Break it or climb it. But please don't get stuck IN it.

We’ve all been there…

In the honeymoon stage of learning dance, everything seems so sweet. We are high-flying beginners, eating, drinking and sleeping dance while making little gains pretty much whenever we come to class.

But somewhere along the lines, usually around the intermediate level, we manage to hit….the brick wall.

The body can and will become resistant to growth. The higher you go, the more work you have to put in, and the less you will get back in return.

Sorry guys, but if you are an intermediate dancer putting in the same amount of hours you did as a beginner, your body has built up a tolerance and will give you back pennies on the dollar, quite literally.

Yesterday’s intensity level won’t help you improve much today. It’s just barely enough to keep you afloat.

Growth Stimulating Ideas

1. Put in more time. A no brainer, but not all of us can do this.

2. Train in another style of dance or even aerobics. Preferably, one that will really challenge you.

3. Reverse roles. If you follow, learn to lead and vice-versa. Not optional at Paso.

4. Do what you do, but find more difficult ways to do it in. Dance with two songs playing at equal volume and switch off between the two. Play Clave to one song while dancing to the other.

5. Take a look at YouTube and watch dancers of other styles. This can be a horizon opener while giving you inspiration and ideas for movement. Try Flamenco, or even a Waltz! Get out of the box.

Understand that the farther you go, the slower you’ll grow. It’s a dancer’s dilemma. Be prepared to change your habits and kick into overdrive so that the law of diminishing returns doesn’t eat away at your hard earned profits.

About five weeks ago we picked up a copy of Dr. Mark Hyman’s  “UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First”

In a nutshell, UltraMind Solution proposes that problems such as allergies, depression, brain fog, obesity etc. can be pinpointed to a few basic problems in our biology.

Bottom line: you’ll be removing gluten, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and dairy products from your diet.  In the words of Hyman, “if it has a label, you probably won’t be eating it”.

In theory, it’s nothing radical: Stop eating bad stuff. Drink tons of water. Eat organic because pesticides do actually have an effect on you.  Take supplements because you won’t get the right amounts from your food. Exercise and meditate.

We basically had to empty out every single shelf in our house because EVERYTHING has high fructose corn syrup in it. For someone like me who goes to sleep with visions of donuts, this was no easy task.

Downsides?

1. It’s fairly expensive to start since you’ll be emptying out pretty much everything on your shelves and fridge.

2. It’s time consuming at first because that double cheese burger at McDonalds ain’t an option anymore.

3. It sucks not being able to eat all the wonderful sweets day and night.

4. Watching other people eat tasty but harmful crap.

The benefits?

1. Energy is notably higher with concentration slightly improved.

2. Slight cardio improvement.

3. Better mood overall and less urge to punch certain people which is just great.

I think awareness is good. Even if you don’t trash those cookies and cakes, it’s still good to know exactly what the effects are of whatever it is you put in your mouth.

Once you do that, you may be compelled to rethink your game plan.

Wow! I've got so many patterns in my head, i'm not even sure if I remember how to dance!

Learning technique is good. Mandatory even.

But we would be wise not to focus so much on it that it creates analysis paralysis. In this case, a large head filled with patterns, information and restrictions, but an atrophied body that can’t express worth beans. Sometimes we say it results in a ‘clogged dancer’.

Too little technique and too much body isn’t good either!

Technique is extremely important…

Technique in the form of rules, turn patterns, and aesthetic models helps us to express ourselves within the tradition of whatever it is we are dancing.

…as long as it has a context and a greater purpose.

When you learn something new you should put it into the big picture right away.

What’s the big picture?

Your expression. Think: “In what ways could this movement expand my ability to express myself?” Don’t fall victim to learning technique and forgetting WHY you are learning it in the first place.

It’s easy to become fascinated with all of the various turn patterns and master level tricks, but have you ever asked yourself what part of the music compelled you to do that turn?

Paso, please don’t get stuck on all the turns and names in class. They are just tools.

We love master level Cuban Salsa turn patterns. They are deliciously long and require complicated movements. But how often do I get to use them?

Not often, because the music usually interrupts me before I finish.

And I am always thankful.

We get to take over the radio for one day!

On Wed from 6-8pm our very own Rich will be subbing for Syliva’s Latin radio show on Duke radio.

He’s dropping all sorts of vinyl, much of it from the Island by way of Europe.

Son, Timba, Rumba, Danzon and all the way down to Charangas. This guy’s collection is THICK and he’s got two hours to bring some heat to the radio waves.

Be sure to check it out on Duke radio.

For the time being at least, this doesn’t happen too often, don’t miss it!

The cool thing about Cuban dance is that it’s a total journey. It ties together physicality, spirituality and philosophy in a way that I find lacking or even non-existent in some other forms of dance.

But this road is a never ending one, and the only question you may one day find yourself asking is, “how deep down the rabbit hole do I really want to go……?”

Salsa and Casino are great starting points for many because of their appeal and relative accessibility. But again, it’s only a starting point, and it only gets deeper from there on out. There are many references to the Orishas and Santeria religion within Salsa music, take “Aguanile” by Hector Lavoe. “Aguanile” is praise for the warrior Saint Ogun.

I’m going to try to give you an explanation of Orisha dance in a very small nutshell. I am no expert in the Santeria religion, Bata drumming or even Orisha dance! There are probably only a small handful of these guys in the entire world. It’s almost akin to claiming ownership to the Pacific Ocean.

What is a Bata drum?

These are two-headed drums used to play sacred rhythms in honor of the dieties of the Santeria religion.  They are either consecrated -I think about 100 of these exist- or common. There is a small, medium and big one: the Okonkolo, Itotole, and Iya.

What is an Orisha?

A spirit that reflects a dimension of the ultimate God -Olurun. They are thought to be accessible, unlike the almighty. In Santeria, they are believed to rule over forces of nature and human fate to some degree. Paying respects through music and dance is one of the ways that humans can call and physically invoke the Orishas and in turn receive their help.

There are male and female Orishas. For example, Ellegua is a male Orisha with 256 roads or aspects ranging from trickster, to warrior, to messenger. Different Orishas have different roads, and many different dances depending on the rhythm or toque that is played…

How do Bata drums and Orisha dance fit together?

Each Orisha has different toques associated with it. Some have many toques! Each toque for each Orisha has its own separate dance complete with movement and characterization. Ellegua might dance like a trickster for one toque, but like a warrior for the next.

Different rhythm for different Orisha -> different paths -> different Orisha dances.

Can you see where this is going?

The dances and rhythms are beautiful in so many ways. They will drastically improve your rhythm and dance. But most important, you are drawing in something ancient but not-so-distant, whatever it may be…

An incredible capturing of the Guaguanco from Susan Matthews' gallery: http://users.lmi.net/susanmat/index.html Look at the spilled peanuts. Talk about dropping whatever the hell you are doing and going right into a Rumba!!

Check out Loo Yeo’s Salsa diary where he describes the beginning of his personal journey with learning the Guaguanco.

http://salsadiary.blogspot.com/2009/08/personal-journey-with-guaguanco-prelude.html

He ends up using Jose Carrion’s DVD and we must say that after training with Jose and his wonderful wife down in Seattle, he is in our opinion, the foremost authority on Afro-Cuban folkloric dance in the United States.

Not to mention he spent decades as the head professor of Ballet Folklorico Cutumba which totally kicks ass on the authentic side of things.

For those who care to know, here is some stuff in the works either currently or in the future to continue to make Paso the sickest place to learn dance.

Putting your recommendations to use

Some of you guys are like, geniuses..literally. Here are some of the changes that you helped bring to the curriculum.

1. More focus on expression and creativity. No brainer for us.

2. Starting students on music and Clave before steps. Total script flipper. Who says you have to start with steps?

3. Additional rhythm and coordination exercises. By nature they are repetitive. Always look for new ones!

4. More improvised movements through free Sueltas. It’s always tough to follow someone else’s movements!

5. Trust exercises for follows. Who would have thought?

Our 2 cents

Here is what we have in the works:

1. Cross-training in Cuban dance. The beauty of a good native Cuban style dancer is that they typically know many other forms of Cuban dance: Danzon, Son, Guaguanco, Columbia, Yambu, Orishas etc.

Next month we have an upcoming Orisha workshop with live drumming coming up soon.

2. Cross-over into the Tango community. Outside of the Afro-Cuban realm, Argentine Tango is my favorite dance followed by Flamenco. I would love to see Paso dancers cross over into the Tango world and vice-versa. Though very different on the surface, the two are very similar in philosophy.

So…

We have a free Tango workshop coming up next month by some very cool people, and it just might be followed up by a Milonga -social- that same night. What an opportunity!!

To see the workshop schedule:

http://www.pasosalsastudios.com/free-expression-project.html

Here is a little story to wrap things up with…

Exactly two years ago, when we first hit the scene, we attended the Latino festival in Cary. One of our students was there hiding in the nosebleed section of the benches and I couldn’t pull her out for the life of me. Just yesterday, that same student and others danced across the stage to live Rumba music without any hesitation or fear.

How inspiring!

“Water shapes its course according to the nature
of the ground over which it flows….” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

And a good lead, like water, should change the nature of his lead depending on who he is dancing with. And I don’t mean simply changing your repertoire of memorized turn patterns!

Common sense, right?

Maybe. And there are many out there who probably wouldn’t want to openly disagree with me, but who harbor a hidden dislike for this philosophy. For much of the Salsa community, dare I call it the norm?

This pressure on the follow to memorize movements creates a nasty anticipation cycle that some leads may find desirable, but it will wreak havoc on any dance partner who wants to explore spontaneous dance!

One of the things we have taught and continue to teach -whether you guys listen to us or not- is that your lead is not a tool to beat your follow over the head with. Dancing with a partner means interaction.

It’s like this, when you dance with a follow she is a complete human being.

Her movements come with blocks and displacements. Think of these as the rocks in a waterfall. Over-turning, under-turning, too fast, too slow, compulsive spinner, can’t spin at all, non-responsive arm tension etc.

Leads, let’s try to be like water. Water doesn’t break the rocks, it flows down and around them, gently. We do our best to compliment her sticking points, and we do it spontaneously on the dance floor without explanation.

From time-to-time I see lame examples of leads trying to talk their follows through routines on the dance floor. Seriously, guys, unless she is begging you for an explanation, save it for the studio. Challenge yourself.

Next time your partner does something that goes against your assumption -why should we have any?- don’t talk about it, be like water and morph with it.

Dancers: Dana Arceneaux, A.E. Woods, Blossom Lelani Crawford, Ebony Ruffin and Monica Clark Molibongue: Let the Name of the Women Be Praised at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Music: WOMEN OF THE CALABASH Photo:Steve Schriebe

Yesterday I had a short conversation through e-mail with Andrea Woods the artistic director of SOULOWORKS dance who just moved out here to Durham from Brooklyn.

While taking a look at her website for SOULOWORKS, I came across this:

Teaching Philosophy

“The primary excitement of dance is the human body. Everything from physical and emotional to intellectual and spiritual sensation is perceived, translated and expressed through the body; the delicate yet complex landscape we chose to explore as dancers.

Teaching is an opportunity to facilitate and environment for making movement, deepening and enriching the body’s personal resources. I teach with and emphasis on internal and musical rhythm, weight, balance, dynamic changes, speed, tranquility, exhilaration and rest.

Discovering organic and earthy sensibilities in class includes recognizing ourselves as individuals within the community/group. Everything we need in the quest for movement sensation is already contained within.”

Now “Turn Pattern Steve” might say it’s all hogwash hippie nonsense, but I think it’s great and gives us instructors an excellent set of goals to push our instruction from.

We must have exchanged ideas in a past life or something, because it all sounds awfully familiar.

Now I we’ve got to convince her to come teach a class down at the studio!

I was browsing Yoo Leo’s Salsa Blog and stumbled upon this video posted of a scene where the  legendary martial artist Bruce Lee is dancing a Cha-Cha-Cha!

It was also noted by the author that Bruce Lee won the Crown Colony Cha-Cha-Cha championship in 1958.

Who would have thought?

Although the Cubans are very big on their connection between boxing and Casino.

Perhaps I should start training Muay Thai again… It’s nice to dream.

It's actually quite fun to dance up here. It's not as dangerous as you think and you are all welcomed to join.

It’s Time For a Change

“Three things I always try to do when trying to figure out things: flip the script, stand it on its head and ponder that perspective, turn it inside out and see where the light shines then.”

This is a favorite quote of mine from one of our students and it’s what we try to do.

We are not trying to annoy or offend anyone by asking the tough questions or pointing out what we believe to by fallacious thinking based on unquestioned premises.

Entrenched beliefs in the Salsa community need to be dug up, examined, examined again and then discarded or kept.

Questioning the “Unquestionable”

Styling-> Why should it be explicitly taught? Isn’t it personal and why should it arise outside of a musical context?

Timing-> Shouldn’t the music decide this?

Instructor-student dependency cycle -> Should this exist? Why does it seem as if Cuban style students are less instructor dependent? Good instructors should bring out the organic stuff!

and now…

First steps-> Should they be taught before music and Clave?

This is sure to stir some debate. But I think our current methods might need some serious work.

The Afro-Cuban Genetic Myth

Ask someone from Cuba if they learned their steps first or their music first and they probably couldn’t tell you.

The other day I was watching video footage of children dancing Comparsa down in Cuba. Their body movements were intricate and their rhythm was quite frankly, a world ahead of what you see from some trained Salsa dancers in the United States.

Afro-Cuban genetics? I say that’s complete bullshit.

It has do largely in part with the amount of exposure and experience these guys over there have, true. But it also has to do with how music and dance are embedded in their minds -one and the same.

Which Came First, Music or Dance?

Neither. We walk, breath and speak on rhythm, and we tap, sway and bob our heads when listening to music. I argue that there is no difference between the two, essentially they are inseparable and the same.

So why do our classes ignore this reality?

Why Not Teach Clave First?

If you were introduced to dance as an extension to music, resulting from music, and non-existent without music, it completely shifts your entire dance into an art of interpretation, and music is no longer something that ‘gets in the way’ of our steps if it is too complex.

How We’ve Had to Change

We now begin with playing a song -not too complex- and having the student clap out the Clave half of the song and just listening for the other half. All group classes teach Clave right along side the basic steps.

Think of it as a simple yet effective primer. Prenatal vitamins for the developing dancer.

We didn’t always do this, and it will usually come back to bite you in the future when you want to play the more difficult pieces -Guaguanco, Timba, Bata drumming.

And if you don’t like this approach, try something else!

But I think it’s time we stop reducing dance to a series of rote movements, and music to background noise that keep our “basic time step” and turn patterns together.

Modern dancers have known this for ages. Why are we so damn behind in our theories?

Just telling students to “feel the music” is not enough. Are we saying one thing while the rest of our entire class format says something different?

We’re not knocking on any of the instructors out here or anywhere for their approach teaching. There are no absolute truths in dance. But there are ways that are efficient, and not-so-efficient. We make lots of mistakes but we are obsessed with improvement.

Let’s Flip this Script

I think any good teacher should continually question their methods of instruction. I am very interested in seeing if Salsa instructors will ever adopt a more “native” approach to teaching first steps.

Students come to us with trust that we will maximize their potential. We should do everything in our power to make them the best that we can.

We’ll continue to do our best to dig, question, refine and create change in the Salsa community.

Even if it means turning this mutha*&#a upside down.

The roof is just about the catch on fire guys. And we definitely don’t need any water.

Rule number 6 continued…

I wanted to talk about how taking yourself too seriously impacts others.

There is no room for negativity within a dance environment…period.

If you are asked to dance or are in the middle of dancing with someone please be aware of your demeanor. Whatever you express, be it with your facial expressions or your body language, people feel it.

It impacts them and others they subsequently come in contact with after you.

You can set up a good chain or a bad chain. Use it as an opportunity to boost yourself by boosting others.

I don’t care how miserable we are dancing with them and I don’t care how off beat they are. Unless they are hurting us or making us physically uncomfortable, why do we need to show it?

Are we really that good? If we think so, then we need to get over that dream. And fast.

It’s very simple. With a few adjustments to your facial muscles, you can make yourself and others feel great, or you can make the both of you feel and look miserable.

Lighten up on your partner, you’ll probably dance better anyways.

And I will be sure to double check myself and follow my own advice.

This picture was so lame..I just had to use it!

This one comes from “The Art of Possibility” an amazing book by Ben Zander, which serves to challenge some of the everyday assumptions we take for granted in everyday life. Challenging these “norms” gives you a way to unlock possibility -thus the name.

It was given to me by one of our dancers and for the past few weeks, I start my morning off by reading a few pages from it.

The fourth chapter is “Rule Number 6″: in order to reveal yourself, don’t take yourself too serious.

In a nutshell, by not taking ourselves too seriously we strip away the layers of our calculating self (ego, measurement, negativity, feelings of scarcity etc) to get down to our central self.

In dance I am always trying to get closer and closer to my central self. I think getting to the core of you should be the goal of every dancer.

Why do I dance? Because every movement, every dance, every shift, allows me to strip off the garbage that really isn’t me. It brings me closer to myself -the real me.

It can do the same for you, if you allow it to. Next time you are dancing, don’t take yourself serious, and see what happens. See what movements result, see how you move, see how you feel.

Shave off the layers of bullshit, and see yourself.

I’ve spent a good portion of my time trying to figure out exactly what the right formula is for maximizing each dancer’s potential.

There could probably be a list of about 100 things but here are two things that every teacher should keep in mind:

1. Give them the techniques for success.

Give them standards, tools and the confidence to use them.

2. Teach them with the goal of making yourself dispensable.

Make everyone a teacher.

3. Wipe the fog off their glasses so that they can see clearly.

Remove limitations. I think a good teacher does nothing more than open-up possibilities.

How many of you guys actually want to maximize your creativity as a dancer?

I beg the obvious because some people are perfectly satisfied with doing the body movements over and over again and using a  set of “cool moves” to use out in the nightclub -over and over again.

If that’s the case, this is not for you. This is for those not satisfied with the basics of dance and want to actually express their creative being.

The good news is that we are all creative by nature as human. But socialization creates a set of rules we begin to live by as we age. You react a certain way in this situation, you stand this way when this person is around, don’t express emotion in public, don’t dance that way, people are watching etc.

Socialization itself is a good thing. You can’t throw a temper tantrum in the middle of Wal-Mart because they ran out of Twinkies. Thank goodness.

It seems like society gives you the rules to express impulses and along the same lines, your dance instructor gives you another set of rules. Don’t let the aesthetic guidelines of a dance become sub-conscious habits.

And don’t try to fool me in class by saying “I am aware of what I am doing.” You see, that music shifted 20 times and your movement style stayed the same. I caught you in the act because I know you and I know you come to class to get better. You came to Paso and you want to be a complete dancer, not a robot.

Warning: Unquestioned habits will kill you as a creative dancer.

Fear not. Becoming a creative dancer involves nothing more than removing assumptions that you have grown comfortable with.

In one of our intermediate classes the other day, I watched first hand as I questioned and tore down their assumptions about how they move their body:

“Why do you have to move both shoulders?”
“Who says, you have to start your dance with two hands?”
“Who says you can’t dance stiff?”
“Who says you must dance upright?”
“Who says your arms need to be in front while dancing”
“Who says your close position needs to be like that?”

Stripping off all of these assumptions, the movements that resulted were amazing! I was watching real dancers in action. They fell out of habits -”basic steps”, mundane shoulder movements- and begin to change everything at will.

I now understand that most people don’t even realize they are moving the same way because they just don’t even realize, period!!

Questions to help take you out of the box.

#1 “With the way I am moving my body right now, what assumptions am I making?”

#2 “What can I do to give myself more options?”

Give it a try.

There is nothing wrong with the rules, patterns, and structures of dance. They help create context and a unified language. In the beginning, they are VERY useful for learning the foundations.

But dancing with the same steps, texture, facial expression and posture without being aware of it can wreak havoc when it’s time to be creative within the limits of your particular style of dance.

All of you have tremendous potential as creative dancers, but YOU just need to be made aware of it.

Great image courtesy of Syliva's Latin music blog: http://www.ondacarolina.blogspot.com

Impact on others.

Whenever Paso takes it to the outdoors the not-so-obvious side effect is on the younger crowd.  Thinking back to some of our outdoor adventures, there are almost always children watching and mimicking what we do.

Now on the other hand, watching the adults mimic each other on the nightclub floor is not so cool!

About a week ago I found this post on addicted2Salsa.com:

I have been watching the ‘Dancing with the Stars‘ show for a while now and I have grown accustomed to watching great ballroom dances and good non-Latin Latin dance routines. I praise the celebrity dancersprofessional dancers on the show are required to dance a specific genre of dance, such as salsa, and we come to find out that they don’t know what is real salsa dancing. Now, I do understand that there are different styles of salsa dancing around the world. My judgment takes this into account. However, when you slap on stereotypical non-salsa dance steps with house music and state that you are salsa dancing – that is a for their hard work and determination in learning something completely new to them. This is nothing against them because I truly admire their progress. However, I always have an issue when the whole different story. The video below is what gives salsa dancing an improper typecast compared to what you and I know and love.

My biggest gripe with the whole thing is the judges. While Carrie Ann Inaba is measuring entertainment value and Bruno Tonioli is measuring timing (you can see him hit the table when couples dance), Len Goodman is supposed to be judge who prefers traditional steps and music. Len usually criticizes couples when they don’t follow proper dance structure in terms of proper steps for the assigned dance, but last night was a different story. I have finally come to accept no judge or professional dancer in the show knows what is real salsa dancing.

See for yourself at the judges reaction and let me know what you think!”

Naturally I chuckled because this is an American Salsa website!

Here is my reply to which I am still waiting for a reply:

Eduardo

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived, and dishonest–but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forbears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. -John F. Kennedy

In case you were wondering, our “big point” is to make real Cuban dance a real possibility for anyone who wants it. We don’t care where you came from, how much skill you have, or even if you have money or not!

But we want to change so much about the way people perceive dance and dance instruction in the U.S. and we’ve taken the hammer to quite a few commonly held misconceptions-women don’t lead, it’s impossible for non-black Cubans to dance as rhythmically as Cubans etc. It felt good to know that we have actually made real changes out here in the Triangle. Here are some of them:

Effect #1: Awareness

When we first came to the Triangle, no one really had a clue as to what Cuban style was about. Most people thought that Cuban style and Rueda-group Salsa-were the same thing. I think some instructors were and continue to reduce dance to a series of rote movements while forgetting about culture, philosophy and development of real creative personal expression for the student.

There are some very good instructors out here but somewhere down the line, a big picture is being left out. Sometimes I think instructors may believe in dancing to express and interpret the music, but have to give young students what they want -turns. Eventually, instructors have to go against the business norm, and teach what they believe in. You may think you’ll lose money but in the end you will have a stronger foundation and people will respect your stance. You’ll probably even earn more money.

To me it felt like that some Salsa students out here in the Triangle think that Salsa exists in a vacuum. And that knowledge of the antecedents of Salsa-Afro dances-and a deep understanding of music and expression really don’t matter that much if your spins are tight and your styling looks good. The music doesn’t really change, so why should I change my dance or my beliefs? Total 70’s time capsule.

It’s been a little under two years and what began as a vision is evolving into a movement with the help of musicians and bands like Tambor Vivo and GarDel playing real Cuban music. People are beginning to wake up to the beauty of real Cuban dance. To be honest, it’s non-dancers that are being made aware faster than the “dancers”! This is what we hoped for. I have always said that the future of this dance is totally dependent on how many fresh minds we can reach.

In less than two years Paso went from a vision to the only dance school with its own studio and very distinct and individual culture.

Effect #2: Added color to black and white.

Go to any nightclub night and you will find very little Paso presence on average.  But go to any live event and the majority of dancers there will always be Paso, dancing Cuban style and the distinction between the two is very clear. When we first came here the scene looked like it was mass manufactured, and everyone looked suspiciously similar on the dance floor. I think we added a little bit of color to the scene, in the form of you, our dancers.

Effect #3: Set the bar higher for Latin dance schools.

We wanted to take a holistic approach (thanks for this one Rich) to dance and give students the complete picture: music, expression, supportive atmosphere, and possibility to become great. We are by no means finished and every day we are perfecting this formula. But we have had some exciting breakthroughs and have made some innovations that we hope other instructors will mimic.

Last night one of our new students came dropped by to visit class with her Spanish teacher who just happened to be Cuban. He was so exicited about what was going on at Paso, and in his excitement as he heard us playing Clave for the class said to her: “make sure they teach you Clave, that’s the most important!!!”.

But little did he know she already knew Clave because all new paso students, in their first hour of dancing learn to dance on Clave.

“You have to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out” - Groucho Marx

1. Styling is personal.

This is first and foremost. Ironically, if memory serves me right, Eddie Torres -founder of NY Salsa On2- says that styling is “personal” and “spontaneous”. I was surprised to see that there were no classes in styling listed on his website, or any mention of him or his wife teaching it explicitly. On a side-note, there is a strong contrast between the principles first outlined by Eddie Torres and what NY Salsa is today.

I think the whole idea of teaching someone how to “style” their dance is most certainly an American/European thing -not Afro Latin. It seems as if some dancers feel that trained styling makes their dance more refined. When does refined become processed?

2. Styling is spontaneous, resulting from music and emotion. You can prepare for it, but not teach it.

Styling is an outward expression of feelings that come and go. Do you know ahead of time what mood/direction/feeling your dance will take? If so, then you are limiting yourself to only those feelings. A good instructor teaches the stroke but does not paint the portrait for the student.

3. If you teach it, people will do it. Usually verbatim, and rarely will they ever improvise.

Because you are teaching something that is usually done spontaneously, people will begin to forget what is you and what is them. In other words, they will spontaneously recite styling routines and over time actually fool themselves into thinking that it came from them. This is a dangerous habit-based phenomenon that functions largely outside of your awareness. Just look at the dance floor next time you go out? You can tell everyone purchased the same styling kit!!

Here is an example. As a dancer you experience a feeling brought on by the music, let’s say pleasant anticipation. Rather than play with this feeling and allow it manifest itself physically in its own way, based on your own human experience, you dig into your memory bag of routines and pull something out, ie; body wave. You’ve essentially disconnected your body from the decision loop and let your mind control things.

Our mind loves routine, pattern and regularity. It keeps us out of harm’s way. But do you really want to dance ’safe’?

4. Creating your own style is a more challenging route. But a necessary part of self-discovery.

Some people have a very difficult time with their bodies. The easy answer for the teacher is to give them a fish rather than teach them how to fish. Unfortunately, giving someone a fish will only feed them for a day. Instructors should promote and train body awareness, aligned movement and balance. These are some of the things that allow students to create their own styling. This requires an instructor that’s educated in  formal principles of dance and movement, and it may take longer, but in the end you have a dancer, not a robot.

When it comes to being yourself, there is no better time than the dance floor.

You know, I feel like the most interesting part of dance is teaching it to others.  If you get me talking about learning theory, I might not ever shut up.

Make better dancers in shorter amounts of time. This is our basic goal. Better dancers meaning dancers who are both technically sound and capable of expressing themselves in an authentic -emotionally connected- way. Note I said, shorter amounts of time, not short. Efficiency should reinforce quality, not interfere with it.

Anyone can become a great dancer. We ride heavy on this premise and assume it the moment people walk into our studio. We don’t cut much slack for a reason. You already have what it takes. I think we’ve proven this at Paso now and in the past, by making dancers out of anyone who wants to put in the time to do so.

Once you accept that dance instruction should be simple and efficient, AND that anyone is capable of becoming a great dancer, what can we do to make it better? We are already years ahead of other schools in terms of instruction methods, we want to go light years.

These are just a few questions that pop into my head. Please feel free to add everything and anything else. I know there are more efficient and tighter methods out there and right now we are on the hunt!!

Should classes be longer or shorter?

What would help you develop certain areas faster?

What areas are focused on but not focused on enough?

What would you change? How and why?

Please donate any exercises or ideas or experiences that you have that would help dancers to improve.

If you’ve got any input, give it. What may seem like nothing to you may be a “light bulb” to us.

As always think outside the box. Feel free to email us as well: info@pasosalsastudios.com

Thanks!