S is for Syncopation

S is for Syncopation
Musically, syncopation is defined as a disturbance or interruption of the regular or expected rhythm, or the placement of accents where they wouldn’t normally occur.  I suppose that this definition would also be generally appropriate for dances that have basic patterns which include only the basic timing of quicks and slows in their basic patterns:  waltz, foxtrot, rumba, and country 2-step would all be examples.  But what about cha-cha and polka?  Their basic patterns include a triple step or 3 steps stuffed into 2 beats of music.  Hustle?  It includes 2 steps stuffed into 1 beat of music.  All are examples of syncopations in dance:  more steps than ‘normal’ danced in a beat or two beats of music.

But what is my favorite definition of syncopation?  The extra steps or fancy footwork that a more advanced dancer uses to correct (or cover up) a mistake!  What?  Who me?  Oh no…that wasn’t a mistake….that was a syncopation!  Why yes….I thought it was pretty interesting too.  Thank you! (smirk!) 

Dance of the Day:  Salsa

Mix together:

6 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 seeded and minced jalapenos
½ onion, chopped fine
1 TBS olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
Salt, pepper, chopped fresh scallions, chopped cilantro, chopped parsley, to taste

Serve with tortilla chips.

Consume on breaks between dances while dancing Mambo “on the 1” to really fast 4-count Latin music!

M is for Move

M is for Move!

Dance…what happens between the beats of music….making music visible….add a partner and WOW!  What a rush it can be.  Move….move…move to the music…move with your partner, move with the music…just move.  It is good from for the body and good for the soul.  Move.

Dance of the Day:  Mambo

A Latin dance originated in Cuba in the early 1930’s.  It was originally danced to “Mambo” music (seems obvious).  It was wild and free with no breaking steps or basic steps.  Over time the dance was moved to Mexico and then in the 1940’s to New York City where it was sanitized for market-ability to the ballroom community.  By the 1970s, the current version of the dance (2 quick steps and 1 slow in any direction) or alternately “rock” or “break” step, step was widely danced, but to salsa music not mambo music.  The difference between salsa and mambo?  Mambo “breaks” on the “2” and Salsa breaks on the 1.  In other words, Mambo is simply cha-cha with a single “slow” step replacing the chasse in cha-cha that is danced on the “4 & 1”.  Of note is that the cha-cha came first….it was altered to become the Mambo.

K is for KISS!

K is for Kiss

KISS….Keep It Simple Silly…or alternately…what can happen when you drift to the right out of proper dance frame and find yourself toes to toes, knees to knees and …lips to lips with your dance partner! 

So since the second option is pretty obvious (although the mechanism of how we got there sometimes isn’t), let’s contemplate the first option! 

 I’ll admit that I am not a step junkie.  If fact, quite the opposite and much to the irritation of several coaches and a couple of dance partners, I really don’t find much joy in learning to dance the steps or patterns by myself backwards and in high heals!  And when I am dancing, I am much more impressed by a leader that has great timing and musicality than one with a bunch of badly led steps! 

I am inspired by learning to be a really good follower and being able to follow any of those patterns.  But actually learning to dance each one of them on my own seems overwhelming if not impossible, backwards and not that much fun.  So, whenever it was really necessary, I would learn short sequences of difficult or highly choreographed (un-lead-able) choreography for my various competition routines and know that if my leader blew out of the routine that I had just learned then I would have to follow whatever he led that had no resemblance to the original routine anyway so what was the point?…sigh. 

And then somehow, I found myself starting to teach.  And, in my opinion, if you can’t dance it you shouldn’t be teaching it…so that left me in a bit of a bind because I really needed to learn to lead quick and that meant, drats, learning patterns.  Oh dear, what now? 

Fortunately for me…and anyone who wants to learn to dance but is overwhelmed by the thought of learning all those different patterns for each different dance…at least at the social level, nearly every pattern that can be danced in one dance can be danced in more than one dance and sometimes in many dances…so there aren’t that many to learn after all!  And that is where the simplicity comes in…learn to execute a pattern proficiently, study the timing of the dance that pattern comes from, choose another dance, usually from the same family of dances although not always, study the new dance timing, adjust the timing of the pattern to the new dance and POOF! a new pattern in two dances!  Now we are getting somewhere….if I learn 5 patterns and how to blend them together, then apply the to the different timing of 3 different various dances, I suddenly have plenty of material to lead in each of 3 different dances…I think that even I can get my pattern-phobic head around that concept!

 Don’t believe me?  Try it...Mambo and cha-cha are the same dance but that the “slow” in Mambo is replaced with a “triple step” in cha-cha.  Therefore, anything that can be led in Mambo can be led in cha-cha!  It works because both a “slow” and a “triple-step” take up 2 beats of music and the other action in each of the dances is a rock-step.  That’s just one example but the principle works over and over again….just keep it simple…don’t try to learn bunches of patterns for every dance…just learn good basic dance technique, understand the principles of structure and timing in each dance you want to learn and learn to execute a few patterns really well….then change the timing of each pattern to fit the timing of each dance that you want to dance suddenly dancing isn’t so overwhelming after all…even for us pattern-phoebes!