Cubanising Baladas

Following up from the latest bolero sessions at Solares, one of the participants, an avid YouTuber, wanting to get his ear in, directed me to the below:

asking if they were boleros. I responded saying they were 'baladas' ('ballads'), not boleros, because they lacked African-derived rhythmic phrasing. The question he asked, and the examples he gave, told me an immense amount about how Europeans might listen to Afro-Caribbean music. It got me thinking as to how I could develop the rhythmic perception of someone versed in the European aesthetic to one who was just as sensitive to the African aesthetic.

Then it struck me to use these songs themselves. I could offer for them to learn how to play the bolero tumbao on congas, and the martillo rhythm on bongó, and then play them alongside these tracks, thus 'Cubanising' them from baladas into boleros!

It would develop the perception of African rhythm as anticipating that of European AND it would open the door to the subtle nuances of rhythmic phrasing, which is a sensitivity transferable to dancing!

I'm sensing the start of another research project.

Loo Yen Yeo

Return to the Bolero and on to the Promised Land

Last Tuesday, solares made a return to the bolero after a hiatus of two years. The workshop was small: comprised equally of those whom had done it before, and those for whom it would be their first experience of it, so the time was right.

The impetus behind this was the torneo content of the previous few weeks. It had reached that stage where 'drivers' needed to improve their:

• visualisation of line of dance
• implementation of line of dance
• silence in the frame (reducing the transmission of movement vibration to the torneo partner)
• sensitivity to the torneo partner's vertical axis of rotation

Torneo partners needed to develop their:

• foot-bearing - the pivoting contact point on the floor
• core strength
• sensitivity to the driving partner's lead, to distinguish between orbital and axial lead information

Both sides needed the rhythmic dance space to gain a gentler touch to their musicality. All these, I began to see progress in. However the most wonderful thing, for me as educator, was the validation of the exercise begun two years ago. It took the experienced dancers just one song to get back in the flow of things, a telling sign that naturalisation had been achieved. Moreover they all danced displaying a strong connection with the music, something they happily (and with some surprise) admitted to.

This opens the way to the promised land of articulation and synthesis - firstly in the use of space, and afterwards in the interpretation of rhythm. I'm also intrigued as to what extent the experienced dancers might catalyse the development those new to the genre.

Loo Yen Yeo

SalsaDiary's Revival

I'd wondered whether this day would arrive. Would I ever feel it necessary to post in salsadiary? To articulate thoughts on dance? Or had things moved on, and there no longer be any need to do so?

The intervening two years have been eventful; all the more reason to make the time to reflect - call it a part of Continuous Professional Development (CPD). And now that there's time to draw breath, the chance to write in this way is gladly taken, even as I sit here in the marvellous Diamond amongst university students preparing for their final exams. There's plenty to say. In the intervening space where this blog has been silent, there's been:

• The birth of Parranda
  A latin dance club night with friends Esref and Steve
• A return to regular dance instruction
  Transferable skills-based workshops on Caribbean dance
• Loads of concerts and venues visited
  Supporting live music and fellow promoters (to be reviewed)
• Fulfillment of a writing commission
  An entry for the international volume of the Encyclopaedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW)
• Leading-edge dance research
  Following on from my presentation at the CID-UNESCO 32nd World Congress on Dance Research, answering the question "Can the gender and cultural bias inherent in salsa's social dance instruction be eliminated, and its effects counterbalanced?"
• Plenty of dance literature
  Encountered during the course of the EPMOW commission (to be reviewed)
• Tons of music
  Acquired to support my return behind the decks for Parranda (to be reviewed)

Some of these will be back-filled to the relevant date, and will have a more retrospective feel to their composition. This is to be expected. The rest will flow a natural course. Here goes...

Loo

Genres, International - The End of the Beginning.

Two years ago, I accepted a commission to write an entry for the international volume of Bloomsbury Academic's Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW). I finally submitted the first draft earlier today.

Two years might seem a long time, and most instances it is. But what experience I have, in coming into contact with the process of producing a print encyclopaedia, it isn't that long at all. It's a task of Herculean levels: commissioning, chasing, reading, reviewing, re-drafting, and most of all it can't be sent for publication until everything, and I mean everything, is in.

This is my second commission for the publication. Curiously my first commission was for this, the international volume. But having completed it, I was asked if I'd be happy to move it to the 'EPMOW Genres: Caribbean and Latin America' volume. Flattered to be recognised as a cultural insider, I said "yes". This left an unfulfilled entry in the 'International' volume, which once again I accepted.

What I failed to appreciate was how much more of a challenge it would prove to be.

1. The international entry had to offer a complementary voice
   There were already two entries on salsa: one in the North American volume by Chris Washburne, and the other, mine, in the Caribbean and South American one.
2. Most research was Latino-centric
   The vast proportion of publications in the field were by researchers in North America, some of whom were of Latin American extraction, which were re-workings of their postgraduate theses.
3. International salsa is less explored
   The practice of salsa in the international field differs significantly to that in Latin American, and is an area of research which is currently under-developed.

My original approach proved too Latino-centric, based on tools in ethnomusicology and sociology developed for analysis in those communities. They failed adequately to explain what I and my peer researchers have observed in the international scene. I ditched five attempts at structure, each taking weeks of effort, until finally arriving at one which tells the story of how salsa is changing as it spreads across the international field. Two of the stand-out references, which I will review later, were highly informative: one on dance subcultures; and the other describing the much-contested development of the salsa dance milieu out of son, mambo and Latin hustle. Both of these I will review later.

I don't know how this will be received. The approach I took is novel (it had to be) based on the difference in context, and lack of suitable analytical tools. What is certain, is that there'll be lots of to-ing and fro-ing until publication.

Right now, I'm just enjoying the peace.

Loo

Introducing the Torneo

At the beginning of tonight's Solares I was torn between two lesson plans. The first was a logical one: a final combination variation which would have tied up the whole capsule vocabulary in a nice neat bow. The second was an emotional one: an element from son cubano, executed in contemporary salsa, which would stretch and inspire.

I went with my heart.

The 'torneo' or potter's wheel is one of the most challenging pieces of choreography in the son pantheon. It sounds simple: one partner is poised on one foot at the centre of the wheel, while the other partner dances the circumference of the circle turning the pivoting partner. What it requires of the torneo partner is great balance, good core strength, minimal bearing contact with the floor; and the circling partner must have a constant torso speed while keeping to the dance rhythm below the waist, and a clean, perfectly described line of dance, clear of movement noise.

It proved to be the right choice; they went at it hammer and tongs all hour. The immediate skills they realised they needed to develop further were:

• improving the quality of balance as the torneo partner
• how to lead and follow the torneo by constraining the vertical axis of the torneo partner
• silencing vibrations travelling through the circler's points of contact, so as not throw the torneo partner off balance
• how to follow-up the torneo with a phase change should their partner exit on the 'incorrect' foot
• continuously visualising the line of dance, ahead execution, as the circling partner

I consider all these skills essential, and the torneo is one of the best contexts for them because it renders any deficiencies transparent. To reprise Bloom's psycho-motor domain, the torneo class of manoeuvres requires the development of skilful precision; is the next level up from manipulation achieved through the capsule vocabulary.

Loo