You’ve probably heard me say that, in partner dancing, you connect three ways: You connect to the music, you connect to your partner, and you connect to the floor. And you can’t miss on any of them (especially the floor!). 🙂 In this edition of Mark’s Lead, let’s focus on the first connection: to the…
The best way to learn to dance is to dance. That’s, of course, a truism. Coming to classes is great (just ask our regular students!). But if you don’t have an opportunity to dance “in the wild,” you’ll never really learn to apply the class learning to real music and random partners. But what if,…
Over the past couple of editions of “Mark’s Lead,” I’ve introduced a few ideas about how to experience the lessons and optimize your learning. Today, we’ll continue on that theme with an idea that will accelerate your learning and enable you to quickly advance in your dance skill. Ready for this? Here’s the secret: Learn…
In last week’s Lead, we looked at how the intention of our classes is not so much to learn the pattern perfectly from beginning to end. Rather, our intention is to convey ideas and applied skills that you can incorporate, according to the nature of the music and the skill of your partner, into your…
I will confess that I don’t personally dance all the turn patterns that I teach in social dancing. Moreover, I really don’t expect my students to learn and memorize all the turn patterns that I teach. I will go so far as to say, “Don’t learn the turn pattern!” Such heresy from a dance instructor?…
In the world of Salsa lessons (and with many other styles as well) beginner dancers are keen to take intermediate-level lessons, intermediate dancers are anxious to get into the advanced class, and advanced dancers want to learn the pro tricks. The Pros? They focus on fundamentals and the details of what one would learn in…
One often hears about “Ladies’ Styling” or “Men’s Styling” that refers to various arm, leg, and body movements added to a pattern for enhancing its look. Styling is often considered an “add-on” – an optional bit, usually for more advanced dancers that involves precise placement of hands, an extra syncopated step, a particular hip flare,…
The definition of “social media” that I mention above – namely, “A means of communication that enables large groups of people to interact, share information, develop social contacts, and enable social networking” – applies pretty well to lead/follow partner dancing. Granted, the “information” being shared is entirely physical (or kinaesthetic, to get technical about it)….
We’ve all heard the expression, “less is more,” referring to the idea that sometimes, one doesn’t have to go over the top to be effective. This is especially true when it comes to leading a follower through a dance. Although people often speak of someone being a “strong” lead, in this sense, “strong” is not…
Connect to the music. Connect to your partner. Connect to the floor. Three essential connections for any partner dance, including salsa. Of the three, connecting to your partner is often the most challenging, even though we *are* talking about partner dancing! Most people can – more or less – hear the rhythm in dance music,…