity to bring in finesse).

Attached image helps visually understand the footwork for men and women.

Women’s Footwork:

(1,2,3): regular back basic

5: lady steps forward with left foot

6: a 90’ pivot to the left with the right foot

7: a 180’ pivot to the left (over the back) with the left foot

1: a 270’ pivot to the left (from the front) with the right foot landing back.

Pointers:

Ensure the momentum for the turn is generated on count 5 and just allow the body to follow through the rest of the counts.

Ensure the left foot steps straight on count 5 (extremely important to ensure the linearity of the execution)

Counts 6 and 7 are progressive steps. Ensure that the free (of weight) foot pivots with the travelling foot

Cut through the turn with the right foot (rather than swinging it across) to merge with the back basic on count 1 of the next bar of music.

Men’s Footwork:

Remains the same as CBL

Lead / Pointers: Connection- Men’s L to Lady’s R (lead remains the same irrespective of the connection)

Raise the hand up to the lady’s shoulder level by count 3 to clearly distinguish between a CBL and a CBT

A short forward tag on count 5 so that the lady starts crossing over to the other side.

Directional nudge to the lady’s left on count 6 (her left) to initiate the CBT. Allow for the fingers to roll with the connection, rather than using the entire arm to lead. Making the lead smoother and not imposing on the followers movement. Keep elbows relaxed.

Try and ensure the lady’s upper arm remain parallel to the floor while leading and the radius of the lead remains close to the lady’s head so that the distance covered by the lady while turning is minimal.

Follow through with the connection on count 7 as you gradually start bring hand back down at the waist level.

Salsa Concepts: Cross Body Lead

The Cross Body Lead (CBL) sets up the stage for dancers to move about and use their dancing space well. All the travelling concepts build on the CBL. The most important characteristic of the CBL is its linearity, which clearly helps the novice dancers distinguish between On1/On2 dancing as opposed the more circular movement of the Cuban style.

How to:

The execution for the CBL differs for men and women. The man will first turn away from the lady, and she will walk “across” and pivot later. This results in the lady passing briefly in front of the man, giving the Cross Body Lead its name.

In terms of execution the CBL is simpler for the women than it is for men. However given the frequency with which men get to practically use the CBL while dancing it somewhat makes it the most important figure for the men.

Attached image helps visually understand the footwork both for the men and women.

Women’s Footwork:

(1,2,3): regular back basic

5: lady steps forward with left foot

6: Lady steps forward with right foot

7: lady pivots 180 degrees over the left shoulder and ends with left foot next to the right.

Pointers:

Don’t be eager to jump forward for the CBL unless you are absolutely sure of the man’s lead

Counts 5 and 6 are two progressive short steps

Avoid pivoting until count 7 to keep your movements sharp and to avoid any confusion of direction

Men’s Footwork:

1: step with left towards the lady (regular step)

2: right foot shifts out to the side | pivot on the foot to come in perpendicular to the lady’s frame

3: left foot next to right | finish the pivot from count 2 and end up outside the lady’s frame completely perpendicular to her frame.

5: check step (right foot almost in place)

6: lift the left foot and move it pointing towards the left from the existing position

7: resolution (right foot finishes next to left)

Pointers:

While stepping out on count 2 ensure not to step too far out

Avoid going to far back on count 5. The closer it remain to the left leg, the better.

On count 6 the left leg trails the distance the partner has travelled (however, distance can always be controlled by the resistance between partners)