Flex writes:

“Let’s try to compile a list of simple basic things that followers should do automatically, but all too often don’t:

1. Wait for a lead.

2. In the absence of a lead – i.e. when the leader does not signal and initiate some change of direction or momentum – do your basic over 8 beats (many moves particularly in X-body rely on the follower executing her basic: if On1, back then forward, forward then back. Sooooo many followers don’t do this simple thing!).

3. Maintain your frame – connect to the lead with responsive arm pressure. Otherwise he can’t guide you with precision.

4. In open hold, follow the hand that is being led, with your frame. i.e. orient your frame towards it

5. When they’re below shoulder height and your hands are on his, keep the connecting hands slightly angled up at the wrist (so that, using the connection pressure, he can guide you backwards with that hand as well as forwards)

6. Keep your hands available – waist height when loose, if not in a styling moment – so that he knows exactly where to find a hand.

7. Take the offered hand, returning any pressure.

8. If the lead drapes your hand on or round his body, leave it there until he removes it one way or another – this helps him to find that hand again immediately, as he can feel exactly where it is even if he’s turning.

9. If he tosses or flicks your hand / arm up, for pity’s sake continue the movement gracefully up and around. He’s expecting you to do that, not to make your arm go stiff after moving three inches!

10. Distinguish between hand flicks where the lead wants that hand back again (the majority) from those where he is throwing away that hand in order to take the other. The beat on which this occurs is usually critical to that distinction.

11. Do not take the initiative to let go the leader’s hand, even if you worry that what he is attempting to do may result in a knot. (This assumes that the leader knows what he’s doing – if you decide not to trust him, the dance may as well end there and then).

12. Do not hold on to the leader’s hand so that he cannot drop yours easily. The initiative to take or drop a hand is his.

13. If the leader initiates a turn or spin, keep turning or spinning until he acts to stop you. Many moves over the full eight beats rely heavily on this principle and become joyfully easy if only the follower understands it. If she doesn’t, they either require a heavy mechanical lead or result in one of those moments where she knows she’s hesitated and got something wrong – but may blame it unfairly on his leading!

14. Unless otherwise engineered specifically by the lead, keep some bend in your connected elbow so that there is always some flexibility for you to step backwards as well as forwards.

15. Recognise the signals to go into a shine and learn some of the conventions to signal when you’d like to come out of it. Have a few steps you can shine with, rather than freezing in horror.

16. Recognise a block and have your bodyroll etc. ready to occupy that space of four beats until the block’s lifted.

17. If he’s doing something amazing in front of you but not leading you to do anything at the same time, don’t stand there frozen in open-mouthed wonder! Do something cute and sexy.

18. In the absence of any tactile lead, use visual cues. If he’s positioning for a cross-body lead, no contact, then do a cross body. If you’re doing X-body style and he starts walking round you, don’t turn (just do your back-and-forward, forward-and-back 8-beat basic). If it’s Cuban and he walks round you, do turn.

19. If the leader’s behind you and one or both of your hands are loose on the pause beat, make them available to him (use the seagull position if both hands, half seagull position if one hand, and if he doesn’t take them on the next beat withdraw them quickly as he may be coming round you and doesn’t want to go round a wide circle to avoid your extended hands).

20. When he starts to lead your arms overhead, take the tension/pressure off as soon as he takes the tension off (don’t fight a head-comb, and when spinning or turning keep those overhead arms soft so he can do touch-and-gos or neck wraps or hand drapes or hand flicks etc without you getting into a stiff-arm wrestle)

21. Pay attention to your leader as well as to his lead. Look at him when he’s looking at you. And smile! The least you can both do is be each other’s for five minutes on the dance floor.”

This is really a great list for followers to work on. Ladies, most complaints that men have centre around these issue so choose 1 tip a week and work on it!

The post Flex’s 21 Things for Followers To Follow appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Preparing For Your Private Lesson

By: Evan Carmichael

In order to get the most from your private lesson it is important to prepare in advance what you are need help with.

Most students take a private lesson for one of two reasons – either to catch up on a lesson that they missed or clean up and work on a particular part of their dancing.

In either case, before coming to your instructor you should analyze your dancing and think about the areas you want to improve in. Here are some of the factors you might want to consider:

• Was there a move in class that you had a particularly hard time learning?
• Would you like to improve your styling skills?
• Do you need help with leading / following the different moves?
• Would you like to learn a new, more advanced turn pattern?
• Can you pick up the beats in the music and dance on time?

You should go in to your private lesson with at least one thing that you would like to improve on. You can also have your instructor dance with you at the beginning of the lesson and ask for his / her opinion about what you need to improve on. Getting this objective advice from an expert will only serve to make you a better dancer.

The more you prepare for your lesson the more likely you will get the specific help you need to take your dancing to the next level!

Good luck!

The post Evan’s Private Lesson Tip #4 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Red Violin is located at Danforth & Broadview. They are a Brazilian Steakhouse and offered a upscale buffet full of Brazilian meats. Servers with skewers of beef, chicken, pork and more approach your table and you get to cut the meat right off the skewer…very yummy! You definitely need to bring your appetite but the good news is their live band is Latin (Cuban I believe but don’t quote me) and they play several sets throughout the evening so you can dance off all the food you eat. At 10pm there is s small show with a couple of female samba dancers which gets the crowd going.

The band wasn’t a salsa band but we did hear salsa-like beats, Cha Cha and Rumba. They had a nice sound to them and they weren’t too distracting if you came to have some great conversation like we had.

Prices are definitely on the high side but if you are looking for a fun special evening check out Red Violin!

The post Red Violin appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

“Miami Salsa Congress 2007…thoughts by Linda Domenichini!

Friday:
Our first class was with Miguel & Darija from Germany, who taught a fun Cuban style turn pattern, but I was really looking forward to Cha Cha Cha class with Franklin Ayala (N.Y). After going over the basics, he kicked it into high gear with a difficult shines combo. At first, I thought I wouldn’t be able to pick it up, but I was proud that I was able to catch on to the choreography. Our next workshop of the day was a shines combo with Salsa Heat (Orlando). It was a familiar set of moves, but a fun combo that gave me the chance to work on my technique and ability to pick up choreography. Andres Echevarria was a fantastic instructor who really encouraged us to excel. The excitement kept building with an Afro-Cuban rumba class, taught by Neri Torres (Cuba), which was by far one of the most interesting and challenging body movement classes I’ve ever taken. Next on the list: shines and styling with Hooked On2 (Miami). Once again, the class consisted of another challenging combo, especially since I just started learning On2. When our instructor Ivette started styling, you knew right away that she was a pro. That ended my day of classes, although I heard that the styling on2 class by Sheila De Jesus (Puerto Rico) was a great experience. I enjoyed some sunshine by the pool and was off to the get ready for the evening performances.

A jam-packed list of top international salsa performers took the stage during the weekend. I had so many favorites, but the most notable Friday night performances included: Energy One’s Nelson Gaston Vidarte (Miami); Jayson Molina (Puerto Rico); Joby Brava & Omar Muñoz (L.A.); and Alessalsa Style (Italy). By midnight, I was too tired to social dance. I missed out on a live concert by one of Florida’s most sought after bands, Potencia Latina, but I knew that I needed some rest to make it through another day of workshops. I dreamed of swift feet and salsa beats that night!”

Part 3 tomorrow!

The post Linda’s Miami Congress Experience Part 2 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

“Miami Salsa Congress 2007…thoughts by Linda Domenichini!

One word: phenomenal! This sums up my experience at the 6th Annual Miami Salsa Congress. Held at the Miami Beach Resort & Spa on August 1-5, the event brought together all those who have a passion for salsa for five full days of parties, performances and workshops – and wow, this event did not disappoint!

We arrived in Miami early Thursday afternoon, which gave us a chance to settle in and hit the beach. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the official kick-off party at Yuca Lounge in Miami Beach. The small venue was packed with salsa enthusiasts and I had some great dances. I even learned a few new moves and a dip! Many of the instructors gave a freestyle demonstration of their talents as well. Among the salsa pros was Toronto’s very own Giovanni Torres, who tore up the floor with his shines. I was really impressed with the talent during these demonstrations – especially since the floor conditions weren’t the best (stone tiles) – but nothing could stop us from moving our feet to the beats of DJ Alberth Moreno (South Florida) and DJ Franklin Ayala (N.Y). We didn’t get back to the hotel until three in the morning!

A late-night made it a challenge to get up for the workshops, but we didn’t travel all that way to sleep in and miss out on classes with some of the most acclaimed salsa dancers in the world. With two classes (in different rooms) an hour to choose from, we had to plan which ones to take for our dance development. The program offered classes from the beginner to advanced level, ranging from various styles including Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian. On1, on2, footwork on clave, ladies styling – whatever you were after, it was there! The congress even offered a beginners bootcamp, taught by Edie “The Salsa Freak” Lewis. I wish I could have taken all of the classes, but I managed to participate in five out of the seven timeslots of classes each day.”

Stay tuned to the next post from Linda’s exciting Miami trip…

The post Linda’s Miami Congress Experience Part 1 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

What was interesting is the length she went to prior to her date to learn how to dance and incorporate herself into the culture (high heeled shoes, new cute dress, new salsa music, lessons, practicing at home, etc.). This is likely an issue many people face as salsa has become so popular and is a great idea for a date.

So here is my advice on this subject. be honest with your date about your abilities (or lack thereof) on the dance floor. Most clubs have a beginner lesson prior to the social dancing at about 8pm or 9pm. Make plans to go early to this lesson so you can practice your basic steps. This way even if you have both learned different styles of salsa prior to the date you have some common steps to work with during the date.

Try not to wear new shoes or uncomfortable shoes. If you can’t walk comfortably for an hour in your shoes there is no way you will be able to dance in them. Low heels with a slippery sole is the best bet (leather soles are great, 2 inch maximum heel for your first salsa adventure). Wear appropriate clothing. Although you want to look great, is your shirt too low or your skirt to hight? I went salsa dancing once when I first started dancing with a skimpy top which popped open during a spin – I learned my lesson quickly 🙂 Make you sure you do the salsa test on every outfit: spin and bend backwards in a dip-like stance and see if anything pops out!

One thing many beginners don’t know is there are different styles of salsa. Kristy who wrote the blog spoke of learning to dance on 2 and then her surprise at learning that everyone danced on 1. In addition to the different beats you can dance on there are also different styles. Click here for a breakdown of each style. Make sure you know what style is common in your area and which you prefer visually (youtube has great videos). In Toronto most people are still dancing on 1 with the New York/LA Style dance style being more prevalent nowadays. That doesn’t mean this is the style you need to learn but just research your options.

Hopefully this helps for all you daters out there 🙂

The post Salsa on a Date appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.