Learning Salsa

I just came across a great salsa training tool.  More than just a metronome, the Salsa Beat Machine is a freely available online Salsa trainer that. can be used to improve your dance timing and feeling of the rhythm and undertanding of the music. It breaks down for you the different rhytmical patterns composing Salsa Music, using an intuitive mixer-like interface. An online visualizer tab let's you visually associate the what you hear with the instrument that is currently playing.

This will help dancers and musicians of any level and style, whether you are "On-1" or "On-2".  They offer it in a browser only version, PC download and even an iPhone so you can pretty much use it anywhere.  

Open the Salsa Beat Machine... 

Videos on Youtube.com...

My great-grandmother had bound feet. Those were real “three-inch golden lilies.” Under her long cotton dress, the tips of her feet were barely visible. She had several pairs of embroidered silk shoes with gaudy colors, so tiny that even my six-year-old feet couldn’t fit in them.

The following was posted as a comment to another discussion thread - but it was so good it had to have it's own blog!

On April 1st, 2010 Anonymous says:

I am grateful that in salsa, unlike in many other social/recreational activities, we are not divided or judged by our race, education, or socioeconomic status; on the dance floor, people know you as a good dancer as long as you are one. At the same time, I also realize that in almost no other area of my life, my roles are so strictly determined by my gender as they are in salsa. Men lead; women follow. Most of us never question this rule. Once in a while, I hear the comment that I am a "good follower,” which is intended to be a compliment. I can't help but wonder what it takes to be a "good follower." Obedience? Submissiveness? Non-assertiveness? Obviously, none of the above is true in salsa. We’re not merely “following” – we are the picture, if the “leaders” serve as the frame. It takes hard work, determination and audacity to be a “good follower.”

However, we ARE following. If the “leader” does not understand or is unable to dance to the complicated rhythms of salsa music, we will be lost or unfairly subject to his awkwardness; if he is limited in his repertoire of movement patterns, we are not given many options but secretly hope the song is not too long, so as to be polite and not to make a scene. I wonder why in this day and age, when men are no longer stigmatized for taking care of babies and women can be breadwinners or executives, most of us salseros/as still limit ourselves to the ancient gender roles. Guys, do you really want to take the responsibility for finding and keeping the beat, if you’re actually a novice and don’t know very much about it? Besides, don’t you want to be the picture sometimes, instead of being the frame all the time?

Learning and practicing the opposite role makes one a better dancer, for so much of dancing, particularly social dancing, is about communication. A monologue is not a conversation; it satisfies neither the speaker nor the listener in most cases. Dance patterns, like conversations, consist of elements and are not to be memorized as a whole and executed mechanically, but to be modified and interpreted depending on the context and specific situation. Seeing things from a different perspective facilitates understanding and hence improves communication. Shall I say it makes you not only a better dancer, but also a better person in general?

I would like to practice leading but can only do so occasionally. I am not good at it for lack of opportunities to practice. There are difficulties: I am short; most women are shorter than most men. Then again, why do so many patterns require the leader’s hands to go over the follower’s head? Is it really necessary? It’s hard for short men, too; I’ve done lots of spins on bent knees when I dance with men shorter than I am. I hope some instructors can compile the patterns that allow the shorter partner to lead; I would do that myself if I were good at leading.

I used to go to the gay/lesbian salsa events in San Francisco and dance with other women; I was not required to disclose my sexual orientation. Now I’m in the Midwest and find it difficult to ask a same-sex person to dance. My request is considered a joke or met with shock and disbelief, even among the women with whom I have been friendly. I wonder why men, in contrast, can just come up and ask me to dance without first building rapport or even saying anything. Wouldn’t it be more fun if we all could choose whether to lead or to follow, instead of letting others assume what we are going to do? We can wear T-shirts, or bracelets, to indicate what we’d like to do and switch roles whenever we want to.

When we ride a bike, the act of pushing down on one pedal while releasing the other results in the bike and us moving forward as one unit. If we want to continue this forward movement, we repeat this same process of pushing and releasing on the other side of our feet. Thus, the foot that once was releasing is now pumping, and the foot that was once pumping is now releasing. Motion is only possible when both feet behave in this cooperative manner viewed as interplay working in an interdependent way. Both feet are not seen as opposites but complementary to each other. The common crank joining both feet via the pedal arms allows such interplay. And within this interplay, the left foot cannot begin to pump until the right foot finishes pumping. When the right foot is at the bottom of it’s stroke the left pedal raises past the highest point for the left pumping to start, so there is interdependency. The left foot needs the right foot so it can be most effective, and vice versa.

Part 4 of Awareness

 

Good social dancers are said to be “light on their feet”. What should also be understood there is “light on everyone else's feet too!” It's not just a matter of bad luck when someone steps on another's feet or spins into them – it is a lack of control. Everyone at some point does a spin too far or step on someone else - so the question is "how often and how hard?"

 

Secret Revealed: if you are regularly the one getting stepped on, you are also very likely to share some of the blame with the mis-stepper and of course you get all of the pain.

 

However it is not hard to change your luck and be a dancer who is light on their feet, rarely gets stepped on and who has control over themselves dancing and spinning – the key lies in mastering some fundamentals. In the case of light on the feet, mastering the basic step and in the case of the spinning, developing the correct body alignment starting with the foot.

Anthony Persaud from Addicted2Salsa put together a nice little video on getting started with shines. This is a very key concept for learning how to really "dance to the music" and express one's self on the dance floor. As he mentions, for leaders it is important to give your partner some "hands free" time where she can express herself and not just run through pattern after pattern. Advanced dancers often do shines for 50% or more of a song.



One of the great things about this example is that it is timed to be usable in almost any situation and he shows going from a connected postion to the shine and then coming back together again. Nice job!