Posts Tagged ‘Dancer’

What is Dance? Dance is an art form that refers to the movement of the body in a rhythmic fashion to music. Dancing can be social, ritualistic, spiritual, and expressive in nature.

What are Martial Arts? Martial arts are art forms focusing on the movement of the body as well as conditioning to maximize ability and are often linked with spiritual and ritualistic devotion.

Over the years, I have noticed a number of students have progressed rapidly, while others seemed to lag behind, playing catch up. At first I assumed these dancers just took it more seriously than the others. It wasn’t till I started befriending these students that a common theme emerged about their history: Martial Arts. Just about every one of the better dancers, at some point, had taken Martial Arts classes. Having a history in Martial Arts myself, it was astounding to finally notice the similarities.

Kung Fu and Salsa are fluid and graceful but full of energy and intensity. Both require focus, understanding of your surroundings, and knowing when to act. But when most people think of Salsa or Kung Fu, an image of high energy, high impact flips, dips, tricks, and spins is what arises. To those who really know either art, they realize it’s not what you see in the movies or on “Dancing With The Stars”. These styles have both active and passive characteristics. The explosive energy of salsa and kung fu is illuminated in its flashiness; something that takes a lot of stamina to execute. These include the more active moves like flips, tricks, and other high energy techniques. Conversely, the martial art Tai Chi is similar to the smoothness possible with salsa. This style identifies with the natural movements of the body.

No one style of salsa (L.A. Style, New York Style, Cuban Style, Texas Style, etc.) is an exact match in either extreme; moreover no dancer is an exact match but rather a coloring of both. On1 L.A. Style Salsa has a distinct high energy flavor; showcasing the fastest, most energetic, most awe inspiring moves. On2 New York Style is characteristically a smooth natural graceful dance. The moves are “flowy” and follow the feel of the music. The moves are deliberate but malleable forming into something new with little effort.

How do they Relate

Together they have very similar attributes. Choreography in dance is equivalent to Forms in martial arts. Both take a systematic approach, exploring the most relevant moves to epitomize the style. Furthermore dance and martial arts are social. In salsa you could call it “social salsa”, “couples dancing” or just “dancing”. In Martial Arts this would be sparring. Leading and following exist in both areas just with different terms. The terms of Social Salsa are that one person is the leader for this song and then we break. In Sparring the leader and follower roles fluctuate between aggressor and defender.

Looking at Influence on Society

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We all want to get better and the good thing is we can! But if you’re like me, you may have lost sight as to how to do this. Well we sat down and came up with a quick guide to help coax you from being a wallflower and give you a nudge in the right direction. Enjoy!

• #7 Practice Polygamy:

  “But that’s illegal” yes i know, i’m kidding. Just dance with a bunch of people. Being a wallflower will only weaken your own abilities. Go and ask a lady to dance if they refuse then move onto the next lady. There is no shame in a pity dance, especially if you dance the socks off her.

• #6 Practice a new style:

  Yes get a new teacher. That doesn’t mean you have to drop your old teacher just go out and learn from someone else. Some may say a Jack of all trades is Master of none, but if you want to be universally appealing get out and learn all you can. No sense in sticking yourself in a box with no ventilation. So if you do LA Style, try N.Y. style. If you do N.Y. Style try Cuban Style. Or do cumbia or puerto rican style, texas style, london style, etc.

• #5 Learn about salsa:

  Check out the history books. Get Rosetta Stone and learn some Spanish. Eat Cuban food…okay well that probably won’t really help but it is delicious! Put salsa music on your iPod and acclimate yourself. You’ll find yourself singing along (if incomprehensibly) with the popular ones.

• #4 Do you lead? Do you follow? Can you do both?!?!

  Yes and yes….and yes. Learn what your counterpart is doing. Your training will skyrocket if you push away your “pride” and reverse roles. The more you know about how your partner dances then the better able you will be to lead them. I know our Puritanistic gender roles may get trampled on but to heck with them. They wore buckles on their hats, for pete’s sake. What do they know?! When you get into it, you will revel in the fact that a dance with the same basic can be so different on one side versus the other. Many people misinterpret equality as being the same. But here in salsa you will find that equality is not sameness but harmony. You find equality by making two halves a whole. A yin yang has two interlapping parts: one black, one white, one representing male and one female. The beauty is how they fit together not how they are the same in every possible way. BORING!!!

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