Feed: Advanced Salsa Dancing - AggScore: 74.9

The art of salsa dancing is commonly passed on by inspiration. You see someone who inspires you to emulate their style, or at least a certain aspect of it. You respect something about the way he or she expresses the music in artistic motion, and you want to be able to do it too.

But whatever you admire about another dancer – maybe it’s his/her footwork, body movement, posture, move repertoire, or just overall style – there’s usually one obvious characteristic that all great salsa dancers have in common: a confident and relaxed presence on the dance floor. Well, believe it or not, an advanced salsero’s confidence is often rooted in his or her ability to “react” to the rhythm by dancing slightly behind it.

So instead of intentionally making your steps and body movements “arrive” at the exact moment of each beat, start letting your feet and body react to the sounds you are listening to. Allow the music to “pull” your feet into their steps, and “pull” your body into its Latin contra-body motion. If you’re doing it right – if you are really reacting to the rhythm – then you have to delay your timing, because it is not possible to truly react to anything “instantaneously.” Otherwise, it isn’t reacting, it’s anticipating!

Of course, we’re not advocating that you do this just for kicks. Delaying your timing by just a small fraction of a beat can really enhance your acoustic sensation, artistic creativity, and connection to the music. In other words, dancing behind the beat is much more than a “cool trick;” to us, it’s a defining characteristic of truly advanced salsa dancing.