8th salsa class: Lima, 2010-01-11

The 7th salsa class turned into a private class: Only Robert and Gissela, and Eidi & I.

Everyone was rested and had worked on their tans over the Christmas holidays - it has its advantages being south of the equator in December!

Our students had practiced their sequence over the holidays, so there wasn't much to fix there. We jumped right into the fourth and last part of our sequence. A bit longer, but our students had no problem picking it up.

16) Follower's Right Turn, cross hold
17) Cross Body Lead, joined hands
18) Butterfly
19) Follower's Right Turn
20) Procession
21) Cross Body Lead with Right Turn, shuffle, pincer grip
22) Periscope and a big hug - end of sequence!

Breaking each step down into some detail:

16) Follower's Right Turn, cross hold: A normal follower's right turn on 5-7, led with leader's right hand. We use this as a nice way to change grip into a cross hold, left hand above.
17) Cross Body Lead, joined hands: A cross body lead in cross hold, left above. Never let go of the hands. 1-2-3 is a normal CBL, and on 5 the leader has to tug on the follower's both arms to indicate the move and turn direction (left turn, as usual). A detail here is that the two hands should be held close together joined at the wrists, and raised on 6-7. Then we halt the follower with her back to the leader. So the follower has made a total of 1 turn, not 1.5 which is normal in a CBL. This is in preparation for the next move; this and the next flow into one another as a whole.
18) Butterfly: Leader does two cuban steps ("south-east", "south-west"), follower does two inverted cuban steps (foot forward instead of backward; "north-west", "north-east"). Hands held high on 1 fan out to the sides and down on 2 as leader gently indicates direction of follower's step on 2. Arms raised back up on 3, held there on 4-5, then lowered again on 6, then up again on 7. This "flapping of wings" movement with the arms is why it's called Butterfly. In general, Butterfly position is whenever the follower has her back to the leader with a right-right, left-left hand hold. It takes some practice to get this movement to look fluid, and it can feel as it goes a bit fast coming into it from the previous cross body lead. The follower can add styling if she wants; for example doing a body roll during the butterfly looks nice.
19) Follower's Right Turn: Starts with a half Butterfly on 1-3. On 2-3, the leader moves his left hand to the follower's left shoulder. On 4, the leader dips the right hands, indicating a turn will come. On 5, the leader raises the right hands and gives a gentle shoulder push with his left hand, indicating the direction of the turn. The follower turns 1.5 right turns on 6-7, ending up facing the leader. On 7-8, leader should offer his left hand to get back into crossed hold, left hand above, to be ready for the next move.
20) Procession: Starts with an Open Break. On 2-3, the leader pulls the follower towards him, a bit similar to a Copa, but places his right hand on the follower's right shoulder and lets her complete the turn so they are both facing in the same direction on 3. This should be done firmly but gently, to clearly indicate that this is not a Copa, but take care not to push the follower's left arm awkwardly. Then on 5-6-7, both take small steps backwards, maintaining the pose.
21) Cross Body Lead with Right Turn, shuffle, pincer grip: Starts with a Shuffle on 1-3, which is a partner styling step: On 1, both extend the left leg and tap the floor with the toes of the left foot. On 2, the feet remain in this position. On 3, the left foot returns to the side of the right foot. Then on 5, a Cross Body Lead is initiated, using both the leader's hands to indicate the direction (right) of the turn. On 6, the leader joins the follower's two hands in mid-turn. On 6-7, the leader graps both the follower's hands in his right hand, palm towards palm and thumb pincing the back of the follower's hands. The thumb pincer grip is necessary to be able to do this. On 7, the right turn is completed, and the leader now holds the follower's two hands in his right hand. In this move, the two most complicated parts are: a) The Shuffle steps deviates from the principle of "feet always alternate", which makes it sometimes easy to lose the pace. The left foot moves on both 1, 3 and 5 in this move, and b) The pincer grip only works if the leader joins and then grasps the follower's hands in the right way. Takes some practice, but it's not that difficult.
22) Periscope with a big hug: Normal basic step on 1-3, but the leader "ducks" his head into the leader's arms, using his right hand to place her hands (pincer grip still) around his neck. The way the leader's head "pops up" inside the follower's embrace is why we call it Periscope. On 5-7, give each other a big hug: The sequence is completed!

We ended the class by repeating the entire four-class sequence to Guantanamera.

Starting the new year armed with a complete line-style salsa sequence of a total of 22 moves isn't bad at all! Now go out and practice it "live", and try to skip the in-between basics to make it look smoother.

Well done students, and next week we'll start out with an all-new sequence!