If you’re a female Salsa dancer of Intermediate level, you’re probably starting to think about adding styling into your dancing. But for many, things like body rolls, ripples and waves are off limits.

The main reason – before you even get to the fact that these are technical movements which require a high level of mobility, segmental muscular control and coordination – is that these movements are unashamedly designed to draw attention to your sexuality.

 

Herein lies the problem for many women:

 

If you don’t FEEL sexy, how can you move your body in a way that communicates that you are?

 

If you don’t BELIEVE your body is worth looking at, how can you dance in a way that will get you noticed?

 

If you HATE what you see in the mirror, how can you love showing it off?

 

If all you do is PUT YOURSELF DOWN, how will your dancing ever be larger than life?

 

The truth is this…

 

Before you can style successfully, you have to create a more positive relationship with your body. For many women this is a huge challenge if they can’t even look at themselves naked in the mirror.

 

So how can you do this?

 

Most women start with the obvious…if it’s their weight that bothers them then the subconscious conversation they have with themselves may go something like “when I lose weight I’ll feel better about myself and I’ll start styling then…”

 

The trouble is, this approach relies on something that may or may not happen. And for women who have failed numerous times with diets, exercise regimes and possibly relationships as well, this journey rarely gets beyond first base.

 

You only respect what you inspect.

 

If you want to hold your body in higher esteem…if you want to feel better about it, you have to get to know it better. Study it, touch it, get acquainted with it and find out what really looks like (which is probably different to what others see, and what you see in your mind’s eye and probably not as bad as you think)

 

One of the most powerful ways to do this is to expose yourself to the mirror more often for your dancing practice.

 

What generally happens is that you build up a more accurate picture of what your body really does when it moves. Your brain uses the visual feedback to make minute changes to the sequencing of the movements in order to build up a more aesthetically pleasing picture. As you see more improvements in the quality of your movement, you feel better about yourself.

 

The knock on effect is that you start to take better care of yourself with regards to your body…you do more things to promote positive change and start believing in your attractiveness and desirability.

 

You eat better, take more exercise and put more effort into things like hair, clothes and make-up.

 

Which then leads you to wanting to spend more time in front of the mirror, watching yourself move!

 

If you want a dancer’s body, you have to do what dancers habitually do.

 

But it all starts with the first uncomfortable step of making yourself do it!