How can i get confidence to leave my partner and do shinning !?

M

Mahmoud Naguib

Changui
Hello guys

I dance salsa for more than 10 months almost every day for more than 2 or 3h in social night
My dancing is good as people telling me but theres big problem I have

I don't have the enough confident to leave my partner and do some shinning when I dance
I feel very bad when I do that and back fastly to my partner

I take classes which included also foot work but why I can't apply it on dance floor !

If anyone had the same problem before and fix it please tell me your advice to fix it too

Am I have to force my self to leave the girl and do my thing or I should practice alone before the night in home or in the night but alone or what to do and feel better about it !

Also I need to isolate my body which I can join any other dance can make it ( so which dance can help me mostly to isolate my body )
 
Mahmoud Naguib said:
Am I have to force my self to leave the girl and do my thing or I should practice alone before the night in home or in the night but alone or what to do and feel better about it !
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You don't have to leave your partner. The first shines I did were just simple back and forth basics, which I still do now. You don't need to do any fancy footwork or isolate your body if you break away from your partner. You can practice that at home to make your shines look more flavorful.

I approach shines the same way I approach being musical with my partner while connected. I started with some pauses, hesitation moves, which anyone can do if you are paying attention to the music. For example, when the music stops, you also stop moving, then continue moving when the music starts again. Simple.
 
I still dislike shines after 6 years. I can do them, but I do not believe lengthy shines belong in a partner dance. But there are some sections in songs (rumba mostly), where it is very hard to partner dance and there are some follows who really like to shine - so let them. Just do some basics and enjoy the performance :)
 
David said:
I don't think there's any requirement that you have to separate and do shines during a dance. You could always just do some basic rhythm steps and not get too fancy until you feel more comfortable.
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Some time it's hard for the girl to be in connection all the time so I feel some of them need to do shinning .. and I don't want to look bad in shinning as I'm good in partner work
Some girls also can't follow everything so they need to show that they are good dancers by shinning so I don't like to look only good in partner work !
 
Mahmoud Naguib said:
Some time it's hard for the girl to be in connection all the time so I feel some of them need to do shinning .. and I don't want to look bad in shinning as I'm good in partner work
Some girls also can't follow everything so they need to show that they are good dancers by shinning so I don't like to look only good in partner work !
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There are other ways to change the flow of the dance. If they are having trouble remaining in connection, maybe you can slow down the pace with some more romantic type moves, or smaller footwork with no turns. Relax for 30 seconds or so. You don't have to show off all the time. Then when you do finally do some cool moves, people will more notice you.
 
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Mahmoud Naguib said:
Some time it's hard for the girl to be in connection all the time so I feel some of them need to do shinning .. and I don't want to look bad in shinning as I'm good in partner work
Some girls also can't follow everything so they need to show that they are good dancers by shinning so I don't like to look only good in partner work !
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You don't need to shine, but I think it helps being more versatile for the reasons you just listed. If you want to please more partners, you will have to go through shine hell. But it's not necessary. I know guys who never shine and concentrate all of their energy on partnerwork and girls like dancing with them.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
You don't need to shine, but I think it helps being more versatile for the reasons you just listed. If you want to please more partners, you will have to go through shine hell. But it's not necessary. I know guys who never shine and concentrate all of their energy on partnerwork and girls like dancing with them.
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Yes, I rarely do it and I have trouble crossing the dance floor without being asked to dance.
 
Just look at SuperMario. Never shines and if he does, it's just basic stuff, yet followers absolutely love dancing with him.

Don't worry about shines now. It's mostly for the aesthetics. Focus on things like timing, connection and flow.
 
When I started dancing some followers felt like caged animals wanting to be set free.

Dancing apart can be fun. Some partners like it more. Some are more fun. I don't like to call it shines because it conjures up image of studio trained cookie cutter footwork. With experience good dancers add their own personality to dancing apart. During early days some were goofy, some doing their own stuff but enjoying dancing apart and some seriously trying to do ladies styling when dancing apart.

I like dancing apart and some of my memorable fun enjoyable dances have been 75% apart. You have to be able to read your partner, what they like and what they are capable of. Besides music calling for it or the partner wanting to dance apart, there are other reasons to break free for few seconds like when you lose the beat and want to recover.

Doesn't answer OP's question. Dancing apart is not very different than solo dancing at regular night club. If you can do one you can do the other. Including making fun of oneself :)
 
I also had trouble with shines. My most recent instructors really encouraged creativity vs pattern monkeying. You don't need that many different shines. Learning to be creative with the shines is essential. This allows you to connect to the music with your shines vs feeling nothing. Take the basic steps. Now change it up a bit. Add syncopation or pauses (depending on your musicality). Do taps in the shines (hit every beat). Or even combine basic steps together. Instead of doing a complete basic step, break it up with a side step between each half of the basic. Add a spin in between some steps. I try to feel the music as much as possible to let me be free and flow. I always start my practice with my go-to "ear candy" songs that make me want to move. I just try to do the shines as I feel the music. Sometimes I don't even do "salsa" steps for shines. Then I move to music I'm not feeling as much.

I bit the bullet, still hate shines but have become much more comfortable doing them. Im still working on adjusting my thinking of shines from salsa steps to doing whatever feels right. I try to think of them as moves I enjoy doing cause they simply feel good to the music (sways, etc).

Try to focus less on how you LOOK and more on how you feel. Followers and even other people watching notice positive energy more than fancy footwork. If you can bring both - awesome!
 
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Smiley79 said:
I bit the bullet, still hate shines but have become much more comfortable doing them.
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Nice. If you want to feel confident dancing with any follower in any environment, learn shines. Learn to be just as confident dancing solo. Even if all you do is some random monkey-ing, you got to own it!

Having that ability in your back pocket is useful, especially for the 'harder to impress' crowd. Of course, you should still focus on connection.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
Nice. If you want to feel confident dancing with any follower in any environment, learn shines. Learn to be just as confident dancing solo. Even if all you do is some random monkey-ing, you got to own it!

Having that ability in your back pocket is useful, especially for the 'harder to impress' crowd. Of course, you should still focus on connection.
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It's the music that ultimately dictates for me. If I don't feel the music, I get frustrated and it shows as try-hard complex stuff though correct, look and feel robotic.

One other suggestion to the OP, listen to ANY music (not just Salsa) to see how you naturally want to move to the music. If those movements feel great, then see if you can add them in your "shines."
 
Do not worry about shines too much.
I danced and taught salsa for seven years before shines even became a thing. They were introduced in my city by dancers and teachers returning from the first salsa congresses in New York and Puerto Rico.

You can start getting comfortable by doing simple footwork changes when you are still holding your partner. Only you will know that you are doing them and you will not have to worry too much about losing timing and/or rhythm.

Be aware that there are some followers who absolutely despise being dropped to do shines. Keep your eyes open and be present.
 
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