To a lot of social dance lovers, Latin dances are partners, and they can only be partner dances. Surely I won't say they are wrong; however, Latin dances are not necessarily partner dances.
If we track back to the very start of the Latin dancing, we shall focus on tohe voodoo Mambo, or if you feel that's 'pre- historic l, you can think about the slave dancing or the pursue dance of a cock (I mean a male bird of course. They had been dancing solely before they successfully captured the female's attention). Well you see, the dances were solo.
Are you surprised?
Yes, Latin dances can all be solo dances. That means you don't necessarily need a partner, though thinking of someone who you would dance for would help express your dancing.
In fact, even though in their partnered form, a couple also dances Latin dances in open positions without hand-holds. Think about those world class dancers who compete in International Champs, a lot of time they dance without even touching their partners. They are still fantastic dancers.
Oh yes, they are such FANTASTIC dancers! they SHINE ('shine' is a dance term referring to solo, check it in our Dance Glossary List here) in a very FANTASTIC way. And yes, shine is harder for most social dancers, especially for ladies.
Most of the time, we find lady social dancers say 'dancing is easy, you just let the man lead you.' It's true, from the social perspective. Dancing as a social activity emphases on the lead and follow, and social dances usually do not dance in open positions. Competition dancers, on the other hand, do a lot of open positions.
I am not saying that Shine is a more privileged dancing, nor I want to say Latin Dancing is a solo dancing, I did not attempt to say people who can shine are better dancers, either. All I want to say is that, knowing what Latin Dances are and how they can be danced is good for keen dancers.
Oh and yes, we have Latin Shine classes!
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