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| internet source: Latin Dancing |
Before you read this article, recall this: without Cuban Hip Action, there is no Latin Dance, perhaps except Paso Doble.
Now we have a lot of different kind of Latin dances, except those 5 dances in International Style, we still have Salsa, Mambo, Bachata, Merengue, Lambada, Zouk... Let's focus on the Salsa and Mambo, as they associate with fast music. I was asked if a person can really incorporate hip actions when the music goes like 250+ bpm. And my answer is YES, and I at the same time quote the statement above 'without Cuban Hip Action, there is no Latin Dance, perhaps except Paso Doble'.
Salsa/Mambo, of course has hip actions. In fact, the hip action, together with the pause (count S), helps distinguish it from Hustle or other forms of Swings. It's important to have hip action in Salsa. Although I can understand that there is little time for you to move your feet and give your styling for every beat, the hip action is still needed. Honestly, in my own practice, I have found that it is because the music is too fast, you need to move the hip before the feet in order to make a step on time.
It is very wrong to think like you need to 1) move your foot, 2) move your hip, because the step is initiated from the hip, you won't have time to give extra action if you treat the hip and the foot separately. In fact, your body and your feet are one whole integrated tool in dancing. The step is made by the correct use of feet, knees and hips, thus if you are moving, all these are moving, no matter how fast you move, foot steps should always go together with the knees and hips; it is impossible to remove the hip action from the steps. That's why I find it hard to understand why the fast tempo will leave no time for hip actions.
When the tempo goes like 250+ beats per minute, we may not have time to have a fully settled hip actions like in Rumba, but settling action is only one of the end results. In general, the figure eight action shold still be there. If you can practice the figure eight until your body remember the action very well so that it becomes an instinct to move, then tempo will no longer be a problem for you.
If you have doubt, read this article (and video as well) which I blogged several weeks ago again to check how the hip moves in different dances.
Remember, none a Latin dance, except Paso Doble, has no hip action.
you may also like this to read these:
*Cuban Hip Action part 1- how does it look in diff dances
*Cuban Hip Action part 2- the mechanism
*Cuban Hip Action part 3- how to achieve it
you may also like this to read these:
*Cuban Hip Action part 1- how does it look in diff dances
*Cuban Hip Action part 2- the mechanism
*Cuban Hip Action part 3- how to achieve it
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