Weekly Videos

Week 6 (Spring Break)

We reviewed this week! It was fun :D

Week 5 (Video)

This was the week of Enchufla!

What was first introduced as a basic footwork has now been brought into the circle. The enchufla is a classic and frequently called movement pattern, that, at its most basic, results in a partner change. For this move, both the leads and follows execute the enchufla footwork (walk walk walk pivot) to pass by each other with the leads on the outside of the circle and the follows on the inside, pivoting back towards your partner and walking past each other again, this time with leads towards the inside of the circle, moving on to your next partner. If all goes well, you should be facing the partner that you would have gone to with a dame.  At this point you pick up your partner with the Dile Que No (DQN) footwork which we have practiced so much during the week of dames.

In addition to the basic enchufla, we learned enchufla doble and enchufla triple. For these moves, you don't change partners right away (although you do still end with a partner change), instead the leads must catch the shoulder of their follow as they are walking past each other on 1-2-3 and send them back across in front of you to their original spot on 5-6-7. For the doble, you catch the shoulder once and then, right away do a regular enchufla, moving on to the next partner, and for the triple you catch the shoulder twice before moving on.

Finally we taught Enchufla Queen, which is a more showy fun group move. It is a simple alteration to the basic enchufla, where instead of picking up the partner right away with the DQN, both leads and follows approach their new partners with Stop Stomp Clap and Stop Stomp Clap, then do the DQN.

Week 4 (Video)

This week was the Week of Dame's and y'all did awesome!

We spent the class working on the move Dame which was introduced in Week 3 as a way to change partners once you're in Guapea. This move starts by the couple opening up to face the center of the circle on 7 and 8 and requires a bit of extra pressure when the hands come together on 5 during your Guapea.

Leads: starting on your left foot (as always) step towards your partner and find their shoulder blade with your left hand (if your hands are free i.e. not clapping) on 1 and stay in place on 2-3 while guiding your follow into the circle in front of your right shoulder. On 567 guide your follow to cross your body with your right hand while offering your left hand for them to pick up. Your footwork on 567 will be to step to the right with the right foot on 5 and step in place and rotate to face your follow on 6-7.

Follows: Footwork for 123 will consist of one step in place and the next two forward planting your right foot towards the center of the circle on 3 and pivoting  on 4 to face perpendicular to your leads so you're read to cross in front of them. 5, one nice step across your leader, 6 another traveling step that helps you turn to look at your partner and 7 step in place and face your partner. Your armwork will be to find your leads right shoulder with your left hand as soon as possible on the 123 and then find and connect your right hand with the leads left on 567 so you're ready to go back into Guapea.

Beyond Dame, we learned some clapping alterations which increase the complexity slightly: con Uno, con Dos, con Tres. These claps mean that the leads will be later and later to connect with the follows shoulder, so it becomes increasingly important that follows find their partners shoulder to help them guide across.

Dame Festival strings all of the clapping dame's back to back to back to back (last one being a pecho or grunt from the leads)

Finally we taught Siete (Double)  which is a fun alteration to the guapea where the lead's keep doing the same footwork while wrapping their follows in towards them, catching their right shoulder on 5 (much as you would have pressed into their hand) and opening them back up on 5-6-7.

Week 5 is the week of Enchuflas! Get ready :D

Week 3 (Video 1, Video 2)

We're moving right along and the moves are already starting to pile up!

This week we spent some much needed time solidifying our foundation in the closed position (Camina side) with lot's of practice on getting in and out of the Llevala Pa'bajo and showing off with those lovely Exhibela. We finished learning our full suit of partner changes on the Camina side which are Dame Un Tarro (Sin Solta, Pa'fuera, Pa'atras). And, most importantly, we began to open the door to our next fundamental dancing position Guapea also known as Open position.

We taught Dile Que No (DQN), a move executed out of Llevela Pa'bajo, which brings the follow across the lead (to the other side) and opens the couple up to the circle with outside hands (left leads, right follows) held and chests facing the partner and slightly open towards the center of the circle. This new Open position that Dile Que No brings us to requires a new basic step; the Guapea. For the follows this step is the same as the salsa basic that we have been warming up with at the beginning of each class where you step back (away from the lead) with your right foot on 1 and forward (towards the lead) on 5. Leads, we are mirroring the follows in this, such that we are also stepping back with our left foot (away from the follow) on 1 and forward with our right foot (towards the follow) on 5. On the beat 5 when both the follow and lead have stepped into each other, we will meet in the middle for a little "high five" with our free hand (right leads, left follows). This is not an actual high five, more of a press into each other such that we can change our partners momentum.

We are going to learn loads of moves from this new home base, but or now we introduced the total basics:

 1) Dile Que Si: This is how we get back to our closed position (Camina side) and involves the couple stepping into each other on 1-2-3 and connecting then turning halfway around on 5-6-7 bringing you right into camina.

 2) Dame: This is our primary partner change from the camina side. This move starts from our guapea where on 5 (while the couple is pressing into the "high five") we give a little extra push so that we can open up and all face our bodies towards the center of the circle. Leads will then take a step towards the next follow and place their right hand on the follows left shoulder blade and the follows will execute the same footwork they performed for Dile Que No and cut across the leaders body landing ready for the Guapea basic step.

Week 4 is going to be the Week of Dames so don't worry if it's not perfect yet!

Week 2 (Video 1, Video 2)

Hi all! Great job this week! We got through some tough material :D,

This week reviewed our basic footwork from Week 1 and pushed onward towards a new basic footwork; the Enchufla footwork. The enchufla footwork is an essential tool that is at the heart of many movements you will see done (and go on to do yourself) in Casino dancing. I think of this footwork as a pacing walk; step step step pivot step step step pivot (1-2-3, 4, 5-6-7, 8, leads start left on 1 follows start right). The pivot should always be in the natural direction, i.e. if you have your left foot stepped ahead of your right, then it should be easiest to pivot over your right shoulder to start walking the other way on your right foot.

The enchufla footwork was used by the follows this week in the Llevala Pa'bajo. The Pa'bajo is wonderful home-base from which we can execute a number of moves. During this moves, the leads are using their Camina footwork to keep their body in place while they guide their follows across and back (from leads right shoulder to left shoulder) while the follows use the enchufla footwork to cross back and forth. From the Llevala Pa'bajo, we then learned the Exhibela (doble) which means to exhibit the follows. This move starts the same as the Pa'bajo except for an indication by the leads that there will be a change by dropping their left arm down on the 1. Following this indication, the follows will continue to walk across the leads on 1-2-3 with their enchufla footwork, but instead of pivoting on the 4, they will seek the opening made by the leads now raised left hand and continue past it with a small step forward on the 5 and quickly turning (right) back towards the leads on 6, one more step towards the leads shoulder on 7 and finishing with a nice pivot on 8 leaving you right back where you started the Llevala Pa'bajo. The trick with this move follows is to not step too far out away from the lead so that it is easy to get back to them. Leads just keep your footwork going, remember to indicate that the turn is going to happen by dropping that left arm on 1 and raising it slightly above the follows head by beat 3  so that it is clear that they should step through that opening. If the call is to do an Exhibela Doble, this "should" be just as easy as doing the move again because hopefully you've landed right where you started at the end of the first move. [Video 1]

The final move we taught (rather quickly) was the Dame un Taro Pa' Fuera. This move is an extension of the Dame un Taro, where, instead of landing at the next follow, leads will pass them on the right and arrive at the follow that was initially two couples away. Follows just remember to keep your footwork and timing and stay in place (unless I ask for something crazy like to do this move while we are in Caminamos Pa'arriba or Pa'bajo). Leads make sure to leave your first follow towards the inside of the circle and pass the next follow on the outside of the follow. [Video 2]

Thanks for another awesome class! Let's keep it up!

Week 1 (Video)

This week we covered the basic footwork and for Camina (step in place to the tempo) Pa'l Medio (2-step), Salsa basic (forward and back), and Side Basic (Side middle middle).  We discussed the timing of salsa music and dance; that we count 8-beats and step on 1-2-3 and 5-6-7. Steps are always alternating; Leads step left on 1 and right on 5, and follows step right on 1 and left on 5. After covering the footwork, we brought you into the Rueda (the circle) and partnered you up. We should you how to connect with your partner which we call making a frame. The frame is made by the leads right hand finding the follows left scapula (shoulder blade) with their arm held up and rounded as if they're holding a yoga ball. The leads left arm is up with hand slightly out and approximately eye level. The follow should lightly rest their left arm over the leads right with elbows connected and right hand finding the leads shoulder (this connection should be strong enough to feel the position of the lead but not heavy as to weigh down the leads right arm). Follows right hand should be offered hand up to match the shape that the leads left arm is making. The hand connection should be with the leads thumb in the palm of the follows hand and the fingers lightly wrapping around the hand. Follows can loosely relax their fingers over the  thumb. The connection should be loose for easy separation. In frame, we learned how to step together to the music with Camina.

This dance is a "called dance", where the circle leader will call a move on the beat 1 and starting on the beat 1 of the next phrase (count 1-8) you will execute the move. We change partners with Dame un Taro which has the leads stepping under their arm on 3 and progressing forward towards the next follow on 5-6-7. Caminamos Pa'arriba is the call for moving the circle counter clockwise or forward from the leads perspective. Caminamos Pa'bajo is the call for moving the circle clockwise or backward from the leads perspective. Quedate is the call to stop dancing. Dame un Taro Sin Soltar is a partner change as before with the modification where we don't let go with our previous follow (leaders should find the shoulder blade of the next follow while leaving their left hand with the right of their previous partner).  Recoje is the call to recover or reset our connection with our partner (for now I will only call this to complete Sin Soltar.  And finally we learned Vuelta al Mundo which was a right turn around the follows that takes two phases to complete.

To those who make it here, please let me know how you feel about the descriptions and whether you find them useful written like this :D

- Robert