01 Saturday Feb 2014
Tags
Beginners, Cape Town, Cape Town Salsa, Dancing, DJ Taliep, Frank Paco, good dancers, Just Dancing Salsa, Loves, Masquerade Salsa Party, Myserious, Party, Party on Long street, Salsa, salsa dance floor, Salsa Party, Salsa Party at Zula Bar, salsa practice, Sassy, Sexy, where to dance, Zula Bar
Posted by Lani Strumpfer | Filed under salsa, Salsa Party, Uncategorized
29 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in Dancing Tips, salsa, Uncategorized
I don’t mean in life, for that you’ll need more than just our help! I mean in Salsa. What is the correct timing for L.A Style Salsa or Salsa-on-1? How do you find the first beat? Do the rest of the beats matter?
The first beat is important. It is where it all starts, and it is where you need to start! There are tricks to finding the first beat, sometimes it is an emphasised beat, sometimes it is the beat that the singer or the background singers start on. Mostly, you’ll just have to practice and keep practicing until you get it, eventually! If you want to look at the technicalities of finding the first beat have a read of what the Dancing Irishman has to say in How to find that goddam 1 beat in salsa.
Once you have found the 1, you need to move on to the 2 beat, really quickly. The 1 & 2 beats in LA style salsa are quick beats and follow in quick succession of one another. This is the first “quick-quick”. It is important because without the quick-quick there is no slow. Beat 3 and 4 are the slow. This is where you transfer your weight from one foot to the other more slowly. They are the chill-out phase where you can gather your thoughts and often your breath for a fraction before moving on to the next quick-quick. The second quick-quick is 5 and 6. These need to be at the same speed as 1 and 2 and is the quick-quick which precedes the last slow, 7 and 8, the second chill-out phase and slow transfer of weight. Thus you get:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
quick-quick slow quick-quick slow
If all your steps are quick and there is no slow, it means you are not giving time to the 4 and 8 and therefore you will find yourself out of time with the music. If all your steps are slow in your salsa basic, it generally means that you are completely out of time with the music! There are of course those steps that you will learn at a more advanced level where this basic rhythm changes, but the more you practice this the better you will become! And here is another tip, the faster the song you are dancing to, the more important this rhythm is!
So listen, listen, listen! The music is not there to create a nice party vibe while you dance; it creates your dance- keep listening!
Happy Dancing peeps!
21 Wednesday Nov 2012
Posted in Dancing Tips, salsa, Uncategorized
Tags
Dancing, Dancing Tips, good dancers, Just Dancing Salsa, Loves, Pointers for Beginners, Salsa, salsa classes, salsa dance floor, salsa practice
What takes a dance from being a series of spins and steps to being that 3-minute-moment you want to repeat over and over again? Is it the song? Is it your partner? Is it your own dancing?
I say, all of the above and more!
There are several aspects for me which takes a dance from just a dance to that dance, the very reason you came out that evening.
The first aspect is the music- when the music strikes its first note within your being and you start moving to it before you hit the dance floor, you know its going to be a very good three+ minutes, but there are several more aspects which come into play.
One is your partner during that song. Is your partner enjoying the music? Do they connect with you by looking you in the eye and smiling? Is there laughter between you when a mistake is made by either of you? Or is he or she too worried about the next step? Or too worried about the people watching so that they are forgetting to enjoy the moment with you? Or too worried about his leading or her following? These things make a huge difference in a dance. Are you overly worried while you’re on the dance floor? Your partner can tell and it is minimising their enjoyment of the dance. The next time you dance with anyone, look them in the eye, allow that connection between you, smile and laugh and enjoy yourself!
But there is another aspect in making the dance that dance. That dance is
a dance which includes what I like to call play. Play I will define as spontaneous movement originating from either of the partners, to which the other partner responds spontaneously without either partner taking away from the current step or beat. Therefore play at a simple level could be seen as styling, but it is also so much more than styling. It is dancing! It is styling that involves spontaneity within a four-way connection. It is your connection to the music, your partner’s connection to the music, your connection to your partner and your connection to yourself.
To play in a dance you need to be able to dance with more than your feet and the steps and patterns which you have been taught. You need to dance with your entire body! Play can involve popping or rolling, flicking, combing, twisting and even hopping and so much more!
Play can make a dance, and a lack thereof can break it…
Do you play when you dance?
If you’re keen to learn a little more about how to play within a dance, pull in at our BODY MOVEMENT WORKSHOP on SATURDAY 24th November at 3pm at Barbosa Social Café! Contact us to book your place!
02 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Dancing Tips, salsa, Uncategorized
Tags
Dancing Tips, good dancers, Just Dancing Salsa, Party, Pointers for Beginners, salsa practice, where to dance
Learning can be frustrating. 
Many people get very despondent with how slowly they progress when they start to salsa. They lose confidence and think that maybe the dance is just not for them.
NOT TRUE!
Salsa, like anything in life is learnt by practice. Therefore, the quickest way to learn how to dance salsa is by immersion. Immerse yourself in the dance. Find a place to dance as many nights of the week as possible. Contact us if you are unsure of where you can go in Cape Town.
We have lately taken a beginner to an advanced level within 6 weeks merely because she danced 5 nights a week! The more hours you put in, the quicker your ability and confidence will grow.
When you are out dancing, dance with everyone! Be certain to dance with those who are better than you as well as with those who are at your level. Dancing with someone at your own level is great, you learn and play and practice together. Dancing with someone who is above your level is like a free 4 minute private lesson. Every move is a lesson learnt- cherish it! Every track is an opportunity- don’t waste the music!
Another means of immersion is to listen to salsa music- all the time. Salsa music is very complex and many hear it simply as a whole lot of noise in the beginning of their salsa journey. The more you listen to Salsa music the more your ear and then your body will be able to understand it and respond to it. So, fill up your Ipod with some amazing salsa tunes and play it all day.
Here’s to hours and hours of fun!
Immerse yourself!
23 Thursday Aug 2012
Posted in Dancing Tips, salsa, Uncategorized
Tags
Beginners, Dancing, Dancing Tips, good dancers, Just Dancing Salsa, Salsa, salsa classes, salsa dance floor, salsa practice, where to dance
Many beginner leads complain about not being able to remember the turn patterns they learnt in class. And they do not feel confident that they will be able to remember their steps and leads when taking a lady onto the floor.
Here’s the thing: YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
All you need to do is remember a few simple steps: You need to be able to do the salsa basic, a cross-body lead and one simple turn. Apart from that, just smile and enjoy it!
When you want to grow from this, do not try and remember the entire routine you learn each week. Rather pick one step that you particularly liked, or the only one you remember and add that to your repertoire. That way, over the year you could possibly add 52 steps to your collection. Since the most experienced dancers usually use less than 20 actual steps/patterns and then repeat them, you will have more than enough to allow any salsera to enjoy her 4 minutes on the dance floor with you! And that is really what you are after- nothing fancy, just simple enjoyment!
So be confident men… the ladies are longing to dance with you!
I’ll see you ALL on the floor at the MASQUERADE SALSA PARTY!
04 Saturday Aug 2012
Posted in Dancing Tips, salsa, Uncategorized
Tags
Barbosa Social Cafe, Cape Town, Dancing Tips, good dancers, Just Dancing Salsa, Pointers for Beginners, Salsa, salsa classes, Salsa Party, salsa practice, where to dance
Simply put… Stubbornness.
The best dancers are incredibly stubborn! When they know they can’t do something, they do it. Usually over and over again so that what they cannot do becomes what they can do. Often it irritates them so much that cannot do something that they determine to get that something right usually before the next time they are going to dance.
Seldom do they get it right in a studio. Most often it is in the kitchen or in front of the tiny bedroom mirror, in the shower or randomly in the street. Or, and this is a common one, in the grocery queue. This is because the best dancers dance absolutely everywhere while life happens around them. They do not let it go! It’s stubbornness!
Every opportunity to dance is taken. It is not given up for the comfort of home or for an enticing fad. Whenever they can dance, they do. With whomever they can dance, they do. If they happen to hear the right music, they dance. If there is a dance party, they go and they dance. If there isn’t a dance party they throw one, and they dance.
Dance stubbornness perseveres. It doesn’t leave you be. It doesn’t stay for only a short time. Good dancers do not dance for a few months only, they stick to it for years. And their stubbornness sticks with them.
Be stubborn.
Dance!
