the cuban salsa blog

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.

The alchemy of attitude will allow you to turn even the worst situations into solid gold.

“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire, La Bégueule

A guest post by Joe

We’ve all been there.

Happy at the end of a long day or week.  Maybe it was Murphy’s touch. Like the Midas touch, only instead of turning to gold, everything you touch becomes something brown and smelly.

One day I made a couple of bad decisions that proved Murphy’s Law.  At the end of that day I was debating going to CSF class or happy hour…

Despite temptation I went to CSF class and I messed up my lead on X turn pattern and my follow did not know what to do.  Perhaps it was because I was cleaning up mistakes all day, but what happened next was not what I usually do.   As a new lead in this position, I usually hit the reset button and start over in either closed or open position.

But this time we kept going, what mistake?

That’s when it clicked. The reason we take apart and explore turn patterns in class is so I can easily flow into something else if a mistake occurs.

I saw another example of this at a salsa social a few weeks ago when a follow lost control of her spin and spun a lot further away from her lead then she intended to, the lead adjusted his steps and caught her and they went on like it was exactly what they intended to do.

What made a real impression on me is that we don’t have to be perfect.  We always try to do it right in class (and it ALWAYS comes out perfect) but outside of class, if it doesn’t come out right, what mistake?  Only you and your partner may know what you intended to do.

Something will always go wrong, but that is not the test of how good you are at anything!

The real test is what happens next. Do you panic?  Do you start over?  Or, do you take a different approach, by saying “what mistake?”

I just have to remind myself that some of the things that I am most thankful for being in my life are the ones that I discovered by accident, what mistake?

**What follows is a great story! Now guys, you can save yourself a lot of heartache by coming to class and asking questions! Also, Tonia has informed me that The Clave Matrix has just been published. It’s chock full info and exercises for the more serious Latin dancer.  -Eduardo

By Reed Colver

What follows is a particularly long account of my journey to find the elusive clave.

The short version is this: The world of Cuban dance and music is entirely foreign to me. I went for months thinking I understood ‘enough’ about the clave, when I didn’t get it at all. Then, I went for months being mortified I couldn’t hear the clave. I was far too embarrassed to ask. I should have. Without it, I was missing a critical framework for my dance.
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Dance is discovery, discovery, discovery. -Martha Graham

A guest post by Reed Colver

Six months ago, I discovered that I was stepping backward in my basic walk at a time when I should have been stepping forward.

Apparently, I had been for quite some time. Lots of work subsequently followed to fix that particular issue.

Then, a few days ago during class a glance at my feet yielded a new discovery: my second step wasn’t going anywhere at all.
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A guest post by Tonia Burkett

I’m a little bit of a procrastinator and a little bit perfectionist, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t start dancing until this year (I’m not saying how old, but it’s older than you may think).

I’m afraid of not doing well, of appearing incompetent, of letting someone else be in control and there is no place for any of that in salsa dancing.

As a person who has not done any leading, except back leading, it is difficult for me to speculate about what it is like for someone to lead another person in dancing.

I imagine it is difficult to be the person who has to come up with the patterns and to be responsible for making the two of you “look good” while you are dancing.

Both the lead and the follow have to take responsibility for the quality of the dance, but I know leads experience a lot of pressure to keep things interesting and meet the needs of the follow.

So I must make it clear that I do understand, to some extent, the difficulties of leading in salsa dance.

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