Flares and spins are not native to the Cuban style of Salsa, and are more commonly found in NY style shines -solo movements. I wouldn’t consider this particular movement authentic Cuban but what the heck.

But on the other hand, the Cuban style is rather expansive, and with its inherent flexibility you can work in different movements, and still keep your authentic edge.

Most of us intuitively know the rules of the social dance game. Take your basic etiquette and transfer it to dance.

Quite simply, don’t drop your common sense when you open your arms to embrace your partner.

Outside of the basics of breath, body odor, and being gentle, there is one subtle rule that tends to be forgotten by anxious leads, and on occasion, follows.

“Teaching someone” on the dance floor is a no-no for most situations.

There are a handful of qualified instructors out here in the Triangle, and from time to time they might give pointers to their own students, but if this isn’t you, you might want to just relax and have fun.

If you are leading and have to teach it, stop right there. Either you’re not leading it correctly, she doesn’t have the reflexive skill to follow it, or the move is smoke and mirrors based -not truly lead-able.

In any case, you cannot and should not try to address this during the course of a social dance.

In class, student feedback is helpful. Overt criticism is not, and will serve only to frustrate your partner -making things worse for the both of you.

To keep it safe, leads should assume it’s their fault and follows can do the same. Whatever you do, keep that finger pointed towards yourself and you will tend to be a better partner for it. This isn’t self-criticism. This is about accepting responsibility for your part in the dance.

If a partnership based business tanks, it doesnt matter who was actually at fault. If it fails, everyone loses, period.

Above all, have both your partner’s feelings and best interest in mind whenever you open your mouth to say anything. And if you feel their technique or expression is lacking, attempt to fix nothing. Finish the dance with grace, and find a new partner.

“it’s not that you can’t do it, you’re just thinking too hard.”

ironically, almost none of us were able to stop ‘thinking hard’, or derive a single ounce of improvement from this all-too-common wisdom.

chances are, you used more of the wrong effort to try to stop thinking hard, pulling yourself even deeper into the abyss.

yet, on some level, we understand that it contains solid advice. we don’t debate it’s validity, we just can’t do anything with it. but in and of itself, it’s void of any nourishment.

executing anything proficiently, be it a backhand in tennis, a right hook in boxing, the delicate strokes of brush to canvas, or a dime-sized shot group from an HK 9mm handgun, requires thinking.

social dancing and the art of movement, require you to think.

the problem isn’t thinking too hard, it’s thinking too far. too far ahead and outside of the current moment to actually use your thought process for anything other than screwing up your steps.

Paso teaching technique isn’t designed to get you to stop thinking, it’s designed to get you thinking about the right things. like the angle of your fingers, the length of your spine, and the tension in the core of your body, or pelvic floor. the stuff that actually makes a difference in how you look and feel on the dance floor.

and turning off your thoughts just isn’t going to happen. that elephant is going to move somewhere.

instead of trying not to think too hard, why not use that elephant for something useful? apply your conscious thinking towards noticing the what you are doing in the present moment.

underneath present moment awareness is an allowance for things as they are. and at the heart of  allowance, is a detachment from the outcome. it’s tough to do anything well, when you are fixated on the outcome.

we all have desired goals to reach in both dance and life. we want to learn new patterns, body work, parter work etc. that’s cool. but we should try to allow things to be as they are in the given moment, detach from the results, and understand that we are most effective when we are in our bodies and out of our heads.

Relinquishing your attachment to outcomes

if you look deep into any situation in the past where you found yourself totally fouling things up because of thinking too hard or misplaced effort, you will find at its core, an attachment to the outcome -something you couldn’t control in the first place.

chances are, the outcome became more important than the effort to reach the outcome. and since the outcome is dependent on quality of effort, you can imagine what’s next.

thinking too far means that you are leaving the only place that you can control -the present moment- and focusing on the outcome which, at that point, exists only in your sweet imagination.

when it comes to the topic of learning dance and thinking too hard about outcomes, I love to use spinning as an example. spinning requires relaxed concentration, and spins provide a clear visual indication of our efforts, making them a most convenient model of the what happens when you think or try too  hard.

there is a certain binary quality to the result of spins. balance or off-balance, the moment you execute that spin, physics decides what is going to happen.

it’s time to let go.

trying to change it midway will tend to leave you severely off balance.  and contrary to the advice I received when learning to spin, “holding your body tight” will leave you on your ass.  trying, in the sense which places great weight on the outcome, reduces your chances of proper execution of any given task.

desiring an outcome (who doens’t want a smooth spin?) is fine. but focusing on it, rather than the current moment, reduces the chances of you reaching that outcome, ironically.

you’ve given your due attention to outcome the moment you decide to spin, execute a backhand, or pull the trigger to release the hammer. visualizing the ending helps, but after that, it’s time to let go, immerse your consciousness in the movement and let your nervous system and physics do it’s thing. do your work, and stand back.

relaxed concentration is a tricky sort of effort. you know where you want that ball to land, but thinking forward to that outcome during execution, results in diminished performance.

the present moment is the only thing you will ever have any control over, anyway. it’s where choices are made. it’s where consciousness exists, and that is incredible in and of itself.

focusing on the outcome of a movement, instead of the movement itself,  will only serve to distance you from the only moment where the movement, and/or your partner exist.

Suzuki once said, “my microphone won’t work very well if it exists somewhere else”.

so, where are you when you dance?

if you are like most of us, it probably didn’t take much effort for it to clearly surface in the mind’s eye.

some in psychology refer to this phenomenom as the ‘white bear effect’. our efforts to suppress thoughts tend to make them more persistent.

perhaps it’s a natural tendency of our consciousness to resist. or it could be because we tend to think in pictures and negations like ‘dont’, ‘not’ etc, are disposed of, and we are left with only the image.

training students at paso, week after week, has taught me a lot about dealing with white bears.

largely a part east indian and asian philosophy, inquiry has been used for thousands of years as a tool for spiritual growth, and avoiding wars with the conscious mind. rather suppressing certain habits or forcing change, it can be fun to use open-ended questions to side step the resistance patterns of the mind, and get results.

its ironic that questions with no answer can lead you to results, but its amazing to watch the change take place when students ask themselves an open-ended question such as, ‘how smooth can my basic step get?’

it makes sense.

when is the last time you enjoyed forcing yourself to do something?

central to the paso teaching methodology, is the use of inquiry -questions which lead you to create changes on your own. many of these questions are designed to encourage you to go inside your body for answers. as this tends to be the most difficult thing for learners to do.

changing the tape in the player

since most of us are dancing with a narrative replaying in our minds -you can’t turn it off- what if we replaced it with something useful, besides criticism, judgment, fear, pride etc?

follows, what do you have playing in your mind while dancing with a lead? what results from it? can it be changed?

your role as a follow tends to rely heavily on intuition and your ability to create a feeling of ‘oneness’ with your lead. intuition is one dimension of consciousness that fails miserably when dancing from your mind.

intuition is the currency of follows.

if you try to replace authentic connection with purely memorized steps, the lead will sense either consciously or subconsciously, the lack of detailed congruence between their movements and yours, similar to how we easily detect bad acting or fake smiles.

not to say that learning steps isnt necessary, but very quickly the movements need to correspond and relate to the feel of another human being. this is where both connection and intuition come into play.

is there a way we could play a tape that results in a deeper connection and keener intuition? purely speaking, any tape should be disposed of, but in the beginning, it’s not so easy, right?

ladies, we can start by replacing the tapes we play with inquiry. simple, open-ended questions, that help expand your sense of awareness.

and rather than replay judgment, or analytical dissection, let’s replay this simple and incredibly powerful question that can be posed at any time during a dance:

“where does his lead end and my follow begin?”

now begin noticing..

is there any separation between your follow and their lead?

how big is that space?

does it changing as I move?

how would it feel to have zero separation?

just ask the question in your mind while dancing. the initial inquiry can be applied to even specific limbs that are causing you trouble–

“where does his steps/hand/arm end and mine begin?” because of the beauty of time and space, these questions have no conclusive answer for your conscious mind to reach. try asking in both first and third person.

by simply getting curious about things, rather than judging or analyzing, you will be led deeper into both your body and sense of partner connection. inquiry is nothing new. it’s been used for ages, and is bound to make things interesting.

give the techniques a try, and watch the magic unfold.

i want to discuss with you the importance of the beginner’s mind in learning dance, or learning anything for that matter.

we enter the world in this beginner’s state of mind, and we enter into any new discipline with this state of mind. within the beginner’s mind lies an endless expanse of possibility, in the expert’s mind…closed doors.

the beginner mind proposes questions, the expert mind reaches conclusions. but are those conclusions ever truth in the first place?

is there anything that actually concludes? or is everything just a continuation on a conclusion?

as you begin learning more as a dancer, you tend to shed your beginner’s mind and your capacity to learn, diminishes. interesting enough, you reach false conclusions about your ability and you prevent yourself from learning anything new because you’ve created the illusion that you have it down packed.

if you have asked how its possible for someone to dance salsa for years and show no visible improvement after the first year, blame it on the expert’s mind. if you feel like the law of diminishing returns is kicking the stuffing out of your progress..the expert mind could be culprit.

it’s the expert’s mind that creates fanciful illusions about our ability. there is no need to examine ourselves critically when the expert mind has told us that we have it under control.

complex turn movements executed with crude form cater wonderfully to the expert mind. you are only as good as your technique. advanced movements performed with poor technique and form have now become novice movements. steps are easy, portraying their beauty on the other hand, is not.

the beginner mind aims to take the simplest of movements and bring them to life with aesthetically pleasing form and symmetry.

the expert mind isnt necessarily concerned with the deeper meaning of the dance…but more the conclusion –reaching the end of that next step.

if you want a blind spot in your perception of your movements, join the expert’s camp.

though illusory, its a safe place to be. you will nimbly avoid ever taking a critical look at yourself, because you are already there.

you will dodge learning new things and be totally content with recycling and refeeding yourself the idea that you are “there”. you can also avoid the sting of self examination…along with its cleansing effect.

here are a few simple but profound questions that may trigger a lightbulb.

cultivating the beginner’s mind through inquiry

1. think back to when you made your biggest leaps in learning. what led you there? what state of mind did you keep? why did you learn in first place?

2.when did your learning begin to ‘show its age’? why?

3.think to a time when you felt like you really accomplished a feat of learning. did you accomplish anything? did it simply lead to more questions and more learning?

4. if there is no real end to the question / cycle of life and dance, could you ever get “there” ? where is “ there”?

just asking the question is enough. as none of them have any conclusive answer, but might help awaken you to the circular nature of reality.

actually, both beginner and expert mind are important.

the question and the conclusion. however, avoid the absolutist flaw. your conclusions are false walls that are paper thin, and they only lead you to the next room where more questions await.

and what about your progress as a dancer?

the moment you stop to look at what you accomplished, it’s no longer real; just a memory held in your mind. your technique is never good enough. so enjoy your accomplishments like a good film, but dont mistake them for present reality. and try not to be caught by them.

self illusion can be fun to observe, like a harry potter movie. but the trouble starts the moment you attempt to fly home from work on a broomstick or point your magic wand at the CEO, mumbling incantations. at this point you took the illusion a bit too seriously.

Next workshop is April 19th from 7-9pm. Folks have already begun registering for this one.

a question, perhaps an invitation, followed by a response and listening .

the problem with the conventional view of lead and follow, is that it tends to lend itself to a one-way understanding of partner dynamics.  Leads with this unilateral understanding of connection will tend to sloppily bulldoze through long sequences of memorized moves, with little regard to partner connection, or the actual feel of the movement itself.

a two-way or conversational understanding of the dance, can make things a lot more fun! now there are a myriad of aspects to partner connection, but let’s start with some of the beginner nuts and bolts, shall we?

we can start by looking at the general rhythm of Salsa dance: the ‘quick, quick, slow’, and come to an understanding of how we can use something as simple as the ‘slow’ phase, to create a more conversational feel to the dance. this is simple but quite elegant and profound.

The lead who listens during the ‘slow’

in social dance, there is dialog. It’s there whether you know it or not, or whether you understand how it works.

there is a time for asking questions, “would you like to turn?” and there is a time for response, “sure,let’s do it.” the ‘quicks’ tend to be the time for the lead to ask the questions, and the ‘slow’ a time for listening to the response of the follow.

the listening lead asks the questions through turn preparations, open breaks, pivots, and what not. The follow responds with movement. during this time, the lead adjusts his force to make space for the follows response.

the ‘slow’ out of the ‘quick,quick,slow’ of Salsa dance is a time for the lead to listen to the answer to the question he just asked. the ‘slow’ is a time for the lead to allow the outcome of of the question he just asked -and let the cards fall where they may.

the ‘slow’ is the time to turn your dimmer knob to the left, and soften your lead.

over leading through the ‘slow’ phase is akin to pushing a cart downhill. and while it may be productive to steer a cart as it’s going downhill, slamming on the gas is unnecessary.

as a lead, what im feeling for is my partner’s movement throughout the slow phase, im quieting my lead, and im noticing the nuances of her movement. im all ears, with an occasional “yes, and…”/. i wont talk over my partner, but i’m also not afraid to gently guide the conversation so that we are not staring at each other waiting for the next one to speak.

if you feel as if you are leading throughout the entire dance floor conversation, you’re probably talking too much.

as a follow, i focus my attention and awareness to my own movements throughout the ‘slow’ phase of the timing, while feeling the light guidance of the lead.

if you feel as if you are sitting at the table with your lips zipped the whole time, you’re probably talking too little and being boring.

social dance is nothing more than a time for us to converse with each other, using a means other than verbal exchange.

the friends you like most are probably the ones who not only compel you to think -leading- but listen intently to what you have to say -following. something to think about, right?

become a conversationalist on the dance floor, and be the life of the party!

this was originally danced, contra-tiempo or Cuban ON2, to El Veterano,  by Maykel Blanco. Syncing audio can be tricky.

the crux of the movement is the neck roll that you which is VERY subtle and the pressure applied only through the hand, with the lead’s hand never truly making contact with the follow’s neck except through her own hand.

the ‘barrel roll’ turn done near the end of the move requires the lead to present a certain relaxation of the arm, and for the follow to allow her shoulders to drop and relax. if you notice, during the turn, eduardo is allowing his hands to almost grace the top of his head during the turn.

the ending finishes with an interesting twist on the drape, with the lead quickly raising his partner’s arm for clearance, and delicately draping the follow’s arm for the finish.

the movement -like any other movement!- requires very subtle application of force, and applied technique. though you may see a lot of circular movement, there is no pushing or pulling with the arms.

we do everything with efficiency in mind, and a proper understanding of how the lines become distorted when aggressive force is used, lending itself to a sloppy appearance. Ironically, overly aggressive movement can make your movements less noticeable, in the same way a shakespeare sonnet would go unheard in a noisy downtown bar.