SalsaSelfie.com 🇨🇺

The classic Coca-Cola left turn is done as the last half of Dile Que No, on “5-6-7”, around the Lead. The classic way to proceed is for the Lead to add another Dile Que No and bring the Follow into the start position of Open Position. But we have many alternative ways to do Coca-Cola turns from Dile Que No.

One of my favorite ways to do Coca-Cola from Dile Que No starts like the classic DQN and Coca-Cola around the Lead. But instead of adding another Dile Que No, I like for the Lead to walk under the arm holding the Follow with a left-to-right hand-grip. As the Lead walks under the arm on “1-2-3” he should turn around.

There are three good ways for the Lead to walk under the arm on “1”. The Lead can use:

1. Lead’s Paseo Walk steps (the focus of this tutorial).
2. Lead’s Casino Clásico steps.
3. Lead’s Cruzado Lateral steps.

A Lead should always step in specific, recognizable patterns with a name, easy to recreate. One day the Lead will naturally fall into one of these patterns in new or less known situations by pure body memory, instead of just stepping random homegrown junk.

All three set of steps lead the Follow in front of the Lead instead of around him and the Follow will most likely be lead into Rodeo or Caída position. All three options are equally versatile and are mostly a question of preference. But just by using another pattern than last time might inspire the Lead to continue differently.

It is important to note that since the Follow is going to continue in front of the Lead, the Coca-Cola turn itself does not have to be on a perfect curved line requiring that the Follow’s Coca-Cola turn is more than 360 degree. Stepping under the arm works equally good if the Follow turns a traveling 360 on a straight line.

Lead’s Paseo Walk Steps

When starting a Paseo Walk, the Lead steps forward on “1” and “2”, pivots around on “2” and steps back on “3” and “5” in order for the Follow to pass by him very similar to a Cross Body Lead, and the the Lead steps forward again on “6-7”. When stepping under the arm after Coca-Cola, only the Lead is stepping Paseo Walk steps, the Follow just steps forward as she is led.

Easy and Relaxed

When a Lead is doing DQN con Coca-Cola with the intention of bringing the Follow around him the classic way, and he senses that the Follow is far away from turning on a curved line and will never get around him with style, then the Lead can rescue the Coca-Cola by walking under the arm, bringing the Follow in front of him as an easier alternative.

Stepping under the arm gives us a relaxed figure, and just like I show it in the video, it works very well to do the figure three times in a row with short intervals in between. We would almost never see the classic DQN con Coca-Cola used the same way.

But the classic Coca-Cola on a curved line is necessary for doing Coca-Cola Doble and Coca-Cola Triple.