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All good follows are blind.
Here is a good question that follows who are new to the Cuban style of Salsa often ask me:
“When my lead is doing all that crazy movement and improvisation with his body, what should I be doing?”
To this I say, “Do you want the long story or the short?”
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Put looks first and you may miss the big picture.
For the most part, when something works well, it usually looks good. Unfortunately, something that looks good doesn’t always work well.
It seems like Salsa, especially nowadays, tends to focus on making leads and follows look good without really focusing on how the dance feels, or genuinely connecting with music.
Good body movement is movement that stirs the emotions. Martha Graham called these movements “significant”.
Even musicians fall victim to this, writing arrangements that “sound cool”, and forgetting that music doesn’t need to sound cool, it needs to be emotionally stirring. It needs to push, pull, prod and provoke the body and soul into becoming an engaging piece of moving art.
A good lead doesn’t aim to look good. He focuses on feeling great and his lead works. He doesn’t need to share a script with his follow and he could lead a rock through movements.
A good follow doesn’t look sexy. She becomes sexy because her body is intertwined and connected through physical communication with her lead. She doesn’t memorize crap and regurgitate it all over the lead, she molds, adapts…and engages him with playful submission.
An amazing musician doesn’t write to please the ears. She aims to please the soul to reach out and GRAB you with her sound. This is what music was designed to do.
At the most basic level, Salsa music and dance both should engage the emotions PRIMARILY.
Don’t look, be.
All else is vanity.