During email exchanges, I asked Dragos what he
specifically wanted me to teach an already advanced nation. “Edie,
just teach us … whatever you think we need…. Oh, and include
Musicality.”
I could have taught “On-2”, but that would cause a
rift (separation) in this precious and growing scene.
I could have taught a ton of new moves, but they
can learn those from DVDs and Dragos – they would have thought that the
more intricate and complex the moves are, the better WHICH IS NOT THE
CASE. I didn’t want to emphasize moves. My expertise is
TECHNIQUE which makes the woman “feel good”, while making the
man “look good”.
After listening to their music and DJ for several
nights, I took advantage of what they are sitting on… a GOLD MINE and
decided to experiment with this group of people. I taught “whatever I
wanted” all weekend…including spins, style, story-building, and
focusing a few hours of one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE subjects:
It is very easy to interpret Salsa musically and
lyrically dancing solo (Floor Shines) but EXTREMELY difficult while
still holding your partner during social dancing. Eighty percent of the
time, knowing the music is the easiest way, but there’s that magical 20%
of the time that takes more extensive training.
This type of “extensive” training involves
meticulous ear training in Timing, finding musical patterns within the
song, counting measures, typically knowing the artist, their
characteristics, and ultimately tuning in subconsciously with your
partner and reaching that trance-like state of Salsa Euphoria
that only comes once in a Blue Moon. With proper Musicality Training,
you “CAN” actually hit this trance at will, rather than by accident.
Musicality is a dance form in Salsa still at its
budding stages. It is only just beginning to emerge worldwide. It is
extremely difficult to master. There are only a handful of Salseros
throughout the world whom I know are true Musicalists, and practice it often, but none who have
truly mastered it and even fewer who can actually “teach” it. It is
an extremely difficult artform. It is an on-going process of learning
and growing – the sky is the limit with Musicality – that’s what makes
it so important in the world of Salsa. There are now no limits to
growing your dancing – Musicality is BETTER than a bunch of new moves.
It’s the ULTIMATE. There are no limits to this!!
That is why I am now teaching Musicality classes
virtually every weekend in almost every country I visit. I want to be
able to dance musically with more Salseros – not just the few. I hate
waiting around, congress after congress, and only once in a while
finding some guy that can actually hit the breaks in the music. I die
waiting to dance with him all night.
One of the most exciting aspects of dancing
musically to Salsa music is that the hits and stops
can be so unpredictable. The artist of the song has free reign to
create whatever he/she chooses. We need to respect and follow THAT.
Dancing musically, hitting the breaks, pausing at
the stops, and sweeping during the crescendos are an amazing challenge
because not only do you have to control your self, but you
must be able to control your partner without interrupting
her body already-in-motion.
I train students to remember
the following:
-
As a Leader, it is your job
to make
your follower
“Feel Good”.
-
As a Follower, it is your job
to make your leader
“Look Good”.
- Edie, The Salsa FREAK
Musicality in
Salsa during partner work – socially - is virtually impossible and very
uncomfortable if you are not taught its tricks and techniques.
Gentlemen, you cannot interrupt her natural turn nor her step in motion.
Based on my own experience, this is aggravating and sometimes painful.
A body in motion tends to stay in motion – let her be. Musicality
involves changing your “self” guys. The trick to performing perfect
Musicality dancing is not interrupting your partner’s motion – she must
feel the anticipated hit or break coming with your subtle and refined
lead. Only then can she willingly submit to your hold or change on her
own. THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF THIS. If she is acutely aware of your lead,
and a great follower, she will sense your changes and IMMEDIATELY
respect and respond to your every command.
Guys, you must change
yourself first,
before she will change with you.
TEACHING MUSICALITY
Teaching musicality is an art in itself.
Executing it beautifully without pain or aggravation is virtually
impossible if you are not taught the proper methods and techniques.
Musicality in Salsa is still in its infancy.
Tone-deaf Salseros who are consistently and always
“off-beat”
learn Musicality faster - why? Because they have
memorized all the songs, and know every hit and break in the music. In
1994, my first dance partner was tone deaf. He drove me nuts, but we
won many competitions because we “knew the music perfectly” – every
social dance looked like a show. He was actually light years ahead of
his time. Tone deaf Salseros love Salsa just as much as the next guy,
but were born tone-deaf and cannot hear the basic beats. It’s not
their fault – they were literally born that way. Their “rhythmic
motor skill-to-brain” connection is simply not there. They will
never be able to correlate their legs to the beat of the music –
EVER. And you cannot help them so don’t even try. Just smile and love
them for who they are. But you know what? They have a passion for
Salsa more than the rest of us – at times even more so, than those of us
who are fixated and addicted to staying “On Beat” 100% of the time –
which is impossibility if the musician switched the beats of the song
within the music. Do you know why musicians do that? BECAUSE THEY
CAN. They created the song!! They can do whatever they want with it!
It’s their music!
I’ve witnessed Salseros who think that being “On
The Right Timing” is so important that they forget about the song and
its unique character and story. Sure staying on time is important,
but we end up focusing on the counts, rather than the beauty and
richness within the music. This is a real tragedy. Musicality
brings us back to dancing and interpreting the song the way the artist
originally intended it. It gets our minds to re-focus on why we started
dancing to begin with – to have fun and forget about life for a while.
Salsa is like a hospital – a retreat of recovery from the tragedies of
life and recuperation from our hardships and trials. It is a form of
relaxation and exercise. It is bliss taken to a higher level. It’s
just too bad the Mambo Police busted in on our drug-like cloud and lined
up along the dance floor watching and criticizing our timing. God help
us if we accidentally step forward on the Two rather than the Six, or
the Five, rather than the One for a measure or two...
“Oh my god,,, he’s so off beat… !@$#!”
SO WHAT. “He” is not YOUR
problem! Work on your “self” girlfriend! Work on your styling, work on
your following, work on your finger-egg, but most of all, work on your
fake smile!!! Who knows, you may both just end up busting out laughing
and actually HAVING FUN getting off-time for a change!
BACK TO ROMANIA…
The Romanians wanted “SOMETHING MORE” than just a full weekend
Bootcamp. They wanted to know the secrets and techniques of MUSICALITY
within their dancing more than anything else. For some reason they
“knew” this was the ultimate – something only the BEST of the BEST
dancers in the world understand and can actually pull off during a
social dance.
“Edie, we know all the
moves, we need something else… we need to add more to our dancing. We
need Musicality and Style.” - Romanian
Salsero
The beauty of practicing Musicality is that if
taught correctly you cannot have Musicality without Style. They both
fit each other like a hand-in-glove. One is the shadow of the other…
Musicality is the Father of Style.
SIX MONTHS LATER…
After the weekend Salsa FREAK Bootcamp in Romania, I was invited
back in six months to basically continue where I left off. During that
six month period, I was determined to perfect the way I teach Musicality
classes, so I started experimenting with it, teaching Musicality and
Men's Styling classes
at various congresses and festivals throughout the world.
At the same time, little did I realize that during
the same six-month period, the Romanian Salseros took everything I said
to heart, studied more and more, analyzed some of the top dancers in the
world, invited even more instructors to teach them,
and increased their
dance level by AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. By the time I got back to Romania
six months later, dancing with them was like dancing with completely
different Salseros. I couldn’t believe it. Their patterns,
combinations, style and body movements were amazing! Their Musicality
was just starting to emerge. Now they were ready for more complex
Musicality courses - this time, at a deeper level.
WHO
IS PETER FIGE?
By now I knew that Romanian Salseros typically soak up everything I
teach them like sponges, so what I decided to do was invite one the
Top Musicalists in the world, Mr. Peter Fige. Peter
is originally from Hungary. He currently teaches Salsa in Germany in
the evenings and some weekends. Interestingly enough, he is a
mathematician during the day and works for a major engineering firm in
Munich.
There are other instructors who are musical, but
none like Peter Fige, who can be musical WITH his partner
while still in his arms, and never pull or yank her into musical
submission (I’ve experienced THAT nightmare with other guys and hated
every minute of it).
Edie posing with Peter in Budapest Hungary
during our 2007 Musicality DVD shoot.
I’ve seen Peter’s growth in Musicality become more
and more refined and sophisticated over the years. We met in Berlin in
2002. He was dancing Cuban style at the time, but then progressed to LA
and NY Style later on. More recently, I found myself standing in line
to get a dance with him. Not only are his moves easy to follow, but his
exact synchronicity and playfulness with the Music is what has always
kept my attention. Peter is so good at dancing musically, that I’ve
included him in my new “World’s Best Leads” DVD series teaching none
other than: “Musicality”.
Peter has the capability of playing with the hits
and breaks of the music without EVER interrupting the follower. He has
an uncanny ability of preparing me for a pause even if I don’t know it’s
coming. When we dance together, we are literally “One with the
Music”. You can feel his passion for the music with every note - to
the dying end of the song, Peter takes you inside the music with him.
It is an experience difficult to describe in words. When I am dancing
with Peter, or any other musicalist, the rest of the world disappears.
It’s just simply all about the music, and how the artist is telling the
story. Peter becomes the artist’s brush, palette, and frame, painting
the beautiful picture (his dance partner) with his movements and
direction. His leading technique and style is astounding. Dancing
with Peter is an absolutely unbelievable experience. I know most women
feel the same.
Ladies, before you die, you need to experience
Peter’s gentle, yet powerful lead. He leads by signaling within his
subtle motions, rarely puts his thumbs on your hands, and never forces a
thing. I’ll never forget what Peter told our class in a virtual
whisper,
“Leading
Musically is like speaking.
If you speak softly, you can always GET
LOUDER.” -
Peter Fige
MUSICALITY INSTRUCTOR
TRAINING.
My
vision was still focused on training the precious and hungry
Salseros of Romania.
My first experiment (on accident) was working with Alex Lima from Paris,
France. Alex has always been known for his solo musicality shows. I
was quite surprised when I danced with him at the Arnhem event in
Holland that he was not only musical as a solo dancer, but also during
social dancing as well! His lead is so good, so musical, so refined,
that I’ve also included him in my “World’s Best Leads” DVD series. It’s
always a thrill discovering your partner is ACTUALLY LISTENING to the
SONG, and DANCING TO IT. Alex Lima’s artistic Musicality Moves
paints the song with both of our bodies.
As a follower, I get tired of pattern after pattern
(pattern prics),
move after move
(move mongers),
combo after combo (combo creeps)…
etc, etc. etc. while awesome music is playing and they’re missing every
hit and break in the song. They’re actually still dancing at the end of
the song WHEN THERE’S NO LONGER MUSIC PLAYING, because they have to
finish their combination. That’s when the heart and soul of the music
is lost.
Alex Lima is completely different and a fantastic
Musicalist. We met for a weekend workshop on the
island of Cyprus in October of 2006. Our first dance together was
the actual show that night. He chose a song we both knew and we executed
the dance to the exact hits and breaks within the music – it looked as
if we rehearsed it for months – when we were actually simply improvising
the entire time! It was a complete rush dancing with him like this.
You can really feel the years of maturity in his lead come out when
dancing musically with him. I’ve been told the leader feels the same of
the follower as well. When both of you know
the music, painting the picture of the song with your bodies is better
than sex.
And I’m NOT kidding.
Alex and I danced like this all
weekend. Every social dance was a PERFORMANCE for crying out loud! I
was in high-heaven the entire weekend thanks to him and the Cyprian
promoters. If you ever get a chance to visit the
island of Cypress, it
is simply amazing. The island is astounding during the day, with its
incredible beaches and vacation resorts. The Salsa nightlife is even
better – with Salsa dancing on Sunday nights at clubs by the water.
It’s so relaxing dancing under the stars and hearing the waves of the
ocean crashing on the shore nearby…
TEACHING MEN’S STYLING TO LEARN MUSICALITY
Later, I started to get more serious about teaching musicality
classes everywhere I went. I even started teaching Men’s Styling
classes from a women’s
perspective – well, from “my” perspective. .;)
I needed the training to understand the depth of
knowledge required to pull off teaching Musicality as both the lead AND
follower. I learned a long time ago, that if I ever want to learn
something well, I need to teach it to master it.
So I did just that. I started taking men's
styling classes, then teaching Men’s
Styling classes here and there… learning from some of the top Male
Stylists in the World. I even did a Men's Styling Weekend
Bootcamp where I invited the top 5 male stylists in Los Angeles to teach
with me throughout the weekend! I was surprised I could actually pull it off,
but then again, all I do is dance “with men”, and I’ve had over a dozen
or so different dance partners since 1994, so it wasn’t really all that
hard! I just have to forget that I have breasts for a moment, and I’m
just fine! I teach Men's Styling from a woman's perspective.
It's completely different from how the guys teach it.
I teach
men "what women want, when they want it, and how often..."
(see you in class! .;)))
HOW I DID IT
When teaching Musicality classes, what worked best for me was
finding a dance instructor for my class to demonstrate what I’m
teaching. My target “guy” was usually some hot-shot male instructor
already teaching at the event. I was shocked at the number of MALE
INSTRUCTORS that actually TURNED ME DOWN when I asked them to assist me
at the last minute. They looked at me like a deer-in-headlights and
said, “No way! I can do it, but I can’t
teach it Edie…"
I can teach on my own no problem, but let me tell
you what happened every time I wanted a partner for the class.
I tried Two different ways:
First, I asked a male instructor a half – hour before the class
to assist me. What would happen is that he would want to know the song,
and we would have to start practicing it to “prepare” – which was NOT
what I wanted. But, being the submissive follower that I’m supposed to
be, I gave that a try, and we miserably failed every time because he
would get confused over what he was “feeling” on stage in front of
dozens of students verses what we rehearsed. I also found that it was
TWICE AS NERVE-RACKING teaching after that. He was stressed, I was
stressed, and it was just… bad.
The second method was to NOT TELL THE GUY till ten
seconds before the song played what we were about to do. THIS WORKED
EVERY TIME. I chose all types of instructors whom I knew were very
musical:
Alex Lima from France,
Mimo from Germany,
Tamambo from
England,
Felix Crainicu from Romania,
.jpg)
and
Peter Fige from Germany, to name a few....
One
of my experiments was Ismael Otero, founder of the Caribbean Soul dance
company in New Jersey. I’ve always loved dancing with him because he
is so musical.
Both Ismael and Juan Calderon (also from New Jersey, founder
of Cultural Explosion dance company) have always mesmerized me with the
way they are able to hit the stops and breaks within the music while
social dancing.
When you get dancing with these guys, aka
Musicalists, all you can say is "Oh my god... that was
incredible..."
|
In
fact,
Musicalists
are now getting SO used to women saying "oh my god" after
virtually every song, that naturally they tend to start
believing they are Salsa gods, and this CAN get to their HEADs.
Guys, hold the reigns... take my word of advice. Just because
women STAND IN LINE all night to get a dance with you and call
you "god" afterward doesn't mean you're really
GOD....OK?
|
I asked Ismael into my class, and he had NO IDEA
what I was about to do. In front of a crowd of about fifty curious
students, I asked him to dance a demo with me to a song we both knew and
have him interpret the music while partner dancing with me – not solo
shines. He was shocked, but simply “went with the flow” like he always
amazingly does… with precision!!
It’s amazing what a true professional can pull off
in front of a crowd of curious onlookers. Ismael did it. Every hit,
every pulse, every break in the song was displayed both in the lead and
follow, beautifully, and to perfection.
The crowd of students cheered in a mad rush when
they saw the result.
We made the song into a piece of art. Ismael
placed both my body and his into moves fitting beautifully within the
music. The exact same thing happened with Tamambo from England and
Felix Crainicu from Romania. Each time, I put them on the spot, and
made them just simply “dance what they felt” to certain hits and stops
in the music. What was awesome was that each was excellent in their
craft outside of Salsa; Tamambo in Jazz, and Felix in Tango. They
added their own flavor and styling and what felt most comfortable to
them within the Salsa song I chose. It was fabulous. It was
a work of art-in-motion. I love seeing the results BECAUSE I NEVER
KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT … and the “natural” masculine style that emanated
out of each man once they hit the breaks within the song … oh my god… to
die for. Just watching them was a show. I
had to excuse myself and take a cold shower afterward.
STOP THINKING
What is fascinating is that a true, hard-core Salsero can pull off
Musicality moves if he just doesn’t think about it too much. Once he
starts thinking, his logical mind gets in the way of his natural flow.
You cannot perfect “perfection” and try to improve the trance-like state
of Salsa Euphoria in a leader who dances musically. It must happen
naturally. It is almost a spiritual experience. His flow becomes your
flow and both of you just fly.
It is both a pleasure and honor to teach alongside
men who dance musically CORRECTLY. Most of all, I love the respect
they have for the woman – all women. Misogynists (men who hate
women) don’t do too well with Musicality. You can pick them out a
mile away by how they are treating the women on the dance floor.
There are a lot of them out there, so beware. They brutalize the
woman by forcing her to stop abruptly in the middle of a turn without
any warning. He will slam the breaks in the middle of her natural
motion. They treat her like an animal on a leash, and it just
isn’t right, nor does it feel good. She feels caged and just wants
to revolt against him. Not a pretty site. When a
female feels her body respected, loved, and taken care of by a
Musicalist, she finds
herself giving back in submission to his lead even more. It’s a beautiful union of the
male and female role in life.
This is why Musicality is BETTER than SEX
Romanian women are some of the most beautiful in
the world.
THE FUTURE OF SALSA
Where do I see Salsa headed? From seeing how
quickly the Salseros of Romania picked up Musicality, I see more and
more Jack and Jill competitions taking place throughout
the world, where you don’t know who your partner will be; his/her name
is randomly chosen for you out of a hat, and you are judged based on
Musicality and style…. I see Improvisational shows sprouting up all over
the world.
I see Congresses, Festivals, and Conventions promoters hire
instructors who will
focus more on Musicality
Techniques rather than just
turn patterns and figures. I see the moves and techniques found
typically in shows, taken musically to the social dance floor. I see
musicians creating more “Musical” music with stops, hits and breaks for
the dancers to play with. I see Musicality take the entire economy of
Salsa up one more notch – to the mass media and beyond.
More importantly, I see all of us as dancers
getting back to the heart and soul of the music itself. I see us
getting off each other’s back about staying “On Beat”… I see the
arguments of dancing on the “One” or the “Two” quietly fade away. I see
different dance styles combining and merging into one beautiful,
all-inclusive, non-exclusive, musical and individual dance style.
… and I’ve
witness first-hand how a tiny country like Romania is leading the way,
…without even realizing it.
The next weekend, we all drove to the city of Cluj,
north of Bucharest. But we had to get through Transylvania – Dracula
territory – to get there. Yes, we visited many of Romania's castles and palaces, but
Dracula’s castle was truly something to see.
I taught Musicality in the
city of Cluj the ENTIRE 16- HOUR WEEKEND. It was awesome, and they all
finally “got it” late Sunday afternoon. Wow. I got chills watching
them. Goose bumps.
Watch out world… ROMANIA is IN THE HOUSE.
Thanks to the incredible leadership of Dragos and
Raluca they have chosen the highest level of Salsa for their students to
learn. “These
are not my students… I am simply their Teacher.”
Dragos says of his philosophy of teaching. He knows and understands the
Secret of success. He knows the value of quality teaching and never
holding anything back – his philosophy is simple: Teach and give away
as much as you know, so you can receive more. This is why people wait
in line to take his classes. He actually has to turn people down when
registering – just too many. A nice problem to have for most of the
dance world – a REAL issue for Dragos!
He’s taken responsibility for bringing Romania to
the forefront of the Salsa world, one step at a time. The level of
respect his students have for him… I mean, the people that take
his classes – is extraordinary. I’ll be teaching the secrets of their
studio success at my
Instructor Training Bootcamps all over the
world. Both Dragos and Raluca’s vision and hearts are enormous. After
only advertising their classes online for two days, they received over
100 phone calls for new sign-ups. The growth of Salsa in Romania is
awesome because of the quality of instruction they receive, the
International Technique-Focused instructors whom they’ve invited,
the music the DJs play, and the heart and soul of a hungry nation eager
to learn all they can at a very fast pace. Eddie Torres once said, “Being
great need not be proven, if you’re cream, you will naturally float to
the top.”
Because of the
incredible leadership of Dragos and Raluca, the Romanian Salseros have
grown so fast, that they have not had the chance to get the story and
beauty of the music educated out of them. They have been “protected”
from outside issues and problems so evident all over the rest of the
world of Salsa. Thanks to their leadership, carefully chosen
technique-oriented instructors have educated them the correct way. Now
Romanian Salseros are “One with the Music” and eager to learn even
more.
“They just don’t know
how good they are…”
Edie, The
Salsa FREAK is a freelance writer and is one of the most sought-after
Salsa instructor/performers in the world. She has traveled to over
fifty countries teaching and writing about the world of dance, business,
relationships, and life. She lives on airplanes, trains, and dance
floors throughout the world.
