How long did it take you to have proper body movement in Salsa?

D

DancingGuy

Changui
Ever since I started Salsa, body movement has always been the #1 thing that instructors said that I need to work on A LOT. I’m almost 8 months into my dancing and I STILL have a lot of work to do on it, according to my instructors. In the beginning, it used to be that I was too shy to move my body. But that’s not the case anymore. The reason my body movement is still poor is because my upper body is very stiff. In Salsa, your shoulders, rib cage, and hips need to be fully relaxed in order to move freely while you dance. You know what they say, “Just relax!” Easy said than done. I cannot loosen them up. When I last spoke with an instructor about this, they recommended a lot of exercising. They recommend I roll my shoulders, roll the rib cage, and roll those hips. After doing this exercise constantly, they said my body movement will eventually improve.

But wow, all this exercising!….I can’t believe it takes this much work to have the right body movement in Salsa. And here I was thinking that the hardest things about Salsa were timing, footwork and learning fancy patterns. But nope, it’s body movement. Almost 8 months and I’m still working on it.

So, my question is……Is it just me that’s struggling with this? How long did it take you to relax your upper body?
 
It's difficult for everyone, it is especially hard for guys who have mental constricted themselves for years from dancing and have no previous training. If you remember the drills and exercises we did in Cesar's Timing workshop, then you have a good foundation. I'm sure Edwin in his Monday class went over a lot of similar drills. We don't recommend them for nothing. The drills are a major part of it. There are other nuances that are really important to work on, and I'd wrap them up into ways of improving your basic.

Basically you have the tools already and you've been shown how.
1. Listen to Cesar and Edwin
2. Defer to some of the previous posts on this forum on body movement drills and ways to improve your basic.
3. Get a body movement dvd and there are plenty out there
4. I'd be happy to walk through some of the nuances with you after class if you'd like
 
I was a merengue & bachata dancer waaaaayyy before I started dancing Salsa. It did take me sometime to adjust to salsa. It's been 10 years (only social dancing - or street--not performance) and I still think I need improvement to my movements. I still consider myself a begginer. But it did take me a lot of time to get the right hip movements, to get it to look naturally, to my own style. Dont know how long it took me. But I do remember one day it all seemed to click into place at least to me and the dancing looked more natural.

yes it takes a lot of practice. I still practice the basic movements, I look in the mirror when I'm dancing by myself in my house.

Yes, excercises do help. I did a lot of Aerobics which help me with a lot of things. Like not getting tired after dancing 3 songs in a row!!!!
 
Oh good, so it's not just me then. Thanks!

Wow, it's hard to believe that correct body movement is one of the hardest (and one of the most important) things to achieve in Salsa.
 
DancingGuy said:
And here I was thinking that the hardest things about Salsa were timing, footwork and learning fancy patterns. But nope, it’s body movement.
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I agree that body movement is harder to master, but as I see it there are 2 kinds of body movement:

1) the body movement that makes your lead crystal clear, calibrates your lead to the follower, keeps you on time, and keeps your weight distributed properly
2) the body movement that makes you say "I'm a peacock look at my pretty feathers"

So when you ask about "proper" body movement, do you mean technique or styling?

If you mean styling, then it's a highly personal choice of what you want to look like and a personal judgement as to whether you've reached your goals. It's not so hard to look like a clunker if that's the look you're going for.
 
Correct body movement? What's that? I'm approaching 5 years of dancing, and although I am happy with my style of movement, it is by no means correct according to most dance schools. I might have had something like it once but what I have now is mine and I'm keeping it. It gets me where I need to go and lets me do what I want it to do.

Instructors telling you to "relax" into the movement are trying to help, but it takes familiarity in the dance and lots of practice with the "correct movement" (even while it feels strange and robotic) until you will be at the right stage to relax into it so it comes naturally.

Like most things in life, learning salsa is a process. Some people pick up one thing faster, other people another. Eight months is not long by any stretch of the imagination and as long as you're consciously trying to improve, it will come eventually. The best thing to do is enjoy the ride.
 
DancingGuy said:
Ever since I started Salsa, body movement has always been the #1 thing that instructors said that I need to work on A LOT. I’m almost 8 months into my dancing and I STILL have a lot of work to do on it, according to my instructors. In the beginning, it used to be that I was too shy to move my body. But that’s not the case anymore. The reason my body movement is still poor is because my upper body is very stiff. In Salsa, your shoulders, rib cage, and hips need to be fully relaxed in order to move freely while you dance.

<snip>

So, my question is……Is it just me that’s struggling with this? How long did it take you to have the proper body movement?
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You're normal. The range is extremely wide. A few people (not me) do it in months, many take a year or two, and some take 3-15 years. (No big deal.)

It mostly depends on what other movement/dance background you have. If you did other dances like jazz, hip-hop, ballet, or gymnastics/sports, then you'll probably get it much sooner than some others.

It's a journey. Yours will not match others. BTW - when you do get it working well, either next month or 5 years from now, many people will tell you "it was easy for you, you're a natural" even if you spend years refining it.

For most people the real comfort happens after a few hundred hours of dancing. That is cut significantly if they have other movement experiences, and they work at it...
 
Yeah, I didn't have any movement/dance background before Salsa, so I expect this to be a VERY long journey, lol. But, I'll get it eventually. :D
 
DancingGuy said:
Yeah, I didn't have any movement/dance background before Salsa, so I expect this to be a VERY long journey, lol. But, I'll get it eventually. :D
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And always remember, as a guy our first task is to make the lady look great and have a clear lead that is in sync with the music.

If those things are happening, you get more dances with stronger follows, and over time will continue to refine your body movements.

Since it's on your radar screen it's just a matter of time. (If you're like me you want it all yesterday, but that's simply not how it works for most.)
 
PielCanela said:
I am still working on it, and I been doing this for some 6 years. :( not happy yet.
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I'm with you there... I'm not even close to happy with my look and feel after similar time frame. Taking classes in other dances to round out my movement skills.

For someone like me it's years, but so what...

A journey that never ends unless you want it to
 
Look back to the second post in this thread for my response...forum decided to take forever to get my post out...:P
 
I started practicing proper body movement 3 years ago and it's still not ideal. I'm still practicing, and I practice almost every day, for an hour each time.

Newsflash - dancing well is one of the hardest disciplines there is. Many non or inexperienced dancers don't realise this, and the fact hits home when you've been dancing for years and you're still miles from being really good.

Keep practicing. In about six months you'll be looking better, and in about 6 years you'll be looking awesome.
 
acpjr said:
1) the body movement that makes your lead crystal clear, calibrates your lead to the follower, keeps you on time, and keeps your weight distributed properly

So when you ask about "proper" body movement, do you mean technique or styling?
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DancingGuy said:
I'm talking about #1.
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Oh, good. That one is easier. If you have only danced partner dances for 8 months, keep at it.

I have mentioned this in previous threads on this topic: learning to lead and learning the rhythm and timing of salsa at the same time is really hard but people seem to be able to do it so it can be done. I learned partner dances (ballroom) as a teenager long before I knew there was such a thing as salsa. Also I danced to rhythmic music (simple 4/4 with no syncopation) as a kid. So I had the easy path and struggled only for a little while with the syncopation and weight shift of the salsa step.

When you ask this question again in a few months and its about the No 2, body movement with a latin style - thats the hard one - and I am still working on it.
 
Shines, you know the dancers you see out who are all uptight and serious? Ask them what proper means, they know. I'm just being a brat ;)
 
It depends. I've had feedback from those who have grown up with the music and are sort of ok in dancing and they say they would never have thought I didn't grow up with the music. BUt, then I just did something a little different on Saturday for this move (cbl with inside turn, followed by cbl with back to follower) and it felt better, and I immediately the lady I was dancing with said that was smooth..I like it better this way...took me a little while to figure what I did different to replicate...but there you go...always working on getting better.

Actually I feel there is no such thing as "proper". I feel that my body movement now is the way it should be for where I am in my dance. I don't work on improving body movement...I just let it come as I learn to let go and be open becoming more in tune with myself, my partner and music to achieve the trinity of music 3 in 1, 1 in 3. And when I am it is clear how much better everything is. I can just sense where to place my hands, and I am there where I want to be....and the magic is apparent for those who see. The more of these I have the better everything else becomes.
 
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