Fifth salsa class: Lima, 2009-11-29

The fifth salsa class had the core members gathered: Juan-Carlos and Melanie, Robert and Gissela, and Eidi & I.

Since everyone had already learned the basics ("level 1"), it was time to move on to "level 2" (La Isla-style classification!). The classes will from now on always begin with some footwork to warm up and learn some solo moves - also called "shines" - and then the rest will be partnerwork where we combine various moves into a sequence, cheerfully known as La Sequencia. We will repeat the sequence from the previous class rapidly before moving on to a new one.

* First of all, let's introduce some very useful terms, on holds:
- Closed hold: When the partners form the "frame".
- Open hold: When the partners hold one or both hands. There is no frame.
- Straight hold: Open hold where leader's left hand holds follower's right hand and vice versa. Can be with both hands, or just one or the other.
- Crossed hold: Open hold where leader's left hand holds follower's left hand and vice versa. Can be with left hand above or right hand above, or just one hand or the other.
- Double crossed hold: The result of a straight hold after doing a turn. Can be with left hand above or right hand above. Always held with both hands.

* A word about why it's called "Line style": A key difference between line style and cuban style is the concept of the line. The follower always moves along a line. This means that as a follower, you're always doing one of two things:
1) Dancing in place where you are. You're not moving in any direction.
2) Moving in one direction along the line. All your steps are taken in that direction until the lead indicates you should either stop and start dancing in place where you are, or reverse your direction, or the next eight begins.
As a leader, you can be stepping around in many different directions to get out of the way of the follower as she moves along the line, but you are always leading in one of two ways:
1) Letting the follower dance in place where she is (stepping, turning, whatever).
2) Leading the follower in one direction along the line (stepping, turning, whatever). You must clearly indicate to the follower in which direction to step, when to start moving, and when to stop moving. If turning, you must also clearly indicate to the follower in which direction to turn.

* In the footwork, we introduced a new step: Susie Q. You cross your legs to one side on 1-2-3, and to the other side on 5-6-7, the crossing leg in front of the other one. Useful for solo dancing when waiting to pair up again. The rest of the footwork was a mix of the four steps we've learned.

* Today's partnerwork sequence consisted of some known and some new moves. The sequence was:
- Basic, start in closed hold
- Cross Body Lead, end in open hold
- Basic
- Right Turn for both partners, low hands, hand swap, end in crossed hold left hand over
- Basic
- Open Break, La Copa, end in crossed hold right hand over
- Basic
- Open Break, Sombrero
- Cross Body Lead

* We showed a new way to do a leader's right turn today: By lowering the hand and swapping hands during the turn. This is the "same" as a normal right turn beneath the leader's arm, but is especially useful (easier) if the leader is tall and the follower short. It is also a nice way to swap handhold from straight to crossed. The follower can help out here by maintaining her hand in contact with the follower's body during the turn.

* We repeated the Open Break: This is not a move in itself, it is just a preparation for a move. It consists of the leader taking a step backwards on 1, instead of forwards. This creates a tension in the arms - think rubber band - which gives momentum for whatever comes next. Note that the arms should never be fully outstretched; partially because it can hurt and partially because it doesn't look as nice.

* We introduced the step La Copa: It begins with an Open Break, hands crossed left above, the leader pulls with his right hand on 2 and stops the follower on 3 by placing his right hand on her right hip - at this point both are looking sideways, compared to the line. On 5-6-7 the lead guides the follower to return to her original position, similar to a cross body lead. It is called "la copa" because when done right, on 3 the lead leans to the left and the follower leans to the right, forming a "cup" or a "Y" with their upper bodies.

* We introduced the step Sombrero: It begins with an Open Break, hands crossed right above, the leader pulls with his right hand on 3 and raises it preparing the turn. On 5 the follower steps forward, on 6-7 the lead guides the actual turn - which is a left turn - both hands held high, and on 7-8 the lead's right arm falls below the follower's neck and vice versa. The follower steps in a similar way as in a Cross Body Lead with right turn, which we learned in the third class. The difference is that the leader is on her other side, so the turn is in the other direction: In Sombrero, the follower does 1.5 left turn (and of course the armwork is different). The next eight was finished with a Cross Body Lead, but leading with the right hand above the follower's arm instead of below it.

* Some difficulties noted during the class which we managed to fix:
- Difficult for leaders to remember the sequence: Yes, it is. There's no shortcut. It gets better with practice, it's as simple as that.
- The followers sometimes wanted to "help", since they knew the sequence, by moving before the leader has indicated the move. Avoid this, since it ruins the flow of the dance. The most important thing for the follower is to learn to listen to the leader's signals and follow them.
- In La Copa, the leader must clearly indicate on 2 that the follower must step forward on 3, and clearly brake her on 3. The follower must put down her foot on 3 - it was easy to be a bit late here as a follower.
- Leading Sombrero is much easier if the leader's right hand stays up during the whole turn (3-7).
- In the Sombrero, the line style version, all the follower's steps are taken in the same direction in order to maintain the line and momentum. Just as the Cross Body Lead with right turn, but the turn is to the left in Sombrero. In Cuban style salsa, the steps are different and usually done more "in place".
- On the 5-6-7 of the Sombrero, the leader steps a bit to the right, sort of a rumba step, in order to stay at the follower's side.
- On the first 1 after the Sombrero, doing a Shuffle step feels natural. We'll go through that step next class. Promise... :)

* We ended the class by skipping all the Basic steps between the different moves, which complicated things a bit but looks much nicer. And everyone got it right in the end! Now we're doing some real salsa dancing! You guys already know more than the average latino/latina, and from now on it'll just get better and better! :)

That's all we did in the fifth class. Great job, keep practicing!