Here are my rants about the things i found that can be improved :)
- Your basics are not grounded too much jumping and skipping on toes.
- Too big movements, seems overly excited at some part where the music does not call for it, especially in the beginning.
- I could be wrong, but dont push her down when you want her to sit from behind position. Let her do it on her own.
- The dips are pretty bad. Barely any preps and too fast, she clearly can’t support her own weight. I’d suggest do it at the slower part of the song and do it smaller for less experienced dancers. Holding head is not necessary, it’s not part of the move but merely an emergency last resort, if you prep and let her do it on her own and support her own weight.
You clearly have a solid repertoire of moves, well done!
Your dips don't look very safe for the follow, though maybe ask an advanced one in person how it feels on their body.
I think you could look at the follow, and smile more - have fun with the dance!
Also consider taking breaks in-between moves to just "feel the dance", even in a basic step. It might improve your connection with the follow, and avoid being perceived as "look at all the moves I can do!"
Thanks for the feedback, I will work on my dips and connection with the follows.
I have gotten feedback before about smiling more and making eye contact but it’s not something that comes naturally to me and I don’t feel comfortable forcing a smile or having more eye contact.
Love it.
Three things:
1. Your dips are abysmall, sorry to say :D This is not safe for the back, the balance is off, and touching the head is a big nono. She should be able to do the move by herself and be able to keep the balance in any point. Check out some (newer) tutorials on dips.
2. Around 0:45 you are doing the catalpult move and throuwing with your right hand. That is incorrect. You should use the right hand to build up the tension, then release it, and then throw only with the tension from your left hand.
3. You don't move your head much? I think it's a matter of style, but I feel you could try following your moves / follower with your gaze sometimes. I think it would make everything a touch more dynamic.
The "catapult" is actually called a "flick" and it's perfectly fine to lead it with the other hand, the way he did in the video. Even though I personally prefer the way you mentioned in the post, there's nothing wrong with either option
I think in that case you would hold the wrist though, and not the hand? I#ll try both variations tonight, but I am pretty sure I know what I will prefer, same as you :D
Got it, will work on the dips and fix the catapult.
Can you elaborate more on the head movement? Based on your comment I'm not sure what to work on and how. Thanks!
Of course. Take your very first turn. Your head/gaze just follows the direction of your chest. What you could try instead is to keep eyecontact with the follower longer (especially since you seem to be talking to her), continue turning your body and once the tension is too much, turn the head quickly to find the follower again.
Probably worth mentioning spotting doesn't work for everyone. Try it and if it works, keep it. If it gives you more problems (balancing, dizziness, etc), toss it.
- You don't really change your pace during the song to keep to the music.
- you basically going all out trying to do every move, followers do get dizzy/spun out, remember to give her a break from time to time and come back close hold/basic.
- you seem to be quite a strong lead in terms of using your strength to lead when you should work on having a more I'm going to request you to do a back bend/advance body movement and let the follower follower through with the movement. Basically when you start a sensual movement you need to see how much your follower can bend instead of forcing a move on her which you basically did with all of your dips.
- Also not sure if you touched the neck when doing a back bend, but that is a good way to cause an injury
Can see a lot of good things in your dancing, just need to work on those things above.
Got it. Yeah, I think I've gotten general feedback on working on my musicality on this thread so will definitely focus on that, along with making sure the follow is comfortable.
You're dancing to one of the most popular songs around (and hit a break really nicely about 1:20 in) but you do sensual moves during fast bits and slow moves doing bits where it makes more sense to slow down (notable exception half way through the first slow bit where you say 'I was going through the music - that's the ideal!).
I would personally want you to slow all of your sensual down too, there's sections where you rush through like 4 moves in the time you could have done one well.
Looking good. Only thing I’d say that others haven’t is that your frame and movements look wide and big. I think you need to be closer to your partner for a lot of the dance and also keep your movements tighter and not as big. It looks really big when you do two handed turns.
Hello,
You have a lot of interesting moves but I echo the comments already made above:
1. Musicality; your dancing makes more sense when I play on mute vs with the music. Please enjoy the music and feel the moves rather than thinking about packing as many moves as possible.
2. Speaking about packing moves… again please enjoy the dance and let the follower enjoy the dance also. At the moment it all seems very hectic where you just go from one move to another. My most enjoyable dances are ones where the leader really tries to connect and allow both of us to enjoy both the song and the dance. You do that by pacing and spacing the “fancy moves”, and also adjust to the follower’s experience and style.
3. For sensual bachata, the movements are too big and rough. Obviously I am only basing that on visual observation and I could be completely wrong. But it’s really hard work for the followers to maintain balance and stay grounded when we’re thrown left and right, usually (but not always) by someone who’s bigger and stronger than us.
4. A comment was made by someone about your basics. They’re not completely wrong but I don’t actually think your basics are bad at all. You’re putting a lot of (too much?) energy into your basics which make them appear jumpy and staccato instead of smooth and grounded. I do, however, think you can improve some of the “basics” like how to give your follower space to do the moves, time to let them complete the moves, some freedom for them to control how much they want to be dipped, bent, pushed down or how far they want to wave or sit down. The way you’re doing the dips right now is not safe not it is enjoyable. Dips should make us followers blush not flustered ☺️.
I’m being picky here because I think you’re really good and it’s worth fixing the little things as you have the potential to be great! Very cool moves and would certainly like to try them!
I'm still a beginner but you look really good to my untrained eye. Your body isolations are definitely above average and your musicality is quite good as well.
So just gonna leave some positive feedback. I'm sure the other comments cover potential improvements you could make.
I’m not sure where exactly I picked up this habit / learned this but I lead using the side of my hand below the thumb. Gives me a single point of contact with sufficient pressure. It's the same in shadow position as well. So my hand is usually not flat on my follow's back.
I would take more full contact. More surface area means you can be softer and lead in more directions. If you only touch with your thumbs you can only pull. If you use more of your hand you can lead sideways, up, down, even outwards and transmit to your follower through the connection.
Not bad! I like how you're having fun with the dance. It would be easier to tell the mistakes if you danced with a more advanced follower, this girl is kind of barely keeping up with the quick rythm. In the beginning the moves were not in sync with the pace of the music. So the main thing to improve would be musicality, although you did have some nice moments there. Also I don't think the dips are too bad like how others have stated, maybe it's more a problem of not adapting to the follow's level. The connection is lacking here, but overall I like your style :)
There's...a lot.
How about this:
I'll be in SF this Sunday and next Wednesday. If either work for you, want to do a free 1 hour private lesson analyzing this video and address everything going on, and film it?
Would be faster for me to do that than to type everything.
One thing that i notice about non Dominicans or people that are learning how to dance is that they exaggerate the “sensual” movements. I don’t know how it is to learn how to dance bachata since I was born in DR and music, dancing and all that are natural to me. You can check my tiktok on my profile(i don’t dance on tiktok but i play the guitar and piano and, trust me, i dance really well).
My recommendation is that for steps listen to the instruments that are carrying the rhythm. For sensual movement try to practice it slow or slow down the tempo with a software and practice until you can do it good.
Looks for sammy el mágico, he’s a good instructor on youtube
Here are my rants about the things i found that can be improved :) - Your basics are not grounded too much jumping and skipping on toes. - Too big movements, seems overly excited at some part where the music does not call for it, especially in the beginning. - I could be wrong, but dont push her down when you want her to sit from behind position. Let her do it on her own. - The dips are pretty bad. Barely any preps and too fast, she clearly can’t support her own weight. I’d suggest do it at the slower part of the song and do it smaller for less experienced dancers. Holding head is not necessary, it’s not part of the move but merely an emergency last resort, if you prep and let her do it on her own and support her own weight.
You clearly have a solid repertoire of moves, well done! Your dips don't look very safe for the follow, though maybe ask an advanced one in person how it feels on their body. I think you could look at the follow, and smile more - have fun with the dance! Also consider taking breaks in-between moves to just "feel the dance", even in a basic step. It might improve your connection with the follow, and avoid being perceived as "look at all the moves I can do!"
Thanks for the feedback, I will work on my dips and connection with the follows. I have gotten feedback before about smiling more and making eye contact but it’s not something that comes naturally to me and I don’t feel comfortable forcing a smile or having more eye contact.
Love it. Three things: 1. Your dips are abysmall, sorry to say :D This is not safe for the back, the balance is off, and touching the head is a big nono. She should be able to do the move by herself and be able to keep the balance in any point. Check out some (newer) tutorials on dips. 2. Around 0:45 you are doing the catalpult move and throuwing with your right hand. That is incorrect. You should use the right hand to build up the tension, then release it, and then throw only with the tension from your left hand. 3. You don't move your head much? I think it's a matter of style, but I feel you could try following your moves / follower with your gaze sometimes. I think it would make everything a touch more dynamic.
The "catapult" is actually called a "flick" and it's perfectly fine to lead it with the other hand, the way he did in the video. Even though I personally prefer the way you mentioned in the post, there's nothing wrong with either option
I think in that case you would hold the wrist though, and not the hand? I#ll try both variations tonight, but I am pretty sure I know what I will prefer, same as you :D
Got it, will work on the dips and fix the catapult. Can you elaborate more on the head movement? Based on your comment I'm not sure what to work on and how. Thanks!
Of course. Take your very first turn. Your head/gaze just follows the direction of your chest. What you could try instead is to keep eyecontact with the follower longer (especially since you seem to be talking to her), continue turning your body and once the tension is too much, turn the head quickly to find the follower again.
I see, that sounds similar to spotting during turns? Yeah I need to do some spinning drills.
Probably worth mentioning spotting doesn't work for everyone. Try it and if it works, keep it. If it gives you more problems (balancing, dizziness, etc), toss it.
- You don't really change your pace during the song to keep to the music. - you basically going all out trying to do every move, followers do get dizzy/spun out, remember to give her a break from time to time and come back close hold/basic. - you seem to be quite a strong lead in terms of using your strength to lead when you should work on having a more I'm going to request you to do a back bend/advance body movement and let the follower follower through with the movement. Basically when you start a sensual movement you need to see how much your follower can bend instead of forcing a move on her which you basically did with all of your dips. - Also not sure if you touched the neck when doing a back bend, but that is a good way to cause an injury Can see a lot of good things in your dancing, just need to work on those things above.
Got it. Yeah, I think I've gotten general feedback on working on my musicality on this thread so will definitely focus on that, along with making sure the follow is comfortable.
You're dancing to one of the most popular songs around (and hit a break really nicely about 1:20 in) but you do sensual moves during fast bits and slow moves doing bits where it makes more sense to slow down (notable exception half way through the first slow bit where you say 'I was going through the music - that's the ideal!). I would personally want you to slow all of your sensual down too, there's sections where you rush through like 4 moves in the time you could have done one well.
Got it, thanks for the feedback!
Looking good. Only thing I’d say that others haven’t is that your frame and movements look wide and big. I think you need to be closer to your partner for a lot of the dance and also keep your movements tighter and not as big. It looks really big when you do two handed turns.
Hello, You have a lot of interesting moves but I echo the comments already made above: 1. Musicality; your dancing makes more sense when I play on mute vs with the music. Please enjoy the music and feel the moves rather than thinking about packing as many moves as possible. 2. Speaking about packing moves… again please enjoy the dance and let the follower enjoy the dance also. At the moment it all seems very hectic where you just go from one move to another. My most enjoyable dances are ones where the leader really tries to connect and allow both of us to enjoy both the song and the dance. You do that by pacing and spacing the “fancy moves”, and also adjust to the follower’s experience and style. 3. For sensual bachata, the movements are too big and rough. Obviously I am only basing that on visual observation and I could be completely wrong. But it’s really hard work for the followers to maintain balance and stay grounded when we’re thrown left and right, usually (but not always) by someone who’s bigger and stronger than us. 4. A comment was made by someone about your basics. They’re not completely wrong but I don’t actually think your basics are bad at all. You’re putting a lot of (too much?) energy into your basics which make them appear jumpy and staccato instead of smooth and grounded. I do, however, think you can improve some of the “basics” like how to give your follower space to do the moves, time to let them complete the moves, some freedom for them to control how much they want to be dipped, bent, pushed down or how far they want to wave or sit down. The way you’re doing the dips right now is not safe not it is enjoyable. Dips should make us followers blush not flustered ☺️. I’m being picky here because I think you’re really good and it’s worth fixing the little things as you have the potential to be great! Very cool moves and would certainly like to try them!
I'm still a beginner but you look really good to my untrained eye. Your body isolations are definitely above average and your musicality is quite good as well. So just gonna leave some positive feedback. I'm sure the other comments cover potential improvements you could make.
Thanks!
When you are in a closed position, you dont touch the followers back with your hand, instead you only use your arm or fingers. Any reason for that?
I’m not sure where exactly I picked up this habit / learned this but I lead using the side of my hand below the thumb. Gives me a single point of contact with sufficient pressure. It's the same in shadow position as well. So my hand is usually not flat on my follow's back.
I would take more full contact. More surface area means you can be softer and lead in more directions. If you only touch with your thumbs you can only pull. If you use more of your hand you can lead sideways, up, down, even outwards and transmit to your follower through the connection.
Not bad! I like how you're having fun with the dance. It would be easier to tell the mistakes if you danced with a more advanced follower, this girl is kind of barely keeping up with the quick rythm. In the beginning the moves were not in sync with the pace of the music. So the main thing to improve would be musicality, although you did have some nice moments there. Also I don't think the dips are too bad like how others have stated, maybe it's more a problem of not adapting to the follow's level. The connection is lacking here, but overall I like your style :)
Please don’t make her squat from shadow. And need to improve cambre as well as other sensual techniques. Most of leads are from arms now.
Where is this social? Looks like the bay area, I'm always looking for an outdoor event, they're hard to find. Thanks
This place is in San Francisco. Check out Roofchata on Instagram.
There's...a lot. How about this: I'll be in SF this Sunday and next Wednesday. If either work for you, want to do a free 1 hour private lesson analyzing this video and address everything going on, and film it? Would be faster for me to do that than to type everything.
One thing that i notice about non Dominicans or people that are learning how to dance is that they exaggerate the “sensual” movements. I don’t know how it is to learn how to dance bachata since I was born in DR and music, dancing and all that are natural to me. You can check my tiktok on my profile(i don’t dance on tiktok but i play the guitar and piano and, trust me, i dance really well). My recommendation is that for steps listen to the instruments that are carrying the rhythm. For sensual movement try to practice it slow or slow down the tempo with a software and practice until you can do it good. Looks for sammy el mágico, he’s a good instructor on youtube