March 2, 2009

Today I had a private lesson with Tracey and I attended a group salsa class at the Maxcy-Gregg Senior Center taught by Ramon Gil.

My lesson with Tracey was great. He is such an amazing teacher, personable person, and fascinating dancer – all in one! I started off by trying to really understand how to move my center and shoulders. I still don’t feel like I totally comprehend the upper body movement needed to move my hips and feet. I understand the pulling down below the shoulder blade to send the opposite foot forward, but I don’t feel like I look like Tracey at all. I feel like my chest, center, and the way I’m facing are all wrong. However, I did videotape part of our lesson and hopefully by watching him and myself I can figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Actually, I just tried to watch my video and I looked up some instructional videos on line but none of them are close-up enough or similar enough to Tracey’s style.

On the cross-over step he mentioned a few pointers. Think of you arm that is still touching your partner’s as a boat with a rope and skier. The boat leads and takes off and eventually the rope’s slack (your elbow) straightens out and the skier (your shoulder) can’t help but be pulled along. This is what keeps the side movements sharp and crisp. Also, by suspending the turn it makes it more pleasing to look at it. Additionally, don’t forget to step down on your heels with each step to transfer the weight. This means when cross your right over your left, it goes right heel and then left heel to create sort of a rolling movement. We added a double cross-over step in which you just repeat again to the same side. One thing I kept messing up was being completely over my leg. I tend to stay back when stepping forward. I now know that “too far” is actually just right.
Another thing I’m noticing from the videos is that Tracey keeps his feet turned out, especially when stepping forward, and I don’t. I also sometimes tense up in my arms. I need to let all the weight be in my partner’s hand and let my shoulder sink into my partner’s hand in the closed position. This means no shoulder blades sticking out. Tracey also looks like he is a lot more pulled up in the chest.

Tracey taught me a more complicated pattern that is shown on the video. It involves holding hands while side by side and the man changing his step to be on the same foot as the woman. The woman then turns twice by salsa-ing forward with a slight break in between. Tracey mentioned leaning in when turning to maintain that sense of a central point of pivot between partners. The video holds everything we learned including progressive pivots (keeping your legs and knees in the same position while shanaying across the floor).

I also attended Ramon’s group class at 5:30. The group only had one guy and about 7 other ladies, all of which were above the age of 60. He taught the basic step, the Cuban (or 5th position cross as Tracey calls it), a cross-body lead (turning 180 degrees after half a basic), and a shine. A shine is begun by the man but he simply does a half basic and then stands still is a wide second position. The woman is then free to show off and do her own thing. The man simply holds his hands with hers in a cupped position and acts as a support base. One shine we learned was doing three Suzy-Q’s (cross over step with two paddles and then swing the leg in back around to the front to repeat), a slide forward, and a big move like a lunge or leg wrap around. The slide forward begins after three Suzy-Q’s have been completed. The back leg is placed on the ground and the left leg slides way forward and the back leg slides to meet it. You then switch directions to lunge out the right leg or pick your right leg up and wrap it around your partner. You then go back into the basic to tell your partner the shine is complete. Although this shine is specific it is completely improv and you can play with it all you want.

Ramon’s class was completely different from Tracey’s. It was a group class, it was only $5, people came and went as the pleased, and Ramon seemed more about the fun and the soul music then the specifics. It’s a perfect class for elderly dancers who are just looking to learn something new, dance for fun, or exercise. However, I prefer something more specific and tailored. I want to become as professional as possible and I felt like Ramon’s class was a little too beginner for me. It was really cool that he’s Puerto Rican, which is the birth place of salsa dance. It was a great time to work on my basic moves, which are never perfect.

Ramon used me a lot to demonstrate, especially for turns, which made me feel great. It was a great way to feel like I’m learning and doing well. He could tell right away that I was a ballet dancer because instead of using the force of his lead to turn, I used my feet to paddle my turn. When you turn in salsa you have to keep your other foot off the ground, which is going to be hard for me.