Salsa open diary

Governor Moonbeam said:
Yes but she's styling and "exaggerating" it more than KF was in that other vid!!! You ON2 ppl are strange :wacky:
Click to expand...

EXACTLY! I was about to say the same. I like Bersy but her body movement is definitely highly stylized and looks a lot less natural / a lot more exaggerated than Karel (or Griselle or Alien).

I now don't trust anything @Smiley79 says on this topic :p

(And please don't lump all on2ers together :p )
 
Last edited:
Governor Moonbeam said:
Yes but she's styling and "exaggerating" it more than KF was in that other vid!!! You ON2 ppl are strange :wacky:

Edit: And BTW if you think KF is overcooking it, you should see how some of the cubana dance celebs roll these days.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I find her movements quite subtle since it seems that exaggerated hip movement is rarer and less pronounced. Who knows. it could be the camera angle?
 
Chris_Yannick said:
On camera, you really have to use your full Range of Motion in order for it to be seen.
Click to expand...

Show dancers told me that, too. That they really have to exaggerate body movements if you want it to be seen on video - or on a far away stage.


Chris_Yannick said:
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.

Click to expand...

Nice dancing. I will not try that "kick in her ass" though (at 2:26) - it can go terribly wrong :)
 
GentleDancer said:
But apparently he's from Romania - probably your brother having grown up with you, that's why he's such a cool dancer, right? :D
Click to expand...
I recently hung out in a group of mostly Latin Americans and met two girls that said "we are also Latin". I was like "Let me guess, are you from Brazil, or Venezuela perhaps?". Their response "We are from Romania". :p

I guess they meant that they speak Latin/Romance language, but I first thought they meant they were Latinoamericanos lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chi
TikiTaka said:
I recently hung out in a group of mostly Latin Americans and met two girls that said "we are also Latin". I was like "Let me guess, are you from Brazil, or Venezuela perhaps?". Their response "We are from Romania". :p

I guess they meant that they speak Latin/Romance language, but I first thought they meant they were Latinoamericanos lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's a common joke, especially because Romanians are taught to be very proud of our Roman heritage (as opposed to the local tribes the Romans conquered, which mixed with Roman colonists to eventually form the Romanian people). Even our national anthem includes this:

Now or never, let’s prove to the world
That in these arms Roman blood still flows,
And that in our chests we proudly nurture a triumphant name,
Trajan’s name!

But of course, "Latin" (as in, descended from the Romans) and "Latin-American"/Latino are different things.

PS The Romanian national anthem is very nice, if you haven't heard it, check it out :)
Here are three versions:

Choir:

Solo singer:

Kids choir:
 
Last edited:
I know a bunch of Latin Americans whose favorite music is Rock/Metal/Punk and their Salsa/Merengue/Bachata/Cumbia dancing skills are very non-existent. Also Latin Americans from wealthy families, neighbourhood probably grew up with a lot of western music, and not attend many barrio (neighbourhood) parties where their aunties forced them to dance. This was pretty clear to me in my group of Latin American friends who studied in Europe. Those that came with a scholarship (couldn't afford to pay the bills) generally had pretty good dancing skills. Those that came without a scholarship (from wealthy family) had no dancing skills lol.

Overall I think anybody can learn to have good movement. Some movement patterns might just be more difficult to learn as one gets older.
 
Smiley79 said:
Interesting. I find her movements quite subtle since it seems that exaggerated hip movement is rarer and less pronounced. Who knows. it could be the camera angle?
Click to expand...

Subtle? Seriously? :p Bersy is pushing her booty out a LOT, not subtle at all. Whereas Karel is simply letting her hip roll out on the pushing steps (so it looks natural, since the hip naturally goes out on the pushing steps if you let it/use proper stepping into the floor), but Bersy is actively rolling her booty all the time (well, not all the time, but 99% of the time). Maybe clearer in this vid:


I think her dancing is very nice, but she definitely exaggerates the booty movement a lot, way more than Karel/Griselle.
 
Sabrosura said:
Subtle? Seriously? :p Bersy is pushing her booty out a LOT, not subtle at all. Whereas Karel is simply letting her hip roll out on the pushing steps (so it looks natural, since the hip naturally goes out on the pushing steps if you let it/use proper stepping into the floor), but Bersy is actively rolling her booty all the time (well, not all the time, but 99% of the time). Maybe clearer in this vid:


I think her dancing is very nice, but she definitely exaggerates the booty movement a lot, way more than Karel/Griselle.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Bersy seems to be walking a lot more "normally" while as the others seem to be keeping that hip motion going 24/7. That's the vibe I feel compared to some of the others.
 
TikiTaka said:

Guy in the white hat: takes classes or is a natural at body movement? What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess more natural vs studio trained based on his footwork and level of musicality matching the music. Simple but I'm not seeing any of the cookie cutter movement.
 
Smiley79 said:
I'm going to guess more natural vs studio trained based on his footwork and level of musicality matching the music. Simple but I'm not seeing any of the cookie cutter movement.
Click to expand...
I thought it looked pretty cool and I didn't see any move indicating that he took any sort of salsa class... What I find strange is, if some random guy off at a graduation party can move their body pretty well, why can't some instructors? I bet those who can't didn't even care/try. Also, whenever I see videos from Yamulee or Tropical Gem classes in my instagram feed, they all seem to have pretty solid body movement. I think it just comes down to what people (either students or their teachers) choose to focus on.
 
Last edited:
Sabrosura said:
Yeah it's a common joke, especially because Romanians are taught to be very proud of our Roman heritage (as opposed to the local tribes the Romans conquered, which mixed with Roman colonists to eventually form the Romanian people). Even our national anthem includes this:

Now or never, let’s prove to the world
That in these arms Roman blood still flows,
And that in our chests we proudly nurture a triumphant name,
Trajan’s name!
Click to expand...

Interesting, I didn't know that even your anthem takes reference to the romans.
 
TikiTaka said:
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.
Click to expand...

But that's what it takes to look good! Hats of to all those who not only do that but then hours practicing it solo later. I seen some of these guys. No wonder they look awesome when they dance.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
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.
Click to expand...

Most people learn or discover it on their own. There are very very few who can actually teach something like this. From what I have witness I can only think of two.

I don't believe this has to be taught honestly. Teach the basics of body movements. Give a few examples of how to apply same movement in different ways and to different music/rhythms. But it is really up to an individual dancers to discover how their body moves and how to add or subtract flourishes, etc. It would be pretty boring to look at all the guys doing same thing. Something like ladies styling has created a whole lot of girls who will style the arms same way.
 
Offbeat said:
But that's what it takes to look good! Hats of to all those who not only do that but then hours practicing it solo later. I seen some of these guys. No wonder they look awesome when they dance.
Click to expand...
If it was part of regular classes then they could just practise it at home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top