A hands-free Coca-Cola, or a free Coca-Cola meaning that the Lead let go of the Follow’s hands and set her free to turn exactly as she wants, is surprisingly rare in Cuban Salsa. Hands-free Coca-Cola Double Left Turns are so rare that they are almost a sensation! This might have something to do with the way most Cuban Leads dance
Read moreIn order to do a successful traveling double turn, two times 360, the first turn must be spot on. The second turn is more difficult, that is, the start position of the second turn must be at least as good as for the first turn. If the exit from the first turn isn’t perfect, it does not make sense to
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The Adiós basic figure, “tight turning” around one axis like a carousel, is one of the greatest of all basic figures. It is universal, used more or less the same in very many styles of social dancing as well as in Ball Room standard dances. Despite its popularity, it doesn’t go by a common name! The best descriptive name is
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We need a Coca-Cola turn on “5-6-7” in order to continue with Enchufla on “1”. It is a great combination of two basic figures but the transition on “7-1” between Coca-Cola in counter clock-wise circular motion and Enchufla in clock-wise circular motion is difficult. It is made more difficult by the fact that most Follows expect to continue the Coca-Cola
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Syncopation is to use the timing in between the beats for stepping, and in its simple form, the “and” in the middle between the beats. Some advanced dancers might sub-divide the space between the beats even further. E.g.: Normally a Vacilala is done as a Three Step Traveling Right Turn on “1-2-3”. Using syncopation, the Follow could instead do a
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Coca-Cola is one of a handfuld of dance terms used or known by most of us. Why are left turns called Coca-Cola? Before we answer this question, let us take a closer look at the use of left turns in Casino, Cuban Salsa. They are surprisingly rare! I have analysed thousands of videos of social dancing, and in half of
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Rueda de Casino is great fun, good for socialising, a nice way to say hello to new comers as well as to old friends. But Rueda de Casino is also hard-wired choreography with no decision making, no leading and following, no improvisation, no creativity and no musicality. If we dance a lot of Rueda de Casino, the burden of the
Read moreTraveling Three Step Turns are the default way to turn in Cuban Salsa, making it easy to turn both in the first and in the last half of an 8-count, at least if the Follow doesn’t back-step but walks forward on “1-2-3” as well as on “5-6-7”. A Three Step Turn simply means to use three steps to walk a
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We have several good ways to start a social dance, and most of us agree that we should start with some form of closed position. One popular way is to use Son Básico or just to walk around more or less randomly in Closed Position or using the Son Box (Cajón), or to use the Adiós Closed Position Carousel. One
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How long or how short steps should we take in a dance like Cuban Salsa? Little is known about this subject, and it is seldom discussed despite the fact that it somehow seems to be an important discussion. The only thing I remember having ever heard from dance teachers in classes and workshops is the mantra that we should take
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