But I couldn’t find a partner who could dance X style..
Preferences are fine, but if a partner who dances a foreign style of Salsa renders your lead limp and impotent, it's time to improve your clarity. No excuses.
“I didn’t dance much because I couldn’t find any good dancers that could dance XX style Salsa.”
Sorry to say this guys, but there is no need to find a partner that “knows” your style be it Cuban, On1 or On2.
We speak the same language, just with different accents.
All forms of Salsa derive from the Cuban Son, which comes from the Danzon. With slight variations -negligible with sound lead- we are all dancing in 4/4 time with a 3-step rhythm.
Translation: On a fundamental level our dances are not that entirely different. Most of my social dances tend to be with beginner-intermediate dancers who have never danced Cuban. It requires a solid lead and a good imagination, not advanced patterns.
When I dance with X style follows, my moves don’t work!
Ah. Then you need to make your your lead more clear. Hard reality.
You didn’t notice that in the studio your partner was helping you make those movements work?
It is NOT your partners job to figure out what you are trying to do.
Depending on our follow to fill in the blanks of our lead will reap disastrous results -especially if they speak Salsa with a different accent!
Translation: When you are dancing with follows who do not understand your accent, be it Cuban or American, you must make your lead 10x more clear to remain effective.
But I learned this move and the follow puts her hand HERE on count…
Stop bro.
It ain’t going to work in real life unless she knows it.
Instructors must take responsibility and breed leads who are hard-nosed and skeptical about turn patterns.
Pulling this crap out on the dance floor confuses follows and makes them follow the next lead horribly -trying to guess what the lead is doing and screwing up the next man.
Translation: Choreo is fine. But we as teachers need to give our students healthy doses of hard reality about what can be led intuitively and what requires a follow to “be in the know”.
Leads, let’s kill the excuses in 2010.
If it’s not working on the dance floor, either you didn’t say it clearly enough or you said something too complicated.
But never bring someone on stage who isn’t familiar with your magic trick and try to make them disappear.
You might be quite embarrassed once the smoke clears -and they are still standing there!
Related posts:
- is cuban salsa just a lead’s dance?
- if your partner suddenly disappeared …
- Learning to shh…
- when to dance solo
