Second thing instructors should teach - small steps

[elgrancombo]

Of course the first thing is timing. I agree with other posters who say this should be drilled before any turns or styling are taught. But I feel that instructors should also continually emphasize taking smaller steps, especially when on a crowded club dance floor. Tonight I was at Rumba in Chicago, and there were so many dancers taking HUGE steps and causing problems on the floor. I know I'm preaching to the choir here because I expect that anyone that bothers reading a Salsa chatboard is probably a pretty considerate dancer, but this concept needs to be stressed more in classes.

 

[cocodrilo]

These are beginning dancers. Most people dance like that when they are learning, before they get the body movements, etc. down. I teach total beginners and they pick it up amazingly well, and the steps aren't all that big. Remember- these people are just getting the feel for this kind of dance, which not only requires learning patterns(at first) but keeping balance. This is extremely hard to do as a beginner.

 

[africana]

oh you'd be surprised how advanced most culprits are. Just take a trip to la la land for some proof :lol:

it seems like common sense: only dance with the available space and don't hurt people around you

it seems like common sense

 

[cocodrilo]

What is the cause, Africana? Is the instruction that bad? I have never seen anyone even at intermediate level dancing with large steps- in Asia. (HUGE styling, arm flailing YES, but not the large steps. The Japanese girls are really quick to get the patterns down and look good!)

 

[cocodrilo]

Incidentally, was this a gender-directed thread or were your observations of both men andb women dancing with large steps, Elgrancombo?

 

[africana]

What is the cause, Africana? Is the instruction that bad? I have never seen anyone even at intermediate level dancing with large steps- in Asia. (HUGE styling, arm flailing YES, but not the large steps. The Japanese girls are really quick to get the patterns down and look good!)

I think it's remant's of the show-off culture where people do lots of tricks, flips, dips and anything else that catches attention

so they need floor space to put on that floor show hahaa!

 

[saludas]

Not small steps: ACCURATE steps...

Advanced dancers take steps that fit their body, but LOOK huge. 'Small' is relative. Beginners take big steps but do not move their bodies. That's why they seem to take up so much space - their foot (for example) goes out further than their 'bubble' of movement, so it gets out of control.

A good dancer takes full movements (finishes lines) using his body. A beginning dancer MAKES lines by extending limbs.

 

[yola]

there are three things we teach more or less from the beginning: technique (the steps &how to take them, i mean latin motion), timing (when to take the steps in the music), third SMALL steps.

i agree with saludas that a lot of the problems are caused by just extending your feet in stead of moving your body, your center, with your feet.
i don't agree with his/her statement that advanced dancers take steps that look huge.
imo advanced dancers have to be able to vary there steps, movement and stylin, according to the floorspace available. So i mostly see them taking verrrry small steps while social dancing (dancing on 1 square meter) and using the bigger steps sometimes while they're performing. or verry early in the morning when there's only them left (and me hehehe) at the party :lol: [/i]

 

[saludas]

i agree with saludas that a lot of the problems are caused by just extending your feet in stead of moving your body, your center, with your feet.
i don't agree with his/her statement that advanced dancers take steps that look huge.
imo advanced dancers have to be able to vary there steps, movement and stylin, according to the floorspace available. So i mostly see them taking verrrry small steps while social dancing (dancing on 1 square meter) and using the bigger steps sometimes while they're performing. or verry early in the morning when there's only them left (and me hehehe) at the party :lol: [/i]

Yes, I agree - a good dancer can vary their movement for the situation. A beginner does not have that in them - they basically do what they know; they have not had enough experience 'on the floor' to be able to modify movement.

What was meant about 'looking' huge as compared to 'dancing' huge, is that a trained dancer will be easily able to make even the tiniest forward walk (for instance) look gigantic. This is not done by moving the limbs bigger, but by making the limb movement a part of the body action. The 'look' is big because the whole body is engaged. Beginning dancers move body parts, to be sure, but (as a teacher once told me) that you should make the limbs move as a RESULT of the body moving.

 

[africana]

here we go again with ballroom hah

 

[lynn]

hmm, maybe i'm missing something here.... when i first learned salsa, i had to take tiny, baby sized steps b/c the music was going so fast. If i ever took big steps, i'd be either 1) tripping over ppl 2)shuffling 3) off beat or 4) all of the above.....

 

[genEus]

Taking small steps makes a world of a difference in the feeling of the dance, the energy it takes and the view from the outside. This was an amazing thing that I took out of a workshop with James Cobo. Taking small steps helped me a lot with having lack of combinations to occupy myself during slower salsa since it seems that small steps create the illusion that you're dancing fast! It's also much easier to execute a lot of moves when I follow the girl closely during the spin - there's no chance that I am far from her to pull her off balance, there's also more time for body motion. During the workshop James put a sneaker on the floor on the imaginary line between him and his partner and they stood on each side of the sneaker and danced around it. No matter what they did they didn't move farther apart than a foot on each side of the sneaker and it was phenomenal to watch, so much sabor and precision! It also helps a lot now dancing in a crowded place. It just feels like during the time that it would otherwise take me to take a big step I can do a million things with my body in place and look and feel the music better. Does this make sense at all? :?

 

[Sagitta]

Ballrom africana? :?

I agree with the small steps.