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The five most important steps to a BRILLIANT BASIC

As I always say, there is nothing basic about the basic step. It is the basis of good dancing, but it can take years to refine and perfect. There are many elements to consider, but here are the main five: 

 
1.        Weight change

A step is a change of weight. Knowing this is even more important than knowing the timing. Almost everyone goes through a stage of pressing their feet to the floor and not changing weight, and some people add all kinds of extra weight changes because they are “dancing”. 

Change your weight in the same way you do when you are walking, taking your body with you, and you have nailed step 1! 

 

2.        Timing 

In on1 dancing, this means changing weight (aka stepping) on 1,2,3 and 5,6,7 in an eight-beat count. At first, you need to focus on starting on the correct beat in the music, which is 1, and waiting on the 4 and 8. The sooner you can confidently step (aka change weight) on the beat, the sooner you can learn everything else. 

 

3.        Quick-quick-slow (dancing through the music) 

When your teacher told you to wait on the 4 and 8 in your first few lessons, they meant that you need to change weight more slowly on 3 and 7. Don’t step, but don’t stop your movement! 

Learning to dance, or do anything, is process of refining the basics. We can’t learn all the technique at the same time, but thinking ‘one, two, threeeeeee, five, six, seveeeeen’ or ‘quick, quick, sloooow, quick, quick, sloooow’ will make a big difference to your basic. 

And what do you do in these slow weight changes? Well … 

 

4.        Connecting your body 

Each change of weight should travel through your body. There is a difference between body movement and styling. Body movement is how your body moves through each step. Styling is added on top, like icing. You don’t need styling. You do need body movement. It can be big or it can be barely visible to the naked eye, but it has to be there. It is what connects your feet to the rest of your body. Pushing out of the floor should cause movement to flow up your legs, through your hips, core, upper body, shoulders and arms – this is body movement. 

Connecting your body to your basic is probably the most difficult aspect of the basic step, and it is something you can train forever. You want it to become second nature, but even then, you can still refine it. Like any physical skill, words and lessons only take you so far. It is a matter of drilling the action and practising it for as long as possible. 

 

5.     Dancing to the music

Once everything is connected, you can choose to emphasise bits of the body movement as you prefer. Perhaps you feel more comfortable emphasising the shoulders or the hips. It could be that the music you’re dancing to suits a particular kind of basic – big and dramatic, small and subtle, smooth, jagged, fluid, or popping. A good basic is adaptable and is key to interpreting the music you are dancing to. 

 

 

In early lessons, for the purposes of learning partner work, there is a focus on the direction of your steps and which foot steps on which beat. When you first start salsa, these things are probably what you to hang onto - “1 is always a step back on my right”, for example. In fact, for a good basic, it doesn’t really matter which foot you step on or in which direction. You soon realise that the ability to confidently commit to stepping on time, with body connection, and in any direction is key. When we start teaching beginners, the focus is on learning enough to get them dancing. Getting a great basic step technique is the work of a lifetime. So, when you see “basic step training”, you should not assume that this is for people who are new to salsa at all! 

 

In my Brilliant Basic session, I will dedicate 90 minutes to learning the key features of a brilliant basic step. This will include all the steps above, focusing particularly on step 4 – connecting the body. We will practice body isolations before looking at which direction all your body parts need to go in - hips, shoulders, arms etc. Bringing all this together, we will look at how everything connects to the change of weight. Whether you are fairly new to salsa and want to speed up your progress, have been learning for a while and want to refine your basic, or have been dancing for decades and truly understand the importance of basic step training, this session is for you! After the session you can stay and have a dance, with feedback from me if you want it! Get in touch via Facebook or Instagram to book a place for Saturday 22nd March. 




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