Dancing On3

1derpalm said:
Yes they be judgemental toon 3. I don't treat it as on 3. I treat it as in 1. ONE. 34FIVE. 78ONE. BASICALLY son Cubano but 1 beat later (I don't see Sonny's kn 2, but on 8, like my cuban teachers say). It is the same cadence... almost. Sonny's smoother, the on3 is a bit.. pepper
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Sonny is auto correct from Son for some reason.
 
Offbeat said:
Yes, you have prejudice towards them that’s been apparent in your posts. Only once or twice in year I will run into a judgemental follower if at all. Over the last ten years I can count only 3 or 4 max.

Who? The Latinas in your local scene that you complain about ? :)
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Linear. Thd Latinas change timing after a single "cumbia" turn. So my timing ends up changing by 1 count after every turn.
 
1derpalm said:
Linear. Thd Latinas change timing after a single "cumbia" turn. So my timing ends up changing by 1 count after every turn.
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The Latinas in your scene don’t dance casino?

My guess is they are home grown dancers. Not someone who learnt in more formal way in salsa school.
 
Offbeat said:
The Latinas in your scene don’t dance casino?

My guess is they are home grown dancers. Not someone who. learnt in more formal way in salsa school. B. Thrh font careful omorjve (4 do. The rest dont). Ygeyvdancd their native styles.
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Offbeat said:
The Latinas in your scene don’t dance casino?

My guess is they are home grown dancers. Not someone who learnt in more formal way in salsa school.
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They dance native styles.
My scene is largely Colombian, and small pockets of others. When a Peruvian shows Up out of nowhere, I am in for a treat. For some reason I am hella compatible.
But there does seem to be a pan hating lead follow compatability.
I was at Salsa on St. Clair in thd more Latino centric dance area (more boldness minds, multiple styles, not the congress/studio centric area).
I was sneaky sipking with some older Latinas and took an interest in philosophizing about the dance. She pointed out that all thd other different Latinos/as who dance different style (cuban, PR, Dominican, ColombiAn, Salvadoran etc) were all abje to dance with each other, even though the styles were so different, and that j needed to work on that.
 
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I've met and danced with many Colombians who have difficulty (according to them) to dance with Colombians from different cities. Like Bogota vs Cali vs Cartagena. Similar with Venecuelans. They all knew music and where comfortable on their feet. Nice musical dancers.
At one point I just gave up categories and treat each new dancer as unique.
And while standards make it easier to organize a class and build curriculum, they also hurt real dance a lot.
 
I’m not looking forward to the on3 vs on2 wars :troll:

I’ll stick to on2. The importance of dancing has dropped for me over the years.

I’ll leave on3 to the cool kids (kool aid :wacky:)
 
Chris_Yannick said:
This thread is all about dancing On3.

I was fascinated while watching a demo of @terence dancing On3. There aren't many video examples online, especially class demos.

I have never danced On3 consciously. Though to me it looks like a super delayed On2. I tried this myself at home and it felt very smooth...at times feeling even nicer than On2. What do others think about this?

Do you dance On3? How would you describe dancing On3? When do you dance On3? What cues in the music would facilitate dancing On3?
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The tumbao is 4/4 time where the most important beat is the 4th beat, the last beat of the measure. The 4th beat is the "gong-gong" of the conga. We can call this the heartbeat of the tumbao as it marks the end of the tumbao cycle and stores the preparation for the beginning of the next tumbao cycle.

Dancing a tiempo or contra tiempo with 3 steps per cycle is related inherently to the heartbeat of the tumbao.

If you dance a tiempo on beats 1-2-3 (this includes On2) you do not step on the heartbeat, beat 4. You experience the heartbeat as a pause where you feel it absent any step. You are dancing the most outside the tumbao when you dance on beats 1-2-3, and are tied to the "call and response" 8 beat melodic frame. The 1 and the 5 are not the same forcing you sync with the melody.

If you dance contra tiempo on beats 2-3-4 (son) your last step is on the heartbeat, beat 4. You experience the heartbeat with your last step. You are dancing more inside the tumbao when you dance on beats 2-3-4 because you are stepping on the heartbeat with your last step. You are still tied to the "call and response" 8 beat melodic frame, but not as strongly as you are when dancing on beats 1-2-3.

If you dance a tiempo on beats 3-4-1 your middle step is on the heartbeat, beat 4. You experience the heartbeat surrounded by your first and last step. You are dancing perfectly inside the tumbao when dancing on beats 3-4-1. Because you are perfectly centered inside the rhythm you are no longer tied to the "call and response" 8 beat melodic frame. The 1 and 5 of the melodic frame no longer have a distinct feeling to them. You are now dancing inside the tumbao, the rhythm, where the melody is irrelevant.

This is why native Cubans dance On3. It is all about the rhythm not the melody. The concept is slightly advanced. It requires the dancer to have a good understanding and feeling for Salsa music and rhythm while understanding that everything is related to the heartbeat of the tumbao.

Try hitting 2-3 and 3-2 clave while stepping basic On3. You will feel a distinct difference compared to doing it On1 or On2. That difference is because your 3 step pattern joins two 4/4 rhythmic cycles where as On1 and On2 step patterns start and end in the same 4/4 cycle. Since the rhythm and melody are intrinsically tied together in salsa music by two 4/4 cycles you cannot feel more inside the overall musical structure than dancing On3.
 
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