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.

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.

My sister sent me this little interesting snippet this morning from http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~jblick/Global.htm.

Not related to dance in particular, but I gather that we could all use some reminding:

“The Global Village
(ca. 1998-2000)

If Earth’s population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people ?? with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining ?? what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That’s exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found:

·                    57 would be Asian
·                    21 would be European
·                    14 would be from the Western Hemisphere (the Americas)
·                    8 would be African
·                    52 would be female
·                    48 would be male
·                    70 would be nonwhite
·                    30 would be white
·                    70 would be non?Christian
·                    30 would be Christian
·                    89 would be heterosexual
·                    11 would be homosexual
·                    6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world’s wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States
·                    80 would live in substandard housing
·                    70 would be unable to read
·                    50 would suffer from malnutrition
·                    1 would be near death
·                    1 would be pregnant
·                    1 would have a college education
·                    1 would own a computer

Think of it this way: If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can read, have a college education, and have a computer, you are among the very elite.”

And if you can dance, you are among the very very elite. Be thankful!

especially on the dance floor...

In dance there are no mistakes, no missteps, as long as you keep your mind on dancing and not on the next step.

Isn’t life the same way?

Believing in magic is fine. But don't let Salsa illusions on video get the best of your common sense.

Johnny has been browsing YouTube all evening looking for that “cool move”.

Johnny finds what he is looking for and now wants to try it out in real life.

Sarah is Johnny’s partner.

They get together one sunny afternoon for some Salsa practice, and Johnny is totally excited about what he saw on YouTube. Johnny then proceeds to try out what he learned and not before long, is telling Sarah exactly what she should do in order to look like Carmen, the current Salsa-champion-belt-holder on YouTube and get the move “to work”.

He just knows that she is not doing something right. “NO NO NO”, he spouts. “You have to hold out your arm HERE, and turn THIS way when I do THIS!”

Sarah is skeptical, but wants to make the move work. She does want to be a good follow, right?

After a long and taxing session, they get the entire movement down-packed and tight.

Song after song, Johnny easily glides through the slick pattern with Sarah always remembering her part and doing the right thing and the right time.

Now everything was great until one night Johnny went out and danced with Jenny, a good Salsa dancer. Or so he thought. Johnny proceeds to subtly ignore the music and pull out his very best turn patterns to impress the onlookers, saving his best for last.

BUT WAIT! Something really bad happens here. Jenny doesn’t react the way Sarah did. He tries over and over again.

“Perhaps she just messed up.”, Johnny thought to himself. “Let’s try it again.”

Nope. Johnny tries explaining it to her verbally, waving his arms in the air like a conductor. “No, you see, you are supposed to do THIS!”

Jenny is never dancing with this clown again.

Now here are some pointers that will help you avoid becoming Johnny:

1. Understand the difference between social and stage dancing. Also be aware when instructors teach moves that are “hybrids” of stage and street dancing.

There is little overlap between the two. Being good at one does not make you good at the other. They are completely different beasts with different goals. One is to impress the eyes of an audience, the other to express complex music. Social dancing has utlilitarian concerns, the moves must WORK. Stage dancing tends to be choreographed so the movements don’t need to actually function in order to look good.

Both are great things. But I think there is a LOT of confusion between the two.

There are some common movements taught in Salsa classes that derive from the stage and require a partner to “be in the know” regarding their execution. Most new students have no clue, so naturally they assume that memorization from a follow is cool.

They grow up, and without much time on the streets, get some performances under their belt, and one day begin teaching others moves that are based on a performance style and the cycle perpetuates over and over again. I think this is a very interesting phenomenon that I would love to write more about in the future.

Pure social dancing requires little memorization on the part of the follow. Movements are spontaneous and are created as the music unrolls.

2. YouTube is cool. But keep in mind that no one posts an unsuccessful execution of a Salsa turn pattern. Follows will compensate on video and to the new student, this can be very misleading.

If it’s on YouTube of course it’s going to appear to work. That doesn’t mean all is real. Try it out, but if you find yourself explaining the follows part, just keep in mind that it may not work the way out so well on the dance floor.

3. One thing at a time Johnny. Social or stage, don’t let them bleed over into each other. And avoid the hybridization, please.

A strong separation between the two makes for a better dancer. Understand the different objectives of social and performance dancing. And keep in mind that performance dancing is not a progression from street dancing. If you think this way, you will naturally try to dance “better” by using performance type moves on the social dance floor, ignoring the real challenge of social dance: -interpreting music on the fly while improvising creatively.

Equilbrium feels good.

**Thanks for the reflections Joe. I think all of us, male and female, should remember to adjust to our partner. Casino heads, If you are dancing in a circular trajectory and she is tripping over her feet, than dance in a slot! It’s much easier for us to switch to slot than for her to learn circular movement, on the spot. If each partner strives to accommodate or “listen” to the other, you have a much better hope of reaching an “agreement” on the dance floor. -Eduardo

A guest post by Joe

There are times when learning how to lead Salsa feels like learning  how to drive a car.

There are parts of that experience that I do not want to repeat (like learning how to parallel park) or being a geeky,  awkward teenager; learning how to lead some salsa moves is a lot like learning how to steer a car.

One of the things I remember is how each car handled and how much I had to turn the wheel to get the car to go
where I wanted to.

One of my parents had a compact and the other had a big boat sedan with a hood long enough to land an airplane on it.

With the compact, I didn’t need to turn the wheel very much or very hard.  With the “aircraft carrier” I had to turn a lot more and a lot harder.

When dancing with beginning follows out at socials, i’ve  noticed that I really have to “turn the steering wheel” more aggressively.

And when I come back to a Paso class it is not always easy for me to switch to a lighter lead, I keep wanting to turn that wheel like I am driving the car that needs it.

What has started to “click” in for me is that I need to better adjust my lead to the follow.

If they require more lead, I give it to ‘em.

For the ones that don’t need as much torque and pressure, I go light.

Recently, I don’t think I have been giving my follows enough space to breath and express themselves. In effect, I have been taking over the dance, so ladies, I need to apologize for that.

I will try to better match my lead to the “feel” of the follow in the future.

Salsa is great, but not that great.

It is a beautiful dance, a wonderful language that appeals to many, but in and of itself is only a tool for communication.

It’s the dancer that makes any dance look good, not the dance itself.

If Salsa snobbery causes you to spend all of your time staring at Salsa without even so much looking at another dance, you just might end up looking like a programmed bot hitting the dance floor and running through the gamut of standardized Salsa moves.

Now if Salsa is your first dance, and you’ve only studied for a short time, it’s cool. Sometimes it’s good to get a strong base in one dance form first.

But if you’ve been at it for a while and have never thought about cross-training in modern, ballet, African or any other form of dance, you may never get to see your true potential!

Ironically, the strength of Salsa in comparison to other dances is its sheer flexibility. The structure and general attitude of movement allows you to integrate almost anything, so take advantage of it!

Be mindful of Salsa snobbery guys.

You turn your nose up at that waltz or swing dancer and you miss out on new ways of traversing the dance floor, or styling your closed position. Watch other styles of dance, and don’t blink or you might miss something.

And if your Salsa dance has no real African accent to it, how can it even be called Salsa?

Just the other day I observed an aerial dance class. The way they were exploring movement in three-dimensions made my jaw drop. I was struck by the lines they were creating with their bodies…and I took note.

Watch out for inspiration, it could come from anywhere. Aim to become a dancer, not simply a Salsa dancer.

If you are a new dancer, don’t spend all day watching Salsa on YouTube. Spend time watching other forms of dance and draw inspiration from there as well.

Express yourself to the best of your ability, and keep your mind wide open to other forms of dance.

Marshall Art Studios - David M

Really? Were you expecting them to?

To start with, male or female, don’t attend a dance social with the slightest expectation of being asked to dance. Assume it’s not going to happen. You are in charge of everything.

This is a great opportunity to change your thinking and empower yourself as a dancer by asking some yourself these simple questions:

1. Am I doing the best I can to improve myself as a lead or follow? What have I improved over the last week?

Are you dancing the same way you did two months or two years ago?  Follows, simply because it’s the lead’s “job” to make you look good, doesn’t mean you can go out there with weak technique!

If I go out swing dancing, the serious dancers won’t be lining up to dance with me. It’s for a reason. Like a courtship, people are watching how you dance the moment you come in, gauging your ‘suitability’ for a partner dance.

Don’t selfishly assume that what you know is good enough. If you can’t attend training, give yourself a class in your living room. Or simply make improvement a priority and take little steps to get better. Call me Captain obvious, but the better you are, the more they will want to dance with you.

And if you are not willing to do any of the above, be reasonable about how many people you expect to want to dance with you.

2. Am I doing all that I can to look my best?

People are motivated by beauty. And so are you. Play the human psychology game, and put your best face forward. This is not about pleasing them. You owe it to yourself to look and feel great.

Diet, exercise, meditation, the whole nine yards. Do your BEST. Treat yourself like the special person you are. And others will follow suit.

3. Don’t always assume the worst and don’t put stock into whether or not people dance with you.

People say ‘no’ for various reasons. Trying to understand why they won’t dance with you is fruitless and takes away your power to improve yourself. Forget about it.

4. Stop. Think about your facial expressions. What are they?

When you enter a social, and no one asks you to dance, do you get an ugly face? Well, that’s a sure fire way to repel potential partners.

In summary, it’s all about you. Maximize your dance, attitude and physical appearance. And once people are lining up to dance with you, remember where you came from.

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?