Cultural Knowledge

Last Saturday was our Sheffield Parranda Espectacular event in Sheffield. Apart from the hospitality, operational and performance aspects make up the running of a great night, I try to squeeze in a few moments to sound out Solares/The Rueda Academy (STRA) attendees. The way they express themselves, their interpretations of their own learning is richly informative, helping me understand how better to tailor their learning experience.

One of them made an astute observation. When Solares first started, he was under the impression that it was a novel kind of workshop; that there were subcomponents or aspects being trialled which would inform my dance research. And yet after two years of workshops, all the material we'd covered was contained in my rather snazzy salsa website. This snippet, which should be read in a positive tone, was couched within a larger conversation of satisfaction with Solares' direction and modes of delivery. I had the chance to explain later that while "yes" the material was similar, it was the environment and means of delivery that was novel.

When I first elucidated the content elements and hierarchy some fifteen plus years ago, the young women and men whom I trained turned out to be exceptional educators and dancers displaying physical and conceptual skills at the peak of Bloom's taxonomy. Where they were (comparatively) less strong was their fluency with the musical, rhythmic, and cultural domains in Caribbean dance.

In retrospect, it was my naivete in searching for an ideal objective means of dance instruction that was to blame. I had neither the maturity nor the experience associated with the cultural knowledge of salsa to appreciate its value, its necessity as a subjective part. This except from "Spinning Mambo Into Salsa" (2015: 114) by Juliet McMains captures the difference between then and now.

"For Cuban Pete, mambo was not something that could be learned in a dance school. It was cultural knowledge he inherited from his family, dancing in the kitchen with his mother.

"This tension between Latin dance as cultural knowledge that can only be learned through time spent in a particular community versus Latin dance as a technique that can be bought and sold in formal dance classes intensified as the salsa dance industry emerged in the 1990s."

While I am not able to provide the literal environment of growing up and dancing in a kitchen with a Latin American mother like Cuban Pete's, I am interested in whether a surrogate environment may be created where subjective Latin American cultural knowledge may be acquired.

This is the basis of Solares' novelty.

Loo Yeo

The Capsule Vocabulary

Last evening was our first Solares for 2016 and we started with the building of a 'capsule vocabulary'. I developed the idea out of Susie Faux and Donna Karan's concept of the capsule wardrobe.

For external consumption I define dance's capsule vocabulary as:

"A collection of the fewest, simplest, most representative movements and moves which convey the essence of a genre's embodiment."

For internal consumption, I would define the solares dance capsule vocabulary as:

"A collection of the fewest, simplest, most representative movements and moves which convey the essence of multiple related genre embodiments."

The capsule vocabulary is intended to provide a portable context for the development of skills; my answer to encouraging psycho-motor manipulation (see earlier post). The word 'portable' is in there because it has to be a vocabulary which encompasses the majority of genres in the Caribbean and Latin America, including: the son rhythm group, merengue, and bachata.

I reckon that it will take about three months to learn the capsule, barring interesting detours. Many elements of it could be found also in British salsa as it was danced pre-introduction of the cross-body style, in what Rondón (2008) refers to as 'salsa of the South'. Consequently the framework of the dance is based on the Caribbean sway, and not the international salsa/mambo step.

Loo

Rondón, César Miguel (2008). The Book Of Salsa: A Chronicle Of Urban Music From The Caribbean To New York City [El Libro De La Salsa, English Translation]. USA: University Of North Carolina Press

Some Assembly Required: Clearing Imitation

At the start of the new calendar year, I've decided it was time for a change in tack at Solares.

The previous few months had been about getting to grips with the elemental constituents of Caribbean dance:

1. the fundamental relationship of tension and release between clave and pulse;
2. putting rhythmic weight on start of the African rhythm cycle;
3. gaining familiarity with African vocalisation practices; and
4. establishing a vocabulary of individual turn elements - the building blocks of turn combinations.

But as any pedagogue will tell you, "understanding isn't doing". And I wasn't seeing enough doing. This presented as a lack of fluency with the material in its context. In terms of Bloom's psycho-motor domain (below), we weren't even out of the ground floor.

From http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/best/bloom.html. All Rights Acknowledged.

Put another way, the 'Guided Response' of imitation does not indicate learner independence, the 'Mechanism' of manipulation does (see below).

From http://ruyancom125.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/e-learning.html. All Rights Acknowledged.

What this means, is that I have to get Solares attendees to imitate manipulation, for which I'll have to demonstrate the skills of manipulation in context through a series of case studies. And I have just the thing!

Loo Yeo

Enculturating Engagement

In my daytime profession, there is much discussion about how to increase the levels of student engagement for a richer learning experience. The arenas might be different but the principles apply equally. The key to any teaching structure is to provide a safe learning environment, and in Solares' case, it's a place where they are free to develop and to question without fear.

"Why?" is the root of engagement
Explaining why certain phenomena exist, why things have evolved as they have, why things are done a particular way, develops a deep level of understanding.

For example:
(Spatial) Why is there a convention of an asymmetrical hold in partner dance?
(Rhythm) Why is there a an On-1 versus an On-2 debate?

There is more than one Truth
When asked if something being executed correctly or not, I often find myself saying "it depends..." much to the chagrin of participants. What works well in one situation might not work well in another - there is seldom any universal truth in dance. Explaining the pros and cons (once again the 'why') of an artefact plus optional forms allows an individual to exercise her/his own judgement. The exercise of judgement is what makes individuals, individual; and opens to day to dialogue.

For example:
(Spatial) What works when there is a height match and when there's a height mismatch?
(Rhythm) What part of the beat should steps be taken on?

Signing up to a Social Contract
If a participant wants to be treated fairly, to be allowed to learn at their best, they have to do the same for their peers. That means being patient, being supportive, being willing to share, taking part, being willing to make mistakes, being able to ask for help.

For example:
Everyone learns to follow. Everyone learns to lead.
Everyone takes turns partnering everyone, irrespective of ability. That includes the educators.

Questions are thoughtfully entertained
A broadcast question of "does anyone have any questions?" is hardly successful in a workshop where participants do not know each other or the teacher. All questions asked during remedial contact whether: in partnership with the individual, during observation of a single partnership, and in groups; must be thoughtfully considered, and be seen to be genuinely considered.

Feedback is Immediate
There is no surer way to demonstrate that the question was taken seriously. On several occasions, I have interrupted an exercise in order to disseminate the positive point raised, sometimes encouraging opinions from other participants or instructors.

Flexible Pedagogy
Under exceptional circumstances I've allowed valid points to alter the workshop plan, to encourage exploration of unanticipated avenues which are still beneficial to development. This indicates that participants can have a profound impact upon their own learning, and that not only is their input entertained, but it is valuable.

I get feedback too. The response is that these unplanned explorations have been the ones which participants feel they have learned the most from. I think this is because they feel the session was tailored to their needs, as compared to one designed towards an educator's archetype.

The Result
A collaborative community of highly engaged learners. That includes the teachers.

Loo

Loo's Three Simple Steps To Bolero Success

Step 1: Perfect your synchrony between your vocalisation of "gung-ging-gung, pak, pak" and your hip movement.
You should feel the most pressure through the soles of your feet at "ging"
You should feel the most stretch around the outside of your hips at the second "gung"
Do this without music

Step 2: Listen to Bolero Teaching CD1 and pick out the tracks where "gung-ging-gung" is clearest.
Listen for the drums' "gung-ging-gung" sound
Synchronise your "gung-ging-gung" vocalisation with the drums' "gung-ging-gung" sound

Step 3: Hips, vocals and bolero song all-together
Listen for the drums' "gung-ging-gung" sound
Synchronise your "gung-ging-gung" vocalisation with the drums' "gung-ging-gung" sound
Synchronise your hip movements to your "gung-ging-gung" vocalisation AND the drums' "gung-ging-gung" sound

Easy Peasy :-D
Loo

Solares Debuts

I decided to open Solares as I mean to go on, with a workshop on bolero.

The slow tempo Cuban dance genre was selected because of the attending audience: all of them had been dancing studio or academy salsa for years. I wanted to provide a complementary experience; to develop skill sets under-emphasised by convention, and these features are key:

A convention of non-verbal vocalisations
Creating sounds with the human voice as a means of learning and propagating rhythm in the African tradition. We began with the vocalisation "gung-ging-gung" simulating the conga open tones of the bolero tumbao instead of an European-centric count of "and-4-and".

Synchronising movement to vocalisations
The lateral cradle-swing of the hips, thus transferring weight, was timed to the "gung-ging-gung" vocalisation. This brings the practice immediately to the First Stage of Independence (FSI), where each student is able to practice this without any external support. FSI is crucial for self-motivated, engaged students who would like to function in a flipped learning environment.

"Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter." (from http://flippedlearning.org/cms/lib07/va01923112/centricity/domain/46/flip_handout_fnl_web.pdf)

Correlating vocalisations to sonic artefacts in the music
Understanding that the sounds they produce have their counterparts in music, and that this relationship between human-generated sounds and instrument-generated sounds is one of co-operative complementarity, not of dominance-subservience.

Synchronising movement to sonic cues
Once sonic (vocal) and kinesthetic (movement) production is matched, the sonic production is synchronised to the sonic artefacts in the music, resulting, too, in synchronised movement.

Raising the seat up timing
Conventional salsa studio instruction is foot-based i.e. it is the foot-placement to the floor which is correlated to each number of the count. This means that the rest of the body, most importantly the hips and heart, move, and are felt to move after the beat. This causes a dissonance, and even disconnection with the rhythm. (Hearing-impaired dancers have better rhythm because they are taught to feel the low-frequency vibrations of music in their chest.)

The synchronous "gung-ging-gung"-pelvic sway practice moves the seat of timing off the floor, up to hip level.

Fine control of movement
With a tempo range of 80-100bpm, there is twice as much rhythmic distance between each beat in the bolero compared to salsa (160-220bpm). Movements must be made more slowly and smoothly in order to fill these elongated spaces.

The greatest challenge faced by any attendee is a conceptual one. Having spent years being selected for and being optimised in an European learning convention, whom might cope with the change to a non-European learning context?

Loo Yeo

The Rueda Academy - The Key Concepts

At the Academy, we believe rueda:

• has a framework based on the Cuban son
• has a basic timing which is atiempo
• has the performance musculature of rumba
• is home to cultural accents, like those derived from dances dedicated to the Orishas
• is a synchronous coordinated ensemble activity
• has tremendous freedom for creative self-expression
• should involve on-lookers equally

We achieve this by addressing ideas and dance skills at three scales:

1. The individual scale – “your voice in the story”
We ensure that you bring your best rhythms to the party
We free you to express your joy compellingly
We help you exude confidence
We help you become a cultural insider

2. The rueda couple scale – “expressions in conversation”
You’ll appreciate the rueda couple as the ‘wheel within the wheel’ providing the internal dynamic of the larger wheel
We help you feel and understand the circular energy of rueda at the couple level
You’ll learn how to leave room in your dancing to let your partner ‘speak’
We help you listen to what your partner has to say
You’ll understand the purpose of a move and the meaning of a call

3. The Rueda de Casino scale – “an epic tale”
We’ll play with the building-blocks of rueda de casino
We’ll delve the properties of a mass-coordinated activity
What is good quality?
We build resilience: ‘When things do go wrong, how do we cope with it? How can we enjoy it?’
You’ll learn how to keep the rueda open to invite the participation of on-lookers

Eşref Ulaş
Loo Yeo

Solares - The Key Concepts

Imagine...

Imagine you could dance any dance that Spanish America could throw at you.
Imagine you could feel the meaning of each song, each movement, as though born to it.
Imagine you had the confidence and ability to absorb new dances in a heartbeat.

What if this could be true?

The Principles of Solares

Solares is built on an innovative approach to multi-genre instruction – it emphasises the similarities of Latin dance, placing all movement and rhythm skills common to all genres at its core. It’s closer to how natives learn.

Wrapped around this universal core are the configuration skills – abilities which allow you to recognise a genre, tailor your movement and express the rhythms necessary to characterise that genre.

Universality and adaptability combine to produce genre agility: the ability to move seamlessly, instantly, between genres/dance types just as natives do.

Although Solares is centred on the development of skills, dance moves will be used:

• as a means of providing genre context;
• to build move and movement vocabularies;
• in cultural case-examples; and
• as elemental building-blocks in combination-building.
   

The Concepts

Yvonne Daniel, a dance ethnographer from the United States, studied, trained and performed as a troupe member of Havana-based Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba. In her book ‘Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba’ (1995) is the observation:

“African cabildos (secret societies) in Cuba contributed to the crystallisation of certain African dance/music concepts in the Americas: that music and dance are not primarily entertainment forms; that music and dance are interdependent; that their structure utilises both set and improvisational elements; that complexity and depth are built by the layering and interfacing of small, simple, diverse units; that the human body is paramount.”

Thus the key concepts are:

• music and dance are not primarily entertainment forms
• music and dance are interdependent
• their structure utilises both set and improvisational elements
• complexity and depth are built by the layering and interfacing of small, simple, diverse units
• the human body is paramount
   

Is Solares for you?

Take a moment to reflect on some key-concept questions:

The nature of interdependency between music and dance – ‘dancemusic’
How have the Europeans made us listen?
Why have the Africans driven us to dance?
Has modernity quietened our primal voices?
“How African is your dancing?” “How European is your dancemusic?” “When did you decide?”

The human body is paramount
How you move is who you are: your body and how you choose to use it is your CV.
How you move is what you believe in, so “what do you believe in?”
Your quality of movement is your personal history
“What are you saying?” “What would you like to say?” “How could you say it?”

Afro-Caribbean music-dance structures utilise both set and improvisational elements
Do natives learn your basics?
Do you let your partner dance? (macro-structure: marcas, combinations and calls)
Have you danced with the saints? (micro-structural elements, motifs and gestures)

Complexity and depth are built by the layering and interfacing of small, simple, diverse units
How much dancemusic can a single body hold?
How nimble are your feelings? (the spirit of dance lives in the in-between)
Would you jangle the keys to Heaven? (hyper-learning the elements and cues of improvisation)
Does your dance sing?

African-derived ‘dancemusics’ in the Americas are not primarily entertainment forms
Where you dance is who you are (social spaces of dancemusic)
Is it in your blood? (Ethnomusicology and embedded meaning)
Do the drums nudge you playfully? (giving as good as you get in live situations)

If you’d like to understand the questions better then Solares could be for you, because the answers to them can already be found inside you.

To express interest, you can contact Loo via:

• email: loo[at]salsa-merengue[dot]co[dot]uk
• email: parrandapage[at]gmail[dot]com
• facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parrandapage
• a chat at your nearest Parranda night
   

Loo Yeo

And I dub thee "Solares"

We're going ahead with the weekly workshops.

I've just emerged from the throes of articulating the specification document for my session, from which I'm deriving the outward-facing i.e. student-facing interest-capturing blurb. (I'm also writing the blurb for Eşref's session.) Then there's the tough question of what to call it - as tortuous and as important as the opening line of a book - because it sets the tone for everything.

It has to have cultural meaning
It has to be completely symbolic of the learning ethos
It has to be pronounceable
It as to be natural
It has to be honest
It's going to be Solares.

"Why the Spanish word for 'courtyards'?" you might ask.

Solares has a deeper meaning. Solares are tenement buildings, blocks of single-room apartments, opening onto a central courtyard. Each apartment would house an entire family, and facilities like water and sanitation were shared. Just because slavery ended, it did not mean an end to misery nor poverty. These urban experiments in housing the poor were Pan-Caribbean and objects of institutional shame in the early 20th century, "teeming with mullattoes and blacks" (Irene Alice Wright, Latin American Studies Association Conference, Miami, Florida, 2002) and associated with squalor.

"Why on Earth would you name it after that?!?" you might ask in horror.

I believe that our greatest social dances were born out of poverty and social injustice. Solares doesn't celebrate it, solares acknowledges it. The sessions will look to allow for the African voice to re-enter the dialogue of Caribbean dance - a voice I believe erased when U.S.American and European ballroomers codified Latin American dance. The central courtyard was a focus of social activity, and despite abject conditions, ritmo continued to be produced, to flourish and to grow in these communal spaces throughout the Caribbean.

The Solares Workshops will not be about salsa. It will be ambitious. It will be about the Pan-Caribbean experience of music and its embodiment in its communities.

Loo Yen Yeo

Clear Objectives: A Return to Teaching

Esh and I have been talking about offering dance lessons.

That's for want of a better term. It's stemmed from my one-to-one workshop sessions with him,.and we'd had Elaine, a mutual friend drop by the occasional three-hour Sunday who'd gotten quite absorbed in them. So it occurred to me to ask, "how about we open this up?" Not in a commercial sense, but to people we know whom might be keen. After all, it's just as easy for me to run a session for a small gathering of individuals as it is for one; and, there's the opportunity of developing partnered skills.

Besides, given the unconventional format and flipped-learning model, I wouldn't anticipate that attendee retention would be high, given that the general populace of dancers have already been pre-selected and optimised for conventional instruction.

But I'd have to get something out of this as well, apart from an altruistic joy of teaching. It wouldn't be financial - I've always preferred a social contract to a financial one. So I've articulated some clear personal objectives should I choose to proceed. I think it's crucial to have these, not only to determine the direction of development, but also to judge the value of the activity.

Principal objectives

1. Explore the externally-perceived value of a contrasting pedagogic ethos
2. Data generation for on-going dance research
3. Validation of pedagogic hypotheses
4. Continued personal development as dance educator and proponent

On the up-side, that commercial viability is not a necessity will allow for plenty of scope in implementation. On the down-side, how does one satisfy the contradictory notions of: being able to accept newcomers/accommodating people who have essential commitments flexibly, with the need for clear progression?

Loo Yeo

Cultural Mark, Social Brand

There's nothing like a hard deadline to focus the mind. And with our commitment to launching our Latin dance social event, there's been a lot of focussing lately. I don't think Esh, Steve and I have been in such sustained contact, ever!

Apart from the bringing together of materials and investment in capital assets i.e. the operations facet, the most important long-term decision is, "what to call it?" It has to have the opportunity to grow into a name of social meaning, to reflect the uniqueness we feel the night can (and should) be. Yes, it will be a brand, but it'll be less the values of Monsanto and more Rainforest Alliance. Or maybe Eataly.

Whatever it is, I have a few parameters.

Alliterative
The word or phrase has got to have a nice internal rhythm to its pronunciation, to make it an easy handle to grasp

Cultural Dimension
I would like to see this as a place where both Latin Americans and locals alike feel comfortable. It has to have elements of cultural grounding in the Caribbean, and hence have 'authenticity'.

Pan-Latin
As I envision the music policy to be broad, encompassing such like: vallenato (for Colombians), gaita (for Venezuelans), cumbia (for Chileans, Mexicans), bachata (locals and Latins), merengue (for Latins), timba (for Cubans, Cubanophiles and Casinoholics), and a main staple of salsa (from romantica to dura); the symbol must have a dimension which crosses the Caribbean and South America.

Unique
It should be one that has not been seen before in the local environment, in this context.

'Empty' Term
I suspect my co-partners would want to go with something which has 'salsa' in the title. I feel that whereas that might help us get up and running quickly, as people hearing it would think they know what to expect, it is that same expectation which would hinder the brand in the long term. The better, (albeit harder) way is to choose an 'empty' term and imbue it with our own meanings, rather than try to adapt one with existing meanings.

Pronounceable
This is a concept most immigrant parents or those of different cultures face when choosing names for their children. A good number of them choose names which are pronounced similarly in both (or more) languages.

Social Dimension
Wherever and however the mark is derived, it has to convey a strong social dimension which I feel should be the core of what we do.

So, all in all quite one of the easiest things to do. I already have a few candidates.

Loo Yeo

New Year's Eve 2013 Old Skool Disco @Creswell Social Centre

I'd just settled down in front of the telly-box in anticipation of a musical evening capped with Jool's Annual Hootenanny. Everything was right: the comfy socks, the hot beverage, mince pies... New Year's Eve is quality 'me' time.

Then the phone rang:

"Loo, get ready. I'm coming by to pick you up in 30 minutes. We're going to an old skool disco," said Esh.
"Eh?" said I.
"Old Skool Disco.." enunciated Esh, much more slowly.
I thought he'd gone looney-tunes. 'Why on Earth would I give up a Hootenanny for a night that can't even manage to play one song all the way through?' I thought to myself.
"It's at a possible venue for our dance night," cajoled Esh.

At that point, the prospect of quality 'me' time bleated as it was sacrificed on the altar of Latin social dance. "Okay," I sighed.

An hour and a half later and we, Esh and I, were standing at the threshold of Creswell Social Club's main hall. This is what we saw:

Old Skool

Revellers shuffled from foot to foot, clutching their prized golden nectar in plastic cups, some mouthing lyrics from fragments of songs by Bon Jovi. Air, made acrid with artificial smoke, occasionally lanced by sharp beams of primary colour, pounded with the weight of an overpowered system. Spots of white versus off-white battled for supremacy across the lid of a giant box.

I looked to my right and read Esh's expression.
"Not feeling the love, huh?" I observed.
He shook his head, despondent.
"Don't worry, I can make this work" I said.
He looked surprised, tinged with a good handful of disbelief.
"Trust me."

This wasn't my first rodeo, and I could see its potential immediately. The plus features of the room were its:

• width - close enough for people to mingle and not feel exposed when crossing over to ask for a dance;
• size - large enough for a decent capacity yet, crucially, intimate enough that a good atmosphere could be had with smaller attendance numbers;
• height - the ceiling was high enough to draw away some of the heat, and had fans for circulation; and,
• dance-floor - a slightly-sprung hardwood floor, kept in good nick (even past the spilt beer), with no detectable steel-joist hard-points beneath.

All the key aspects for dancers' comfort were addressed in the room. With the right lighting, and imaginative dressing, this unpromising duckling could be swanified.

"I need to check their loos" I said. The business-person in me learned, a long time ago, that the state of the toilet facilities are the clearest indication of staff morale. Creswell's were modern and immaculate, easily the best I'd seen at a social club anywhere. Dancers with expensive dance shoes appreciate good facilities.

Steve then took Esh and I into the kitchen area to meet the venue manager, Pat - a slim lady, with bright eyes, gentle smile, and kind no-nonsense demeanour. She listened to our plans in an unhurried manner (in the midst of a busy New Year's Eve service period), then said, "Let me get out the venue diary for the year."

I'd expected her to say "let me think about this and contact you." Caught on the hop, I knew we had to take an immediate plunge or lose organisational credibility. We'd come prepared. I'd already identified the first Saturday of every month as the best candidate:

• Fridays were always a rush for most working people, yours truly included, whereas a Saturday evening event meant for a more leisurely build-up of anticipation;
• the first Saturday of the month slotted in well with the cycle of monthly events in the region, it having become available after a promoter had decided to cease a running regular event; and,
• previous experience told me that the first Saturday after pay day was less vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations.

We committed to start on the 1st of March 2014 - a mere two months away - and confirmed the dates for six months, pencilling the other dates for the remainder of the year (with a view to confirming them or not after an internal four-month review).

Esh and I left Creswell with a sharply renewed focus. There's nothing like making a commitment to crystallise the mind. Now I have to make good on my promise of transforming Creswell into a delightful swan of a place to Latin dance in.

I took a deep breath.
Loo

Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Twenty-Five

Warm-up: bi-rhythmic practice
Playing rumba clave (arms), and alternating between stepping on pulse and salsa dance rhythm (legs).

Warm-up: rumba guaguancó knee action

Concept: rebound of the knee
If the stepping of the foot is atiempo, then the knee action is contratiempo where: the outward articulation of the knee is active, and the inward articulation is rebound-passive.

Practice: rumba guaguancó knee action with rebound
To rumba clave only track. On the spot, then walking all directions.

Concept: "It has to sound great!"
Within the historical context of rumba with its simple instrumentation, even the sounds of the dancer's foot rhythm has got to groove.

Practice: Pulse-Clave transitions
To rumba clave only track, 143bpm. Alternating between dancing pulse for two phrases, and clave "pa-pa, pa-pa-pa'um" in 2-3 orientation.

Learning materials
Rumba clave timelines by Jeremy Wise and Loo Yeo
Flor Pálida by Marc Anthony

Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Twenty-Four

Warm up, to rumba clave only tracks
Walks in all directions: forwards, backwards, to side, linear and rotated; changing between stepping on pulse and salsa dance rhythm.

Analysis: distribution of movement energy
In front of mirror, stepping between pulse and salsa dance rhythm, upper body engine. There is rhythmic dance energy apparent above the waist than below. It looks unbalanced.

Concept: increasing lower body dance energy
Engaging the knees rhythmically introduces the involvement of the adductors and abductors, increasing lower body dance energy.

Concept: body-part substitution in rhythm interpretation

I - Body-part substitution in salsa dance rhythm

Practice: salsa dance rhythm foot to knee substitution, on the spot
To rumba clave only tracks. Salsa dance rhythm: instead of foot-foot-foot, to foot-knee(out)-foot, static practice. Centre-of-gravity remains a constant distance from the floor, which causes the ankles to raise off the floor as the knees move outward.

Learning points:

• listen for the foot-knee-foot action. The auditory feedback should be "thump" (foot strikes floor), "rustle" (clothing brushes knee), "thump" (foot strikes floor)
• lower centre of gravity to produce more power
• the knee movement is undamped, being allowed to swing freely yet rhythmically.

Practice: salsa dance rhythm foot to knee substitution, walking
To rumba clave only tracks. Salsa dance rhythm: instead of foot-foot-foot, to foot-knee(out)-foot, walking practice (all directions). This is the rumba guaguancó knee action.

Learning point: the knee action is deliberately exaggerated at low tempi so that it will be observable at the high tempi of guaguancó.

Practice: rumba guaguancó knee action, strengthening exercise
Walks to rumba clave only tracks. Intersperse with four steps on same foot, taking successively deeper steps. This develops physical flexibility and strength, and timing compensation for step size.

II - Body-part substitution in rumba clave rhythm

Practice: stepping to 3-2 rumba clave
To rumba clave only tracks, sidewards walks. Six steps to the compound rumba-son clave vocalisation (3-2 orientation) "pa, pa, pa-um / pa, pa" as *side, close, back-side / side, close*

Practice: stepping to 2-3 rumba clave
To rumba clave only tracks, sidewards walks. Six steps to the compound rumba-son clave vocalisation (2-3 orientation) "pa, pa / pa, pa, pa-um" as *side, close / side, close, back-side*

Learning materials
Rumba clave timelines by Jeremy Wise and Loo Yeo
Flor Pálida by Marc Anthony

The Right Feeling (re-found in Barcelona)

Over the past few years, my re-acquaintance with a long-time friend has led to an increased return to the social dance floor at venues across the country. I'm struck by the heterogeneity in customer experience - in the music played, sound quality, lighting ambience, hospitality, venue setup, dance surface...

At the risk of wearing out my rose-tinted glasses, I recalled promoters putting more effort into their offerings. I put it down to a time when the salsa scene was niche, and, with the actual dance population being small, salsa nights had to have the capacity to 'fascinate' the larger non-salsa audience and draw them in, since they had barely a sense of what salsa was. Now that the salsa-experienced population has grown to a significant enough size, it seems that that attention to fascinate and welcome has drained away.

On more than one recent occasion, I found myself paying to dance in a box.

I've wondered, "has the salsa experience become commoditised?" "Would we, as first-movers in a fledgling salsa scene, have been able to grow it to what it is now by offering today's kind of experience?"

I was saddened. But at the same time, I realised that there was something in it. You see, two friends had been bouncing around the idea of starting up a salsa event with me; and I was only going to commit if the night came from the right place: from the heart. It had the right feeling.

And it just so happens that I'm in Barcelona with them.

They'd never been to the great Catalan city before, and had always wanted to see it. So I let myself be cajoled into being their guide, and I was keen to give them a touch of the Barcelona lifestyle they would treasure.

And it was in 'El Xampanyet' that they experienced the right feeling. 'The Champagne' is one of the city's finest bars, run by the Esteve Family for three generations.

Traditional, yet trendy

El Xampanyet's appeal lies in its dichotomous encapsulation of Iberian values (above). It's both old and new, trendy and traditional, a place to stay or to pass through.

Everyone creates the spectacle

The tapas bar, well-oiled with the elbows of locals, serves a mouth-watering array of fresh local produce and canned seafood in the Catalan tradition. The important thing is, that both the patrons and the staff, together, are involved with creating the spectacle (above). El Xampanyet's staff know this; that people inherently know how to enjoy themselves, and that all they have to do is to help.

A sense of place

Blue Iberian glazed tiles jostle for space on the bottle-lined walls with an eclectic mix of antiques. You know you're in El Xampanyet (above). There's a feeling of place. There's also a sense of timelessness; it doesn't occur to you to think about how long you've stayed.

A feeling of generosity

The offerings are always good. Everyone will prefer some things over others, but it's always good. And most of all, there's a heartfelt feeling of generosity (above).

People come back for friends

It might be the reputation, the drinks, and the pintxos (tapas) that draws you first time through its doors, but in the end, everyone comes to El Xampanyet to be with each other, be they friends or friends not yet made.

So there you have it. What a fledgling salsa scene once had, and lost. And perhaps what it might have once again.

Loo Yen Yeo

15th June 2013 Prince Royce @The Coronet Theatre, Elephant & Castle, London

"Royce? In London?!?" was my first thought.

The freshly-minted event cropped up innocuously on Facebook and I couldn't believe my eyes. My mouse pointer made like Usain Bolt, sprinting to the link before it dropped off my news feed. If this were true, it would be the first time, at least in my memory, that an international bachata artist had played on these shores. Questions careened about crazily in my mind - What would the audience demographic be? How might the live performance bachata differ to recorded material? Would the consumption of bachata differ to salsa? If so, why? Could I hack a whole evening of the Dominican sweetmeat (ahem)? Would experiencing the artist's live performance practice inform my understanding of his music? Would it help in the deployment of bachata in my DJ sets?

A ticket was the portal to answers.

On a blustery, changeable summer's morning, I was transported bleary-eyed after two nights of hard DJing via a fleet steel carriage to the great capital in the company of four fellow Roycers of unique intensity. A smacking Malaysian lunch; a trot up the Mall to Buckingham Palace into the teeth of a deluge which would have had Noah reaching for his nails and saw; an exhausted refuge in a pub cellar, failed to dampen spirits. We joined the tail of people at the Coronet Theatre at the appointed hour.

And we waited. And we waited. In the coldly stiffening evening breeze.

Preliminaries
The minute-hand traced more than a full lap around the clock-face; its progress increasingly confirmed that the promoters, Ritmolatinobaby, had bitten off more than they could've organisationally chewed - there was no extra capacity for management to dispel uncertainty and misinformation. I crossed my fingers and gazed at the dishevelled blue cube of a building that was the Coronet Theatre, lodged as it was against the shoulder of London's unofficial hub of Latin American life - Elephant and Castle's shopping centre.

Venue
When we were finally loosed within, I was frisked after the metal detectors (a stark reminder of club life in the big city) and ushered past the box office where my name was crossed off a list. Inside the Coronet was much more promising. Its previous life as a place where actors trod the boards is still evident: the entry ramps brought us in at Circle level with a bar and facilities at the rear, Front-of House (FoH), DJ and lighting booths to the front. Steps on either side of the booths led down to the former Stalls area, now a well-proportioned dance space with obligatory security pit in front of the stage. Above was the Balcony area where the seating had been retained.

The sound quality was the first thing which struck me - it was good. Probably was a result of its former purpose, the acoustic coverage was even across both levels and without boom. A lack of sibilance from the flyers indicated the quality of the set-up, good enough for me to distinguish easily when lossless or data-compressed music was being played. The settings on the digital mixing desk reassured me that the band had been sound-checked, possibly the cause of our delayed entry.

Pre-show
Once the doors opened, the influx of people was steady and controlled. Taking a tour around both floors I estimated an attendance of five hundred souls; average age in the early twenties; more than a third Latin; 60% women; and socio-demographically class A, B and C1 due to the comparatively high ticket price. Looking at their movements, more than 90% of them were there to see the concert; there being just a handful of couples doing their fancy twirly salsa and bachata thing.

Which segues nicely to the Disc Jockeys.

There was a whole battery of 'em - all teen-aged, male, and facing directions contrary to that of their caps. "Since when did DJing become a gang activity?" I mused. What started off as poppy post-internationalisation bachata moved on to reggaeton then k-pop/latin-pop. At first instinct I felt it strange, but then looking at the demographic of young, probably first-generation British-born Latinas, it was well-judged. What was not well-judged was the quality of their music samples. Perhaps they'll learn their craft in time. An MC came on extolling the greatness of Dominican bachata, exhorting us all to worship at the altar of dance (or something like that), steering away from mention of hot-dogs or any Bronx-based artefacts from Royce's birthland. Then the MC in concert with the DJs colluded to drum up a couple of false starts, just to wind up the crowd.

I was feeling bear-baited.

Royce the Entertainer
At last the lights dimmed for real, an hour later than billed. The band musicians assumed their posts at their instruments: rhythm guitar, bass guitar, trap-set, conga-bongo-tambora, keyboards, güira-shaker, midi, and backing vocals. Then BAM! Geoffrey Royce Rojas aka. Prince Royce exploded onto stage in a blaze of reddened yellow light.

Clad in jeans and a leather jacket over a white tee, the young man opened exuding charisma and confidence. His manner of stage presentation and engagement was very much in the United States' school, of which Christina Aguilera is a prime example: slick, sure-footed, and well managed. Always mindful of the camera, his stage coverage was heavily biased to stage left where the feed to his video wall backdrop was shot from. He filled the room with most of his 'Phase II' numbers including "incondicional", plus stalwarts from his eponymous debut release like "corazón sin cara".

Prince Royce's songs all have a mid-tenor's tessitura and a vocal range hardly exceeding two octaves: singing which is all about accessibility, about feeling comfortable, not about virtuosity. His musical intonation was good, apart from a rough patch just past halfway through, when the band's in-ear monitoring systems failed. True to his professionalism, Royce gave little indication of this to his audience. I was actually pleased to hear that, because it indicated his confidence to perform without auto-tune's safety net, although I should add that more scale-work would give him better pitch stability.

Unsurprisingly there were no deep moments of personal revelation - he's not far enough along the road for the stage truly to be his home. Instead he went down the well-trodden routes of searching for someone in the audience and singing to her when he found her two songs later; and holding a mini-dance competition with the (unexpected) winner selected via the audience voting-by-applause. These activities were strategically timed to give his singing voice respite in a concert which lasted a good eighty minutes.

Bachata practice
Unlike in salsa, it isn't overtly clear that internationalised bachata's structure is capable of accommodating musical and lyrical improvisation, even though its ancestral genres were. Therefore in comparison to salsa, Prince Royce's performance practices resulted in music which:

• was closer to studio recorded forms;
• lacked the flexibility for new interpretations of musical and lyrical themes; and
• was compact, requiring more numbers to be played in the concert.

The primary mode of consumption was overwhelmingly passive - there was little participation in the interpretation-reinforcement of ritmo on the part of the audience nor was it encouraged from stage. In total, the experience highlighted an unseen division in this country; where the more avid consumers of bachata's music is by non-aficionado dancers, and the more avid practitioners of bachata's dance is by those somewhat indifferent to its music. This is far away from the Latin American cultural concept of 'ritmo' where dance and music are an inseparable whole.

And that Prince Royce's performance practice inherently lacked ritmo integration speaks volumes of his own cultural divestment, despite literature alluding to his Dominican authenticity.

Conclusion
I got my answers, although I must add the caveat that these general observations are not statistically accurate. I have a better feel for why Geoffrey Royce Rojas wrote his songs and what they mean to him personally - it has very much informed me as to how to deploy his music better in my DJ sets.

My friends and I found it strange that although his concert was billed as part of a "world tour promoting his 'Phase II' album", there was no merchandise on sale at the venue. It transpires that Prince Royce is now signed to Sony, leaving the label of his first two albums - Top Choice - on less that amicable terms, if reports are to be believed. It remains to be seen whether this will prove to be a wise move. Sergio George, owner of Top Choice, has an incomparable Midas touch in crafting hits. Sony, in my opinion, has had its fair share of slaying golden geese.

The experience of the concert was memorable and worthwhile; I would be happy to get the Royce treatment again. There are plenty more questions in search of answers.

Loo Yeo

Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Sixteen

Introduction
Having achieved the First Stage of Independence, we enter phase two of the rumba guaguancó development plan where the emphasis is on the quality of execution: increasing detail will be followed by cycles of repetition to achieve naturalisation, and then further to achieve hyper-learning. Hyper-learning is the basis of improvisation, a key skill spanning phases two and three.

The theme of this rumba guaguancó workshop is:

1. to develop a solid understanding and feel for its basic structure;
2. to be able to open spaces in the structure; and
3. to learn how elements may be inserted in these spaces.

Section I - Basic structure of rumba guaguancó

Concept: Joint rhythm on the horizontal plane
The hip movement for women and the knee movement for men is actually executed to a new rhythm timeline, and it contributes to the composite time-code. In both instances the joints move to a "cha-cha-cha" rhythm with the first 'cha' co-incident with the foot-fall on the pulse (to a count of 1-and-2, 3-and-4). Women's accents are 'chá-cha-chá', whereas men's are the inverse 'cha-chá-cha'.

Practice: Male knee action for guaguancó
Solo, without music, then stepping pulse to rumba clave only track. Forward walks. The feet are placed on two parallel tracks, the gauge between the tracks is one important variable. The knee orientation for the 'cha-chá-cha' is 'straight-out-in' (relative to the centreline).

Practice: Dancing to rumba clave
Solo, to rumba clave only track. Performing in order of priority: stepping on pulse; clave vocalisation "pa, pa, pa-ún; pa, pa"; torso engine; chachachá hip/knee rhythm, clapping pulse (centre-left-centre-right-).

Practice: Dancing to rumba clave, full music context
Solo, to En El Malecón De La Habana tracks. As practice above but to timba music, same order of priority.

Discussion: Nature of the engine and gender movement differences
Women's chachacha hip action dissipates the lower stroke of the engine cycle, therefore the torso pulse can only be implied when it is deployed. Men's knee action does not interfere with the torso pulse. Hence women must be discerning as to the choice of application between the engine stroke or the chachacha hip action.

Practice: Female upper limb action in guaguancó
Solo. As per the above two practices, except the hand claps are substituted with holding two ends of a shawl or kerchief, or two folds of a skirt. Hands move centre-left-centre-right- on pulse beats.

Section II - Opening up rhythmic spaces in rumba guaguancó

Concept: 'Stopping' and 'starting' points
Ceasing the step rhythm i.e. stopping; and resuming the step rhythm i.e. starting, does two things: it

1. creates rhythmic tension; and
2. emphasises preceding and following movement through juxtaposition.

At this stage of development, the engine cycle is maintained even when the step rhythm stops.

There are several potential stop-start points relative to the clave vocalisation. Given that previous learning was with instructors of European bias, we will begin by using two points which European find easier to comprehend:

• on the pulse beat after 'pa-ún' i.e. on European beat one; and
• on the pulse beat before 'pa-ún' i.e. before African beat one.

Practice: Stressing the first pulse beat of the European rhythmic cycle
Solo, to En El Malecón De La Habana tracks. Stepping on pulse; clave vocalisation "pa, pa, pa-ún; pa, pa"; torso engine; chachachá hip/knee rhythm, clapping pulse (centre-left-centre-right-). Emphasis is placed by a stronger step on the pulse beat immediately after 'pa-ún', and a louder clap (centre-left-centre-right-).

Practice: Stressing the last pulse beat of the European rhythmic cycle
Solo, to En El Malecón De La Habana tracks. Stepping on pulse; clave vocalisation "pa, pa, pa-um; pa, pa"; torso engine; chachachá hip/knee rhythm, clapping pulse (centre-left-centre-right-). Emphasis is placed by a stronger step on the pulse beat immediately before 'pa-ún', and a louder clap (centre-left-centre-right-).

Concept: Four combinations are possible
With these two points on the European timeline, four shapes of rhythmic space can be opened. These combinations are, in order of increasing difficulty for 'Europeans':

1. Stopping on the pulse beat after 'pa-ún', Resuming on the pulse beat after 'pa-ún'
2. Stopping on the pulse beat before 'pa-ún', Resuming on  the pulse beat before 'pa-ún'
3. Stopping on the pulse beat before 'pa-ún', Resuming on the pulse beat after 'pa-ún'
4. Stopping on the pulse beat after 'pa-ún', Resuming on the pulse beat before 'pa-ún'

Practice: Stopping-Resuming to rumba clave, solo
Solo, to rumba clave only track. Stepping on pulse; clave vocalisation "pa, pa, pa-ún; pa, pa"; torso engine; chachachá hip/knee rhythm (optional). Stopping and resuming using Combination 1 above, one cycle pause, maintaining engine cycle. The pause should then be lengthened from one to two, three and four cycles.

Practice: Stopping-Resuming to rumba clave, partnered
Partnered, to rumba clave only track. As above. Partners are given the discretion to pause:

• asynchronously
• synchronously
• synchronously, as with a verbal/non-verbal cue from the leader (each partner taking turns being leader).

Practice: Stopping-Resuming to rumba clave, partnered, full context
Partnered, to En El Malecón De La Habana tracks. As above.

Practice: Learning the remaining combinations
Repeat practices sequence of the rumba clave, solo / rumba clave, partnered / rumba clave, partnered full context (above) for start-resume combinations 2, 3 and 4.

Section III - Inserting elements in rumba guaguancó

Concept: Filling the rhythmic space
Combinations are improvised to fill the rhythmic space opened up in Section II. But as we've learned in Section I, improvisation arises from hyper-learning. The strategy is therefore to emphasise practice-to-mastery of two elements so that a simple combination can be executed.

Element: Shimmy
The basic shimmy action is generated identically in both sexes; from the core muscles around the spine centred between the points of the shoulder-blades. The action is genderised:

• females - hands constrained by shielding the groin, 'shoulder-points' forward allowing the upper arm to partially shield the side of the breast. This results in a 'coquettish' upper-body action.
• males - hands upper and either side of the groin, elbows out, decreased distance between the upper shoulder-blades. This results in a 'bravado' upper-body action.

Practice: Shimmy, solo

Solo, rumba clave only tracks. Fast and slow shimmy, over one and then two clave phrases.

Practice: Shimmy, solo, to music

Solo, Ay Díos, Ampárame tracks. Fast and slow shimmy, over one and then two clave phrases.

Practice: Shimmy, partnered, full context

Partnered, Ay Díos, Ampárame tracks. Full basic guaguancó then stop, pause (with engine), fast and/or slow shimmy (over one and then two clave phrases, no engine), pause (with engine), resume guaguancó basic.

Element: Slow turn
The simple version of a slow turn is achieved by:

1. the placement of one foot behind (and to one side of) the other, resulting in a crossing of the legs; and
2. the legs uncrossed though rotation of the pelvis, pivoting through the control points on the front of both feet.

Practice: Slow turn, solo

Solo, rumba clave only tracks. Slow turn over one and then two clave phrases.

Practice: Slow turn, solo, to music

Solo, Ay Díos, Ampárame tracks. Slow turn over one and then two clave phrases.

Practice: Slow turn, partnered, full context

Partnered, Ay Díos, Ampárame tracks. Full basic guaguancó then stop, pause (with engine), slow turn (over one and then two clave phrases, with engine), pause (with engine), resume guaguancó basic.

Case study: a basic combination, inserted into guaguancó rhythmic space
Partnered, rumba clave only track.

1. guaguancó basic
2. stop the basic (your choice of stop point), vacunao (lead)
3. defense (follower)
4. pause
5. shimmy
6. slow turn
7. pause
8. resume guaguancó basic

Note: the shimmy and slow turn may also be executed simultaneously

Practice: basic combination, inserted into guaguancó rhythmic space
Partnered, full music context of students' choice.

Additional materials
Ay Díos, Ampárame by Los Van Van
En El Malecón De La Habana by Los Van Van
Como Se Formó Una Rumba (DVD) film by Iván Acosta

Loo Yeo

14th September 2012 SalsaWorks @The Engine Shed, Wetherby

Closure is about beginnings.

Twelve months ago when the Pipers and I left the Engine Shed at the end of the night after Palenke's gig, there was no inkling of the turmoil which would buffet the venue, SalsaWorks and the lives of those involved. The Shed's unfortunate closure removed a salsa landmark from England's North, leaving a vacuum which many have since tried to fill. With true doggedness the SalsaWorks team continued to put on the same schedule of attractions - performers, teachers, and disc jockeys - re-homed at York's Holgate Club. But the Engine Shed's uniqueness, the atmosphere, the friendliness, the feel, the spirit, remained elusively... unique.

Then when Tony told me over the phone that the Shed was to open its doors, still as a dance venue, once again; and that SalsaWorks was back in Wetherby, I felt it was time for closure. That I had to be there for the re-opening, to put to bed the awful sadness of having been there when the sight and sound of the doors drawing shut could have been for the last time.

In the early afternoon, Tony picked me up from York station and delivered me to Piperland where, over cups of tea, our chins wagged and we put our kitchen skills to use on the night's buffet. Dusk was ushering in the night when I was chaperoned speedily south along winding country roads. The Engine Shed's front doors were shut exactly as I remembered them, but this time, signs of life on the other side cracked them open and I stepped through to a flood memories painted from her best of times.

The forms of Lorraine and Les of Mancuban were in the far corner, pacing out the content of the night's coming lesson. Alfie, I surprised with a generous hug and a bottle of champagne to commemorate what I hoped would be the closure of an uncertain year - I didn't make an effort to conceal my disappointment that Christine could not be there.

As salsa played, the main salon began to fill. A quarter of an hour later than billed, the pre-club lessons fired up: Lorraine and Les leading the main group downstairs, with Alfie upstairs introducing newcomers to possibly the most profound change in to their lifestyles. The main session's pacing was deliberate (I would have taught a classroom session at a quicker pace, but a club session in the same manner) with frequent partner changes, breaking the ice for everyone to meet each other.

Tony and I skulked about in the shadows rigging the video equipment, receiving the performers to their dressing area, and taking photos.

SalsaWorks bill this as a salsa night and are true to their word - only two bachatas, two bachata-tangos, and one kizomba dotted the un-apologetically salsa playlist - with Lorraine, Les, Alfredo and Tony alternating thirty-minute sets. Space on the dance-floor was tight but not un-navigably so; more than two hundred dancers had travelled from as far as Hull, Newcastle, Preston, and Sheffield to participate in the re-awakening.

The dance show provided a contrasting punctuation mark. Tony's never been one to shy away from controversy and has sometimes made room in the programming schedule for something a little different. True to Engine Shed form, this re-opening night was no exception, and he billed it as:

ANZHEXEN Dark Fusion Dance Troupe (Leeds)
This group of very scarey ladies is led by Beverley Spracklen. They deliver an extraordinary fusion of North African tribal styles in a deeply Gothic mood. Beverley said, ‘Our performance is designed to be unsettling!’ I said, 'Unsettle them as much as you like, Beverley!'

I found it conceptually interesting, but for me, the African tribal message struggled to emerge from the performers' strongly Gothic demeanour. Choreographically, a stronger movement style and increased floor coverage would have provided the dynamism to complement the high-contrast look.

Until it happened for real, the success of Engine Shed's re-opening was a great unknown. A number of events had sprung up in the calendar same slot - a year is a long time in salsa promotion. But whereas a number of events I've been to recently are traded as pure commodities - a 'promoter' hires a room, a DJ, and announces it on Facebook - SalsaWorks is old school. They talk to you, make you feel welcome, dance with you, listen to your thoughts, provide means of forging that most primal of social bonds through the breaking of bread together.

For the revelling faithful, it was as if the Engine Shed had never been away. "It feels as though it's just missed a week" was a familiar sentiment, so easily did the vibe come back. I felt it too, dancing the rounds, reconnecting with old faces, and beguiling the new. It's still one of the few places where I have no reservations about approaching someone for a dance.

The doors shut once again. But this time there was, is, a prospect of a second, third and fourth time.

Closure, as I said, is about beginnings.

Loo Yeo

Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Fourteen

Introduction: parting the curtain to recognise salsa's heart
Learned dancers in the European context are taught to synchronise their movements to one timeline, usually a count. Sometimes an event: the conga open tones are included in the count timeline, but since instructors adapt their count rhythm to synchronise and phrase identically to the dance rhythm being taught, a compound time-code is not established.

Hence their dancers do not usually learn to synthesise a compound time-code of two or more timelines.

Afro-Cuban music employs polyrhythms, many of which differ in their phrasing. It is in that relationship between one rhythmic timeline and another - synchronised yet differing in phrase and phase - where some of the music's richness lies.

The 'rhythmic plateau' is the phenomenon where advanced dancers are restricted to the phrasing of a single timeline. A pedagogic strategy to 'amend' or overcome this rhythmic plateau requires:

• awareness of another rhythmic timeline and its properties - it must be synchronous yet different in phase;
• the development of ability to synchronise the dance rhythm to this other rhythmic timeline - thereby establishing a compound time-code;
• perception and eventually interpretation of the phasing/phrasing events that arise from this time-code.
   

Concept: Clave is at the very heart of Cuban music
All musicians who play Cuban and Cuban-derived music do so to a master timeline, clave, be it overt or implied, son or rumba or 6/8. It is the one constant in this music; and mastery of the synthesis of the elemental compound time-code, comprising clave and dance rhythm, lies at the very core of Cuban dance.

Briefing: Contratiempo predates a tiempo
Son and its earliest form changüi, as precursors to salsa, is danced contratiempo; the compelling argument being the synchrony of the son basic dance rhythm with the martillo rhythm interpreted on the bongó (which is the son's rhythmic time-keeper). Since son arose in Cuba's Oriente in the 1880s, and salsa in New York City in the 1960s, contratiempo predates a tiempo (on the premise that salsa then was danced a tiempo) by some eighty years.

Concept: Rhythmic underpinning
Whether salsa dancers dance "On1", "Break on 2", or "On 2", the naming convention alone indicates an European, not an African, judgement of salsa rhythm's start position. Rhythmic underpinning involves:

• stimulating an awareness of any cultural bias, usually pro-European;
• increasing sensitivity to African-descended components - ways of listening and phrasing;
• interpreting both influences as a hybridised sliding scale as a direct reflection of salsa's music; and
• establishing the perception of contratiempo rhythmic phrasing as the core mode, from which other variants are modifications - a genetic perspective.
   

The Cuban Conservatory Method
Contratiempo son basic to son clave. This method is appropriate to this style of workshop as it is event-based, using a listen-and-feel mode using non-verbal sounds.

Exercise: Recognising contratiempo dance rhythm's starting beat relative to son clave
Solo. Using the vocalisation: "pa-pa-'ee', pah-pah-pa" (2-3 clave orientation). Then vocalising the 'ee' whilst clapping son clave.

Exercise: Vocalising the contratiempo dance rhythm's starting beat
Solo. Vocalising 'ee' on the starting beat, to isochronous son clave tracks at various tempi.

Exercise: Initiating the contratiempo start with a sideward weight transfer
Solo, then partnered. Synchronising a sideward weight transfer with the vocalisation of 'ee' to isochronous son clave tracks at various tempi. Note the kinesthesia of the side-step: the changes in muscle tone around the hip before, during, and after the vocalisation.

Exercise: The complete son basic, contratiempo to son clave
Solo, then partnered. Using isochronous son clave tracks of increasing tempo. Note that the son basic is more lateral than longitudinal in movement. The relationship of clave and to dance rhythm is one that can be felt as that of tension-and-release.

Concept: Son clave changes its character according to tempo
Actually it's the synthesised time-code which changes its character and maintaining its stability at the extremes of tempo is what is most challenging: at lower tempi, the clave feeling becomes diffuse and less rhythmic tension is generated; at higher tempi as the beats draw closer together, the distance between the actual and expected beats lessen, again lessening rhythmic tension. It is also easier to slip into a tiempo dance rhythm at higher tempi.

Additional materials
Isochronous son clave only tracks

Loo Yen Yeo

Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Thirteen

Section I - Rumba Guaguancó

Exercise: Guaguancó basic walk, accenting with a 'drop'
Revision of this practice from Workshop Ten and Eleven. Additional refinements: the reaction force of the 'drop' on the floor is used to reinforce the up-stroke of the engine; the stroke size of the engine is varied according to prevailing conditions e.g. partnership strength and musical characteristics.

Exercise: Guaguancó static basic, vocalising the basic drum rhythm
Solo. This exercise articulates the relationship between the dance rhythm and guaguancó's a capella music. It also establishes a two-component time-code. The Havana variant is used and vocalised as 'gung-ging-ging-gung'.

Exercise: Guaguancó basic walk, vocalising the basic drum rhythm
Solo. Basic walk with 'drop' accent. The walks are initially side to side, then forward and backward, then with changes in orientation.

Exercise: Guaguancó basic walk, vocalising the basic drum rhythm
Partnered. Basic walk in pursuit-and-capture mode.Without and then with music.

Exercise: Rumba torso engine development
Solo. Static practice, feet shoulder-width apart. Shifting weight every torso cycle: centre-right-centre-left-(repeat). Ensure that shoulders remain level, and that weight is fully transferred to each leg when cycling to the right and the left. Add vocalisation of drum rhythm.

Section II - Contratiempo

Concept: Synthesising a time-code to musical forms
Rhythmic timelines exist in all forms of popular music. In Cuban-derived music, a dancer:

1. recognises at least one existing auditory timeline;
2. creates a dance rhythm timeline
3. synchronises the dance rhythm timeline to the auditory timeline; and 
4. synthesises a time-code of two (or more) timelines.

He or she might optionally add physical interpretations of other timelines e.g. torso synchronised to the pulse. Time-code stability is enhanced with successful incorporation of each rhythmic timeline. 
 
Briefing: Importance of the tumbao moderno's slap stroke
The slap stroke is a dry sharp sound which though distinct, can be masked by other sharp sounds like the wood-block or bell. In the basic tumbao moderno, it is located on the second African downbeat or first European backbeat (European beat 2). Locating the position of the slap stroke is important because one step of the dance rhythm is synchronised to it.

Practice: Drumming the African downbeats/European backbeats
Solo. Playing the double-open tones and slap strokes. Without music, and then to music.

Exercise: Vocalising the African downbeats/European backbeats
Solo. Playing the double-open tones and slap strokes, then vocalise "gung-gung" and "pak" synchronously, respectively. Without music, and then to music.

Practice: Converting a count to non-verbal cues of action
Solo. Contratiempo example, to music.

1. Initiate a four-beat count: "one–two–three–four–"
2. substitute 'pak' and 'gung-gung' accents: "one–pak–three–gung-gung–"
3. substitute a ghost syllable 'um': "um–pak–um–gung-gung–"
4. synchronise dance rhythm to the vocal accents, where the first beat/step of the dance rhythm coincides with 'pak', and the third beat/step of the dance rhythm coincides with the first 'gung'
5. subvocalise the cues.

Exercise: Comparing the synchronisation of movement to verbal and non-verbal cues
Solo, to music. Assessing the qualitative nature of verbal and event-led (non-verbal) cues to movement.

Exercise: "Is the difference between the use of verbal and non-verbal cues externally discernible?"
Partnered, to music. As the exercise immediately above. Can your dance partner tell the difference?

looyenyeo