Latin Practica : Sept '17 Chapter

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

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

Salsa Beginners Move No.12: rounding off infinity

Salsa Beginners Move No.11: neck roll flip

Salsa Beginners Move No.9: 'look ma, no hands!'

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol.1 Ep.8

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol.1 Ep.7

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 6

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 4

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. 2

Salsa Beginners Moves. Vol. 1 Ep. 1

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. 

Lead v/s Follow

Looking at the traditional role of men as the “leaders” and women as the “followers” of the dance, how much freedom does the follower have within the framework of a given dance style to express the music and add her own interpretation?

The point I'm trying to get across is that the follower's role is not a passive one. I personally think that there is a subtle difference between simply following what is lead as opposed to understanding what musical elements (if any) that the leader is trying to express and responding to both the leader and the music. It's the difference between a monologue and a dialogue.

Different dance styles have different philosophies: for example the lead/follow dynamic in Tango is very different to the dynamic in Salsa. However, if the follower is simply following her partner then she is not really dancing because she is not moving in response to the music - she is moving in response to her partner's interpretation of the music.

So, once you reach a certain level of competency in any dance style, the notion that "the leader leads and the follower follows" becomes overly simplistic. There is however a skill to following which is different to leading - how else would you explain that some ladies are easier to lead (lighter on their feet, quicker to respond to your cues...)?

A great leader is one who creates an environment for their partner to feel comfortable, enjoy and express themselves, the same definition goes for a great follower.

Even though partner work is the mainstay of classes, leaders need to incorporate their own styling and give the followers freedom of interpretation. Until that happens, we will never change the 'leaders lead, followers follow' mentality.

Styling is and always will be ancillary to the partner work and should be driven by the music not by a need to look good/sexy/feminine.

There are three elements of a good dance - the leader, the follower and the music - and you won't have a good dance if one of the elements is suppressed. The leader initiates and invites, the follower interprets and 'puts her stamp on it'. We work with and play off each other and the music is what connects us.

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 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)

Salsa Concepts: Simple Spot Turn (Right)

THE SPOT TURN

The simple spot turn is your induction to the world of turns and spins and forms the very basis of executing any turn pattern, be it the dizzying multiple turns or the traveling cross body turns.

How to:

--Execution of the turn is exactly the same for both men and women, just the counts differ, thankfully so that you don’t bump into each other.

-- For the spot turn – right; women (W) turn on the second half of the bar (5,6,7) & men (M) turn on the first half (1,2,3)

-- Step with the left leg forward (on 1 for M / 5 for W). Weight on left.

-- Pivot with both feet 180 degrees (on 2 for M / 6 for W). Weight on right.

-- Thrust left leg and pivot another 180 degrees on right leg to finish (on 3 for M / 7 for W).

-- Follow through back basic (5,6,7 for M / 1,2,3 for W)

Pointers:

-- Keep your back and chin up straight

-- Keep your legs close together to streamline centre of gravity under the torso

-- Do not lift the traveling foot (left leg) off the ground, risk getting wobbly

-- Spot / focus on something at your eye level

-- When practicing by yourself use your arms and shoulders to help generate momentum, but ensure you don’t over rotate/soften stance while turning. 

-- Salsa dancing does not offer any recovery time, you have to immediately follow up your turn with the back basic.

The little dove invites you to dance…

You may take a hundred lessons, practice your spins and stalk the mirror with those fancy shines, but real Salsa needs Soul…nothing is perfect or will ever be, but it won’t matter if you feel it. Sound. Music. Dance. Expression. Passion. Salsa…that’s my word association for you.

Appreciating Salsa music requires an acquired taste, unfortunately the language eludes me (have to, have to, have to learn Spanish)

Not many hoarders** understand that music is the soul of dance. For your dance to look great you need to know the music…let every dance be different…listen to every instrument, every syncopation, and every change the melody brings.

Most dancers are just using the percussion to keep their timing in check, hammering combination after combination. Ditto with the Salsa Sluts*** who are just looking for the big beats to hit their 1,3,5,7s.

The one song that changed my “ear” is La Palomilla (primarily what the title says). It’s an amazing soft and soulful (not to be mistaken as slow) Salsa track with amazing vocals by Joe Cuba. The first minute is relatively medium paced and soft with great backing chorus, then the tempo takes off. The mélange of rhythm that hits you from 1:33 till 2:03 is just brilliant. You have to SHINE here, no way out. The song picks up again and gradually starts slowing down in the last 15 seconds.

For me La Palomilla sums up what a smooth Salsa track should be, varying tempo, a solid 30 second instrumental jam session and great vocals. Want to check how good your Salsa is, then give the dove a chance.

Hoarders** people who want to do new partner work every single class, without making the effort to remember / apply previous tutorials.

Salsa Sluts*** absolute Salsa-holics who will Salsa to anything and everything from Country music to Trance