How to Dance Bachata Like a Pro – Part 1
How do you dance like a top-level Bachata dancer? Here are some tricks I’ve picked up after many years of dancing and practicing and refining my trade. If you practice and apply them daily, you will be unstoppable, and I look forward to dancing Bachata with you
Ball of the foot through the heel.
That’s what every pro knows about weight transfer. When you are dancing you should have your weight sitting on the ball of your feet back into your heels. Think of it like putting on shoes a half size too small or skating. You’d never slide on your toes because you would fall flat on your face. It is the same thing with dancing, and honestly, this tip applies to Kizomba, or Salsa and many other dance styles.
Another way to imagine and practice this is to imagine you are leaning on a bar stool. Your knees are bent and your pelvic bone is pulled back as your butt is resting on the stool. From here, I want you to pull your chest back so that your weight is sitting about 70% on your heels, and the rest of it is forward into the ball of your foot. So you want your chest open and a low center of gravity as you’re moving and flowing on the dance floor.
Ribcage training.
I encourage you to look at Daniel and Desiree or any other famous Bachata dancers. When you watch them, it looks as if their upper and lower bodies are two separate beings that can move on their own. By stretching out your ribcage, you get more comfortable and aware of what’s happening with your upper body. And then you don’t just have one instrument, but two when you’re dancing Bachata. It looks beautiful and here are some tips to become more flexible.
The easiest way to train your rib cage to be looser and more flexible is to sit down in a chair. Place your hands on your lap and then slowly isolate by pulling your chest to the right and then gradually to the left making sure that your hips don’t move anywhere.
So you go left and right and then forward and back. Move your ribcage by bringing your chest forward, and then you concave it in. Think of it as if you were an old-school joystick that can only go forward and back, left and right.
Always use good judgment and follow your doctor’s advice if you have any sort of mobility issue.
But all in all, just take the pressure off of you. Remember being a professional is nothing special. It just means that someone decided to dedicate themselves to this craft, and a pro is simply a human being who gets paid. I’m a professional dancer and there are amateur dancers who are better than me. So just focus on you being the best version of yourself. I’m sure you can be a pro at that.
I can’t wait to welcome you to our big family, have you coming in week to week, having fun, connecting with new friends and letting lose to amazing Latin songs. Click here to check our current schedule.
If you have any questions you would like me to answer here are some ways you can contact me: message me on Instagram (torontodanceSalsa), on Twitter (#torontodanceSalsa), on Facebook (Toronto Dance Salsa) or email me at [email protected].
