All guys worry that their moves aren’t varied or interesting enough to keep followers happy…
In my view this is rarely a lack of material – when you think about it, any guy who is doing classes on a weekly basis is going to be learning plenty of “stuff”.
But what happens to all that stuff?
Unfortunately, most of it just disappears into the ether, never to be used on the dance floor.
If you only rely on being spoon fed new stuff in classes as a method of learning, chances are you’ll forget the new moves faster than you learned them.
In order for new moves to stick, you have to engage with them on an experiential level.
Most guys believe that it takes some kind of special power to be spontaneously creative on the dance floor – or to make up cool, interesting combinations to keep followers happy and coming back for more.
Or that combinations need to be complex and highly difficult in order to dazzle the lady with their brilliance.
It doesn’t, and they don’t.
First of all, there is nothing new.
It’s all been done somehow, somewhere, by someone.
But there is stuff that you personally may not have come across or tried.
There may also be stuff that you see someone else do, and not realise that it’s simply a variation on something you already know.
This is part of the problem when you learn Salsa through isolated class routines – your brain doesn’t always make the necessary connections to what it already knows in order to file the new stuff somewhere it can be recalled and used.
In fact, to start creating your own combinations is easy.
All you need is the following four pre-requisites:
- Complete understanding of the follower’s step patterns and timing.
- Complete understanding of how to initiate those step patterns in a variety of different ways.
- A reasonable level of leading experience.
- Willingness to experiment.
There is one game I often play that I think you’ll find really useful…try this:
Next time you dance freestyle with a decent follower, limit the amount of moves you use in freestyle. For example, stick to Copa and Cross Body Lead for the duration of a song, but try as many different handhold configurations or spatial variations as you can think of.
This will force you to come up with new variations on things you already do.
Contrary to what many people think, your creative brain works best when there are clear rules and limits and boundaries for a specific task.
The more restrictive those boundaries are, the more ingenious your brain will become in finding interesting solutions.
The complete blank canvas is often too vague and undefined and will often cause brain freeze.