Thursday, November 8, 2012

Salsa after one year

Propose the word co-choreographer to the word follower.

“Follow”means in the cha cha when one partner turns to dance backwards. The following partner puts her hands on the partner’s back shoulders. They dance the same step one behind the other. Two people doing 12 123 12. Forward 2 123 back 2 123. In New York salsa on two the partners dance a mirror image of each others basic steps:123 versus 567. Sometimes even one partner’s move is not like the other partner’s move at all. So she is not “following”what her partner is doing; she is executing the dance step that her partner has suggested by his lead. For example if he suggests a right turn; she will perform a right turn. She is not “following” his right turn. He didn’t turn right. She is choreographing a graceful heads-up right turn of her own creation.

If the word follow simply means follow the lead given by your partner, who is the leader; then any beginner salsa student would be as good a dancer as any advanced salsa student. Because all she has to do is follow the lead. I have noticed that there is a giant difference between beginner dancers and advanced dancers. Beginners don’t follow until they study and learn the choreography. This includes the expense of time and money to practice.

Then there is the question of what to do when the cue for a right turn is given to the follower after the ideal count. Does the follower make a snappy awkward right turn arriving just in time for the ideal count? Does she follow his cue and make her turn at a normal gracefull speed arriving in front of her partner off his beat?

Similarly when a lead is unclear,a cue is missed or hand contact is broken a follower would be lost. She missed her cue and doesn’t know what to do! The co-choreographer steps into a makeshift shine or a fanciful basic. Each new lead from a new partner requires a different dance. She changes partners all night long. The men do the same step over and over with only a change of dance partner. Each new partner for the follower has a different way to lead. And that is the fun of dancing Salsa. That’s the fun of rotating in class. That’s the fun of going to clubs.The follower is a choreographer because she never knows what the dance will be. Does anybody listen to the music?

 

So if you think of your partner as a co-choreographer you will understand that she accepts your lead as a suggestion. By agreeing to dance with you she accepts you as a leader. She will try to perform the suggested step to the best of her physical capabilities but if she fails please spare me the guillotine.

  Next surviving the Copacabana.