why we don’t teach salsa “styling”
“You have to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out” – Groucho Marx
1. Styling is personal.
This is first and foremost. Ironically, if memory serves me right, Eddie Torres -founder of NY Salsa On2- says that styling is “personal” and “spontaneous”. I was surprised to see that there were no classes in styling listed on his website, or any mention of him or his wife teaching it explicitly. On a side-note, there is a strong contrast between the principles first outlined by Eddie Torres and what NY Salsa is today.
I think the whole idea of teaching someone how to “style” their dance is most certainly an American/European thing -not Afro Latin. It seems as if some dancers feel that trained styling makes their dance more refined. When does refined become processed?
2. Styling is spontaneous, resulting from music and emotion. You can prepare for it, but not teach it.
Styling is an outward expression of feelings that come and go. Do you know ahead of time what mood/direction/feeling your dance will take? If so, then you are limiting yourself to only those feelings. A good instructor teaches the stroke but does not paint the portrait for the student.
3. If you teach it, people will do it. Usually verbatim, and rarely will they ever improvise.
Because you are teaching something that is usually done spontaneously, people will begin to forget what is you and what is them. In other words, they will spontaneously recite styling routines and over time actually fool themselves into thinking that it came from them. This is a dangerous habit-based phenomenon that functions largely outside of your awareness. Just look at the dance floor next time you go out? You can tell everyone purchased the same styling kit!!
Here is an example. As a dancer you experience a feeling brought on by the music, let’s say pleasant anticipation. Rather than play with this feeling and allow it manifest itself physically in its own way, based on your own human experience, you dig into your memory bag of routines and pull something out, ie; body wave. You’ve essentially disconnected your body from the decision loop and let your mind control things.
Our mind loves routine, pattern and regularity. It keeps us out of harm’s way. But do you really want to dance ‘safe’?
4. Creating your own style is a more challenging route. But a necessary part of self-discovery.
Some people have a very difficult time with their bodies. The easy answer for the teacher is to give them a fish rather than teach them how to fish. Unfortunately, giving someone a fish will only feed them for a day. Instructors should promote and train body awareness, aligned movement and balance. These are some of the things that allow students to create their own styling. This requires an instructor that’s educated in formal principles of dance and movement, and it may take longer, but in the end you have a dancer, not a robot.
When it comes to being yourself, there is no better time than the dance floor.
Related posts:
- should instructors teach steps before clave and music?
- handcraft your own damn groove
- real salsa requires a real connection
- is cuban salsa just a lead’s dance?
actually, you DO teach salsa styling, but not those porn actress head tosses or the hairspray moves. so many times at clubs i see flashy dancers, you know, the ones with kangols turned around backwards, matching vests, and shoes they bring in a bag, only to realize after a couple of songs that they’re actually doing a fairly limited set of moves, over and over. and sometimes i realize i can do better than that, if only because i can’t remember what i did during the last song. i have learned to dodge those kicky things that lots of women do when they dance. bachata, what the hell?
paso salsa “styling” gets taught every time you do an exercise that involves moving to music without judgment, every expression exercise where you stipulate it’s not about technique. every time you invite us to get crazy and not worry about failing. if anything, that’s paso “style” and that’s the thing that sets this school apart from others. like in karate kid, “wax on, wax off” or “paint the porch” –life lessons that can’t help but evolve into an organic “style” that is always one’s own.
utterly holistic. and that’s just righteous.
You can do better than that! Why? Because you realize and want it. Many people have never had their eyes opened to the immense possibilities that exist within themselves.
Haha! I was just saying yesterday that I was trying to avoid being too eccentric. I didn’t want to become a big time Mr Miyagi saying “wax on wax off” and never giving students any practical advice! LOL.
I used your advice today in class and it worked great. I ran a late night Guaguanco lesson after ICD III and instead of teaching Clave/steps and put on some raw Rumba and told them to do anything BUT steps to rhythm. They were not “trapped” by the rhythm from the beginning. It was music not simply a beat to keep themselves locked into.
After they moved in an abstract way to the music then we taught posture->Clave->movement etc.
Thanks for that tip. I want to see if there is any room to use it at the lower levels. A little deep for beginners? Maybe. It’s that whole rabbit hole.
Holistic approach? Giving it our best shot.
you never lose from trying.
the beginner classes almost always take place while “higher” classes do, and sometimes the big kids have to teach the little kids moves, so what’s to lose from instead of two ruedas to music, you did an expression movement exercise to some patato, like you used to do mass sueltas for everyone? or pair big kids with little kids and just do a one-on-one nondance.
as a teacher, i’ve frequently found that it’s not so much the students aren’t “ready” but me, the teacher. i have to be willing to take that plunge if i would expect my students to do so as well.
teacher as second lieutenant platoon leader, who’s almost sure to catch that first bullet. and still, into the fray…