Memorable Salsa Instructor Quotes

Sabrosura said:
"Each movement is a teacher. When learning a new movement, don't make it big and strong and don't add things to it based on how you think the movement should happen, because you don't yet know what it should feel like. Keep it small at first and stay relaxed, so that you let it teach you. Then after you understand it, you can add to it."

This is a great example of why Frankie excels at teaching dance.
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I'm looking forward to experiencing these "Frankie Facts" on my trip to NY. I'm excited! :D :D
 
SaborWut said:
I'm looking forward to experiencing these "Frankie Facts" on my trip to NY. I'm excited! :D :D
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:)

Remind me to tell you his class rules when we meet up in Atlanta--trust me, you do not want to be that student who shows up and nonchalantly breaks all the rules within your first 5 minutes of class (seen it happen :P)
 
Kading said:
I agree this is good advice, but I do have a few comments on this statement. Frankie seems to think his way of teaching is the way the body is naturally suppose to behave and the body will naturally found out which way its suppose to move. This assumes your body is perfectly working (as in, zero misalignments, zero imbalances, zero bad habits) since how your body will automatically adjust and 'learn you the movement' might not be the way it's suppose to be done.
Your body does not always know what its suppose to do, and 'letting it teach you' could result in a lot of bad habits. [...]bad habits could emerge if not under good supervision.
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We are assuming that when learning new movements we are doing it under the supervision of an instructor.

Yes, our bodies are all unique and some have various physical issues, and forming bad habits is always a risk when learning new things--*but* you are much more likely to learn such bad habits when you are doing the opposite of what Frankie says, no? When you are trying to make your movement a certain way by adding various things to it before you actually understand the movement, rather than doing it as simply and as relaxed as possible, as he says, and only adding to it later when you have mastered it (at which point you can make it stronger, sharper, etc., whereas if you try to do that in the beginning, before you understand it, forming bad habits is much more likely). So I don't see how learning movement this other way is even a viable alternative for someone who wants to avoid bad habits.

I would also say that this way of learning new movement (keep it as simple and as small and as relaxed as possible when first learning it) can actually help fix some of your imbalances, because a lot of these imbalance problems are caused by tension, so this way of learning can actually help you slowly release that tension and rebalance your body and get rid of old bad habits (tightness, etc).

The other thing is that when he teaches a new movement he not only shows the movement but also explains what it should feel like, and how to prep the body into the right position prior to doing the movement in order for the movement to have the intended effect on the body, so he gives you several references to guide you while you are learning the movement, you are not on your own.

Personally I don't know that there is any other way to make teaching body movement any better and more effective than the way he does it: show the movement and at the same time explain in detail the mechanics of what the body is doing, explain in detail how the movement should feel (for me this is amazing, as this is how I learn best, by understanding what a movement should feel like, yet extremely few teachers talk about this), explain what it should *not* be like (with comparisons and contrasts with other types of movement), and then allow students to practice it while reminding them to do it in the relaxed way described above and letting the movement itself "teach you".
 
Sabrosura said:
:)

Remind me to tell you his class rules when we meet up in Atlanta--trust me, you do not want to be that student who shows up and nonchalantly breaks all the rules within your first 5 minutes of class (seen it happen :p)
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There are more rules besides 'Don't stand in front'?:p
 
Sabrosura said:
:)

Remind me to tell you his class rules when we meet up in Atlanta--trust me, you do not want to be that student who shows up and nonchalantly breaks all the rules within your first 5 minutes of class (seen it happen :p)
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What are his class rules? The way he talks about dance is extremely eloquent and considered, but the persona he projects sometimes suggests he can also be quite cutting if he wants to be - I'm curious as to how he runs his classes, and the type of atmosphere he likes to promote.
 
Personally I find the atmosphere during his classes pretty relaxed since he makes a lot of jokes, mixed in with serious profound (and often philosophical) teachings. The rules are mostly about being respectful (to everyone), and this philosophy stems from the martial arts. There is a written list of the class rules, here it is below, and there are other unwritten ones as well--the one visiting students break most often is coming into the class in the middle of a song during the warm-up he does to 2-3 songs at the beginning of class--they should wait for that song to be over and only come in then. The other rules visiting students most often break are wearing high heel shoes instead of flats (in some classes like spinning he will sometimes ask them to take them off and dance in socks instead), talking while the music is playing before class starts, standing in the front line which is reserved for long-time advanced students, and leaving their street shoes lying around the floor.

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Here is another really nice one (and, as I think more about this, this is probably a key element of the difference between an ok or good dancer from a great one): "The mambo does not happen on a step, the mambo happens in between; the beginning and the end step is not as important as the process, how you get there, what happens in between".

(This comment came about as he was demonstrating how radically different two steps can look depending on what you do between them, how you get from the first one to the second)
 
Sabrosura said:
Here is another really nice one (and, as I think more about this, this is probably a key element of the difference between an ok or good dancer from a great one): "The mambo does not happen on a step, the mambo happens in between; the beginning and the end step is not as important as the process, how you get there, what happens in between".

(This comment came about as he was demonstrating how radically different two steps can look depending on what you do between them, how you get from the first one to the second)
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This was Frankie too?
 
Our teacher had individual pairs dance in front of the class, after the first two pairs, he stops the class and says "Some of you need to move your feet when you practice, that's fine, but when you are dancing, I don't want you to move your feet. I want you to let your feet move!" The class had a good giggle, but after that the dancing improved.

And the quote I never tire of hearing, because it fixes many of my bad habits "Dance underneath the carpet."
 
I remember my teacher suggesting to me a long time ago to get a jacket to wear when dancing. I asked why and he said that when you do turns the jacket will flare out and you'll feel a bit like superman.
 
Chewie said:
Our teacher had individual pairs dance in front of the class, after the first two pairs, he stops the class and says "Some of you need to move your feet when you practice, that's fine, but when you are dancing, I don't want you to move your feet. I want you to let your feet move!" The class had a good giggle, but after that the dancing improved.

And the quote I never tire of hearing, because it fixes many of my bad habits "Dance underneath the carpet."
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Hello - I'm a salsa newbie. I don't understand the point made by the above two quotes. Could you explain? What is the complaint and what is the preferred method of addressing the complaint? Thank you.
 
You don't dance like a newbie........

OTE="Cabaiguan, post: 281992, member: 281106"]Hello - I'm a salsa newbie. I don't understand the point made by the above two quotes. Could you explain? What is the complaint and what is the preferred method of addressing the complaint? Thank you.[/QUOTE]
You
 
thepresenceon2 said:
You don't dance like a newbie........

OTE="Cabaiguan, post: 281992, member: 281106"]Hello - I'm a salsa newbie. I don't understand the point made by the above two quotes. Could you explain? What is the complaint and what is the preferred method of addressing the complaint? Thank you.
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You[/QUOTE]
I'll second that!!!
 
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