Those who knows me will know me as a systems guy, but also of hacks and shortcuts, when it doesn't comprimise quality. The concept of work smarter, not harder. So today, I'm sharing some of the hacks and tricks that I've learned through my time dancing, which can help or dramatically improve your dancing.
So in no specific order.
1) Close your eyes.
This trick particularly is effective for the ladies, in the late beginner to the intermediate level, when they are past the steps and counting stage and learned a few moves. The trick is dead simple as "closing your eyes while dancing".
What this does is three things.
a) It makes you concentrate on the music and the rhythm. Helping you maintain beat.
b) It makes you less distracted by things outside you, especially footsteps, excessive hand movements of guys etc.
c) It makes it harder for the ladies to "lead" as it's harder to predict what the guys are doing.
- I have seen time and time again, people improve in their level of dancing simply by closing their eyes.
2) Tip-toes.
This is useful for both guys and girls, but more so for Guys, as they don't wear heels. Again, the trick is dead simple. You dance tip-toeing, without letting your heel touch the ground.
This
a) Forces you to shift your weight correctly when stepping
b) Make smaller steps
c) Easier to do the "hip movement".
When I dance with someone who I find is just there, but isn't quite there, I ask them to do the closed eye and tip-toe for one dance. You will be amazed at the level of difference this simply does. After doing that for a couple of songs, and you can feel how easy it is to move, etc, you have to just keep doing it to make it part of your normal thing.
3) The 90 degree rules.
One of the common road block that ladies (and gents to some extent) has with Salsa, is the frame. Frame is a very difficult concept that, though over time, it becomes intuitive, it's difficult to teach. Eddie, Salsa freak uses the "egg shell" concept, though I this can sometimes be confusing. I prefer to use the 90 degree rule to start with, as it's easier to visualise.
The rule for this is simple. Never allowing your elbow to extend or contract from the 90 degree bent position. So push back, if it bends, pull back, if it extends, but never ever "jerk" the movement. Think of it as a spring, there's a constant tension.
Once you master this, if you can connect this to your shoulder, then you pretty much have "frame" nailed.
4) Tennis ball
Once you have the above "elbow" trick nailed, the next is to connect the elbow to the shoulder. I have not personally tested the technique, but when I sit and think about it, it makes sense, so I decided to add this.
The trick states to hold a tennis ball under your arm when dancing. Obviously, this is not to be done in social scene....
The idea behind it is rather simple. If you aren't holding the ball, then you don't have your arms tight enough (and open enough) and if it hurts holding it, then you have it too tight. I'm happy to get feedbacks on how people got on with this, as logically it makes sense, but if it works or not....
5) Planking
Well, that's a joke, but the idea is none the less, same. With this exercise, the follower will dance with their arms crossed across their chest. Practice dancing by being lead just by the waist and shoulders.
The idea now, is to practice connecting the hand frame to the leg frames. People who seem "heavy" often has this problem, of the hand movement not corresponding to the body movement.
That's it for the day chaps.
Most of these aren't that complicated and you should be able to practice one or two things at a time. Over time, the basic concept should come second nature.
Happy dancing.
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