Categorizing Salsa Shines

So the crazy notion of teaching a shines class has crossed my mind and I find myself thinking about what moves I might teach if I decided to do it. Now I am a very structured type of person, so my first instinct is to categorize all of the shines first. I think I have a pretty thorough categorization.

These are all of the possible shine movements (that I can think of - or find from Internet resources for. ☺ )

1. Step
2. Rock Step
3. Ball Change
4. Tap/Dig
5. Kick
6. Swing
7. Flick (That tango Move - it has a real name I just forget it)
8. Slide/Drag
9. Twist (Heel/Toe Pivot)
10. Rondé/Fan/Brush
11. Stomp
12. Hop
13. Chug (With weight on both feet, bend the knees and then straighten sharply, causing the feet to slide back.)
14. Jeté (Lightly spring off one foot and land on the other.)
15. Skip (Step then Lightly spring off and land on the same foot.)
16. Spot Turn
17. Pivot/Châiné Turn (Traveling Turn)
18. Spin
19. Spiral (Spin/Turn opposite to the weighted foot - left on right foot, right on left foot)
20. Hook Turn?
21. Lock (Cross the free foot in front of or behind the supporting foot.)
22. Freeze
23. Lunge

Of course you realize that these are just categories, not moves. They also only (mostly) pertain to the feet and not the arms or the body. Each one of these has countless variations and when you combine these movements together or with their variations you end up with endless variety. Throw in body styling, arm styling, hand styling, leg styling, foot styling, head styling, etc. and you end up with a nearly infinite variety of moves. But they all have as their base these 20 something movements.

If you are creating a choreography and get stuck, perhaps reviewing this list can inspire something new.

What does it mean to be light on your feet?

You might think that being light on your feet means your feet are off the ground a lot. But that's not true. In fact, being light on your feet goes hand in hand with being grounded. You need to actually spend MORE time with your feet on the ground to be light on your feet.

Huh? How is that possible? Doesn't being grounded mean you are stable on the ground like a strong foundation? Yes, but you aren't immovable. Being grounded actually gives you the ability to switch your weight from one foot to the next with very little effort and time. And that is what being light on your feet really means. Being able to change your weight in an instant.

Well, there is more to it than that. You also have to be able to check your momentum in an instant. You are in control of your balance, your weight and your momentum. That is what makes you light on your feet.

How do you get light on your feet? Well, first off, you have to forget your feet. LOL. Seriously. Too many beginning dancers think everything about dance centers on the feet. While we do use our feet to dance, the feet can't do anything if our bodies aren't moving. Beginning dancers have difficulty turning because their bodies turn so slowly.

So the first thing you have to do to become light on your feet is to conquer this inevitable difficulty: make your body lead your feet. You learned how to do that when you learned to walk at 2 years old. Everyone on the planet moves not by moving their feet but by moving their body. Don't believe me? Watch yourself walk in a mirror.

Still not convinced? Record yourself and play the video in slow motion. You will notice that you actually move your body first, not your feet. One foot pushes your body forward and the other foot keeps you from falling down. That foot catches up to your body, then the momentum/inertia of your body moving allows the first foot (the one that originally pushed the body forward) to catch up to the next step. Meanwhile the second foot pushes your body forward. Well, it can't very well push you forward if it's moving, can it? See? Your feet move last! In fact the foot that starts the pushing motion is the foot that moves at the very end!

So, when you dance don't forget how to walk. Move your body. When you turn or spin, get your body around first. Your feet will follow. Consequently, you'll be lighter on your feet.

Now when I say get your body around, I don't mean push yourself off. I don't mean wind up like a spring and explode yourself into a spin. Forget that. That is BAAAD technique. Turns and spins don't happen that way. I'll cover spinning later but certainly turns are done slowly, changing your weight fully with each step, as your body TURNS, not spins.

(Read the article on the difference between turning and spinning.)

So, turn properly. Change your weight with every step. Now you can't be in control if you are doing this while taking large steps. So the simple answer is to take small steps. Well, teachers have been trying to drill that mantra into students noggins forever, but it doesn't change things but only slowly. The students still take big steps. So how do you make yourself take smaller steps? Clearly there is something causing you to take big steps. What could it be? Your momentum. You aren't in control. So you have to put less energy into your movement. Make each step deliberate, the same as when you walk. So, don't just take smaller steps. Move slower. Yep, moving slower can actually help you to get around your turns FASTER!!!! HAHAHAH!!!

It seems so illogical doesn't it! But not if you think about it this way. If you push yourself off, you're more likely to be off balance more often. You are more likely to step wrong. You are more likely to get off time. And you are more likely to tire. But if you make your movements more relaxed, then you will be in more control. And THAT is where speed comes from. Speed doesn't come from energy. It comes from control. You need to be in control of your body and your feet. YOU. Not the other way around.

So, how do you know how big of a step to take? Well, if you move your body instead of your feet, the answer becomes very simple. Keep your feet under your body. Just move your feet to where your body is. Easy. Keep the time. In LA Style salsa the guy's steps are Left, Right, Left; Right, Left, Right. And the girls steps are opposite. Maintain that rhythm. You might need to count. Keep your feet under your body, and move your body first. It's that simple. Do that and you'll be grounded and light on your feet too.

What's the difference between a spin and a turn?

We get so confused. And it's our (teacher's) fault. We'll tell beginning students that they are going to learn how to spin. We teach students to do a "cross body spin." We teach more advanced students how to execute a "free spin." But those aren't spins. They are in fact turns. And it's not just a question of using a different word. Sometimes teachers do teach a spin when they should be teaching a turn, and vice versa. So let's examine this just a moment.

So what IS the difference between a spin and a turn? Think of your car. If you turn your car, the car is in control. It's moving forward. But if your car is spinning, it's out of control. The wheels aren't locked onto the pavement. Which one can you stop your momentum easier? The turn.

So is turning the more stable? Not necessarily. One of the most stable instruments known to science is an object that spins: a gyroscope. The Segway uses gyroscopes to stay balanced. NASA uses gyroscopes to keep orientation. And remember toy gyroscopes? Once they get spinning you can't knock them over! And they are spinning on a point! And what happens when they start turning? THAT is when they fall over. They are designed to spin!

See? When you are supposed to be spinning, turning knocks you over. When you are supposed to be turning, spinning knocks you over. So it's important to understand the difference between turning and spinning and it's important to understand when you should be executing the one instead of the other.

The big difference between a spin and a turn is the pivot point, the center of that arc you are rotating around. A spin's pivot point is contained within the mass of the object. A turn's pivot point is outside the mass of the object. This is true for a car and it's true for a dancer.

Ok? Now you know the difference between a turn and a spin. So recognize which one you are trying to do in a movement and execute that movement properly. If you are turning, turn. Don't spin. If you are spinning, spin. Don't turn. Kay?

Here are a few rough rules of thumb. If you are doing a 180 or more, you are probably spinning. But if your movement is 180 or less, you are probably turning.

Also, if you are traveling, you are turning. None of your steps should be greater than 180 degrees. And finally, if you are staying in place, then you are spinning.

Is this just a question of semantics? Absolutely not. You can see how utterly important it is because people execute spins when they should be turning and vice versa. Let's examine the cross body spin... er... turn. How do you know that you are supposed to be turning and not spinning? Well, are you traveling? Yup. Then you should be turning. Remember the rule of thumb? 180° and less is a turn. A cross body turn does include a 180° movement, but you are traveling so it is in fact a turn. When you execute your cross body spin turn, move your feet down the slot. Change your weight with each step and make sure you keep moving down the slot. If at any point one of your feet starts to move back up the slot, you just executed a spin. Correct that and you'll find your cross body turns improving dramatically.

How about the other way: people doing turns when they should be spinning? How do you know if you should be spinning? Are you staying in the same place? Yes? It's a spin. So don't change your weight until the spin is complete. You may peddle to check your balance or even provide a smidge of momentum, but do not change your weight from the leg you are spinning on, and DEFINITELY keep both feet completely under your body.

Now, how about the special case of a single right or left turn. Aren't they spins? You're in place, right? These appear to be executed in place, but if you pay attention they are not. You return to your point of departure but make no mistake, you do depart from the home position. That means it is not a spin. A spin is when you remain in place and spin like a top. Stop executing your turns like a spin!

Ok? Got that? Once you recognize how important this question is, and make the adjustments to your dancing (and teaching) technique you will see yourself improve dramatically. DRAMATICALLY!

A Strong Lead is not a Good Lead

Guys guys guys. I see it all too often: guys pushing girls into their moves. Overleading. Please understand the difference between a strong lead and a good lead guys. If you use your muscular strength to overpower your partner and force her to execute your moves, she'll follow. Some girls even like being manhandled, but make no mistake, that doesn't make it a good lead. The girl you are dancing with is your partner. Your equal. She's not your subordinate. You aren't her boss. She isn't your plaything. Please stop throwing her around like a Rottweiler throwing around a ragdoll. I don't ever TELL my partner what to do. I ASK her to do something but I always allow her enough wiggle room to say no. Your partner knows how to do the moves you are asking her to do. All you need to do is to communicate to her what move you want her to do, provide assistance when she needs it, support her so she won't go off balance, give her energy when she needs it, then back off and let her complete the move you asked her to do. Don't micromanage her. She knows how to do the move. Let her do it her way. Your job is to decide what to do. Her job is to decide how to do it.

The key to a good lead is timing and clarity, not strength. Understand the precise moment you need to begin your lead. Pay attention to her weight transfer. Her momentum and direction in combination with the foot she has her weight on will help you to pick out that precise instant in which to ask her to move. As a general rule, she turns to her right on her right foot and left on her left foot. There are certainly exceptions, like when you check her momentum to get her to turn opposite, but if you are just starting out, pay attention to this rule. It's great for the four cross body lead with turn moves. And it's generally those moves that the problem of overleading manifests itself. Practice your lead on those moves. Try to ask her to do moves and try to resist forcing her to do them.

Remember, a good lead is a well timed SOFT lead. I'll go into lead (and follow) a bit more later but for now I suggest you read my earlier article The Mechanics of a Good Lead.

Salsa Syllabus

I added to and organized my list of essential salsa moves. The idea was to structure them from easier move to harder move and to add prerequisites. I added some patterns too. This list could easily be turned into a salsa syllabus and in fact I structured the level 1 and 2 as a syllabus. Levels 3 and 4 allow for an extreme amount of variety so if you were to create a syllabus you would need to create your own patterns. I ordered the levels 3 and 4 by my personal perception of difficulty. But of course what is hard for me might be easy for you and your students. So this is just a guideline.

As with my list of essential salsa moves, this list is by no means comprehensive. Salsa is an creative endeavor. New moves are created, reborn, and reimagined all the time. But if you master these moves you will be able to conceptualize and execute virtually every partner salsa move under the sun.

	Level / Type	Wk	Move	Abbrev.	Prerequisites	Reason it's this Level
1	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Basic Step	BSC
2	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Side Step (Cucaracha)	SS	Basic Step
3	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Forward Step	FWS	Basic Step
4	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Back Step	BKS	Basic Step
5	Level 1 Concept	1h1	Open Break	OB	Back Step
6	Level 1 Variation	1h1	Guapea		Back Step
7	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Backward Diagonal Crosses (Cumbia Step)		Back Step
8	Level 1 Fundamental	1h1	Forward Diagonal Crosses	FWC	Forward Step
9	Level 1 Basic	1h2	Right Turn, Man's RT, Woman's RT	RT, MRT, WRT	Basic Step
10		1h2	Left Turn, Man's LT, Woman's LT	LT, MLT, WLT	Basic Step, Right Turn
	Level 1 Pattern	1h2	Crossover Pattern (WRT, MLT, then WLT, MRT)		Right Turn, Left Turn
	Level 1 Basic	2	Back Pass	BKP	Right Turn
12	Level 1 Pattern	2	Triple Turn Pattern (He goes, She goes)		Right Turn, Back Pass
	Level 1 Variation	3	Frisbee	FR	Left Turn
	Level 1 Pattern	3	Left Turn Pattern		Left Turn, Frisbee
	Level 1 Essential	4	Cross Body Lead (Dile Que No)	CBL	Basic Step, Back Step, Left Turn
17	Level 1 Pattern	4	Cross Body Lead in a Pattern		CBL, Various
18	Level 2 Variation	1h1	Hammerlock	HL	Right Turn	It's too easy for Lvl2, but it's only useful for Lvl2 moves.
19	Level 2 Essential	1h1	Enchufle	Ench	Cumbia Step
20	Level 2 Pattern	1h1	Enchufle Pattern (HL to Enchufle)
21	Level 2 Varation	1h2	Reverse CBL	RCBL	Back Step, CBL	Might be too hard? Not really a prereq for RCBLIT
22	Level 2 Essential	1h2	Rev CBL Inside Turn	RCBLIT	Cumbia, Enchufle, Left Turn
23	Level 2 Pattern	1h2	Cumbia Pattern		Enchufle, Rev CBL Inside Turn
25	Level 2 Essential	2	CBL Inside Turn	CBLIT	CBL, Left Turn
27	Level 2 Concept	2	3 Small Steps	3SS	Right Turn
	Level 2 Concept	2	Drop Hand Catch		3 Small Steps
	Level 2 Variation	2	Free Spin	FRS	CBLIT, Frisbee
25	Level 2 Variation	3	Skater's Wrap	SKTW	Right Turn, CBL Inside Turn
26	Level 2 Variation	3	Overwrap/Cuddle	CDL, OW	CBL Inside Turn
26	Level 2 Variation	4	Come With Me	CWM	CBL, Left Turn
	Level 2 Concept	4	Sweetheart		CBL Inside Turn
	Level 2 Concept	4	Cross Body Check		CBL Inside Turn	It is a simpler variation of the titanic, so it should be taught first.
28	Level 2 Variation	4	Titanic		CBL Check
	Level 1 Pattern	3	Cumbia Pattern Across Slot		Cumbia
13	Level 1 Concept	1h1	Head Loop/Hairbrush/Haircomb		Basic Step
15	Level 1 Concept	1h1	Double Head Loop / Sombrero		Right Turn, Head Loop
16	Level 1 Pattern	1h1	Sombrero Pattern		Right Turn, Head Loop
	Level 2 Essential	1h2	Cross Body Lead Outside Turn
	Level 2 Variation	2	Walkthrough/New York Walk
	Level 2 Essential	3	Reverse CBL Outside Turn
	Level 2 Variation	3	Wrist Catch (Reverse Windmill)
	Level 2 Variation	3	Wrist Check
	Level 2 Variation	4	Texas Tommy
	Level 2 Essential	4	Basket		Basic
	Level 3 Variation		Windmill
	Level 3 Concept		London Bridge
	Level 3 Concept		Arm Toss
	Level 3 Concept		Gancho (Elbow over her arm)
	Level 3 Concept		Flat Back		Right Turn
	Level 3 Concept		Hook Turn		Right Turn
	Level 3 Move		Swivel (CBL w/ Hook Turn)		Hook Turn
	Level 3 Move		Barrel Roll		Windmill, Come With Me
	Level 3 Move		U-turn		Cumbia, Walkthrough
	Level 3 Move		Copa		Cumbia, CBL Inside Turn
	Level 3 Move		SSQQ Around the World
	Level 3 Move		Classic Around the World (waist wrap pull)
	Level 3 Move		Back Spot Turn / Adios		Open Break
	Level 3 Move		360 (Coca Cola)
	Level 3 Concept		Peddle Turn (Multiple Spins)
	Level 3 Variation		Illusion Hands
	Level 3 Variation		CBL turns with Illusion Hands
	Level 4 Concept		Turning on other beats		Right Turn, Left Turn, Check, Prep
	Level 4 Concept		Arm Block	AB	Spin
	Level 4 Concept		Arm Play
	Level 4 Move		Duck Under Tuck In Tuckunder/Hicabobhead whip
	Level 4 Move		Pretzel		Right Turn, CBL Inside Turn
	Level 4 Move		Rainbow
	Level 4 Move		Butterfly		CBL Inside Turn, Rainbow
	Level 4 Move		Tunnel
	Level 4 Concept		Zipper
	Level 4 Pattern		Abaníco (Large Fan) - Rueda		Sombrero, Hook Turn, WRTon2
			WRT to Skater's Wrap; Enchufle w/ MHook under Rarm; Come With Me; WLT; Guy Steps Under into CBL

How to learn salsa

If you want to learn how to become a great salsa dancer as efficiently as possible, consider this roadmap.

Beginner
Control your own balance and momentum
Basic steps

Improver
Connect with your partner

Beginning footwork
Beginning essential salsa moves

Begin to listen for beat

Intermediate
Intermediate footwork
Intermediate essential salsa moves

Listen for the beat

Advanced

Advanced footwork
Advanced essential salsa moves

Dance to the beat / beginning musicality

Master

Connect with the music (musicality)

Improvisation

Styling

Naturally, there is a lot more to dancing than just these simple things.  And following this roadmap will probably take years.  More likely a lifetime.  But the journey sure is fun.

The essential salsa moves

Most salsa moves, even the hard ones, are based on simple moves. Master the easy ones, learn some variations and combinations, and you'll easily pick up just about any hard move.

So I compiled a list of what I call the essential salsa moves. They are basic salsa moves that I have found to be the foundation for every advanced move that I've learned, at least from what I remember. Really I think that this (plus maybe a couple more forgotten ones) are all there are.

There's only like 30 or 40.


Basic Step
Side Basic
Cumbia
Crossovers
Forward Steps
Back Steps

Head Loop/hair-Comb (style)

Right Turn
Left Turn
Right spin
Left Spin

Cross-Body Lead
CBL with inside turn
CBL with outside turn

Reverse Cross-Body-Lead
(This is actually a variation)
Reverse CBL with inside turn
Reverse CBL with outside turn

Hammerlock
Skater's Wrap
Cuddles
Wrap

Walk-through/New York Walk
Basket
Titanic/Angel
Texas-Tommy/Apache
Enchufle (cumbia)
Copa/In & Out
U-Turn
Knots
Butterfly
Rainbow
Tunnel
Mambo Turn

Back Spot Turn
360

Dips
Drops
Aerials


Of course there's a lot more to becoming a salsa dancer than learning moves, but maybe now the mountain of salsa moves has shrunk a bit for you and you can spend some of your energy on the other more important aspects of becoming a salsa dancer.

Do you want a take charge man?

I guess there are two kinds of women: those who take charge in life and those who don't. Actually, maybe I should say that there are those who want to take charge and there are those women who want other people to take charge. This is especially pertinent to the significant other. Some men want to be bossed around. Some men boss their women around. And more and more men are allowing their women to boss them around, or they are recognizing that if they don't let their women boss them around, they won't have any women.

Of course I don't like the word "bossing" used in this context. Take charge is more appropriate. No one should be bossed around. One will more often take charge, but they do
so without bossing anyone around.

How does this relate to dancing? It's HUGE because what I have found by being involved in hundreds of beginning classes in many different dance styles is that women who naturally take a back seat in life, are generally quicker to figure out following in dance. The quicker a woman learns to follow, the quicker the dance will be fun for her. Women who have a lot of practice following in life are generally easier to lead. Does this mean that all women who have difficulty following boss their boyfriends or husbands around? Well, maybe. But it might not be because they are naturally bossy. It might be that the boyfriends or husbands aren't being the leaders in life that they could be and their women have HAD to take the lead and they developed a habit of leading.

This is why I would recommend all couples learn to dance with each other, especially if the woman wants a take charge man. Dancing teaches men to be the strong take charge Men that many women find desirable. It also teaches women to let go of their take charge attitude so they don't step on the toes of the men they want to take charge. I still believe that many women would follow a man in life provided he is quick to take charge, he looks after her, and especially if he puts her interests above his own interests. This last one is another benefit of dancing. If we approach our relationships in life the way we approach them in our dancing, then our relationships would be more harmonious.

Ladies, do you want a take charge man? Do you want YOUR man to take charge more often? If you do, then learn to dance. Learn to follow. Learn to trust. And enable your man to learn to lead. He'll never take charge if you beat him to it.

The mechanics of a good lead.

When I was first learning salsa I wished that the teachers would explain how to lead and how to follow. I felt like the girls were always ahead of me but for some reason they would do the next move in the pattern. I thought that maybe they were back-leading but I didn't know enough to call them out on it. Now I know. They were backleading. One reason why I dislike patterns. It encourages women to take charge of their own moves when the guy is supposed to do it. Women learn to backlead and men never learn how to lead properly, or if they do, they learn to be too strong, too rough, too fast, or at best after a very long time.

Now I can control my follower with my connection. By tensing up certain muscles and loosening up others she can really feel my intention. And when she starts to back lead I understand how to use those various muscles to influence her to do what I want rather than what she thinks I want. But this takes a lot of experience.

While that level of detail might be next to impossible to explain, I think I can at explain the mechanics of my own leading style. That seems to be a good step to begin with so you can start to develop some sense of the muscles you'll use to lead, and how the follower feels when she responds. It would probably also be beneficial for the follower to practice responding to the guy.

Maybe one day I'll add some illustrations but for now I'll try to make it as clear as possible without them.


First let me explain what a good lead is not: A strong lead.
Repeat after me... Men and Women:

A strong lead is NOT a good lead!

I know a lot of ladies like a strong lead. But I've been told that, as long as it's very clear and well timed, a SOFT lead feels like you are floating on a cloud. It also gives the girl something much more pragmatic, room to express herself. A soft lead is less controlling. It lets her be a part of the team... a partner, not a puppet. She wants to be a part of the dance, not the object of the dance.


A lot of guys at first think that they have to maintain constant pressure on the girl. Don't do that. She will feel controlled and you'll actually be pushing the girl to dance faster than she would otherwise. My technique enables me to slow her down if I need to.

Another thing a lot of guys do, especially the strong leaders, is they use a lot of muscle. The girls don't need you to force them through the moves. All they need is for you to let them know what you want them to do. You lead and after you recognize that she has started to do the move you asked her to do, you follow her movement. You maintain connection, but you don't need to lead any more until it's time to resolve the current move and to set up for the next one.


So what makes a good lead?

A good lead begins with connection. Connection is not a lead. I'll describe that later. We have to cover connection first. Basically the connection is the minimum force of touch that it takes to keep you from slipping off of your partner. Metaphorically speaking, it is like a line of communication. Think of it like two cups held together with a piece of string. You aren't talking to each other yet. That would be the leading and following. You are just keeping the line of communication open. Now when you pull your cup all you want is to maintain enough tension on the line so it vibrates when you talk into the cup, right? You aren't playing tug of war. If you try to pull the guy on the other end of the line he has to react by pulling back. You might break the string and sever communication. So if you can apply that metaphor to your connection with your dance partner, you can imagine that if you apply too much tension or compression, you can actually hinder communication. You want just the right amount of connection. This is one thing that improver/intermediate level dancers should work on.

Leading and following is a conversation, with the guy leading the conversation. He asks a question, she responds. He responds to that and so forth. When the topic resolves itself, he asks another question and they begin another exchange. When you have a good connection, you enable communication with your partner. She can hear the leader with her sense of touch. And he can hear the follower's movements with his sense of touch. It is just as important for him to feel her through his hands as it is for her to feel him through her hands.

Two kinds of connection

There are two kinds of connection: compression and tension... or in other words, pushing and pulling. I don't like to use the words push and pull though because they imply a strong force, and that is not appropriate for a good lead. Compression and tension are much better words. You apply the appropriate form of touch with your fingers to maintain the connection with your partner.

I generally teach that maintaining the connection is the woman's responsibility. (After all, dance mimics life and Women are much better at maintaining interpersonal connections than men are.) Of course the guy's not completely off the hook, but typically he is spending his time doing things to break the connection and she responds by attempting to strengthen it. This action sets the woman up to follow.

Then there is Lead.

Please understand that the lead is different than the connection. I'm trying to be very deliberate with my language so pay attention when I say lead or connection. I was talking about connection. Now I am talking about Lead. Lead is essentially connection with a follow through. But the timing is extremely important. If you do not learn appropriate timing, you will either give a false or confusing lead, or you will be too rough or strong. This is something that the leader must work on until he masters it.

Before we discuss the mechanics of the lead, we must cover the third state. The period of time in which there is absolutely no lead. This happens when you switch from compression to tension, and vice versa. The period of time when you are neither leading with compression nor with tension is this neutral state.

If the leader does not embrace the state of neutrality he will feel like a strong lead, and even worse he will actually push the girl to dance faster than she would otherwise. This is the reason why I believe so many leaders dance too fast. The guys try to maintain the connection instead of giving the responsibility to the girl. More on this later.

It's also important to realize that you cannot lead the girl in the neutral state. You must move from the neutral state to a compression or tension in order to lead her. You want the change from neutral to compression or tension to be gradual. It should never be abrupt. Of course if you make it abrupt, you will feel rough to the girl. Also, do not change your grip in the middle of a neutral state. You need a good connection when you change grips or you risk losing connection.

Most of the time, maybe 90% of the time, you need to be in a "connective" state, either compression or tension. But NOT actively leading. You aren't leading and you aren't in the neutral state. What are you doing when you are in the connective state? Are you leading? Not yet.

There are two times when you'll be in a connective state. One is before a lead. In this period of time, you do nothing. You just maintain the connection. The other time you are just connecting is when you are in the midst of a move, for example a turn. In this case, you follow. Yep. I said YOU FOLLOW. You follow the girl in the middle of her turn. Of course she isn't leading you, and you do eventually pick the lead back up, but when you aren't actively leading her, you are still following her.

Now, since you set up the lead you know where she is going. It's like you sent her on a trail and let her walk in front of you. You know the trail so you know where the tricky spots are. You are also ready to respond in case something unexpected comes up, like a snake on the trail. But for the time being, you let the girl go in front. Of course during the state in which you are following, you must maintain the connection. Imagine that you are holding the girl's hand on the trail.

Let's get on to the meat of this post. The actual mechanics of the lead.

Okay, so you have a good connection and you are tired of not leading. So you want to execute a move. What do you do?

We communicate our lead by bouncing from tension to compression and back again. Back and forth. Please understand the word bounce here doesn't mean jerking or dancing swing style or pushing then pulling. I know the word bounce has a lot of baggage attached to it. You think rubber ball bouncing. But rubber balls only respond with compression. They don't experience tension. So when I use the word bounce, I mean shifting from one to the other, compression to tension or from tension to compression. I use the word bounce because if we examine a ball bouncing in slow motion we know that there is a lot going on. So in this description of the mechanics of a good lead, I am describing things in super duper oober looper slow motion.

Ok. The entire dance is bouncing from tension to compression. When we move from one to the other, we enter the neutral state. Since we can not lead without a connection, it's important to try to minimize the time in which you are in a neutral state. It is the girl's responsibility to seek the connection. It is the guy's responsibility to set up the bounce.

Let me explain.

Let's begin assuming we have a compression connection. You extend the compression, or follow through with the compression until she begins to respond by moving, let's say, back. Now that you can feel through your sense of touch that she is moving back you let off the lead and start to follow her. You do not let off enough so you lose the connection though. This would be a good time to change grips if necessary. You don't have to change grips though. It depends on the move. At the appropriate moment you will stop following her. Inertia will cause the girl to continue and when she does, you will lose connection, for a moment. You will enter the neutral state. But, since you have slowed down your following she will begin to settle into a... tension. You let her gradually settle into the tension until she stops. And you continue the tension, follow through with it, and she will respond by following, probably by reversing her direction. You let off the lead, follow, change grips if necessary, then back off to enter the neutral state, then set up for the compression connection. And so on and so forth.

Reaction time is important here girls. The faster you react to the changes between compression and tension and vice versa, the shorter the period of time you'll be in the neutral state, the easier it will be for the guy to lead you, the easier it will be for you to follow him. This is something that women need to work on right from the beginning. Following this way engages your mind. You can strengthen your mind by dancing. Who woulda thought?

Remember, you must WAIT for the connection. If you do not wait and start "leading" when the compression or tension is not there then you are going to be rough. If you try to create the compression or tension yourself, then you are being too domineering, too strong. Just wait for her to come to you.

It's really not that difficult, once you understand the technique. Of course all of this happens in the blink of an eye, but you'll get the hang of it. The key is embracing the connective state. In fact, if you watch very advanced dancers you will find that they play with the connective state.

There is of course a LOOOOOT more to it than bouncing right from compression to tension and back. You will use tension and compression in combination. If you compress with one side and tense with the other side, you will cause the girl to twist. You might combine them to encourage the girl to turn, or to turn faster. You will use both in turns. You will use them to guide the girl down the slot. You will apply connection without a lead to communicate to the girl, saying in effect "pay attention." Or you might use a connection without a lead to encourage the girl to move and not turn. You will compress or tense with the sides of your hands. Or you'll compress with your shoulder, or tense with your forearm. There is a lot to all of this. It takes a long time to master all of the nuances, but as long as you practice the timing of moving from compression to neutral to tension to neutral to compression, etc. you will begin to make progress. Learn to maintain connection without giving confusing leads.

One benefit of dancing this way is that it gives both partners the ability to influence the timing of their partner. Both partners have the ability to extend the period of time in which you are in the neutral state. And that will cause your partner to slow down or to speed up.

One final thought. Lead tangentially. If you don't lead tangentially you will feel jerky to the girl. You know what tangent means? Remember geometry? It's a line or an arc that intersects an arc or a circle at only one point. As you are following the girl in that connective state, when it comes time to apply a lead you apply that force tangent to her natural movement. You should NEVER apply a force across her natural body motion. Your lead should NEVER create a corner. To do so will jerk her around.

You don't want the girls to call you a jerk, do you?

Okay. I hope this makes the mechanics of a lead more understandable to all of you.

Good luck and God bless!

What is salsa?

Men's rules for dancing

Women have a lot of rules that they must follow in order to be the best follower. Men do not. I will go into the reasons for this in more detail later but suffice it to say that one person has to know what to expect from the other partner. Since the guy makes the decisions he is the one that has to know what the other person will do. The girl has to be predictable. The less predictable the girl is the harder (forceful) of a lead the guy has to be. He can't trust her to follow him so he has to take away some of her freedom and lead her with more force than finesse. Ironically, it is by following more rules that gives the girl more freedom.

But this isn't about the girls' rules. I want to cover the rules that men have.
Here they are in order of priority:

Keep the girl safe
Make the girl shine
Entertain the girl
Follow the secondary rules of dance.

That's it. Rules 2 and 3 might be interchangeable depending on the girl but rules 1 and 4 are concrete. (Actually, I've since realized that Entertain the girl is number 3. More below...)In essence, a good leader will always put his follower first. And if the girl truly believes that he will follow these rules to the letter then she will follow more easily. She wants to be led by a man who will put her first.

This isn't only true in dance. It's true in life too.

Why is "entertain the girl" less important than "make her shine?" Well, as the leader, you do not know what will entertain her, unless she communicates it to you. Even then, she will keep much of her emotions inside. We all do. So, while it's a mystery if she is being entertained, you can easily see if she looks good dancing. And what's more is that if you satisfy rules 1 and 2, she will be entertained. You don't need to worry about doing a lot of crazy moves to entertain her if she looks good. If you prioritize entertaining her over making her look good, you might lose focus and choose to do moves that are fun for you, but that you don't lead quite well enough. But if instead you focus on moves that make her look good, you have to lead them well. She will by default have a much better time.

About rule 4. This is an overarching rule that encompasses the secondary rules that guide the way a guy dances. Rules like Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right. Guys' rules, except for the first 3 are not set in stone. They are flexible and the guy can break them when he needs to. It's kind of like life. A lot of Women just HAVE to wake up in the morning and make the bed. But men? Pfft. They don't have to. Well, if they have a woman (or want one) they do, but if they are on their own it's not important to them. Dancing is even more black and white. Sometimes men HAVE to break their rules to make it possible for the girl to follow hers and for him to follow his top 3.

The beauty of the top 3 rules is that they don't take a long time to learn. It's all attitude. If he believes it he will do it. What's more difficult for the beginning leader is communicating that he will follow the 3 main rules. He communicates this with confidence. A lot of beginning leaders look like they don't know what's going on. They seem hesitant. The beginning girls pick up on this and they naturally start to back lead. They don't believe that the guys will follow the top 3 rules.

Ironically, unless you are naturally confident in everything you do, you have to start to learn rule 4 before you can show confidence in your dance. You don't need to learn all of the secondary rules, but you do need to learn your steps: Basic, Turns, Cross Body Lead, hook turn, etc. And you have to start to train your mind to prepare yourself for the next move. You have to think ahead. Once you start to think ahead, something will click in your brain. A light bulb will illuminate over your head and almost instantly you will start to display confidence. The sooner you get this the better for you and for the girls. Girls back lead and teach the guys to be bad leaders. But at the same time guys teach the girls to be back leaders because they have so much to learn and women learn their parts of the dance quicker. It's easier for girls to just wait for the lead than it is for the guys to learn to lead, but the girls have to shift their mindset and it's difficult for them to shift to letting a guy lead them if they don't have confidence in him.

So how do you obtain confidence? When I teach beginning I see a lot of guys who do the steps properly. They know the steps. They do them, but they have a sort of hesitance about their steps. They don't move with authority. They don't OWN the steps. So whenever you are taught a new move, as immediately as you can, recognize the point at which you understand how the step works. You may not master it, but you know enough to practice it on your own, or better yet with a girl. You might rotate to a girl and she might ask you, "how are you doing with the move?" You should say, "I'm getting it," or "I almost have it." You are telling her that you are only fine tuning. She will relax and if you do it right, she will enjoy being part of the process in your education.

Once you get to this point you don't need to look back. You have it. Own it. Play with it. Experiment with it. Women enjoy being a part of the process. They want to be taken on a journey and if they know that they are instrumental in your success, it gives them a real boost. You don't have to know all of these crazy moves to entertain a girl. Engage her. Include her in your education.

Witness

Did you ever feel like you are witnessing life rather than living it? Like you are on the outside looking in, just watching and not participating.

Boy how I wish my brain was wired differently. It seems that the people who are most successful, most happy are those who are naturally outgoing and talkative. Lord, why must I clam up when I am with talkative people? I can contribute too doggonit. I know things. I have opinions. I'm pretty smart. I'm a philosopher by nature. Why must my thoughts and opinions disappear from my mind while I watch others have a conversation? Can't I participate too?

Do all philosophers suffer so? No. I doubt that. Many like to talk. I like others to listen. Maybe that's why I have this blog. I can write whatever I can't say. But is anyone listening?

I don't want to sound so arrogant, but what good is it to know so much if you can't share your wisdom.

Like take salsa. I have spent the last 5 years of my life studying it. Learning its intricacies, examining how it relates to life. Learning about people and relationships through the dance.

My understanding of women has flipped on its head since I took up partner dancing. I used to think that all women want to be in charge. I was ready to submit to a girl. I wanted to be whipped and to be wrapped around a beautiful girl's finger. I was hypnotized by the media into thinking that this was the way things are and should be. I actually wondered if the women I danced with felt oppressed because a man was telling them what to do. I thought I was enlightened. In fact, I was proud of it. I still think I'm enlightened. I don't tell any woman to do anything. But I recognize that many women want a take charge man. And that is what salsa taught me.

I don't just "believe" in equality. I celebrate it. I teach it. Other teachers tell the girls, "You are in charge off the dance floor, but on the dance floor the guy is in charge." Ridiculous and completely outdated. And really, it wasn't even accurate 100 years ago when Men ruled the world, and it sure wasn't accurate 20 or 30 years ago when Women started to put their feet down. Dance partners, like life partners, are truly equal. We have different roles, but we are completely equal. One is a diamond worth a million bucks, and the other is a lump of gold worth a million bucks. They are both different, but equal in value. No one is the boss. It's just that someone has to make the decisions, and only one person can make those decisions on the dance floor. But the person who does make the decisions had better make those decisions for the benefit of the person who does not get to make the decisions.

I think that a lot of women would just rather not bother with leadership. It's just too much hassle. As long as their interest is taken care of, and they have a say, an input. As long as they are not ignored and the task gets done, they are willing to let someone else take the reigns.

This is why beginning followers back lead. They believe that someone has to lead, and the guy's sure not going to do it. Then the guys prove that they aren't going to lead, so they take charge, as they do in life. Because if they are with a guy in life and he doesn't take charge, she takes charge. Maybe she would like for him to take charge, but he is untrustworthy, so she just feels better off if she takes over.

But what if he was trustworthy? What if he could be counted on not to screw things up? What if she knew that his first priority was her and that in the end, the important things got done. Would she be willing to sit back, relax, and let him do his thing?

When these followers don't give the guy a chance to lead, they don't realize the beginning leaders never got the chance to lead because the women were so used to leading in life that they naturally took it up in dance. I don't think this is natural though. I think the men in the class are so used to living under the thumb of the modern woman that they look for permission to take the lead. You can actually see the sheepishness in the faces of the beginning guys. They seem so doubtful. They don't realize that they are meant to lead. Even in life, if they took charge and let their Woman know that they could take care of her, if they really convinced her of that fact, then the Women would follow.

I am all for the goals behind the feminist movement: Sufferage. Equal rights. Equal pay. Equal treatment. But sometimes I think it went too far. Men and Women aren't equal as they should be. Women are in charge. They take care of themselves and they expect their men to take care of them too. Not all women of course. But many Women do. What does that make the Men? Slaves. Really, if the Men don't get to lead, are told what to do, and the Women are supposed to be treated like Princesses or Queens, what is in it for the Men? Sex? Sure, but only on her terms and only when she wants it. That makes him a man-whore, not an equal partner in life.

Men are totally emasculated today. They are wimps. They should all learn to dance. And teachers that tell women that they are in charge off of the dance floor need to shut up. Tell men that they should try to take ownership and lead wherever they are able, even off the dance floor.

I honestly believe that whoever is most capable should lead. If I had a wife who was a good planner and highly organized, maybe she would be better than me at packing for the camping trip. Maybe my knowledge and skills in the outdoors would just be advisory. Or it could be the other way around. Maybe I would be better with the kids, so I might take on the role of the nurturer. Whatever. The point is that whoever is better at the task should take charge. But men are so used to following these days that they let the woman take over everything, even over things that he is expert in, and especially in things that are given to him by "right" or by "tradition" as in dancing, or even in proposing marriage!

But what do I know? I can't even talk to talkative people.

Be a team player.

I helped with some classes last week and came upon a realization. At the end of every movement each dancer needs to be secure, balanced and in control. If a girl is in closed position with a guy and she does not feel that way after a turn and just continues on from an unbalanced state, she will fall into her steps instead of deliberately placing her steps. She will go too fast and end up ahead of the guy's lead and he will be incapable of leading her. A leader who doesn't want to over control his partner will be forced to ignore the music and follow his follower's timing.

To lead means to come before. You cannot lead someone down a trail if they are 100 feet ahead of you. The lady needs to stay behind the guy. The guy needs to stay ahead.

How does she stay balanced then? Use the guy. It's up to the guy to provide what she needs to gain that security. But the girl also needs to recognize the team and use her man. She is not on her own. It's not entirely up to her to find the balance. Ideally she won't need him, but if she does lose her balance, then he is there for her. If she has to choose between falling into her steps and using her leader for support, then she needs to use her leader for support. She has to be willing to look to the guy for help when she needs it.

I know that for today's modern independent woman this might feel like a step backward, but this is a partner dance. We are a team. We help each other. This is especially true for the guy since he is the leader and the dance is literally and figuratively about the girl. (See my past posts for more explanation.)

The first priority for the guy is to help the girl. But he can only be there for her if she uses him.

So...
#1 Guys: Be there for the girl. Be a team player.
#2 Girls: Use the guy. Be a team player.