Ladies styling moves

When it looks like you're doing Ladies Styling moves it looks like you're trying hard. I'm not a Salsa dancer, I dance Cuban Casino and the esthetics are obviously different but also for Salsa I would recommend focussing on the basic movement and then put some accents, smoothen and polish. "She used to dance nicely but it seems loke she went to a Lady Styling course and now she's doing all these weird arm movements." is something you frequently hear.
 
Styling is like salt or spice. None or too less can make the dance “look” bland. Too much can overwhelm or destroy the taste, make the dance “ look” over the top. Not done properly can also disturb the connection. In right amount it makes the “look” beautiful.

I said “look” because how I feel a dance has nothing to do with how it looks. It may look bland from outsider’s perspective but the dancers may be enjoying a great connection. I can appreciate my partners when their styling is beautiful that doesn’t looked force or unnatural, and most importantly doesn’t interfere with the dance.

Continuing the food analogy it is presentation vs taste. How beautifully food is presented (or not) says nothing about how good it tastes. We could cook delicious food at home but don’t spend too much time/attention on its presentation. Styling should be like Japanese food presentation. Not like French food presentation :)

P.S. I have danced with locally trained followers, NYC trained followers and trained latina followers. Personally when it comes to ladies styling, I feel the Russian salseras do it most effectively. Or rather I should say the salseras from the former Soviet region.
 
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Offbeat said:
Continuing the food analogy it is presentation vs taste. How beautifully food is presented (or not) says nothing about how good it tastes. We could cook delicious food at home but don’t spend too much time/attention on its presentation. Styling should be like Japanese food presentation. Not like French food presentation :)
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This is also french food presentation :p

twoleftfeetdancer said:
How many ladies' styling moves can we add to our salsa dancing without making it look like we’re trying too hard?
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In Casino, I never see too much styling on my local scene and very rarely on videos.
But on online salsa, I find that the styling often lacks naturalness, a bit like comparing the styling of Dominican bachata with that of sensual bachata.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
First learn to make your basic step look full, grounded and coordinated, then you can add all the ladies styling you want.

It's the road less taken, but anyone who spends a lot of time on their basic step automatically looks good regardless of what they put on top to dress it up.
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so true! this is what the dance instructor highlights in our classes, to always master the basics and not to rush in learning advanced moves.
 
Offbeat said:
Styling is like salt or spice. None or too less can make the dance “look” bland. Too much can overwhelm or destroy the taste, make the dance “ look” over the top. Not done properly can also disturb the connection. In right amount it makes the “look” beautiful.

I said “look” because how I feel a dance has nothing to do with how it looks. It may look bland from outsider’s perspective but the dancers may be enjoying a great connection. I can appreciate my partners when their styling is beautiful that doesn’t looked force or unnatural, and most importantly doesn’t interfere with the dance.

Continuing the food analogy it is presentation vs taste. How beautifully food is presented (or not) says nothing about how good it tastes. We could cook delicious food at home but don’t spend too much time/attention on its presentation. Styling should be like Japanese food presentation. Not like French food presentation :)

P.S. I have danced with locally trained followers, NYC trained followers and trained latina followers. Personally when it comes to ladies styling, I feel the Russian salseras do it most effectively. Or rather I should say the salseras from the former Soviet region.
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I totally agree with you! Russian Salseras are impressive, their movements are completely smooth.
 
Humpa said:
When it looks like you're doing Ladies Styling moves it looks like you're trying hard. I'm not a Salsa dancer, I dance Cuban Casino and the esthetics are obviously different but also for Salsa I would recommend focussing on the basic movement and then put some accents, smoothen and polish. "She used to dance nicely but it seems loke she went to a Lady Styling course and now she's doing all these weird arm movements." is something you frequently hear.
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Sadly some linear styling is creeping into Cuban. To me a woman with good posture stepping definitively with hand on hip whilst orbiting me is better than almost all ladies staying. Except my Havana dance crush #2
 
1derpalm said:
Sadly some linear styling is creeping into Cuban. To me a woman with good posture stepping definitively with hand on hip whilst orbiting me is better than almost all ladies staying. Except my Havana dance crush #2
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I don't have a problem with some elements of Salsa being used in Casino but the "styling" aspect is a thing. In Cuban dancing, you have a distinction between social dancing and cabaret/show style. In Salsa this distinction does not seem to exist. But also in the Cuban scene, this distinction is fading away. The currently most successfull Cuban teacher in my city is a mere show dancer (no formal dance education but worked in a big company). Some of his "senior" students I won't ask to dance anymore because they dance like a Tropicana dancer.
 
1derpalm said:
Sadly some linear styling is creeping into Cuban. To me a woman with good posture stepping definitively with hand on hip whilst orbiting me is better than almost all ladies staying. Except my Havana dance crush #2
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so #1 doesn’t get the exception!
 
Humpa said:
I don't have a problem with some elements of Salsa being used in Casino but the "styling" aspect is a thing. In Cuban dancing, you have a distinction between social dancing and cabaret/show style. In Salsa this distinction does not seem to exist. But also in the Cuban scene, this distinction is fading away. The currently most successfull Cuban teacher in my city is a mere show dancer (no formal dance education but worked in a big company). Some of his "senior" students I won't ask to dance anymore because they dance like a Tropicana dancer.
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Most salsa style arm styling will be difficult to pull off for a Casino or Cuban follower due to the dynamics of the dance. There is less time and space available required for arm styling.
 
twoleftfeetdancer said:
How many ladies' styling moves can we add to our salsa dancing without making it look like we’re trying too hard?
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Do you mean styling or shines? For shines, I'd say one is too many, but that's me:p. If styling means movements of arms, leg and bodies to supplement and complement the basic foot and body movements of a dance figures, then you can do as many as don't prevent you executing the dance figure properly or your leader from leading. One of the most irritating things as a leader is having a partner intent on doing her styling when there isn't the time in the dance figure and then finishing in a position where one can't move properly into the next dance figure.

Sometimes less is more. For example, a single movement can draw more attention because there isn't a whole heap of other things that are going on at the same time. Start simple, add only when you've mastered each move.

Or by styling do you mean covering up mistakes? Whenever I or my partner get something wrong, I say 'just tell people it was styling' ;)
 
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