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This website is about Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ). I'm a black belt who started in 2006, teaching and training at Artemis BJJ in Bristol, UK. All content ©Can Sönmez
Showing posts with label Salsa Souls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salsa Souls. Show all posts

01 March 2016

01/03/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | More Turns

Class #013
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 01/03/2016

Good lesson today, as I felt I had a reasonable grasp of the turns. Jo.uad a useful tip on leading the back step too. Although it starts like the mambo, you make it clear by the second step, as you're pushing back again. Also, with the turn out, bring your hand across their body to indicate what you're going to do. On to the turn, which had three variations (no idea what the turn is called though):

Turn 1, Wrist Push

1. Start with normal mambo forward.
2. Usual tap
3. Now it changes. Step forward to the side, into a T. Let go with right hand.
4. Swivel right hand around to their wrist, push across.
5. Keep turning as they turn
6. Keep turning.
7. Return to start, ready to mambo

Turn 2, Right Hand Swoop

1. Start with normal mambo forward.
2. Usual tap
3. Step forward to the side, into a T. Swoop right hand down and across, still holding theirs.
4. Raise right arm through and high, continue turn.
5. Keep turning, careful to adjust if they are taller/shorter
6. Keep turning, backs passing
7. Return to start, ready to mambo

Turn 3, Left Hand Out

1. Start with normal mambo forward.
2. Usual tap
3. Step forward to the side, into a T. Bring left hand out and across, still holding theirs.
4. Raise left arm through and high, wait for them to turn.
5. Turn, careful to adjust if they are taller/shorter
6. Keep turning, backs passing
7. Return to start, ready to mambo

Jo said the curriculum restarts after next week, which is good. I'm looking forward to going through the whole thing and getting thorough notes this time. :)

23 February 2016

23/02/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Left Turn

Class #012
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 23/02/2016

Back to salsa, where again we were doing the left turn. Based on what my dance partner was saying last week, I'm trying to make sure I count out the steps in my head each time. It makes a HUGE difference. I no doubt look a bit weird focusing in the middle distance while counting, but I'm messing up the steps less often. On the left turn, I'm not totally certain how the end bit (where you step round to finish the spin) splits up by steps, but seemed to work when I was doing it.

Leader's Left Turn

1 Step left, slight turn to the right
2 Tap back
3 Step back on the left, slightly turned out
4 Pause? Or more stepping?
5 Step more
6 Keep stepping? Got a bit confused there

Leading the Follower's Left Turn

1 Step forward, normal mambo
2 Tap
3 Step back in line
4 Pause
5 Step back on right, pull on their arm with your right
6 Tap, Push their arm forward with your right, let go
7 They do their spin as you step back in line. Keep stepping?

And with two hands

1 Step forward, normal mambo
2 Tap
3 Step back in line
4 Pause
5 Step back on right, pull on their arm with your right
6 Tap, Push their arm forward with your right, raise your left arm high
7 They do their spin as you step back in line

1 Keep arm high while they spin
2 They keep turning
3 Do your step forward, as they complete
4-7 Step round
Straight back into mambo

16 February 2016

16/02/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Left Turn

Class #011
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 16/02/2016

At least I think it was left turn. The teacher has gotten into a habit of teaching one thing before the break which looks complex, then something else straightforward after the break: I'm not sure if one is the leader's version and the other the follower's? Anyway, the part I remember is that the lead does half a mambo (step forward, shift weight forward, then step back), before tugging gently with their right arm. They then raise their left arm as they step forward, while the follower turns.

Seemed simple enough, until I tried it during the 'free dance' bit at the end. That resulted in a blank stare while I held their arm in the air, so I clearly don't have the timing right for the leading stuff, as I'm not giving them enough warning before the turn. It would probably help if I thought more about the number as I step (the whole, '1, 2, 3, 4, 5' etc thing), rather than just thinking about it as forward and back. I'm also still not getting especially stuck in with the free dance stuff at the end: messing up steps doesn't help, but I'll have to start forcing myself or I'll never get any better. Just like with BJJ, I'm not forcing myself to jump in often enough. ;)

I did get in a bit of salsa on holiday, as the hotel activities team was really good (especially on Spanish lessons, pretty cool to get a good three hours worth during my stay). However, they did tend to throw in a bunch of other dances: the female teacher was especially keen on reggaeton. Good work out and I certainly slept well that night, but not overly relevant to salsa. But meh, all fun. First time I've danced with a bloke in salsa too, as there weren't many people during the hotel salsa classes. :)

02 February 2016

02/02/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Half Turn

Class #010
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 02/02/2016

We didn't make it last week, but wanted to make sure we got there tonight as we're likely to miss next week too. It's moved downstairs due to work going on: I think I prefer it downstairs. It isn't quite as noisy and I get a better view of the teacher's feet, which is really key to work out what she's demonstrating. Shame it has to move back upstairs, although downstairs does have the disadvantage of a cold draft whenever somebody opens the door.

After going through the usual warm-up (I tend to mostly ignore those, as it isn't salsa and my brain can only fit in so much ;D) and basic steps (mambo, going forwards and backwards; rumba, side to side; 't-step', stepping out and back; back step), it was time for the hard bit. Today, that was the half turn. Which I didn't get at all. It's fine when you see the teacher demonstrate, you follow, all good. But as soon as you try to do it with a partner, everything goes out the window. So that was meh.

The next part was much easier, completely forgetting about the half turn stuff. After a mambo, the leader lets go with their left hand, steps back and pushes forward with their right arm. That tells the follower to step back. The leader then pulls their arm to the side, to spin the follower in close. You can vary this, either going by the follower's hip, their shoulder, or grabbing both hands and swivelling them (possibly makes the turn easier, as you can control it all the way through).

The leader and follower are now next to each other, facing forward. The leader steps back on their right, the follower on their left. The leader then pushes their right arm forwards again, to spin the follower back out, then to finish the leader does a mambo. If I've remembered that right, which is a big if. I need to start getting back into the habit of doing videos to record myself so I don't forget, but I might wait until it gets quieter. If it ever gets quieter: classes are still really busy.

19 January 2016

19/01/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Cross Body Lead

Class #009
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 19/01/2016

Tuesday is shaping up be the most fitness intensive day of my week. Starts off with an hour of kettlebells, then an hour of BJJ open mat, until finally two hours of salsa dancing. My knee was a bit sore after open mat, so I'll have to keep an eye on that. My neck too, so I'll try toning down the sparring for the rest of this week. I'll be in Verona for the Tamara de Lempicka show on Sunday anyway. Speaking of which, you should donate to the charity GrappleThon in support of One25! Tamara would. ;P



Also, now I know the teacher's name, my OCD need to record everything is satisfied. Yay! Anyway, tonight was mainly about the cross body lead. Jo had a good way teaching this: step on the train, step on the platform, turn. At least, I got that first bit, but couldn't see her feet on the second part. That's one of the downsides of a big, popular class: too many bodies in the way of the teachers' feet. ;)

Fortunately for me, my girlfriend is a lot more willing to ask than I am, so she brought Jo over during the free dancing bit at the end. That massively helped, as Jo went through the technique in detail, as well as a bunch of other refinements to what I'd been doing. First off - and this is pretty important, so I was lucky I got this corrected early - is how to lead your partner. When you've got that closer hold on them (which I'm sure has a name, but I don't know it yet: I have my hand on her shoulder blade under her arm, while she grips my other hand, curling her fingers over the back of my hand), make sure your shoulder-blade hand is in the middle of their shoulder blades. I'd been putting it too low, on the ribs.

With it between the shoulder blades, you can lead more effectively. It enables you to not only indicate side to side, but also back and forward. With your fingers in between their shoulder blades, the heel of your palm will be on their side. Use that to push back on them - gently! - to indicate when you want them to go backwards. Also, I was getting confused about leading on the basic back step, though when you realise it's pretty obvious. If they are going backwards, you need to push them backwards, not pull them towards you. I had been pulling towards me because when I step back, that's the direction I'm going. D'oh. :)

Previously with the cross-body lead, I had gone the wrong way. Every. Single. Time. Particularly when Jo picked me to demonstrate on, when I kept on going the wrong way even though she was correcting me. Clearly takes a lot to get that through my thick skull. So, assuming I am now remembering this properly, it goes like this (from that close grip):

• Rock forward on your left
• Step with your right, turning the foot perpendicular to your left
• Bring your left back in line with the right
• As you do that, steer your partner around to line up with you
• Rock sideways on your right
• Step your left back, at right angles
• Bring your partner back in line

I think? I am still not entirely sure, need to film myself doing this, like I did back in 2008 with the steps (e.g, this, from my first salsa class). The teachers are very keen for everybody to try and dance with somebody from the other class (the beginners join up with the intermediate/advanced for the free dancey bit at the end), but I'm not keen at the moment. I'm especially not keen if it's that close hold: if I get forced to dance with anyone other than my gf, I'll make sure if that's beach ball holding frame, so I can keep them safely at arms length. I've mentioned this before, but very weirdly given I've been doing Brazilian jiu jitsu for a decade, I hate being touched. Then again, if I've been able to get used to it in BJJ, should hopefully be able to do the same with salsa. :D

12 January 2016

12/01/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Mambo & other basic steps

Class #008
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Bristol, UK - 12/01/2016

It has been almost eight years since I went to my first salsa class, back during my gf's MA at Warwick. I only lasted two months, going once a week. We decided to check out another salsa class today, over at the Riproar club in the centre of town (which handily has bike racks right outside). Head upstairs (past an almost 100% male wall of comics - exactly why we need people like Jane from What the Frock) and pay your £7.50 on the door (fairly reasonable for two hours of class and extra dancing time), then you sit around waiting until the class starts at 8pm. Good thing too as we thought it started at 19:45 and were late: that cushion of time was very useful! Map with street view embedded below, but be aware if you move that around, it might revert to May 2014 pictures. Back then, the building that now houses Riproar was Bella Pizza, in case you get confused. ;)



The guy who runs Salsa Souls is called Stellan. He led us through a warm-up which also functioned as an advert for another dance class he teaches, something called 'bachata'. I've got no interest in learning bachata, but it's a good idea to use the warm-up for marketing. Still, I'd rather warm-up with salsa moves, as it's confusing enough to try and learn techniques from one style without adding in others. But then I'm biased, as I use warm-ups in my BJJ class to intro the movements that will be used in the lesson. Also, I almost always only teach one BJJ technique and then drill it loads: that probably wouldn't work too well in a salsa setting.

Just like at Warwick in 2008, the group (and it was a massive group, most likely because it's January) was split into beginners and improvers. We stuck with the beginners, as I could most definitely do with a refresher (proved to be a wise decision, I've forgotten almost everything). I can't remember the teacher's name, but she seemed friendly and enthusiastic. Looking at the About Us page on the Salsa Souls website, I don't think it was the one female currently listed, Annabel. Then again, she did say she'd only started teaching recently, so perhaps she hasn't been added yet. She was very keen on her 'kiwis, beach ball, smile' metaphor, by which she meant imagine you have two kiwis under your arms (which you want to keep there, but not squash), while holding a beach ball and grinning. That's meant to teach you to hold a frame, seems like a good metaphor. I'm not keen on enforced smiling, but on the other hand, it makes perfect sense why that is encouraged so much. If your partner is glowering at you, especially as most of the beginners won't have met each other before, it's going to put you off. ;)

Looking back through my old salsa notes, I think I have done most of the steps before, though I only remembered a few of them. Having those notes also means I can copy and paste, though some of the steps I may have forgotten to add. E.g., the sideways one, where you step to the side, sway, then step back and sway. I think? Similarly there was a backstep, where as you'd expect you step back, shift your weight onto your heel, step your feet back in line, then same again on the other side.

The first step I clearly remembered was a mambo, which I can copy over from my old notes. In those I talked about a seven-beat rhythm, not something that came up in this class, but meh:

• Step forward on your left
• Lift your right heel and move your weight forward
• Bring your left foot back in line with your right
• Step back with your right
• Shift your weight back
• Bring your right foot back in line with your left

I also remembered the turning one, which I think the instructor called a 't step'. You step one leg out to the side and back, meaning that you've now turned your torso. Step back to feet in line, then repeat on the other side. Things got more complicated with the 'mans turn'. I remember having trouble with this back in 2008. The lady's turn doesn't involve much movement from the man, as you just drop your hand then raise it, waiting for your partner to spin around. The man's turn...meh, still not getting it this time round, but here's what I wrote at Warwick:

• Step your left forward and twist your left foot inwards, also turning your torso
• Continue the turn by angling your right foot and leg back
• Spin and return to the previous position
• Then mambo back as normal (step back, shift weight, bring feet back in line)

I didn't get the flare or Suzie Q either, though I think I have been shown them before. But meh, should be plenty of time to work those out over the next few lessons. I plan to give it another go next week, when hopefully it won't be quite as busy. As at Warwick, I still really dislike the gender split inherent in salsa, partly out of my feminist principles, partly from sheer laziness (I hate having to be the one making the decisions! Much rather be led). Then again, like Georgette said back in her 2008 comment:

It's so much like jiu jitsu, except there's only one leader. Yes, gay couples need to pick who leads and who follows. However-- the best salsa dancers are capable of leading and following no matter their gender, so when you're watching the pros, you'll sometimes see men following men or ladies leading ladies. :)

So, if I could just convince my girlfriend to do the leading, I think I'd enjoy salsa a whole lot more. Oh, and if I didn't have to partner with anybody else, I'm not keen on that either (though I can understand the social side is important to salsa, I'd rather my gf was my only dance partner). A more general downside is that class finishes quite late, at 22:00, when the social dancing bit continues on for a while (optional, as class is over). Then again, in my case I don't have to get up early the next day and my gf doesn't mind, so no biggy. I'm being quite negative, but the class was well taught, the teacher was friendly and engaging and everybody seemed nice. Well worth another go, especially as it gets good reviews (which is why my gf picked it). They've got a Facebook page I need to remember to join too, given I do everything through Facebook these days.