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Click here for information on how to blend Rueda moves. STYLING AND EMBELLISHMENTS IN SALSA AND RUEDA DANCINGIn class one day, a lady named Teresa, with a lot of style in her dancing and apparently an interest in adding even more, asked me to show her what I was doing on some move to add styling to it. As often happens in these situations, I wasn't really sure what I'd done as it came so naturally to me. She told me I had done something to style the CBL and something earlier in the move that I was teaching, and she wanted to imitate both but needed them broken down. I was able to reconstruct the first one--it was just a throw of the hip to the right on beat 4--a very common and simple styling---before coming across to the left for the CBL. But I couldn't figure out what she'd seen earlier in the move. I was flattered by her question. She said that she watches me for styling ideas to imitate. I certainly know that feeling; I think we all do. As people watch each other on the dance floor, you can't help but see things that you like and want to try! I know that I have often stopped a coach who is showing me a move and said, in effect, "Forget the move---what I really want to see is that cute little thing you are doing with your foot/arm/head/whatever!" It's not unusual for the person doing the move to be oblivious to exactly what they are doing. It may feel so natural to them that they weren't thinking about it at all. At the end of that class, Teresa commented that my website has so much information on moves but very little on embellishments and/or styling components. Actually, the workshop by Erin Brandt which was already up does deal with that and anyone interested in this subject may also want to click here to read that as well. But in addition, I thought it might be helpful to readers if I added a page with some embellishments that style Salsa dancing nicely in a page of its own. So here are some things you can watch and try if you are looking for styling components. There is one note of caution that must be made first, though. It is important that anything you add into your dancing not affect your partner in an adverse way. Your embellishments need to not confuse him/her or interfere with his/her dancing. For example, if you are following, you want to avoid doing something that causes you to be unable to follow your partner's lead promptly. Or if you are leading, you shouldn't alter the connection as a result of adding any fancy footwork or whatever. In other words, the lead should feel the same to your partner. People are best off becoming competent dancers at the intermediate level at least, so they understand these things, before they try to add a lot of styling. First and foremost, lead and follow should be clean. Styling is a plus, but it's second in importance to that! In closing, I want to quote something Fabio Bonini, a well known tango and ballroom instructor in the DC area, said to me long ago. He was showing me some ways to style the basic step of Rueda. The only one I recall now, was the one I actually incorporated into my dancing. It was essentially a small cha cha cha movement on the "slow" step. If the music is at all fast, this amounts to barely a movement of the hips in that rhythm, but it feels and looks good. Fabio presented a variety of options to me for styling that day. He said that it is important for each dancer to develop their own style, doing moves that feel right to them. (Honestly, if you like something you see, when you try it yourself, you are likely do it a bit differently anyway) . Everyone's style will be a bit different, which makes us unique and provides variety on the dance floor. Fabio's comments felt encouraging to me and were helpful; I have remembered them, as you can see. So in the spirit of Fabio's encouragement for everyone to develop their own dance style, below are some components that you can play with. Mix and match these, and keep your eyes open when others dance. Over time, you will find the movements that you like and that express your feeling for the dance, and ultimately you'll do things in a way that is uniquely yours. These are just some styling ideas to get you started in developing your own "signature." ----------------------- 1. Throwing the Hip---for Ladies
In the video clip below, if you watch closely, you can see Rita, a short, slender Hispanic woman, throw her hip out to the side and bring her left foot to meet the right one on beat 4.
Then then does her CBL. You have to watch closely as it goes by very quickly and the
video camera isn't focusing on that. But you can see Rita, and I believe others, in
this video do that sort of "hip throw."
This is a common styling to add before coming across for the CBL. Since so many steps have a CBL at the end (or in the middle of a move), it's something that can be used a lot. It's a cute and fairly simple embellishment that someone looking to style their dancing might want to start with This can be done at the end of enchufla, dame, vacila, dedo, and countless other Rueda steps as well as in many places when dancing one on one. One thing I would caution readers, though, is that this has to be done very fast or it interferes with the placement and rhythm of your subsequent Cross Body Lead. So I suggest doing it only if it can be done quickly/smoothly enough not to "mess up" (i.e. slow up) what comes after it! (See my cautionary remarks on this subject in the introductory comments near the top of this page.) 2. Embellishments on the Basic Step There are many forms of the basic step both in Salsa and in Rueda, and then on top of that, many ways to embellish them. Here is a fun one. Try doing a Suzie Q on beats 1, 2, and 3. Ladies cross their right foot in front of their left on beat 1, then the left foot in front of the right on 2 and the right in front of the left on beat 3. Guys do the reverse, so they start by crossing their left foot in front of their right, etc. If you are the leader, you can do a Suzie Q on beats 5, 6, and 7 and then again on beats 1, 2, and 3 of the next 8 beat phrase. Then you may want to go into a move so it's good to do a standard basic step on beats 5, 6, and 7. This enables you to enter the move smoothly. If you are a follower, you should only Suzie Q on 1, 2, and 3 because you don't know what the leader is going to do at the end of the 8 beat phrase, so you have to be ready to begin a move. But these Suzie Qs for guys and gals look really nice and are an easy embellishment on the basic. Another embellishment on the basic step is to flair on beat 3. So for ladies, they step on the right on 1, the left on 2, and then step on the right on the "and" of 2 (the second half of beat 2). Then on beat 3, the left leg flairs out to the left, making a tap. Your weight is still mostly on the right foot. Then on beat 5, ladies step on their left foot as usual. The men do this move, but it is the opposite as always. So men step on the left on 1, the right on 2, and the left on the "and" of 2, and then tap with the right foot flaired out to the right on beat 3. This is also a simple embellishment but can be done by either or both genders and it looks nice. Because you step on the "2 and," you are adding some rhythm and syncopation to the pattern which looks and feels nice. Here is somewhere between an embellishment and a different version of the basic move. Ladies start by stepping forward on the right on beat 1. As she steps on 2 and 3, she turns ninety degrees to her right. She taps with the left foot flaired out to the left on beat 4. Then on 5 her left foot crosses over the right (she is facing her partner) and on 6 and 7 she turns back the ninety degrees to her left so she faces the center of the circle. She taps on her right foot into the center of the circle on beat 8. Then repeat the pattern. It has a nice swing to it! As usual, guys do the opposite. So they start stepping forward on their left on beat 1. On beats 2 and 3 they turn ninety degrees to their left so they are facing their partners. Guys tap on their right with the foot flaired out to the right on beat 4. Then guys cross the right foot over the left and on 6 and 7 they turn back the ninety degrees to their right so they face the center. They tap on 8 with their left foot into the center, and repeat the pattern. 3. Shoulder rolls---put them in lots of places Shoulder rolls make a very effective embellishment as well. To do a shoulder roll, you simply roll one shoulder in a backwards circle (going from front to back and top to bottom) and then the other. The rolls are done in time to music. This can be added in many places and looks very nice. For example, you can do this on beats 5, 6, and 7 of the first 8 beat phrase in vacila. It's especially nice for ladies but guys can do it there, too. Ladies can roll the shoulders on the first 3 beats of dame una as well. And there are many other places where it works well. One caution on this and other embellishments is that it loses its punch if you do it too much. So rolling the shoulders for a few beats in a move from time to time will actually look stronger than rolling them for many beats in many moves. It frees you up to do other embellishments in other places to keep your look varied! 4. Slides and Glides a. A nice slide-like move that can be done while dancing Salsa was shown to me once by Edie the Salsa Freak at the Miami Salsa Congress. Basically, you make the shape of a 4 with your legs. And it is often (not always though) done on beat 4. Since learning it, I've seen many dancers do this move. Here is an example: When doing Enchufla for ladies, after the first 8 beats of the pattern, they step back on their right on 1, step forward on their left on 2 and then step back on their right on beat 3. The lady's left leg then swings backwards, first gliding along the floor and then coming up with the knee bent to create the "4" shape. The lady then does the CBL to complete the step. Here is another way to do the "4" step that is even fancier. In the same part of Enchufla for ladies, women remain weighted on their left foot and let the right foot swing around in a semi-circle going clockwise around them (from 12:00 to 6:00) during beats 1 and 2. Then the lady does the same thing on beats 3 and 4 as described above. She steps back on 3 with her right foot and makes the "4" with her left. This is fancier and more elaborate than what is described in the paragraph above as it includes two places where the leg slides along the floor. (Also see #7 below which has an example and a video of a guy doing the leg swing in a circle.) Although this step "4" is described above for ladies, guys can do it, too, in places where it is appropriate. And women can do it on the opposite foot on beat 8 in some places as well. Here is another use of the same move, "4." Guys can do this in the first 8 beats of both vacila or enchufla. But this time the move is done on beats 5, 6, 7 and 8. On beat 5 the guy's right foot goes behind his left. Then on 6 he steps forward onto the left, and then steps back on the right foot on beat 7. On beat 8 he drags the left foot back along the floor and when it's directly under his body, he bends the knee so the left leg comes up until it's horizontal, again making the shape of a "4" with his two legs. Note that in this case, the guy is doing "4" on beat 8---a bit confusing!! Also, be aware that on all these examples of the move I'm calling "4," if the leg isn't raised that high, it can stay in contact with the floor and just tap instead. That has a similar look but is less elaborate. You still get the slide which itself makes a nice embellishment. 5. My favorite slide--the leaders' slide while moving into dame dos This is a totally awesome slide. I watched Glen do this many times before figuring out, with his help, what he was doing. It was so second nature to him that it took some concentration to slow it down and analyze it. But here, analyzed neatly for you, is Glen's famous (trademark)! Let's say that dame/dame dos/dame dos is called. The leader turns to the center on the 5, 6, and 7 of the 8 beat phrase in which dame is called. Then he travels to his partner on beats 1, 2, and 3. On the next beats 6, 7, and 8 is when the slide occurs. In the case of a simple dame, this is when the CBL is done. In the case of a dame blended with a dame dos, this is when the guys moves the lady to his left and gets ready to start traveling to his next partner. Traveling to the new partner is done on 1, 2, and 3. The movement around the lady to position himself to travel to the next partner is done on 5, 6 and 7. The slide is done in the last half of the 8 beat phrase. So the guy steps back on his right on beat 5. Then on beat 6 he takes a big step forward with his left foot, moving to the right diagonally in front of the right foot. Then he slides the right foot forward so it "hooks" behind the left foot on beat 7. Then the cool part is that he shifts his weight back so he steps back on the heel of his right foot on beat 8. This makes his body move in what looks like a slight undulation that adds a great deal of style.
---------------- 6. Hops/vertical level changes and footwork
In this clip from a show at the Health Dept's Wellness Fair (part 1), watch how I add some hops on the second half of beat two, and the second half of beat six (plus possibly in other places).
Honestly, some people don't like that kind of action in Salsa as they prefer the movement be smooth. But this small, quick hop feels so natural to me that I do it at times. I also bend down in some places--like when I come in front of the guy for vacila-type turns. That is another way to change your level (height) but the downward movement is more gradual than a hop so it looks smoother. (Bending is always best done from the knees so the back stays straight. It doesn't look good to crane forward--so by bending, I really mean bending the knees.)
I tried to find a video with an example of my bending down to put on this page. But my bend is fairly small and not that easy to see. So what I found instead is the bend in the clip below from a Cinco de Mayo performance part 1 at about 27 seconds into the clip. Glen is doing the move Dedo and he bends down very noticably with his arms kind of crossed, which looks really nice.
7. Flares/Taps/Footwork Another other thing that is very evident in the videos in item #2 above is the leader's (Glen's) fancy footwork. In addition to flares, the extra taps and other foot movements you can see there add a great deal of style. Glen does this in so many ways, it's hard to pick them out and describe them individually. It's probably most effective for viewers to watch and find particular things they like. My personal favorite is when he swings his leg in a circle. Because it's broad and graceful, it's very eye-catching---and it's not too common a style of embellishment, so it has a pretty original look.
Also check out the leg flare at the very end of this video clip for a Cinco de Mayo performance (part 1).
That is another thing that can be added to moves in many places to add style, and though it can be fairly dramatic, it's one of the easier embellishments to do. ------------------ 8. More on Extra Taps
Watch Glen's feet in the enchufla al medio con dos move in this Casino Rueda video from a show at the National Zoo.
He does a few different things. At one point he just taps one foot in the same place to mark a few of the beats. To me, that communicates a feeling for the rhythm of the music. In another place he also taps but moves his foot so the tap is in different places which is more dynamic. This move, enchufla al medio con dos, has 4 beats when leads are moving and 4 beats when followers are moving. So the 4 beats when someone is more or less in place is a nice spot to add some embellishment. I have seen many things done along this line, and you can get some ideas from the footwork in this clip. I have included it as a separate item even though it is addressed in #3 above, because this move so lends itself to such taps, and you can see them very clearly and cleanly in this video. ---------------------- 9. Body rolls/ripples
This is a clip from a show at the Health Department (part 2). Watch my body ripple near the end of the clip.
That kind of ripple infuses a lot of life into a dance move and can added in many places. To learn the ripple you see in this clip, you bend the knees (keeping the body vertical), and then bring first the hips then mid-body and then chin and head forward slightly as though you were pressing against a wall in front of you. You just sequentially move your body forward as though you were leaning against a wall a few inches in front of you--starting from the knees ending with your head. It takes a lot of practice to do smoothly, so don't be discouraged if early attempts are awkward. Here is a tip I learned (the hard way): Keep the movement small so it's not exaggerated. You want this to be subtle. Here is something very similar to a ripple--it's a body roll. Watch the body rolls in this clip on "Flashy Rueda" from a United Nations Benefit show that was done jointly by DanceInTime and SalsaWild. (Click here) You can see some rolls in various places throughout the clip. One of the things we did in that Rueda circle is for the ladies to do a ripple on beats 1, 2, and 3 as the guys move to their next partner. They are done with the ripple for the CBL that starts on beat 5. Note that this ripple begins with the knees bending on beat 1 and by beat 3 it's done--the ripple action has moved upwards. That ripple during a dame is done just by ladies. But if you watch the the second segment of the video clip just above in this paragraph, you will also see that there are rolls done simultaneously by the leads and follows. This makes quite a nice step, too, and give leaders a chance to do a body roll. 10. More on taps and kicks You may note that in a tap, the dancer's foot touches the ground lightly, without a lot of weight. In a kick the foot never touches the ground but it's actually fairly similar to a tap in terms of where the foot is moving. So taps and kicks are closely related to each other, so to speak. In the video below from a show at the DanceDCFestival (9/06), watch the very beginning. The step and tap/kick pattern of the guy near the front of the circle (Rodrigo) is altered as he does the basic step. It's a little hard to see on the video as the camera isn't focusing on this. But it's right at the start of the video below and you can see that this pattern of steps and kicks/taps actually alters where the body is a little. Rodrigo is stepping here the same way the Rueda dancers do in the popular instructional Rueda videos out of Miami. (They tap on 3 and 8.) Click here for a mixed gender rueda The step pattern for basic Rueda dancing is Quick Quick Slow (stepping on beats 1, 2, 3, and 5, 6, and 7). Many dancers add taps on 4 and 8 and other embellishments. However, the top studios out of Miami have the dancers step on 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 when they do guapea, the basic step. They tap on beats 3 and 8 which looks very cool. It even alters their body position somewhat. That is exactly what you can see Rodrigo do if you watch the opening guapea (basic step) closely in the above video. You can only see this in guapea, the basic step. This step and tap pattern forces your body to move forward on beat three in a way that adds a lot of style. 11. Step Alterations This is something else that you can do which is like an embellishment, but to some extent it is like making a new step. You can change part of a move so that it has the same number of beats as the original move (and is thus compatible with it) and yet is fancier, or just more to your taste. Here is an example. The move Dedo consists of four 8-beat phrases. Suppose you wanted to change the third set of 8 beats to make the move flashier. You could back rock the lady on 1, lead her forward on 2, and check her on 3 and 4. Then you can spin her on beats 5 through 8 by leading her at the shoulders into a strong spin. You can let her free spin (i.e. no hand is held so there is no lead during the spin). Then the last 8 beats is the same as usual. This sort of alteration in the step is essentially like a cross between a very significant embellishment and a new move. There are many examples, and you have the liberty of making up such alterations. |
Copyright Barbara Bernstein of DanceInTime.com, 2005