A Well Grounded Dancer...
By Edie, The Salsa FREAK

Comment from a "Seasoned" Salsero, "Edie, I can’t believe how well grounded you are when I dance with you. I could spin you forever, and couldn’t knock you over if I tried."

Huh? ....  What the heck is that?

I remember being grounded all the time when I was a teen growing up. I guess I can thank my dad for grounding me constantly, and for months at a time… It’s obvious I’ve had LOTS of practice…

…all kidding aside, let’s talk about being a well-grounded DANCER.

Gentlemen, have you ever had the experience of dancing with a woman where you felt her weight was top – heavy? Not necessarily in the chest area, but overall? It didn’t matter if she was paper thin, or full – figured, when you went to spin her, her body weight was all over the place, and it felt like she was about to topple over?

Ladies, do you ever feel like you don’t have any control at times during spins, or even some simple turns? Do you feel off-balance and almost feel like you’re going to fall? Do you end up blaming the guys? (you better NOT say "yes".).

Well ladies and gentelmen, I’m here to tell you, that you need not feel that way anymore. As with anything else in life, the first steps to improving your dancing happens between your ears, in that marvelous gray matter called your BRAIN. Reading and absorbing techniques, then applying them is like BRAIN FOOD. There have been times when I’m teaching a student or a class, and a SINGLE WORD triggers something in their minds, and suddenly the move is executed perfectly. The power of words is astounding! Be careful that you use them very wisely. The tongue can be more deadly than a double-edged sword.

Here’s the secret to becoming a well-GROUNDED dancer.

When you dance, and with every step you take, try sliding/dragging your feet along the floor. In other words, don’t lift up your foot off the floor. During practice, do not lift it AT ALL for a while. Literally slide/drag it along the floor every step of the way. "Feel" the floor beneath your foot. Embrace the floor. Love the floor… KISS the floor constantly with the bottoms of your feet – even if it means wearing out the suede leather on your dance shoes. Do it anyway. I have the bottoms of my dance shoes replaced every month or so. I slide/drag them THAT much when I practice, and go out dancing.

You see, the reason you are toppling over, or ending up off-balance is because

you are not using gravity to hold your body weight down.

It doesn’t matter if you’re skinny or fat. If you pick up your feet too high, your weight is transferred upward through your body. If you keep your feet firmly gliding on or very near the floor, the weight of your body is now transferred downward, toward the floor, thus "grounding" and balancing you.

If you’ve got both feet planted on the floor,
it will be very hard to knock you over.

WOW. Now where have I heard that before? Lesson in life maybe? Universal truth? Makes sense doesn’t it? .J

WHAT A CONCEPT

You know what grounding an electric wire is, right? It’s keeping a current of electricity in constant contact with the ground. That’s it. Keep your feet near, very, very near the ground. Feel the floor solid under your feet. Feel the ground beneath the ball of your foot. After a spin, hit the floor hard. During spins, continue to feel it beneath your foot. During multiple spins, DO NOT PICK YOUR FEET UP HIGH.

This is called, "A CATASTROPHE WAITING TO HAPPEN".

When doing multiple spins, keep both feet extremely close to the ground. For further tips on how to spin, see my "Posture" article at http://www.salsafreak.com/posture.htm.

Distributing your body weight is like distributing the sand in an hour glass. With all the sand at the bottom, it’s very stable, and difficult to topple over. With all the sand at the top, it’s easier to tip over.

The placement of your feet is extremely important here as well. If you point your toes out at a 45 degree angle after your spins or turns it’s more difficult to topple you over, than if your toes were pointing straight ahead.

Although Salsa is a street dance, comfortably danced throughout the world by hundreds of thousands of people, many competitive ballroom dancers add their own flavor and style to it as well. Why? Because they "can". We ALL "can". There’s all types of flavors of Salsa, both in the sauce, and on the dance floor. So feel free to SPICE IT UP a bit out there people!