Practical Musicality For Social Salsa Dancers
Let The Music Move You…But HOW?
I believe music elicits an emotional response from most people. This visceral response is one of the things that makes us gloriously human.
Music can make us feel happy and uplifted.
It can unite people in celebration, rebellion, mourning or even war.
It can also make us feel sad and trigger long forgotten memories.
When we experience this we sometimes say we are “moved” by that particular song.
Yes…we know music can move us emotionally.
But it’s also possible to let the music move us physically…more commonly known as dancing!!
Yet there is a world of difference between tapping your foot to a song and really “letting go”.
And yet another step to become so in sync with the music that your body literally plays the rhythms and melodies.
Why You Don’t Feel The Music
You can’t feel what you are not connected to, and you can’t connect to rhythms which you can’t hear.
And even if you can hear the rhythms, if you are not connected to your body, you can’t embody what you hear.
Many of us feel inhibited about “letting go” and letting the music move us in the way described above.
For men especially, expressing themselves in an uncensored way is outlawed, on top of the fact that they are participating in an activity which is already regarded as not a social norm for guys.
So my goal is to help you across that bridge – from stepping and counting to moving fluidly and rhythmically, and to bring more spontaneity and joy into your dancing.
What Is Musicality?
Musicality is the ability to communicate your connection to the tones and rhythmical patterns in music in an intentional manner, embodying your emotional response.
It’s one thing to HEAR the music, another to FEEL it, but quite another to be capable of expressing it.
Types Of Musicality
I believe everyone has an innate musicality – that is our brains are wired for rhythm and pattern. You know this because you can’t help your feet tapping…even to songs you hate.
There is another type of musicality however.
This is more of a learned and structured musicality which comes from physically and actively engaging with music – either through playing an instrument, studying music or through formal dance training.
These activities enable us to embark on a much deeper journey of discovery and connect with music in a much more active and physical manner, actually producing the rhythms and melodies through our own effort, or translating them into movement.
This allows us to infuse our own interpretation and personal expression into the mix and develop our own unique style.
Going Beyond 123 567
When we first learn Salsa in the UK, it’s most common to be taught to step on generic beats – 123 567 – regardless of what’s actually happening in the music.
There are certain advantages to this:
Everyone learns the same timing and step pattern meaning that you will always be at least approximately on time with the music and each other.
However there are disadvantages as well.
1. As you become more tuned in to the music, you may start to hear more interesting rhythms and sounds from the different instruments as well as breaks, or accented beats, and it can become frustrating when the generic timing doesn’t give you tools to respond to these.
2. When you dance to counts you tend to move the same way throughout the entirety of the song and this can make your dancing look and feel flat and one-dimensional.
One thing social dancers need to understand is that most of the artists and performers you admire do not think in terms of counts.
They simply hear the rhythms and respond.
You too can get to this happy place – but you have to put the work in!
Is Musicality Only For Advanced Dancers?
Typically, most club based group classes rarely address any musicality skills beyond keeping the basic Salsa rhythm.
I believe this has created a situation where many social dancers fail to develop their musicality beyond the basic Salsa rhythm and never experience a true feeling for the music.
Learning how to adapt your moves and styling to the mood, energy and sections of a song will immediately take you to the next level.
Understanding the rhythms of the various instruments will open up infinite possibilities for self-expression and creativity.
Channel Your Energy Like A Pro
Once dancers move out of beginner level classes and get into their stride on the social floor, they approach it with unbridled energy and enthusiasm, which is great.
However this increased energy can often manifest as more exhuberant, wilder movements, bigger steps and more forceful leads.
Trained dancers channel this energy into the floor to create speed and fine motor control which produces more nuanced movement and musical interpretation.
My aim has always been to embed musicality skills into my students’ journey right from their first class. This gives them a richer experience and allows their musicality to develop in tandem with their movement technique.
Isn’t Musicality Boring To Learn?
There is often a perception that musicality is difficult and not very exciting.
I think this is because some musicality classes end up more like a music theory lecture.
But although some knowledge of music theory can be a very useful ingredient in developing musicality, they are not the same thing at all.
Knowing how music works or having practical experience in playing an instrument can be useful when analysing the complexities of Salsa music, but it will only take you so far.
Numbers and counts can be a useful navigational tool for knowing when certain things happen both in movement and music terms.
But knowing is not the same as doing.
Understanding is not the same as feeling.
Well developed musicality eventually can negate the need for counting because the dancer instinctively knows where they are in the song – and can accurately predict where the music is likely to go.
And over thinking can kill creativity and the sheer joy we derive from allowing our bodies to respond without interfernece from our conscious mind.
And this is why my approach to musicality is all about developing your movement skills based on what you are actually hearing in the music.
It’s an extremely practical approach, meaning that you will spend a lot of time actually dancing, rather than fumbling and stumbling through choreographed routines which are too clever for their own good and too complicated to translate well to the dance floor.
Your Body As An Instrument
Musicality goes hand in hand with body movement and styling.
You can’t express the music without the physical tools to do the job.
And whilst learning complex partnerwork combos and shines is definitely valid, the better and richer your body movement, the less you need to rely on complicated footwork and moves.
Simplicity can be just as effective and gives you more time to connect with your partner and express the music.
Dancing To Songs You Don’t Know
It’s brilliant when you dance to a song you love with a partner you know well who also loves the song.
However the true test is when you dance to an unfamiliar song, or one that doesn’t immediately grab you, with an unfamiliar partner.
But it’s not an impossible situation.
Because Salsa music, once you’ve listened to enough of it, is really PREDICTABLE.
That is, it is full of repeated motifs and patterns that enable you to know what’s going to happen with a high degree of certainty.
It took me years of immersing myself in the music to realise this, and learn how to use this knowledge on the dance floor but I can help you short cut this process so you can apply the skills to your social dances immediately.
Three Levels of Musicality Training
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