Left or Right Brain? Should I Care?

Most people spin better in one direction. One side of their body learns motions faster than the other. Stronger dancers invest untold hours working on their weaker side, both in spinning and other movements where body symmetry is helpful, expected or required. A styling move may require both sides to work perfectly together, but most people start with one side ahead of the other.

In this two-part series, we’ll explore some ideas and concepts for growing your weaker side, working toward additional mastery for both sides. The side effect is you’ll be a better dancer, without directly using your dance practice time.

Before doing that, let's confirm your dominant side by looking at this fascinating graphic. (Most of you probably looked at it already, because it does catch the eye, and using a female silhouette provides endless fascination for most guys.)

Which way do you see the dancer turning? Most people will find that a silly question, because the answer is so obvious. Show this to a few people, though, and you’ll be amazed at what they say. It’s a great conversation starter!

Some people will note she’s turning clockwise, some counter-clockwise ('anti-clockwise' for our international friends). The interesting thing is the graphic never changes, but different people will see her differently. A few will say she never changes and others who see a change will swear that the graphic itself changes every so often. By design, the graphic plays to your strengths.

Your first impression answer to the “which direction” question provides an insight into the way your brain is wired; either right or left side dominant. If you return to this graphic a few minutes, hours or days from now, you’ll notice that your first impression of her spinning direction is consistent each time you look again.

The interesting thing is many people (not all) can see her spinning the other direction after staring at the dancer a while. I look at her standing foot as it meets the shadow foot for 10-30 seconds or so, with a soft focus, and can see her start turning the other direction. Others will notice her change direction while they are reading this text, without directly watching her. Initially it took me a few minutes to change her rotation, then once I knew it was possible, the time reduced. Now I can regularly change her direction within a few rotations.

While I find this concept fascinating, as dancers we want BOTH sides of our brains working together. Knowing your starting point is helpful. Most people spend their whole life as right or left handed, then when dancing work toward both sides being equal.

Stronger dancers work to improve the symmetry of their movements, and there’s plenty you can do off the dance floor to accelerate this process.

Please let me know which direction you see the dancer spinning first via the comments, and if you can get her to change directions easily.

Part 2 of this article outlines some ideas and exercises for improving your weaker side. I’ll have that article up ASAP.

For more details on the right/left brain dominance implied by this graphic, check out the original article from Perth Now. This article has appeared on multiple websites. My source is the PerthNow version from Australia

Love is staying awake all night with a sick child.
Or a very healthy adult.
--David Frost

Leadable Moves: Not Always

It all sounds so simple. I lead, she’ll follow and life will be sweet. If I lead well enough, we’ll look like an amazing team. Many people call “leadable moves” the glue that holds social dancing together.

What are those moves? It seems like the definition of “leadable moves” is all over the place.

I’ve heard the following statements:

• "If you stick to leadable moves, you can dance with anybody.”
• “If leaders lead, follows will follow.”
• “The strong leads can put a follow though almost any move.”
• “If the follower’s part to a sequence needs to be taught, isn’t it by definition then ‘not leadable’ and unlikely to be used on the floor?”
• “These are all leadable moves…” (from the introduction of a DVD I own).

It still returns to the original question:
What are leadable moves and how do you define them?

Here’s my definitive definition: “The basic set of moves known to most follows in your area. This assumes dancers who have at least six to nine months’ experience, plus or minus around six to nine months.” (My definition of definitive might differ from yours.)

This set of moves is often simple but can be jazzed up with styling if desired. It usually includes single and double turns, cross-body leads (CBLs) with or without a single turn, hammer-locks, open breaks, plus some variations and combinations of these moves. Names for the same move will vary in different areas, and there are other moves in this category.

Don’t get too hung up on the strict definition or the list of moves above; it simply means 'learn the moves you see most people doing in your area, and/or are taught by the most popular instructors, then branch out and develop additional material around that core.' You want as many moves as possible that work across a large set of dancers.

I’ve always considered salsa dancing similar to a discussion with a common language. Two people can have a great dance or discussion without previous interactions, as long as they have enough shared vocabulary. Leadable moves fall into this common language area.

When I started in salsa, I thought an experienced lead could make any follower look great. It appeared that if you learned to lead well enough, then ladies would automatically follow your moves, even if they were totally new to them.

With a little seasoning, I’ve figured out exposure to a move or variations of similar moves is required before a follow responds as planned. No previous exposure and your results will vary.

More mature follows may get it, or will the second or third time around, but again, it depends on their existing experience and vocabulary.

A larger common vocabulary of moves is required for the more nuanced or complicated patterns, although an experienced lead can do amazing things with less experienced follows, because they learn how to give additional hints for follows, providing clearer directions. Again, the concept of leadable moves is more elastic than I initially thought.

With beginning follows, it’s easy to see the results of having little common vocabulary. No matter how clear my lead, sometimes a new follow will struggle with basic. Most of the time they take my hint with subtle arm pushes and pulls, along with consistent footwork, but that doesn’t always work. Most follows feel it in my lead, some look at my feet and get the mirror concept, some need words to clarify the footwork, and a few are clueless due to lack of exposure.

In other words, even something as simple as basic isn’t “leadable” in some cases without minor teaching or previous experience with the dance. A ballet or jazz dancer with years of experience will catch on quickly, but if she has never partner danced or seen salsa, she is unlikely to know the salsa language the first day, no matter how mature her overall dancing.

Once the lead starts turning his partner, you see the same dependency. It’s common for new follows to turn the "wrong" direction when you prep a simple right-hand turn (AKA under-arm turn). Some follows interpret the preparation arm signal as "start turning now" rather than wait a count or two until the lead actually starts turning her.

It’s not the follow’s fault directly; she simply doesn't know the signals, but most learn quickly. A mature lead can use his other hand on her shoulder to help her “do the right thing,” but if the lead is babysitting every simple move, you could argue even a simple turn is not leadable, although I could also play attorney on that one and argue it the other way.

Once you get outside a regionally specific set of moves (which can provide an enjoyable dance), then 'leadable' depends more and more on the common language shared by the two partners, along with moves the lead executes well, but are similar to existing moves within the follower’s experience.

If you want a set of quality moves that can be led with minimum experience (and they scale nicely for more advanced situations), check out the Salsa Syllabus DVDs from Edie The Salsa Freak. That set is gold for leadable moves that work across a wide range of people, although they still are dramatically more fun when both partners know these foundational moves. Again, a decent lead can amp these moves up with additional styling and multiple spins when dancing with more advanced follows.

There is a set of foundational, base level moves that many feel are leadable, but over time, you’ll see the definition of leadable changes as a function of the shared dance vocabulary between the partners. Over the years, a common set of moves has become “standard” in each scene, so seek those out in your area, knowing most, but not all, will apply in other locales.

The term leadable changes as your dancing matures, so don’t get too caught up in the definitions. Simply find moves that work with the majority of dancers in your area, and master them before focusing on materials that are more complex. The more both partners know, the more leadable the moves become.

My grandmother was a very tough women. She buried three husbands.
Two of them were just napping.
--Rita Rudner

Finding Instructional Clips Online

Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of video clips available on the web. I wouldn't be surprised to find my dog and cats are partnering for a new salsa series, and I'll just stumble on them one day. The problem isn't finding salsa (or dance) clips, it's finding out which ones are worth your time and can teach you something interesting.

Recently, I've been exploring a new site called "WonderHowTo.com". As of this writing, they have over 600 "Dance" clips including 70 in the "Latin Dance" subsection. I've found a few clips I doubt I would have found otherwise, and this site is an interesting concept.

At first I was trying to figure out why I shouldn't simply go to YouTube and search for "salsa," but now I get it. All the videos on this site are instructional in nature, and the site rejects performance, promotional or entertaining clips that don't teach something. Everything is focused on the free "How To" concept. That's an interesting nitch, and I suspect this site will grow more popular over time.






All "submitted" clips are hosted elsewhere and this site catalogs them for you. Often you are watching embedded YouTube or Yahoo clips, but they catalog video from many, many sites, so just as often you're sent to sites you'd probably otherwise miss. This casts a much wider net than simply doing a YouTube search when you're in the mood to learn. Users are encouraged to submit URLs to more instructional clips, so it promises to be an ever expanding universe of learning material.

Of course, like all video viewing, this site can also be a huge time sink, but with the focus on learning, at least you're not wasting your time watching dancing birds and young girls fighting.

Check out the "Categories" link to find "Dance" and then start watching. The grading system seems a little questionable to me at this point, but that has great promise as more and more people view clips and grade them.

I like the concept and suspect the site will do very well over time. I haven't explored all the dance clips, but I did find some interesting ones I hadn't seen in the past.

Please let me know what you're doing to find instructional clips and let me know what you think of WonderHowTo.com. If you see my pets dancing, let me know.

We don't know half of one millionth of 1 percent about anything.
--Thomas Edison

Taking Classes Over My Head: Part 2

This is part 2 of a series on Taking Classes Over My Head. Check out the previous article, cleverly named "Taking Classes Over My Head: Part 1."

Imagine an up-and-coming athlete who decides he’s skipping strength training because he “just wants to play the game.” That doesn’t work, because strength is foundational to playing at higher levels in sports. Similarly, if your dance goals include being above average, investing in your foundation while pursuing higher-level classes is an excellent strategy for longer-term growth.

Most people dislike being called a beginner as an adult, even if that's their current status. Many guys prefer struggling in the intermediate or advanced classes rather than be caught dead in the beginner class. For many, it's simply uncool to be at the novice level, and they can't wait to "move on," even if that means skipping some fundamentals. They purchase “advanced” DVDs when they are far from mastering the lower level DVDs from the same instructor.

As someone famous for taking classes over his head, I’ve seen some great progress and been frustrated at points. I highly recommend you attend some classes above your level, even if you sit out part of the class and watch. Being around great dancers can inspire or depress you, depending on your personality and goals; but either way, it’s good to see what you’ll be like in a few years if you put in the effort.

It’s also important to note that I approach solo and partner dancing differently. In individual dancing classes (jazz, hip-hop, samba, salsa footwork, etc.) you should challenge yourself by trying the higher-level classes at regular intervals. If you create a bad habit or try a move and get hurt, that’s far from ideal. But it’s your issue, created by reaching higher, and you can dial it back a little before moving forward again. Being around the stronger dancers can accelerate your growth and inspire you to work harder, although sometimes going back a level is the best strategy for longer-term growth.

In a partnering class, being over your head isn’t always the best idea. You can injure a partner trying to perform a move that is too far beyond your current skill level, not to mention frustrate partners who are also trying to improve. You can also build a set of partners who avoid you at the clubs, knowing you’re not ready for prime time. You need to balance your level with that of the class in partnering situations, and be mindful that your background (or lack of it) affects others.

Sometimes you need another approach and I employ a method I call “backfilling.” If I’m going to take a class that’s over my head, I make sure I’m also filling in the gaps in my experiences. This translates into taking lower level classes at the same time, hiring the instructor for private lessons, or watching instructional DVDs and/or on-line clips that provide foundational information.

I’m also not afraid to abandon a more advanced class and go to a lower level—including beginner—if the moves or techniques are too far over my head. After a while, (weeks or months) I’ll continue the lower level class and ADD the more advanced class to see if I’m ready. I often continue with the lower level classes along with the advanced class for a few months or more after moving up, reinforcing the basics, while also working on more advanced material at the same time.

As I’ve stated, there can be a dark side to going to classes over your head. Without a proper foundation and some backfilling, more advanced classes can frustrate, build a set of bad habits, and in a partner situation, hurt someone. If you do take more advanced classes, stay out of the way when the moves get too complex for your current level.

In a group class, instructors don’t have the time (or desire) to fix you if you’re too far away from the class average. Many teachers focus on the better dancers in the class, especially if they label the class as intermediate or advanced. This means you sink or swim mostly on your own. Sometimes beating your head against the wall when the majority is much further down the road isn’t a good use of your time.

Many classes build on previous knowledge and it’s your responsibility to be sure you can keep up, especially when partnering. When taking classes over my head, I often take some private lessons with the instructor, sit out parts of classes if appropriate, and make sure I practice on my own to get up to speed. The private lesson gives the instructor a chance to slow down the material and explain details that others already know from previous experiences.

Combining private lessons and classes, I learn the right way to do the exercises or can ask for clarification of complex class materials during my next private lesson. The combination creates a multiplier effect. I get more from the classes and grow much faster, sometimes passing people who were beyond my level and have taken the classes for months or years.

As stated, taking advanced classes and challenging yourself to move up is an excellent idea. However, if you take too many shortcuts and ignore the lower level material, you’ll pay a negative price over time. Those who gloss over the fundamentals often end up either being weaker than they should be or going back later to fill in the blanks.

Free lunches rarely exist on or off the dance floor, so be sure to backfill and seek out the fundamentals as you move up the class ladder. Over time, you’ll become an excellent dancer if you continue to seek out instruction, no matter what they label the classes or DVDs.

There's nothing wrong with Southern California that a rise in the ocean
level wouldn't cure.
--Ross MacDonald

Eyes Up! Not Just On The Floor

A master instructor at Millennium named Eric Ellis is famous for saying "Eyes up, use the mirror. The floor isn't telling you anything!" when people are looking down while dancing. (I've also heard him being more direct in private with, "The floor doesn't tell you sh#t!" but I doubt he wants to be quoted on that one.)

It's hard to fix some habits on the dance floor. We have to fix them in life, then it's easy on the floor.

Eric has said "eyes up" to me occasionally, and we discussed it last week because I had one of those "Ah-ha" moments. While he had said it in the past, I was too worried about other aspects of the exercise to pay much attention to that specific comment, assuming it was because of my concentration at the time.

Then I saw someone else in a class looking slightly down during an exercise, and realized "hey, that's me." She wasn't looking at her feet, but she was looking a little below eye level. It wasn’t a great look on an otherwise accomplished dancer. I had never noticed it before, but it was so easy to see why that doesn't work when I saw it on someone else.

After seeing her and becoming aware, I realized I look slightly down when I'm not dancing. It's subtle, and I doubt most people would notice directly, but it doesn't look right while on the floor. Eric said I could fix it by bringing my chin up about a quarter-inch or so, and after reviewing I see he is right. It's not a big change on one hand, but years (decades?) of doing something different make it a tough adjustment while dancing.

Then the obvious thought hit me again. If I walk around 15 hours a day looking slightly down, it would be really tough to fix it while dancing for a few hours. I need to make looking at eye-level part of everything I do, and then doing it while dancing will be easy.

Recently, I started practicing "eyes up" everywhere, including when I'm walking to my office, standing in the kitchen, shopping at Home Depot, taking a shower or brushing my teeth. Rather than focus on this fix when I hit the floor, my goal is to make it part of my overall look all the time, especially outside the dance studio.

This concept applies to posture, balance and many other dance elements. Some things can't be fixed on the floor alone, but instead need to be a part of your day-to-day life if you want them to stick.

It's why strong dancers, gymnasts and many athletes carry themselves with great posture outside of their professional life, because it's tough to be hunch back all day and gracefully elegant while dancing or performing.

Now I am not worried about mastering it on the dance floor, I'll get it right during the day, knowing over time it will be natural during the dances.

Let me know what skills you are practicing in life to upgrade something in your dancing!

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to
avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.
--Sydney Smith

Micro Practices: Quickies Are OK!

"Two or three minutes? That's not even one song!" he said when I told him I did a series of quick practices over the day. “That doesn’t sound like enough to me.”

He’s missing the point. I call them “micro-practices” (MP) and everybody should integrate them into their daily routines. They could work for partnering, but as a rule they are for upgrading your individual dancing skills like spinning, footwork, Cuban motion, posture, and other body control exercises.

When you’re a pro, you get up each day and can practice for hours, refining your dancing on the way to the next level. You're paid to dance, and practicing is a way of life. However, if you’re working for a living and want to advance your social dancing, sometimes it's hard to carve out chunks of time for practice. That’s where micro-practices (quickies) can be a winner for you. Like your love life, they shouldn't be all you do, but in balance they keep things moving in the right direction.

It may be counter-intuitive, but a set of quickie practices often beats longer sessions, assuming you do enough of them. Often they're gold, where the combined effort of a dozen one to five-minute practices gets you further than one forty-five minute session. Some techniques require longer practices, but the micro-practice beats the heck out of "I didn't practice today because I couldn’t find a twenty or thirty minute block of time”.

There is magic in repeating something over and over, every hour or so, for a couple minutes throughout the day. Time management gurus always say when you’re interrupted from a task, it takes you time to restart. Micro-practices use that principle to your advantage, because the start-up time is reduced if you repeat an action often enough.

The series of little practices gets you to the point where you can hit the move immediately, rather than after 10 minutes of warm up. It’s amazing how much you can advance with micro-practices alone, although you can gain even more when combining them with intermittent longer rehearsals.

Edie the Salsa Freak is famous for learning to spin in the bathroom at work before she turned pro. The floor is tile, there is a great mirror, and she would spin a couple times to the right, a couple times to the left each time she used the restroom. If nobody was around she might sneak in a few extras, but most of those practices lasted 60 seconds or less. With just 10 extra spins per day, she had over 300 spins each month BEFORE doing any extended practicing. Over time, it adds up to thousands of extra spins, giving her the experience she needed to get to the next level.

Most work days I’m at the computer all day, and each time I need a break I practice a shine, a spinning combination and/or a new part of a "pattern in progress." It may be just a tiny fragment, but doing it repeatedly over a couple days (or weeks) makes a huge difference when I get to a block of time for an extended practice.

Before starting work, I often sneak in a two-minute practice before sitting at my desk. Nobody cares if I start two minutes later, and it reinforces the new materials I’m working on. Some days the quickies are the only practice I get; sometimes it’s part of a bigger practice day, where I combine micro-practices with much longer sessions or classes.

I’ve stood in line at Sam’s Club or the bank, doing footwork practice, knowing that may be my only practice for the day. In previous articles I've mentioned I practice head/shoulder exercises in my car. (Shines and partnering are highly discouraged while driving.) When you hit the dance floor, your partners don’t care if you practiced at a dance studio, in your bathroom or in line at the grocery store; they simply notice your improvements.

Some days when I haven’t had much practice, I’ll sneak in a few minutes before bed. It may not be much, but again, it’s my way to move myself forward. It takes about as much time as brushing my teeth, so I have little excuse to skip it. I'd love to practice more some days, but that just isn't my reality at points.

You don’t have to tell anybody you’re sneaking practices around your bathroom breaks. That really falls into the “TMI” category (“too much information”). Keep this little secret between us and they’ll just think you are improving using the traditional extended practices. If you can do regular practices, that's great, but I want to grow even when I’m timed starved (the story of my life).

Try it yourself; sneak in a few micro-practices, multiple times per day, especially on those days when you can’t get to a complete session. You’ll see it makes a substantial difference if you keep it up. Once you're in the habit, you'll find little slivers of time and use them to your advantage, even if it's just working a body roll twice or an extra couple of spins per day.

Let me know how you are getting the most from limited practice time; I’m always looking to accelerate my growth and I’m sure some of you have your own best practices. Please share!

Indecision may or may not be my problem.
-- Jimmy Buffett