Is this why on2 is on2?

S

smiling28

Moderator
Hey team,

I MAY have had a MASSIVE breakthrough at the weekend for on 2. Had ALWAYS been told:

- more time in on2
- stretch out the 2 and 6. As if you are going to miss the bus but then you get there at the last second etc. (especially in open break)

Now, if I have understood it correctly this holding feeling is coming from dancing with the clave as the clave falls on (3-2 clave)


2-3, 5-6&-8.


MEANING that you are not just stepping on the 6, you can play so as to get the 6& giving more time.

However, what about the 2-3 then? Why is that 2 stretched out? And if I step on the 8 with my men's step RF, I find it very hard to get to the 1 with my left foot.

Any suggestions?

thanks
 
ET2, PR or Power2? :arrow: http://www.salsaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=63734&highlight=et2+pow2+on1+pr2#63734 ?

Here is the the breakdown of the basic steps of Eddie Torres Style On2 from Salsanewyork.com. Other's are explained in the link above.

1st beat of the measure - The man steps back with his left foot. The woman steps forward with her right foot.

2nd beat of the measure - The man steps farther back with his right foot, then changes direction, starting to lean forward with his body = "breaks forward on 2". The woman steps farther forward with her left foot, then changes direction, starting to lean back with her body = "breaking back on 2".

3rd beat of the measure - The man steps in place with his left foot, while his body is moving forward. The woman steps in place with her right foot, while her body is moving backward.

4th beat of the measure - No steps.

5th beat of the measure - The man steps forward with his right foot, in front of his left foot. The woman steps backward with her left foot, behind her right foot.

6th beat of the measure - The man steps farther forward with his left foot, then changes direction, starting to lean backward with his body = "breaks back on 6". The woman steps farther back with her right foot, then changes direction, starting to lean forward = "breaks forward on 6".

7th beat of the measure - The man steps in place with his right foot, while his body is moving backward. The woman steps in place with her left foot, while her body is moving forward.

8th beat of the measure - No steps.
 
my understanding or guessing is, the stretching comes from the speed variation of your steps, although the timing is still 1-2-3 or 5-6-7. You put your foot forward or backward slow, then give it an acceleration when it gets close to the next beat, that gives it a feel as if it was stretched.
 
smiling28 said:
MEANING that you are not just stepping on the 6, you can play so as to get the 6& giving more time.

However, what about the 2-3 then? Why is that 2 stretched out? And if I step on the 8 with my men's step RF, I find it very hard to get to the 1 with my left foot.

Any suggestions?

thanks
Click to expand...

Hi smiling!

First a small correction - you said "3-2" clave but that's the 2-3 clave. (so called because you have 2 strikes on the 1,2,3,4 part and 3 strikes in the 5,6,7,8 part)

I didn't quite follow what you were explaining in your post so I'll write a bit in the vague area and hope some of it is useful for you!

First, my 2 and my 6 are the most important beats to get spot-on on time, because they are the structural underpinning of the partner work. So my stepping might go:

Code: 
1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.
..#.#...#..#..#...#.#...#..#..#...#.#...#..#..#. clave 
x X x   x X x x   X x   x X x  x  X x   x X x x  stepping

I'm not sure if you were talking about delaying the 2 and/or 6, but I don't recommend it, as it's the step that most interacts with your partner's feet. As to the other steps, the key thing is that you are ready for the next break step, so you can play with the two steps to create the feel and look that you want.

You have hit on an aspect of clave that really enriches the dance for me. I think of the 2-side as "masculine" and the 3 side as "feminine". I'm not sure where I got that idea so it may be that someone will one day tell me I got those the wrong way round... but when you make your break step on the 2-side of the clave you exactly match the clave, the cascara, the bongo bell, the mambo bell, the bongo, and you also hit the conga slap. This makes the step feel very bold and final to me. When your break step is on the 3-side of the clave the 2 is still quite strong but the 3 is amongst a more complex cascade of beats where the clave, cascara, mambo bell, bongo bell may all strike between your 2 and your 3, thus softening the impact and making it more complex with a richer interaction with the rhythms.

If you consider how the percussion parts fit together in the afro-latin backline, you can see that instruments do not usually play in unison, but weave in and out of one another. I think the feet are the same - they step in relation to the instruments in the music, but they do not have to match any instrument.
 
slightly off topic but has anyone got any recomendations of music that is mainly percussion based or some african percussion music that is relevant to salsa. im gonna be dipping my toes into on2 next month with mambocity in ealing. id say i listen to the song as a whole without ever isolating the congas etc.
thanks
 
There's the old favourite "Acid" by Ray Barretto, which is quite a bare arrangement of percussion that builds layer on layer.

There's an Eddie Torres timing CD with very strong percussion on it.

There's the salsamerlizer.

Not sure what others can recommend...? I'll keep this in mind as I listen to my tunes this evening.

/edit: I only have a small music selection at work, but Cachao's "Malanga Amarilla" is a top tune with bags of percussion, and there's always Tito Puente - anything with "mambo" in the title.
 
sweavo said:
There's the old favourite "Acid" by Ray Barretto, which is quite a bare arrangement of percussion that builds layer on layer.

There's an Eddie Torres timing CD with very strong percussion on it.

There's the salsamerlizer.

Not sure what others can recommend...? I'll keep this in mind as I listen to my tunes this evening.

/edit: I only have a small music selection at work, but Cachao's "Malanga Amarilla" is a top tune with bags of percussion, and there's always Tito Puente - anything with "mambo" in the title.
Click to expand...

thanks. funny thing is i bought the song 'acid' about a month ago and felt it was overplayed but have recently been listening to it more (maybe 'cos im slowly turning to 'the dark side' :lol: ). have quite a bit of tito with mambo in the title. i sense a new itunes playlist!
 
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