should instructors teach steps before clave and music?
It's actually quite fun to dance up here. It's not as dangerous as you think and you are all welcomed to join.
It’s Time For a Change
“Three things I always try to do when trying to figure out things: flip the script, stand it on its head and ponder that perspective, turn it inside out and see where the light shines then.”
This is a favorite quote of mine from one of our students and it’s what we try to do.
We are not trying to annoy or offend anyone by asking the tough questions or pointing out what we believe to by fallacious thinking based on unquestioned premises.
Entrenched beliefs in the Salsa community need to be dug up, examined, examined again and then discarded or kept.
Questioning the “Unquestionable”
Styling-> Why should it be explicitly taught? Isn’t it personal and why should it arise outside of a musical context?
Timing-> Shouldn’t the music decide this?
Instructor-student dependency cycle -> Should this exist? Why does it seem as if Cuban style students are less instructor dependent? Good instructors should bring out the organic stuff!
and now…
First steps-> Should they be taught before music and Clave?
This is sure to stir some debate. But I think our current methods might need some serious work.
The Afro-Cuban Genetic Myth
Ask someone from Cuba if they learned their steps first or their music first and they probably couldn’t tell you.
The other day I was watching video footage of children dancing Comparsa down in Cuba. Their body movements were intricate and their rhythm was quite frankly, a world ahead of what you see from some trained Salsa dancers in the United States.
Afro-Cuban genetics? I say that’s complete bullshit.
It has do largely in part with the amount of exposure and experience these guys over there have, true. But it also has to do with how music and dance are embedded in their minds -one and the same.
Which Came First, Music or Dance?
Neither. We walk, breath and speak on rhythm, and we tap, sway and bob our heads when listening to music. I argue that there is no difference between the two, essentially they are inseparable and the same.
So why do our classes ignore this reality?
Why Not Teach Clave First?
If you were introduced to dance as an extension to music, resulting from music, and non-existent without music, it completely shifts your entire dance into an art of interpretation, and music is no longer something that ‘gets in the way’ of our steps if it is too complex.
How We’ve Had to Change
We now begin with playing a song -not too complex- and having the student clap out the Clave half of the song and just listening for the other half. All group classes teach Clave right along side the basic steps.
Think of it as a simple yet effective primer. Prenatal vitamins for the developing dancer.
We didn’t always do this, and it will usually come back to bite you in the future when you want to play the more difficult pieces -Guaguanco, Timba, Bata drumming.
And if you don’t like this approach, try something else!
But I think it’s time we stop reducing dance to a series of rote movements, and music to background noise that keep our “basic time step” and turn patterns together.
Modern dancers have known this for ages. Why are we so damn behind in our theories?
Just telling students to “feel the music” is not enough. Are we saying one thing while the rest of our entire class format says something different?
We’re not knocking on any of the instructors out here or anywhere for their approach teaching. There are no absolute truths in dance. But there are ways that are efficient, and not-so-efficient. We make lots of mistakes but we are obsessed with improvement.
Let’s Flip this Script
I think any good teacher should continually question their methods of instruction. I am very interested in seeing if Salsa instructors will ever adopt a more “native” approach to teaching first steps.
Students come to us with trust that we will maximize their potential. We should do everything in our power to make them the best that we can.
We’ll continue to do our best to dig, question, refine and create change in the Salsa community.
Even if it means turning this mutha*&#a upside down.
The roof is just about the catch on fire guys. And we definitely don’t need any water.
Related posts:
- why we don’t teach salsa “styling”
- “so paso, what’s your point?”
- The Journey of the Clave
- why do so many dance teachers suck?
