Bachata teachers without enough training

[sunsoul]

Sara is a great dancer and Marco a few levels down although generally a good lead for her as she is somewhat wild at times..

 

[sunsoul]

One of their best demos:

 

[FranzFan]

Here a beautiful bachata sensual dance from De'Jon & Clo (I guess the music is more bolero though), the US based couple cited in the first posting. They caused discussion this year when they announced they won't teach sensual at congresses anymore:

https://www.facebook.com/dejonandclo/posts/928333815531522

To their dance: both are flawless, she especially is fascinating. Both are excellent salsa dancers as well. But yes, again it's a demo dance after workshop, it's really difficult to find social dance bachata (except some lower-quality smartphone recordings), while you easily find salsa social dances from them. The focus in bachata videos is much more performance oriented than in salsa.

This is a beautiful dance and for me combines the best of sensual and moderna/ fusion. I think this dance shows how sensual moves can actually be very nice to watch if led well and danced only when the music demands it.

The problem is when people do sensual moves just for the sake of it.

I find all the hate of sensual a bit odd when ultimately many of these moves are derived from Brazilian Zouk, which is itself a highly technical dance, and I can attest that sensual moves are not at all easy to lead. Perhaps it's everything that goes with the BS scene that annoys salseros. But the moves themselves are legitimate dance techniques that can look very nice if danced appropriately.

In the spirit of sharing good bachata social videos, this is one of my favourite couples - Daniel y Tom:

Again they do BS moves in limitation and only when the music is right. It's a demo but the improvise all of their demos. This dance gets me off my seat just as much as any good salsa dance in terms of musicality, timing, technique, playfulness etc. Hope you enjoy

 

[DJ Yuca]

I find all the hate of sensual a bit odd when ultimately many of these moves are derived from Brazilian Zouk, which is itself a highly technical dance,

I don't hate sensual bachata but I do think it's complete garbage. I've never liked bachata anyway, but at least before it was a Latin dance, albeit one to accompany music that I dislike. With the rise of sensual bachata we have the 100% European version aka highly diluted and devoid of all Caribbean and Latin flavour, accompanied by possibly the worst music ever. What kind of salsero would go for that?

It's comparable to ballroom cha cha or ballroom samba to a certain extent i.e. European/N American dances inspired by but completely different to Latin dances. But with sensual bachata they've made it even worse by teaching very bad taste moves that are also in many cases potentially dangerous. At least with ballroom a dancer can learn good technique that could be valuable in salsa or any other partner dance. (Although removing ballroom styling is essential.) I can't see anyone in sensual bachata learning anything of value in social dancing.

It's a young person's scene so of course I'm not the target audience. But it's a shame there isn't a Latin dance that could have appealed to all those people. Or at least something that teaches good dance technique so dancers are better able and more tempted to progress to something that's not complete crap.

 

[DJ Yuca]

However for socialising purposes, sensual bachata could be excellent. (For anyone who doesn't realise that it's pure foolishness.)

 

[Offbeat]

Brazilian Zouk, which is itself a highly technical dance, and I can attest that sensual moves are not at all easy to lead.

I don’t know what is the difference between Brazilian Zouk and the Zouk that is normally danced at SBK. The zouk socials which I have seen in the USA and Europe:

- the music is utterly boring and monotonous
- women really love to dance zouk
- most guys I know aren’t attracted to zouk
- there is nothing much to lead in zouk. Most things are done by the lady. Zouk is all about shaping by the lady. Yeah the man can sway here and there. A lady can do all those things without a man too.
- zouk has same issue as BS. Too much of manufactured sensuality.

Whether it is zouk or BS, men are only there like a support beam it is boring and uninteresting.

Perhaps it's everything that goes with the BS scene that annoys salseros.

No. It is about BS for long being a parasite on the salsa. Personally I find BS music utterly crap and all BS moves/dancing to be like zouk at best (which means crappy) and cringey at worst.

I like bachata music and I have danced a lot of bachata. It was not BS. But it was far more sensual and at times more risqué than most what you see in BS.

But the moves themselves are legitimate dance techniques that can look very nice if danced appropriately.

All those moves existed in salsa, bachata, zouk before BS came into existence. Mostly on the stage and performance side.

BS took a certain moves and created a whole dance out of it. That’s like a new dance taking spins from salsa and WCS and creating a new dance which is all about spins. If you know anything about WCS, there are different styling put into spins (some only use it in salsa during performance).

P.S. - It is not easy on a forum dedicated to salsa, find much appreciation for BS.

 

[Bostontraitor]

Was Deion talking about himself?