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Coming from Dile Que No into Open Position, I mostly skip Guapea: I don’t want to stop-up, I don’t want to do the “back-and-forward” Guapea Horror Show, or to suddenly go sideways using Cruzado Guapea.

I do use the versatile “forward-forward” Guapea (Cruzado), the traditional Guapea GOAT, from time to time and in certain situations as an ordinary figure in its own right. But my general approach is to reduce the use of standard Guapeas to zero. I want “Guapea” free dancing.

But I sometimes find it a little “clumsy” or “too fast” to start the next sequence of figures right away directly from Dile Que No. In order to get a more smooth transition, I have developed two new Guapea figures. I like these Guapea figures because they are made with the sole purpose of creating a better forward walking flow.

 I call them Guapea Mágico and Paseo Guapea.  In this tutorial I present the figure I call Guapea Mágico, leading the Follow from Open Position to Caída Position and transforming Caída position into Open Position!

Guapea Mágico

Guapea Magico starts at the start position of Open Position. The Lead steps forward as he leads the Follow forward with a High Five on “5”. The High Five hands stay together with a soft magnetic touch as the Follow is walked from East to West into an inside pivot on “7-8” and the Couple ends up in the traditional Caída position. 

I never grab the Follow’s left hand on five instead of doing a High-Five. Hand-grabbing doesn’t exist in my Casino. I want a free Follow. I am not into man-handling as is common among Cuban Leads.

In Caída Position the Lead must position the Follow so the Caída Position almost by magic is transformed into the start position of Open Positon. Guapea Magico is a Guapea for changing positions. First the Follow is walked from Open Position to Caída Position, from East to West. Next the start position of Caída is transformed into the start position of Open Position, flipping the circle so to speak: West is now East and East West.

This transformation of Positions and the long magnetic touch of the High-Five on “5-6-7-8” spells magic and that is why I call this Guapea for Guapea Mágico. The magic works best at advanced level. Might be confusing with beginners.

 

No ownership no credit

Feel free to use Guapea Mágico as if you have made it up yourself. I always hope that other dancers are already using what I naively call “my figures” because then the figures cannot be that bad but a natural feature inherent in the dance probably already used more than fifty years ago somewhere by somebody. 

I believe in Casino based on natural walking. The Follow always steps forward by default. I want the look and feel of continuing forward motion like Ice and Roller Skating. I want the circle, ovals, rounded squares and figure-eight patterns.