Saturday, May 7, 2011

The little dove invites you to dance…

You may take a hundred lessons, practice your spins and stalk the mirror with those fancy shines, but real Salsa needs Soul…nothing is perfect or will ever be, but it won’t matter if you feel it. Sound. Music. Dance. Expression. Passion. Salsa…that’s my word association for you.

Appreciating Salsa music requires an acquired taste, unfortunately the language eludes me (have to, have to, have to learn Spanish)

Not many hoarders** understand that music is the soul of dance. For your dance to look great you need to know the music…let every dance be different…listen to every instrument, every syncopation, and every change the melody brings.

Most dancers are just using the percussion to keep their timing in check, hammering combination after combination. Ditto with the Salsa Sluts*** who are just looking for the big beats to hit their 1,3,5,7s.

The one song that changed my “ear” is La Palomilla (primarily what the title says). It’s an amazing soft and soulful (not to be mistaken as slow) Salsa track with amazing vocals by Joe Cuba. The first minute is relatively medium paced and soft with great backing chorus, then the tempo takes off. The mélange of rhythm that hits you from 1:33 till 2:03 is just brilliant. You have to SHINE here, no way out. The song picks up again and gradually starts slowing down in the last 15 seconds.

For me La Palomilla sums up what a smooth Salsa track should be, varying tempo, a solid 30 second instrumental jam session and great vocals. Want to check how good your Salsa is, then give the dove a chance.

Hoarders** people who want to do new partner work every single class, without making the effort to remember / apply previous tutorials.

Salsa Sluts*** absolute Salsa-holics who will Salsa to anything and everything from Country music to Trance