the cuban salsa blog

DJ Radar and Charanga Carolina Perform Tonight

Very interesting indeed…fresh and unchartered territory.

Check out Sylvia’s blog for a sneak peek at what’s going down tonight.

Seems that DJ Radar has a gift for integrating turntable scratches right into the rhythm section.

Not quite sure what to make of this, BUT for the longest, Cuban Timba bands have combined classical orchestra music with Afro-Cuban percussion, creating the some of the meanest dance grooves known to man.

I recommend every one from Paso attend this event, not only because it’s free, or because of the inviting wood floors, but because you may never hear anything like this for a long long time…

Cost: Free.

Location: Gerrard Hall at UNC (On the left side of Memorial Hall) on Cameron Ave.

Time: 8-10pm

RSVP for Hip-Hop Workshop on Saturday

Remember to RSVP ahead of time for this Saturday’s Hip-Hop workshop!!

Look for the Evite in your email.

Paso.

Last night I had the privilege of attending a workshop taught by Alicia Pons, here on her 5^th visit to the Triangle.

A renowned Milonguera, she is known for all sorts of cool Tango things like her display of feminine elegance, precise footwork and the list goes on and on…

But for me, it’s her incredible PASSION for the dance that makes her a world-class instructor, a term that is used far too often and far too casually.

She outlined five basic principles of connection. These were meant for Tango, but they can and should be applied to any dance.

In dance, true progress comes from re-examination of the self. Not from patterns, tricks, techniques etc. Anyone can do these, and everyone does these.

Any good dance instructor should, first and foremost, lead students on a journey of self-examination.

Examine what you do over and over again, and never settle in or become too comfortable with your dance or the philosophy that underlies it.

1. Connect with yourself.

Be aware, plain and simple. Be aware that your are breathing. Far too often we forget that we actually exist while we are dancing. We become so focused on the next step that our own movement becomes lost and end up looking like choreographed machines.

2. Connect with the music.

LISTEN before you do anything. Resist the urge to just grab your partner and go through the motions. Music leads, always.

Sometimes, I think we fall back on a mental routine that tells us to activate some pattern simply because a certain type of music is playing.

3. Connect with your partner.

In the words of Alicia Pons, “The embrace is handmade”.

Of course it is! It’s woven from the thread of partner and music.

I think every dance should be handmade. I am in love with this idea.

If for nothing else, out of respect for your partner, tailor the dance to them and the music.  And if you view dance as a gift, is it really appropriate to give every partner the same gift?

4. Connect with the floor.

Cut the string, relax the shoulders, and break the egg.  Allow your energy to travel into the floor and avoid sustaining it all in the shoulders in one big ball of tension.

I was corrected on this one. It’s easy to do, so watch out.

5. Connect with other couples on the dance floor.

She didn’t touch on this one too much, probably due to time constraints. But, it goes without saying that you probably won’t be the only one on the social dance floor.

I think you should always exercise special awareness. Be aware of where you are in relation to everyone else.

I urge our readers to ponder the above points. Take a second to examine yourself, if your priority is growth and fulfillment as a dancer.

I understand that some “dancers” may view the above as total bullocks. These are usually the men out there who boot up and sequentially execute their dance routines like a Windows PC.

If you think this kind of computerized dancing is cool, remember that it’s usually the men who love to wrap their arms around technology and cool gadgets.

Women on the other hand …

I will leave you with my favorite Alicia Pons quote.

“Men, sometimes the embrace feels so good, it’s more than enough.”

If memory serves me right, there was not a single expression of disagreement from any of the ladies in attendance.

Many of you have been asking for a list of good songs for Cuban Salsa dance.

I thought it would be a good idea to go through the dances I enjoy most, and list 5 of my favorite pieces.

For Cuban Salsa I might dance to…

El Solar de California – Issac Delgado
Yo No Me Parezco a Nadie – Bamboleo
Santa Palabra – NG La Banda
Tu Experiencia – Mikail Blanco
El Huracan del Caribe – Arturo Sandoval

For NY Salsa (ON2) I might dance to…

Un Puesto Vacante – Eddie Palmieri
Sabroso Guaguanco – Eddie Palmieri
Quitate la Mascara  - Ray Barretto
Yay Boy – Africando
Periodico de Ayer  - Hector Lavoe

For Argentine Tango I might dance to…

La Yumba – Osvaldo Pugliese
El Pollito – Carlos di Sarli
Negracha – Osvaldo Pugliese
Toda mi Vida – Anibal Troilo
El Amanacer – Carlos di Sarli

For Rumba Guaguanco I might dance to…

Obsesion Sublime  - Los Munequitos de Mantanzas
La Siteria –  Los Munequitos de Mantanzas
Canto a Mantanzas – Los Munequitos de Mantanzas
Several songs from Clave y Guaguanco
Many songs from Los Papines

For West Coast Swing I might dance to…

The Boogie that Be – Black Eyed Peas
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
The Way You Move – Outkast
Kiss – Prince
The Way You Make Me Feel – Michael Jackson

For Bachata I might dance to…

Voy Pa’lla – Antony Santos
Pena de Amor – Antony Santos
Pegame tu Vicio  - Antony Santos
El Asesina  - Juan Bautista
Me Alejare – Antony Santos

For Orishas I might dance to…
Many pieces from Lazaro Ros or Ballet Folklorico Cutumba

Relax..it's just an illustration.

Due to the awesome support of Haiti benefits by our local dance community, we decided to step out of the box a bit and attack poverty right here in the Triangle.

Mark your calendars folks.

Saturday February 20th, at 2pm, Hip Hop instructor and choreographer J. Wess will be giving a blockbuster beginner workshop for dancers and stiff bodies alike.

I have seen this man turn young children and adults into Hip-Hop BEASTS. Personally, it’s been years since I have taken a Hip-Hop class, but I am confident J Wess can hook me up.

The workshop will be $10 and 100% of the proceeds will go towards Urban Hope of Durham, a non-profit group, headed by none other than our own Bahari Harris.

Just a little of what’s in store..

1. Body movement and isolations for dummies, with authentic style and flair.

2. Mini-routines and footwork. Short and sweet for improvisation, around the 2-4 bar mark.

3. A special treat for Salsa dancers: some short additional phrases that you can actually USE in your Salsa dance.

Keep in mind, your admission will be directly impacting a local organization, headed by Bahari, a  local Salsa dancer.

More details to come…

Paso Goes Ice Skating in Raleigh

For this month’s Paso community event we decided to try something a little different…

The Ice Plex in Raleigh is the only Olympic sized sheet of ice in North Carolina, with plenty of space for you to glide around and perform your double or triple axles -I know I will.

What’s even better?

If you are with the Paso crew, you get 2 hours of skating and skate rental for only $5.50.

Thank Dale Vanderpool down at Ice Plex for the sweet Paso discount.

If you would like to come but don’t attend classes, let us know and we will put you on our list.

When: Sunday, February 28th @ 1:30pm
Where: Ice Plex, 2601 N Raleigh Blvd.
Cost: $5.50 for Paso crew or associates. Includes skate rental.

The follow’s game is a psychological one…

Here are 4 simple guidelines that we believe every follow should ponder on before getting out on the dance floor.

1. Keep your head out of the game.

Easier said than done, right?

Figuring out your lead is not your responsibility. Once you truly accept this, your dance will change. You will become flexible.

If your body does not understand the lead, compensating with logic and using your “head”  is bad business. You can’t think your way through a dance, and although many of you have tried, you probably learned by now that it doesn’t work.

2. Don’t stick to your style.

When social dancing, let go of your ideas and preconceptions about what Salsa is and isn’t. If you dance Cuban and your lead is NY, congratulations, you just became a NY follow, and vice versa.

“Now what if I don’t know X style of dance, and my lead is trying all these moves that I don’t understand?”

Choices:

A. Learn to dance like your lead so that you can “follow” him.

B. Try your best to guess what the lead is trying to do.

C. Do only what you physically felt compelled to do.

Choice A is just plain backwards, learn for the love of the style. Choice B is what most follows do and the results are usually horrid. A follow hopping around through her own moves is just not cute.

The answer most beneficial to following is C.

3. Avoid commitment.

Think twice before taking that big step, literally.

This is the only technical advice that is applicable in most situations. Do not commit yourself to any one direction with large steps. It’s kind of hard to take them back.

I see it all the time.

New follows taking step sizes well over the length of their foot and going everywhere but where their lead intended. It looks awkward and goofy. Salsa is a spot dance, save the large steps for accents.

It’s much easier to recover from a small misstep than a big one. Taking smaller steps is the fastest way to improve several aspects of your follow.

Keep the length of your steps somewhere around the length of your foot and avoid radical deviations. Minimize your commitment ladies, and always keep your options open.

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!

Be careful what you tell yourself. You just might believe it.

Let’s talk about one of the most prevalent barriers and dangerous forms of self-deception that we as dancers face…

“Tango? Nah. Not my cup of tea.”

“Cuban Salsa?  Whoa guy. Too much movement, not for me.”

“Mambo? Too many spins, On2 feels off. That doesn’t really interest me.”

“Ballet? Not me.”

“African dance? Uh..a little too crazy for me.”

“Improvise? I’m happy with just the turn pattern.”

I’ve heard these sentiments expressed in and out of the Paso community.

Usually, it’s total bullcrap.

Ten years ago, when I first heard Timba music I used the “it’s not my thing” shield. But in all actuality I found the rhythm overwhelming and difficult to interpret.

It was tough, so I turned my nose up at it. Wrong answer.

A more honest approach would have been, “I don’t like Timba because I don’t really have movements to interpret it. It feels off and dancing to Puerto Rican Salsa was just easier.”

How often do you dislike something you have the ability to do well?

Stripping away the deceptive layer and being honest with myself would allow me to tackle the truth, which, I later did.

Once you begin using “it’s not my thing” to cover up for inability, you will begin using it over and over again, turning your nose up at different dances and drawing yourself into a corner.

This doesn’t mean you have to like everything! Just be honest with yourself.

If your rhythm or coordination is not strong, body movements will be no fun. If you find yourself making excuses because you can’t do it, stop and make changes.

If you can’t spin, simply say “I suck at it, and I don’t like it.”  Then either leave it at that, or work on it. But don’t just say, “It’s just not me”. You have no clue what “me” is because it changes every week.

If a particular dance or movement is “not your thing” ask why and be clear and honest with yourself.

Taking this reality-based approach will expose any weaknesses in your dance and allow you to either fix them or simply be content with having them.

But don’t use opinions as a shield. You are only protecting yourself from getting better.

Following these 4 points will go a long way in making your social dance experience a little more fulfilling for both you and your partner. And isn’t that the whole point of social dance anyways?

1. Start slowly.

No matter what, accelerate slowly.

Take it step by step, feel out your partner’s capabilities and for the most part, stay within that range. Cheat a bit, but keep it to a minimum!

For example, if all your partner can do is walk to the music, you must work all of your magic within that walk. Take what they know -basic steps- and create a dance from her basic steps. Be creative and understand a tight lead can do wonders for even the most inexperienced dancer.

2 . Indicate that you are going to indicate.

Always lead early.

If you lead early, and she follows slightly late, there is plenty of time for musical play. Keep this in mind. Don’t just give her a prep, give her a pre-prep! This means an early indicator of an early indicator. How about that?!?

3. Keep secrets.

If she “messes up”, smile, smooth it over and make it a secret between the two of you. Don’t flinch. If you mess up, it never happened.

4. Use the minimum force required by your partner.

Use only what you need. This is totally dependent on your follow, and the song that the two of you are expressing together.

Please work to apply at least ONE of these points to your social dance. And that means you have to go out and actually dance.

Professional training + dance floor experience = tremendous dancer.

A collaborative effort by Joe & Eduardo

Some of us want to be the best at what we do, whatever that may be.

In our quest to be the best, we may easily fall into comparing ourselves to others on the dance floor. Kind of like a measuring stick.

This is dangerous.

Comparison is a double edge sword, both sides equally sharp.

I am so much better than them will lead to frustration, concern, and even fear when you feel that someone else is better than you. No one is safe from your comparisons or measurement. Not even yourself.

And if you can’t step outside of the lines you have drawn, try changing them. Why not, measure yourself against yourself?

“As I dance, i’m not going to worry about being the best in the room. I simply need to be the best I can be with this particular partner and this particular song….at this very moment.”

Take this to heart and you will be on your way to creating magic. When you dance like this, others will notice. And if not, your partner will.

Most importantly, you will create your own magic, beautiful in its own right and comparable to none.

Love and appreciate yourself and the way you move. Only then will you be able to feel the same love and appreciation for others.

And that’s our message for the New Year.