Posted by Amy June 1, 2005 workshop
I had gone to one of Victor and Gaby's workshop on Wednesday. Time only permitted me to go to one, so I chose the Quebradita one. I loved it! Victor was his usual energetic self. Gaby would roll her eyes affectionately whenever Victor acts up. Funny. I took a class with Victor and Gaby about a year and a half ago. This time around Gaby interceded more often with advice of her own. I like to watch Victor and Gaby interact. You can tell that they have a playful, focused, comfortable relationship. I go to workshops but I never feel at home. These two make you feel comfortable right away. So, what I learned.........
QUEBRADITA!!!! I will tell you this about this dance. Your legs will be killing you the next day. My legs were sore for about 4 days. But I am out of dancing shape, so I wouldn't measure your soreness to mine. Hee hee
We started off the class by doing a Quebradita warmup with a series of controlled twisting and light hopping. It kind of reminded me of swing dancing in a way. By the time we were done, we had worked up a light sweat. We were divided into girl, guy groups. Gaby and Victor went over individually what the basic step will look like for men and women. It looked like a simplified version of our warmup. So far so good. I can do this, but the backs of my legs are getting numb. Whew, good workout.
Then we worked with partners. I grabbed Saby (the only Indian salsa dancer I know) and Victor places us to where everyone can see him. The partner dancing frames is should I say, beyond close. If you believe in having your personal space, I wouldn't recommend this dance. If you think Bachata couple dance frames are close you are sadly mistaken!!! The lady's right leg is nestled in between the gentleman's legs. For support, I had to WRAP my arm around my partner's neck until my hand reached the other side of his neck. In addition, my partner's arm was WRAPPED around my waist. Then you pull each other close until you feel the touching of the front of other's hip (left hip for women to right hip for men). You guys following me so far?
The one begins with the lady hopping in towards you and they guys pulls her out when she hops up. I can't really go into too much detail because it is hard to explain unless you see it. But it was difficult to do at first. The secret.......you have to maintain your hold on each other. I noticed that Saby would lose me and then we would knock knees. When I danced with Victor, he informs me that my hold around his neck has loosened to his shoulder. I had to maintain the wrap around the neck. Vice versa for men. The second secret is that your one hip-to-hip connection is always present. The only time you separate that connection is if he wants to spin you or move you into salsa. Fun, huh? Plus, you can't just be jumping around out of control. That was the funny part. Everyone was jumping around and it looked like we were all jumping on some imaginery trampoline! Knees are bent and the hop is controlled, but not stiff.
To be honest, I haven't felt like dancing for awhile. If I am not enjoying something anymore, then I don't do it. That's just how I work. But after that workshop, I felt renewed. Maybe what I need is to learn a different type of dance. I still feel I have a lot to learn when it comes to salsa, but have not felt motivated. I need variety to keep things going. One of these days i need to start a dancing learning tour. After the workshop, I was reminded of a goal I had three years ago and that was to be a versatile dancer. I would love to go any place and be anywhere and be able to dance to any type of music. Something to look into.
