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Slow down! Baby now you're moving way too fast

I am very happy to have had a busy November and December teaching in the Cabana de Salsa AKA the shed. From students who have been learning for a couple of years looking to improve technique to people wanting a crash course in salsa before a trip to Latin America, I've had the pleasure to work with old friends and some lovely new people. 

When I am teaching a lot of salsa, I find that a theme can emerge. The recurring theme this month has been slowing down. There are a few reasons why this is so difficult: 

  • It's exposing! Fast dancing can hide all manner of sins. When you are going slow, there is nowhere to hide. Every unconnected body movement and bit of sloppy technique is visible. Moving quickly requires good fitness, but moving slowly requires detail and precision 

  • It's tiring! When I dance basic step to long, slow track, and I really focus on filling the music, it is as mentally and physically tiring as three chaotic minutes of fast dancing.

  • It's more complicated! In the very first salsa lessons we are taught to stop on 4 & 8. In fact, we should be stepping through them slowly. So, our steps should be quick, quick, sloooow, not quick, quick, quick, stop. We often hang on to the things we are taught in those first lessons, but these are just simplified tools to introduce the basics. Before long you need to leave those first lessons behind and refine your basics. Most people don't have the same handwriting they had when they first picked up a pencil and wrote a, b, c. The letters will read the same, but they will not be the same shape. People learn how to write more fluidly and to develop their own style. I'm not sure whether this analogy works in 2024, but you know what I mean! It can also be applied to typing, driving, and to all physical skills we acquire and practice over time until they are second nature.

  • Dancing is exciting! The excitement can get into your body and make you faster and faster... but also more tense. You need to consciously calm yourself down sometimes. The more excited you are, the faster you will dance. 

  • There is a lot to think about when you're dancing. Ideally you don't want to be thinking about anything. It does get easier, but even if you've been dancing for decades, there will be demanding or scary dances when your brain goes into overdrive again. When your brain is going ten to the dozen, it is very hard to slow your body down. 

If you are leading, dancing too quickly will eventually pull the follower off time and you will both be lost. If you are following, it will cause you to pre-empt moves, which means you are no longer following. 

Some things you can do to get comfortable with slowing down: 

  1. Practice your basic step to slow tracks. You will learn how to fill the time
  2. Improve your body movement. This goes with tip 1. Body movement fills time with movement, so you're never still; your body is in continual fluid motion. Body movement comes out of our steps ... something for another post!  
  3. When you are social dancing, set an intention to stay calm by breathing and waiting - this is particularly useful for followers who should never think ahead. It's harder if you're leading, when you have to be conscious of what's next - but you can still use breath to calm down. 

As with so much in life, we all need to slow right down! Dance slow, homies. 

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