Week One

Hello Dancers,

Each week I will post the highlights of what we covered in class. This is not meant to be a dance manual or a substitute for attending class. Instead, it is here to help you remember what we worked on between classes.

We started with our risk statements, policies, and paperwork. I briefly discussed my experience dancing and competing as well as my approach to teaching dance.

The warm up is the most important part of any dance class – it is the time when dancers learn to use their bodies in new ways. In addition to promoting greater leg and back strength, general flexibility, and avoidance of injuries, we will develop numerous isolations and greater coordination.

Dance classes in other genres of dance – Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, African – all begin with a comprehensive warm up. Partner dancing (ballroom dancing) is another dance discipline equally as involved as those I just mentioned, yet a warm up is frequently missing from many ballroom dance classes. In the ballroom classes and workshops I have taken over the years, participants get through more material more quickly and with greater satisfaction in those classes that began with a comprehensive warm up.

I believe in teaching people how to dance, not just teaching how to reproduce steps, patterns, and figures. It takes a little bit of time to lay this foundation, but it is time well spent. People can learn to be good leads and good follows. Both are skills that people can develop.

The lead’s role is to define space. The follow’s role is to decide how and when to occupy space. Partner dancing is a dialogue between two people – each person voluntarily participating in the activity, dancing together. The lead does not tell the follow what to do!

We worked on what I called the “friction connection” – not too hard, not too soft, just right – and that each person is responsible for building and maintaining the connection.

We used the friction connection to begin moving around the room – simply at first and then adding turns. Leads turn their own bodies by creating space under the contact point and moving their bodies through the space. Follows turn when the leads create space that goes in a circle.

We used two of the three socially acceptable regions of contact – I referred to them as “arm level” and “waist level”.

We used simple notions like up, down, across, away, and circle to begin to develop a system for creating moves. We worked on simple turns for the lead and follow, as well as some hand changes behind the back for the leads.

By the end of the class – when we compressed the group together in one small area – we were using these “levels” to begin to dance Merengue.

The leads were actually leading. The follows were actually following. Learning to lead and follow from the very beginning of learning to dance, I believe, promotes greater understanding of dancing and ultimately allows you to dance creatively and expressively. It certainly looked like everyone was having a good time.

I end each class session with a review, in the form of a question. “What is something useful or interesting you learned today?” Everyone gets a chance to answer, because sometimes the best observations and really good insights can come from your fellow classmates.

Week Two

Officially, our class has 20 people enrolled! That makes for a large and exciting group. Please talk to me (or email me) early in the semester if there is something about class that you would like me to address.

I love to teach large groups. The energy and excitement that happens in a dance class when a lot of people are really getting involved is very powerful.

We reviewed the material from last week, including the friction connection, standing with turnout, leading turns and being lead to turn using arm-level connections. We also began to develop the characteristic Latin hip action (the rotational action of the hips).

We worked a system for turning based on one hand going up (to approximately forehead-height of the person who will be turning) and one hand going down (so that the wrist is below the elbow on both partners).

By leading hand-across-the-face and hand-away-from-the-face turns with the up-hand while maintaining connection with the down-hand, the lead provides the space for the follows to turn, creating Cuddles – hand-across-the-face (the cute move) – and Hammerlocks – hand-away-from-the-face (the one people thought was bizarre initially).

The leads can put themselves into Cuddles and Hammerlocks by moving their bodies under the up-hand, though without moving either of the hands while in the process of turning.

Floor Craft is the act of paying attention to yourself, your partner, and all of the people around you while everyone is moving and dancing. It is the art of collision avoidance.

Cuddles and Hammerlocks are very versatile and are the raw ingredients for countless other moves. By envisioning Negative Space, we can find new and interesting ways to get out of familiar moves. Letting go with both hands always works!

We used Cuddles and Hammerlocks as a way to explore Negative Space, including the Tunnel and the Sliding Door.

While the things we are doing in class can also be simply considered “moves”, more importantly they are exercises that allow you to discover for yourself the kinds of things that are possible when dancing with a partner. It is not necessary to master any particular “move” but rather to use those exercises as a way to expand your own concept of what is possible.

Week Three

After reviewing our various Cuddles, Hammerlocks, and Negative Space moves from last week, we began learning the basic and a few moves in Salsa.

I will teach “Salsa on One”, meaning the first movement forward or backward off of our imaginary paper plate happens on the first beat of the measure.

There are flavors of Salsa that happen on the two, meaning the forward/backward movement happens on the second beat of the measure (NY Style/Salsa Nuevo, and Mambo – the dance from which the Salsa we know today originated).

Salsa on One, itself, can occur with several regional style differences – Cubano-/Miami-/Miami-Cubano/Rotary-Style, and LA-Style.

There may be other styles. Salsa is a very popular and ever-evolving dance form.

We could count it as Quick-Quick-Slowly-ly, 1-2-3-hold-4, or my favorite Yump-Bump-Bhaaaaaaa. I find that singing the rhythm helps the movements relate to the music better.

We developed a Chase Turn and turned that into lead’s and follow’s hammerlocks. As we learn to dance our different moves to Salsa timing, it is important to remember that the rhythm is more important than the pattern. The pattern (basic step) is just a starting point. After we are in motion, keeping the rhythm is the important part.

Week Four

Tonight marked the half-way point in the summer semester. We will continue to build upon the concepts we have developed so far.

Tonight was a lot of review and taking the time to get more comfortable and to develop more confidence with the moves we have been doing.

Dancing is more than a sequence of steps done to music. Dancing is an interaction – a dialogue – with another person. Becoming skilled at the dialogue of partner dancing makes every figure/pattern/move easier.

Our lead’s-cuddle-to-tunnel-to-double-turn-to-cuddle-again-to-follow’s-hammerlock-to-sliding-door-to-lead’s-duck-under-and-back-to-lead’s-cuddle (which a long time ago a class I taught dubbed The Krither) is an excellent practice sequence embodying many of the individual aspects of turning (both for leads and follows), use of space, timing, partner connection (the Friction Connection), responsiveness to each other and the space around you, using Negative Space, etc. And it’s a fun move.

Making mistakes just means you are inventing new moves.

When we transitioned to Salsa, we talked about the distinction between the Pattern – where your feet go – and the Rhythm – when you move. Knowing and feeling the Rhythm is more important than knowing just the Pattern.

We did solo Chase Turns, done with a visual lead. We turned that into a Hammerlock for the follow. We also did a type of Hand Change Behind the Back for the lead with an Underarm Turn for the follow.

In each case, the pattern your feet make on the floor was exactly the same. However, the things you do with your arms were different. Also in each case, the turning person does their turn during the part of the basic where they would have normally stepped forward. (That forward step in the basic is called a Forward Break, so the turn replaces the Forward Break.)

We ended class with a Two-Hand-Up kind of turn that I called a “You-Go-I-Go”. We turned that You-Go-I-Go into a more complicated-looking move by introducing the concept I called Delay. We still did a two-hand-up kind of turn. However, we did not bring both hands up at the same time. Instead, we Delayed bringing the second hand up and over the head. (It’s easier to just do it than it is to write it out.)

On Friday, 17 July 2009 we will be attending (as a class) the social dance organized by the college ballroom dance association. See the website for UWMBDA for event details, cost, and location.

Week Five

This week was included review of previous material, like the concept I called Delay. It is a way to take something that is relatively simple – like a two-hand-up turn – and make it look more complicated.

We did an exercise involving Face Loops (aka Neck Loops or Face Wraps). We can start to use that exercise for creating even move moves, but for now we are using it mainly as a lead/follow sensitivity exercise.

Near the end of class, I introduced the Right-to-Right and Left-to-Left hand hold. We did an exercise similar to the original Face Loops, but this time with the new hand hold.

Starting next week, we will work more heavily on Salsa – integrating the various concepts we have already covered into the Salsa timing. Remember, the Rhythm is more important than the pattern.

Week Six

Tonight was a low attendance night – I know that at least five of our classmates had conflicts. However, I like to use the small group size as and opportunity to work on some flashy moves.

We did what I called a safety dip – contact at the pelvis, buttons vertical for the leads, upward tilt of the belly button for the follows. We worked through a series of exercises to develop some of the trust and responsiveness that doing tricks like dips requires.

Remember, you have a responsibility to not inflict your knowledge on unsuspecting dancers! Only do dips with people who actually know how to do dips – it is too easy to make mistakes that at the very least are embarrassing or could hurt someone.

We also worked on the Cross Body Lead (CBL) in Salsa using a Closed Dance Position and an Open Dance Position. The CBL is a special way to change places while rotating to the left (counter clockwise as seen from above).

The first three weight changes of every CBL is the same – the “moves” that we do in a CBL happen entirely in the last three weight changes.

We talked briefly about timing/tempo, breaking on one vs breaking on two, how to do a Mambo basic, what “LA-Style Salsa” means, and what “NY-Style/Salsa Nuevo” means.

Week Seven

This week we worked on right-to-right and left-to-left handhold some more, as well as continuing to work on the Cross Body Lead (CBL).

The “moves” in the CBL happen during the second measure of the CBL. The first measure always sets you up for the CBL.

We worked on integrating hand-across-the-face and hand-away-from-the-face turns for the follow during the CBL, as well as having the lead turn and do a hand-change-behind-the-back.

We named these things the Secret Agent – where the Lead turns – and the Double Secret Agent – were the follow turns and then they lead turns.

The CBL is an important “move” in Salsa, and is a fundamental part of LA-Style Salsa.

Week Eight

This is the last class already. Can you believe the summer went so fast! I’m so glad that so many people had such good attendance.

We reviewed the important parts of the Cross Body Lead (CBL) and revisited the Secret Agent and Double Secret Agent.

We covered the Opening Break, the Right-Side Pass, Alternating Right-Side Passes, Side Breaks (aka Second-Position Breaks), and the Opposition Break.

All of this was meant to drive home the fact that as long as you keep the Salsa Rhythm, you can do just about anything with your feet.

To wrap up the class, we learned another kind of dip – the “Rag Doll Dip” – and even talked about follow’s arm styling during dips.

Not bad for week eight! I look forward to seeing all of you out social dancing or even in future classes!