Sabrosura
Son Montuno
Now now, hopefully everyone reading this knows that in Latin dancing hip/booty movement does not actually come from the hips/booty, let's not confuse any beginners who might be seeing this
Salsa open diary
- Thread starter MacMoto
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Now now, hopefully everyone reading this knows that in Latin dancing hip/booty movement does not actually come from the hips/booty, let's not confuse any beginners who might be seeing this
Now now, hopefully everyone reading this knows that in Latin dancing hip/booty movement does not actually come from the hips/booty, let's not confuse any beginners who might be seeing this
Yep! The crazy thing is I see more and more studios actually teaching the (exaggerated) "booty roll" like you see in the Hip Hop and Rap videos. It made me rethink "WTF?" When I think Latin Motion, it should be smooth, subtle and look completely natural almost like walking "with contained cheer" not "shake that booty!" I don't know if this is totally true about ALL of these studios (I feel it's very very true d/t the nature of) but there seems to be a strong correlation of those being associated with performance teams. Makes me re-evaluate are they going for the suave, cool, DGAF chill out movement or this electrified, seizure coke induced mania and do they understand the difference.
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In Toronto (when I was there), there weren't as many body movement classes on offer. If there were, they were given as a one-of workshop. A few schools had core movement built into their syllabus, but I never went to those. Though from what I saw, not many options were available when it came to learning about body movement. Ladies styling classes came a bit later but that only widened the discrepancy between men and women's body movement utilization.
That will never happen here lol
I know a couple of local guys who teach styling to both men and women. Schools generally do a piss poor job at it. Though most guys only care about learning how to dance with a partner. I do find European guys in general have to go through quite a lot of hurdles in order to find good body movement classes.
Many of the young male teachers in my area and in the neighboring countries also have problems with finding good body movement instruction. I would say that the Cuban instructors do body movement better, but there is still this separation between the Cuban and Linear community that many aren't willing to cross. It's strange to me considering that many Salsa teachers will shun Cuban style but will happily venture into Bachata and bring their non-existent body movement into that dance as well.
For those of us who actually care about looking good on the dance floor, the options are to go online or try to hunt down your favorite role model and beg them for classes.
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GentleDancer
Son
This morning is the first time in my life I managed to do (well) a double-spin myself (at home). And another one. And another one. Suddenly my body seems to have understood 
I marked it in my calendar. That's amazing as I felt this as a hopeless task for me. I tried everyday at home since weeks, and I am glad nobody could see me stumbling around. Breakthrough came when I started concentrating on spotting.
Credits go to this guy I found on YT. Could have been anybody else as well, but his nice, relaxed smile helped my start trying again:
I found it awkward to let the followers spin a lot but not knowing how to do it myself. This is part of the current men-style discussion. Recently at socials, when I found myself with a beginner, I started doing lots of single spins myself, so I had a benefit of those dances, too. Soon I will start doing those double-spins of myself at social - followers will think I'm just so vain, but what do they know about the difficulty of a lead to improve?
I marked it in my calendar. That's amazing as I felt this as a hopeless task for me. I tried everyday at home since weeks, and I am glad nobody could see me stumbling around. Breakthrough came when I started concentrating on spotting.Credits go to this guy I found on YT. Could have been anybody else as well, but his nice, relaxed smile helped my start trying again:
I found it awkward to let the followers spin a lot but not knowing how to do it myself. This is part of the current men-style discussion. Recently at socials, when I found myself with a beginner, I started doing lots of single spins myself, so I had a benefit of those dances, too. Soon I will start doing those double-spins of myself at social - followers will think I'm just so vain, but what do they know about the difficulty of a lead to improve?
In my opinion the thing with body movement is you just need to repeat the movement a bunch of times until it becomes second nature. I don't think anyone would like to go to a "body movement" class if it consisted of repeating 3-4 body movement drills for an entire hour lol. From what I have seen some schools instead teach styling or body movement as an "add-on", but not as a core principle.
Can't relate. Do you have a video example?
1derpalm
Son Montuno
I agewith the aboabove statement wholeheartedly. He did say in the class "keep you movements understated as a default sowhen you wanna bring the intensity (busts out a quick flourish and returned to simple basic) you can, when its called for".
But he taught partner class. Carol taught shine class.
One of my former schools had a weekly Salsa technique class, which focused on body movement as well as some balance exercises to help with spins and such. I would expand on this idea and include more body isolation drills, styling options, small shines and footwork. There's quite a lot of material/drills that can be shown in order to make the class more interesting. It wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I can see a wider application that goes beyond drilling the basic step.
My main gripe with teachers is that they don't teach those flourishes. There's a lot that can be said, like how to incorporate them into the basic, or how to segue in/out of it, how/when to shift body weight so you don't look like you're falling over, what to do with your arms etc... I want to hear all of those little tips as well as practice the movement.
This is where introducing and educating indidviduals on developing/expresing their own musicality will allow it to make more sense. However I see this as a workshop rather than a class (for the masses) d/t many probably not caring about sabor as much. If instructors taught individuals on how to connected to the music would (hopefully) motivate others to be more invested.
still trying to find the video that reminds me of it (from a videographer I knew). This is the best I can find right now:
The level of exaggeration was taught which I would see (not so often I admit) but it does seem to be a bit much (for me).
This is a philosophy which aligns with my musicality and something I see more in the video below. I prefer something more subtle, with less moving and more "walking;" looking natural yet more powerful with the bursts of energy which create a more powerful impact.
GentleDancer
Son
I didn't dive into your discussion, but Nery & Serena are always such a pleasure to watch!
Too much what? Guy looks average to me
I was talking about the follow gyrating. Very rarely do I see guys with exaggerated hip motions throughout the dance.
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
So now Karel Flores' body movement isn't good enough..? Sheesh, what is SF coming to
Next you're gonna say Griselle's body movement is also "too much" PS Alien, Griselle and Karel are to me the goddesses of sensual and flavorful yet natural and connected Latin body movement in salsa dancing.
PPS You know, if women's hip movement in salsa is too much for you, you can always switch over to tango
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Rare because they can't do it, not because they choose not to lol.
If given the choice, I'd rather have the ability to gyrate/booty roll and not have to use it than vice versa.
On camera, you really have to use your full Range of Motion in order for it to be seen. A lot of people could do better with using more hip motion rather than toning it down.
One positive thing about booty rolls is that you can really play around with it with your partner. Chances are your follower can do it too because they've trained all their lives for that moment.. why not share in the experience? My goal is to booty roll a lot better and to increase my ROM so I can have control over it when needed.
In partner connection, you can't really engage the movement as much anyway so it's not usually a distraction unless you have crazy exaggerated hip movement like seen in Ballroom dancers.
To me, Noemie has some of the best hip motion in the business. I would love to see this on every follow and I love seeing this type of motion. Maybe I like it because it's authentic and not over-stylized or showy like many dancers are when doing Rumba and it doesn't look very contortion-y that some others gets criticized for.
I'll see myself out the door now.
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It's easier to exaggerate upper body movement
Yes but she's styling and "exaggerating" it more than KF was in that other vid!!! You ON2 ppl are strange
Edit: And BTW if you think KF is overcooking it, you should see how some of the cubana dance celebs roll these days.
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