Contratiempo: A Bigger Picture With Rueda Contratiempo

I was looking to mix things up a bit.

The past few solares sessions had been dedicated to laying down the rhythmic foundations of: recognising tones, and vocalising/playing them; understanding what the sounds mean, and the movements they cue. It's been two-thirds individual and one-third partnered at a guess, and all based on the Caribbean sway.

This session, I wanted to use it to regain touch with why we were all dancing - music, movement, laughter, people. Along the way, I wanted to give them a sense of what dancing contratiempo was about. Think of it as a session-long contrasting activity in the long arc of the contratiempo chapter.

But first, because there was also a newly-joined participant, there was the recap warm up.

Warm Up: Caribbean sway, maracas, and vocalisation
Solo practice. Caribbean sway performed contratiempo. Maracas playing "tok" (beat 4) with the hembra and "tuk" (beat 2) with the macho. Full vocalisation "tok-tik-tuk-tik" on beats 4-1-2-3 respectively. Participants whom encountered difficulty where first asked to play the "tok" hembra tone (beat 4) only. Once they got in the groove, they were to add the "tuk" macho tone (on beat 2).

Exercise One: Contratiempo Rueda de Casino
Rueda de Casino, to music. Contratiempo embodiment rhythm. Basic and 'dame' call only. Federated calling. The rueda de casino group had an excess of one follower. I required all followers to maintain the correct partnership position and perform their steps relative to a virtual partner, NOT to face the centre and dance basic time as they were inclined to do. This was another objective: to encourage followers to take a more active role, to visualise their movements for each move called.

As expected even the simple choreography proved challenging, although participants were able to work out their solutions after five tracks. Both the followers' spatial practice and the difficulties they encountered under the new contratiempo timing, caused them to reflect on whether or not they truly knew their choreography.

Discussion
I asked them to note that dancing contratiempo is not the same as dancing son cubano. The contratiempo embodiment rhythm is a property common across genres of the son rhythm group (which includes: son, changüi, bolero, chachachá and son montuno). Put another way, the contratiempo embodiment rhythm is a defining characteristic of son cubano, but it is not the sole defining characteristic i.e. dancing contratiempo alone does not make it a son cubano.

The final point was encouragement to take the opportunity, at party nights, to dance contratiempo rueda to bachata tracks. The rate-limiting step currently, for this chapter of Solares, is the amount of contratiempo partnered practice everyone has outside of the sessions.

Loo Yeo

The Way To Contratiempo

With my partner in crime away, I was regaled with a double session at Solares last night. I seized the opportunity with both paws, since we could get through more than twice the content (efficiencies of scale), to open up a new chapter: contratiempo [literally 'against time'] embodiment rhythm.

Warm Up: Martillo on maracas
Solo, to music. Vocalising 'tok-tik-tuk-tik'. Playing martillo on maracas. Full Caribbean sway, atiempo. Participants were asked to note that in the atiempo embodiment rhythm, their first and third steps coincided with the 'tik' vocalisation and click of maracas handles.

Briefing: The Way To Contratiempo
Just as with languages, contratiempo embodiment rhythm may be achieved either through acquisition (like our mother tongue) or learning (like subsequent languages). Whereas it is possible in solares to do so through acquisition, I'd opted for the learned mode. This is because nearly all contratiempo instruction delivered in the U.K is in the learned mode. By doing the same, I can outline the pitfalls which other instructions overlook, so that participants can still attend workshops by other instructors and be able to fill in the gaps.

The learning mode (for those whom already dance salsa atiempo) comprises to phases:

1. Translation
   where the embodiment rhythm is 'frame-shifted' later by one beat. This generates the rhythm structure referred to as "dance on 2" or "power 2".
2. African-derived Phrasing
   where instead of the count "2-3-4, 6-7-8", it is phrased to African cycle "8~1-2-3, 4~5-6-7". Phrasing is the most significant differentiator between "On2" styles and contratiempo, and this aspect is most overlooked by educators.

Exercise One: The Frameshift, side step only
Solo, to music. Vocalisations and Caribbean sway's side step. It began with the isolation of the Caribbean sway's side step during the 'tok-tik' part of the vocalisation. No movement occurred during 'tuk' nor 'tik'. Participants got used to initiation the side-ways movement on 'tik', hitting the 'tok' with the side of the hip, and relaxing shortly thereafter.

Exercise Two: The Frameshift, full Caribbean sway
Solo, to music. Vocalisations and Caribbean sway. In between Caribbean sway's side step during the 'tok-tik' part of the vocalisation, the back step and replace was introduced during 'tuk' and 'tik' respectively.

Discussion
Participants were left to practice the frameshift. I observed that approximately half of them gravitated towards 'on2' phrasing while the others did not demonstrate any clear phrasing. When asked for their feedback, they reported a solidity to their timing, as if they were rhythmically "on rails". I attributed this to the martillo reference timeline where every tone is clear, defined and on-beat when vocalised (as compared to the tumbao moderno's every other).

I drew participants' attention to the fact that a number of them were using the back step on 'tuk' as a starting point, and that this was 'dance on 2' phrasing. They were told that this was acceptable so that they would develop a feel for 'on2' phrasing, but that they would be progressing to contratiempo phrasing in the upcoming sessions.

Participants' observations also extended to the physicalities of execution, centred especially on the performance of the side step. They noted the requirement for:

• hip flexibility - more than one of them were asymmetrical in their side step to either direction due to lower flexibility which, left unchecked, would result in a sideways 'ratchet';
• pull-push - the smooth transfer of weight required a 'push' with the unloading leg as well as the customary 'pull' with the loading leg; and,
• trailing contact with the floor of the unloaded leg as an indicator of gradual weight transfer i.e. if trailing contact was absent, the weight was being transferred too quickly.

Progress had been good, and the penetrating questions asked by participants told me their comprehension, assimilation and synthesis were on track. Although we'd addressed only the translation phase, I felt it best not to court cognitive saturation, and to finish on a high.

Loo Yeo

The Martillo

Solares had been using the conga's tumbao moderno as its reference rhythm for three years, since inception. Along the way the rhythm's near-ubiquity has served us well, being simple to understand, easy to pick out, and straight-forward to vocalise. We'd also added another string to our rhythmic bow: the regular son montuno rhythm interpreted on the maracas.

To progress further, the time has come to introduce another older (relative to secular Cuban music) reference timeline: the 'martillo' ['hammer'] as interpreted on the bongó. The rationale is that being able to reference the martillo allows gives participants:

• resoluteness - the ability to synchronise to an alternative timeline should one (or more) disappear;
• cultural depth - the possibility of exploring salsa's antecedent genres;
• rhythmic stability - an additional component to the compound rhythm stream;
• complementarity - a sense of how layers of rhythm fit together; and,
• freedom of expression - a further choice of tonal cues for movement.

Vocalisation
I introduced participants to the basic martillo on bongó indicating the relevant tones and their vocalisations, using African perceptions of rhythmic cycles (not the European)

• African beat 1: open tone on hembra (large drum) vocalised as 'tok'. (European beat 4)
• African beat 2: closed tone on macho (small drum) vocalised as 'tik'. (European beat 1)
• African beat 3: open tone on macho (small drum) vocalised as 'tuk'. (European beat 2)
• African beat 4: closed tone on macho (small drum) vocalised as 'tik'. (European beat 1)

Thus the full (dancer) vocalisation is: 'tok-tik-tuk-tik-'

Maracas as proxy
The next step was to show participants how to interpret the martillo using maracas. This would free up their vocals and allow them to dance while playing. The vocalisation tones were used as a mediator:

• 'tok' - single shake, hembra (low pitched) maraca.
• 'tik' - single click, maraca handles.
• 'tuk' - single shake, macho (high pitched) maraca.
• 'tik' - single click, maraca handles.

Caribbean sway to martillo
Participants were already fluent with dancing the Caribbean sway atiempo, and playing the maracas as a proxy for conga and cowbell, as well as the son montuno maraca rhythm itself. With the solid foundation already laid, it proved a simple process to assemble the exercise through drawing on their previous experiences.

1. Vocalise the martillo: 'tok-tik-tuk-tik-'
2. Add a single shake of the hembra maraca on 'tok'
3. Perform the Caribbean sway on 'tik-tuk-tik-' as a response to 'tok'
4. Add a single shake of the macho maraca on 'tuk', coincident with the second step of the Caribbean sway
5. Add the single clicks of the maraca handles on 'tik' 

I'm looking forward to a brave new world.

Loo

Ensemble Activity: Laid Back, a little bit

Two weeks ago I introduced the percussion concept of 'laid back', where an instrument sounds late to very late relative to the central the beat. In truth some participants had already achieved this, albeit inadvertently, last month (see: http://salsadiary.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/ensemble-activity-strictly-in-pocket.html Exercise One, Result 2).

Although they'd become comfortable with the practice format, the ability of play late on the beat as a synchronised ensemble still eluded them. Whenever the 'laid back' call was issued from a well-synchronised 'in the pocket', the unit dissolved quickly into a mish-mash of lates.

I can only put that down to different individual offsets.

Offset: A physiological phenomenon
If a motor signal is issued from the brain to the arms and legs at the same time, the arms will move before the legs will. This is because:

1. the signal path lengths are shorter to arms than to legs; and,
2. arms have lower mass than legs and so can accelerate more quickly.

α-motorneurones have a nerve conduction velocity range of between 80-120 metres per second. That sounds really quick, but if there is a half-metre difference in signal path length between arms and legs, there would be a lag of at least 4/1,000s of a second (by simple calculation) and that's the best-case scenario. It might not sound like much, but that's the difference between an 'in the pocket' and a 'slightly late' attack. In practice, I see offsets in the order of tens of thousands.

So, if two concurrently-timed signals are issued from the brain to the arms and legs, and the arms play the maracas very late on the beat, the legs will step off-time. This is the challenge of playing and dancing late: there has to be near-zero offset.

Near-zero offset can only be achieved by sending impulses to the legs BEFORE impulses to the arms.

A mish-mash of lates
The phenomenon of everyone playing different interpretations of 'late' is unsurprising given the factors stacked against them, different perceptions of beat; signal path lengths; limb masses; and conduction rates.

The efforts where valiant, and occasionally successful. However at the third session of asking it was time to change tack. Instead of going the whole hog, as we did with the push, I started using the cues "slightly late of pocket" and "a little later". My scientific self wrinkled its nose at the arbitrary terms (how late is slightly late?) but the change worked. It got participants to play later synchronously.

We'll have to inch our way to the back of the bus.

Loo

Opening the Timba chapter

"What is timba?" has become a recurring question in Solares. So much so that I knew the time had come to address it, because deflecting the matter further risked frustrating inquisitiveness (a damaging prospect) and allowing blurred narratives a chance to take root.

The timing of it couldn't have been better, I've been scouting out different themes for use as a contrasting activity alongside to the chapter on percussive attack. But the challenge lay in how to address the question of timba through the experiences of a dancer. Conventional approaches tackle the topic through its layers of percussion - explained by drummers for drummers. How can timba be understood by a dancer with a limited base of percussion experience to draw upon?

THAT's the sort of challenge I love to sink my teeth into.

Given the misconception, here in the UK, that rueda de casino should ideally be danced to timba, I think it would be useful to use rueda de casino as a lens through which timba can be examined, to reveal 'truths' and misconceptions.

Exercise One: Rueda de casino, federated calling
Partnered ensemble, to music. Vocabulary restricted to: 'dame'; 'enchufla-dame'; 'enchufla-dile que no'; 'enchufla con mambo'; and, the 'pa'rriba' modifier. Calling was devolved to all members of the group, each call was preceded by the 'oyé' aural cue with the simultaneous raise of the free arm as a corroborating visual cue. Conflicts where resolved by eye contact. This is the equivalent to co-operative musicianship observed in African music performance.

Four iterations of this exercise were required until a good level of proficiency was attained. According to all participants, the dynamism of the rueda was elevated to a plane not experienced before. They where no longer passively engaged in the interpretation of one person's call. Instead, they had to open their eyes and ears for calls emanating from around the circle, and decide upon the next appropriate call and issue it.

Participants also came to realise the importance of the timing of the 'oyé' cue with its concomitant raised arm visual cue. The energy of discovery from the federated calling exercise was perfect, necessary even, for what was to follow.

Briefing: "What does rueda mean?"
Gathering everyone into a circle, I asked, "what does rueda mean?" I received the well-intentioned published responses such as "it means 'a wheel'".

"Yes, that's right on a literal level" I said, "but what does it mean when we're arranged in a circle?"
Puzzled looks abounded. "The circle in this case, and also in rumba, represents the Circle of Creation; and that is what we're celebrating." You could have heard a pin drop. I launched into a short story on one of sub-Saharan Africa's many concepts of creation, Oyá, before and including its embodiment as a Yoruban Orisha.

Exercise Two: Rueda de casino, visualising the Circle of Creation
Partnered ensemble, to music. Federated calling. Vocabulary restricted to: 'dame'; 'enchufla-dame'; 'enchufla-dile que no'; 'enchufla con mambo'; and, the 'pa'rriba' modifier. Participants were asked to visualise the circle of creation while dancing rueda.

The outcome of this exercise was not as I'd expected. Although it possessed energy, that energy came from the practice of federated calling, but it lacked the textural quality which combined visualisation achieves. It turned out to be the case. I'd made the mistake of assuming that participants were (a learning point for me) already familiar with the relevant imagery.

Briefing: Oyá as the storm of creation
Participants encountered difficulty because they were visualising the Cycle of Creation - birth through death - and hence could not see its relevance in the exercise. I re-pitched the visualisation as the storm at the birth of Creation, immediately when the sky and sea where sundered.

Exercise Two (modified): Rueda de casino, visualising the Storm of Creation
The outcome was as I'd hoped: and ensemble performance of dynamism with a quality of emotional depth. I decided to stack on another layer of skill to assess participants' levels of naturalisation.

Exercise Three: Rueda de casino, visualising the Storm of Creation, attack 'in the pocket'
The refinement of an 'in the pocket' attack was introduced, intended: to create a powerful inexorability to the performance; and, to introduce a counterpointing element of restraint to the energy of federated calling. In this, no participants were successful.

I decided not to prosecute the contextualisation of learned skills further. Instead, I decided to work with what was successful this session: the use of metaphor.

Exercise Four: Rueda de casino, visualising the self as an Agent of Creation
In keeping with the concept of Oyá as a powerful event and the creation of the first land which followed, two sub-metaphors: 'drawing thunder' (with each arm-raise) and 'creating earth' (with each step) were introduced, helping participants visualise their equal roles as agents during the Act of Creation.

Conclusion
Power, cohesion, emotional commitment. These were present in the rueda performance at unprecedented levels. Such is the potency of understanding dance as moving metaphors.

"Will this session change the way I dance?" asked one participant before the session started.
I thought for a while before answering, "yes."
I heard another snort in disbelief. He wasn't sniggering now.

Instead I got, "how does this fit with learning what timba is?"

Loo Yeo

Ensemble Activity: Strictly in the Pocket, Musically in the Pocket

Briefing
The phenomenon of participants being unable to return to their original preferred attack after 'pushing' is indicative of a lack of conscious control/determination: their preferred attack was subconsciously determined instead of consciously selected. This is not unusual; just like everyone has a natural cadence when they walk, everyone has a preferred attack when perform a rhythmic activity.

The original intention was to explore the limits (early and late attacks) of the beat boundary to engender the realisation at the beat, instead of being a small slice of time, is actually expansive. However, having participants being able to return reliably to a central position is more valuable for developing their sensitivity to what different attack positions feels like - in this case, 'pushed' and 'in the pocket'.

To help participants understand the 'in the pocket' attack without using a metronome (which can be a musical straight-jacket) I needed a metaphor...

Learning Metaphor
"Imagine you're dancing with someone whose timing is all over the place: early, late; and (s)he is hopping around unpredictably. We've all been there right? (nods of agreement). Imagine that you wanted to provide strict time to your partner, 'command time' if you will, telling your partner exactly and clearly where the beat is."

Exercise One: Dancing and playing maracas with the learning metaphor
Solo practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. The maracas where played with the learning metaphor in mind; in strict middle attack as if indicating to an imaginary partner where the precise centre of the beat was.

Results
The outcome of the exercise could be divided into two groups:

1. one group of participants interpreted the exercise correctly played their maracas 'in the pocket'; and,
2. the other group interpreted the learning metaphor as if they where to accommodate their less-proficient imaginary partner as much as possible. They adjusted their attack to 'late' in order to do so.

While the latter was interesting and will be useful in a few sessions' time, it was the former group which was chosen to provide the group activity bench-mark. The difference between the two, put bluntly, is "dictating to your partner what to do" and "accommodating your partner as much as possible".

All participants, being socially-astute, observed that they would be disinclined to dictate timing to their dance partner in the former manner - it felt selfish and arrogant. I agreed, but indicated that there might be some conditions e.g. in rueda de casino performances when it would be appropriate.

The session was fortunate to have two participants whom played two variations of 'in the pocket': 'strictly in the pocket' (rigidly metronomic) and 'musically in the pocket' (flexibly metronomic). Both of them where used as benchmark references during the ensemble activity.

Exercise Two
Group practice in circle, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. Participants began in ensemble until they were synchronised. Three roles where specified, with responsibilities similar to those in the previous session with some minor changes (underlined):

• 'Director'
  cues the playing of maracas on or off while embodiment rhythm was maintained;
• 'Producer'
  indicates the attack and its quality of implementation using the cues 'push' and 'in the pocket'; and,
• 'Synchroniser'
  cues the ensemble to 'synchronise', and to reduce the 'offset' between maracas attack and embodiment attack.

The roles where made non-exclusive i.e. the selected participant had general responsibility for the allocated functions, but others could intervene when they felt appropriate. This was pitched as a maximisation of learning opportunities within the group.

Observations

The 'in the pocket' benchmarks succeeded in neutralising the forward creep of the middle attack when the ensemble moved between 'push' and 'in the pocket' attacks. (Observed last week.)

Rendering the roles non-exclusive stimulated playful exploration, eliminating defensive behaviour and uncertainty. (Observed last week.) This aspect was hyper-corrected: all participants keenly engaged with the exploration, leaving none of them with a strong sense of what each role entailed. This will have to be addressed in a later session.

Participants observed that the two flavours of 'in the pocket' was bench-marked as: tightly synchronous on the maraca tone marking the quarter beats (vocalised as 'chik'); and loosely synchronous on the maraca tone marking the eighth beats (vocalised as 'a').

Most participants observed that the 'in the pocket' attack was marginally earlier than their preferred/default attack. This will be the focus of further exploration in an upcoming session.

Conclusion
Issues noted in the previous session have been resolved. However, the roles have dissolved and will need to be coalesced for the sake of future activity. The number of roles will be increased, and the functions of each will be expanded in future workshops, to establish a broader palette of elements which participants may create from. In keeping with this trajectory, the 'late' attack will have to be addressed imminently.

Loo Yeo

"This is the path creativity takes"

Creativity is the hallmark of Mastery. Eminent educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom recognised it as such and manifested it in different guises at the pinnacle of his taxonomies.

Another property of creativity is its ability, and requirement even, to disrupt. It's our curiosity to explore the side-streets off the main learning avenue which good teachers plan to accommodate, keeping learners in tune with their inventive minds. But in the realms of social dance (and the martial arts) a traditional lesson structure is commonly deployed; illuminating only the one main thoroughfare, leaving learners with the impression that only one route exists. And yet these learners are expected become creative at some juncture.

When should learners be encouraged to be creative?
Can educators tolerate, let alone accommodate, the kind of disruption creative expression causes?
Worse yet, have Michelangelos and Artemisias of dance been overlooked, because tradition has driven them elsewhere?

These are the very questions driving the revision of my pedagogical system, structure and style:

• to preserve, stimulate, and develop creativity from the onset;
• to provide a learning structure which can flex to accommodate creative disruption; and,
• to establish a place where creativity and artistry can be recognised in oneself and in one another.

To that end I've adopted a two-pronged approach:

1. The first is the 'sticking plaster' of illuminating the side-streets and accommodating their exploration. I consider this a sticking plaster because creativity is more accommodated than it is integrated - an adaptation of a conventional approach.
2. The second, still being articulated, brings creative decision-making into the core, where all routes are potentially valid - a paradigm shift. To provide the requisite structure (staving off learning anarchy), possibly two or more recommended routes will be explored as serving suggestions.

For the creative approach to succeed, the manner of delivery must be person-centred and it must stimulate artistic thought. The latter is the focus of current endeavour, and I am helped by a wonderful discovery: Will Gompertz's 'Think Like an Artist' (2015) (reviewed in a later post). There is one particularly apt observation:

"Passion - enthusiasm if you prefer - is the spur that makes us want to know more. It provides the impulse for the thoughtful enquiry that generates the knowledge, which fires our imagination to come up with ideas. These lead to the experiments that eventually result in the production of a realized concept. This is the path creativity takes."

From that one simple paragraph a taxonomy in the creativity domain might be created:

1. Passion,
2. Thoughtful enquiry,
3. Knowledge curation,
4. Imagination,
5. Realisation.

It might not be refined, but it already presents itself as a workable premise on which to hang principles and practices.

Loo Yen Yeo

Ensemble Activity: Early Attack, Middle Attack

Today began the laying of the foundations for a true learning ensemble. Unlike previous group work where a participant might learning from oneself or one other per exercise, the group exercise (there was only one) was configured specifically for opportunities to learn from everyone simultaneously, accelerating the pace of development yet further.

Exercise One
Group practice in circle, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. Participants began in ensemble until they were synchronised. Three roles where specified, the:

1. 'Director'
   cues the playing of maracas on or off while embodiment rhythm was maintained;
2. 'Producer'
   indicates the attack and its quality of implementation using the cues 'push' and 'return'; and,
3. 'Synchroniser'
   assesses whether ensemble synchronisation is maintained or lost, and cues the group accordingly.

Multiple iterations were performed, with the roles being switched from person to person so that everyone had a go.

Discussion
The exercise, for all its simplicity, proved highly successful. The ensemble underwent continuous improvement because participants: had to observe actively, and observe critically; experienced personal discovery through juxtaposition; and interacted constructively.

The latter, constructive interaction, was less successful because each designated person had assumed that their role was exclusive - possibly a custom imported from rueda de casino calling. Others where reluctant to intrude even if it was for the greater good, and there was a small measure of defensiveness from the role-holder when there was an intrusion. This will have to be addressed during an upcoming session. An example of this was when a Producer thought that the ensemble was pushing at the limit of the beat, when in fact there was room to push earlier, and a non-Producer was aware of this, yet was not comfortable to say so.

Some individuals had a better natural feel for one role over another. It leads me to think of potential talent being overlooked in rueda de casino where only one role - the caller - is prevalent.

A participant astutely observed that the role of 'Producer', whose responsibility is quality of implementation, should be a federated role i.e. that all dancers of the ensemble should assume that responsibility. I agreed completely, noting that the first step to doing so was to render participants aware of this role before rolling it out.

As for the attack itself, participants had improved since the last session. They understood the concept of 'push' and where able to mobilise themselves into the front part of the beat. However, that distorted their perception of where the 'return' (their original attack in the middle of the beat) was; their 'return' was earlier than when they began the exercise - and they where aware of this phenomenon. This will be addressed in an upcoming session.

Conclusion
By distributing various simple responsibilities across the ensemble, a heightened engagement was realised. This has led to a more involving learning experience, improved performance, yielded a better sense of musical self, a clearer understanding of others' abilities, and endowed the group with independence and a new coalescence.

Loo Yeo

Benchmarking The Push

The previous session had me questioning whether I'd pushed solares participants too hard. An instructor can tell when people are at their learning limits by observing the quality of inconsistency: the larger the swings, the closer the limit. Last week the percussionist-dancers at Solares where at cliff's edge.

I was inclined to ease up on the development pace, but because we'd been working together for a long while, I felt it important that participants able to feed back their thoughts and experiences to me. So i consulted each of them in turn, in private conversation. They were all of similar mind:

• Yes, they found it hard at first to grasp the concepts. That made it difficult for them to know how to perform the exercises. But they all felt that, now they know what was required, continued reiterations of the exercises would improve them.
• None of them wanted the pace to be slowed.
• All of them wanted more exercises in ensemble.
• Every one of them felt they understood the importance, relevance, and desirability of the skills being developed.
• Each of them wanted me to stick with this theme and develop it to its fullest possible extent.

It seemed to me that the most appropriate solution was to concentrate on one attack position until consistent fluency was achieved, before moving on to the next - a process which I estimate will take more than a month per position. Ordered from easiest to most challenging, it would be 'pushed', 'laid back', then 'in the pocket'. I would provide the benchmark attack against pre-recorded studio tracks as reference.

So that's how last night's session panned out. Just one exercise, reiterated:

Exercise One: Benchmarking to music, 'pushed' attack
Group practice in circle, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. Participants began in ensemble until they were synchronised. I then joined the ensemble, providing the benchmark through playing the maracas in the early 'pushed' attack position.

Observations

The ensemble's attack kept slipping towards a later position whenever the benchmark was absent.
This was because the consciously-played maracas 'pushed' attack was being pulled back by the subconsciously-played embodiment 'in the pocket' attack. There are two possible solutions to this, either: fully-decouple one attack from the other (very challenging), or fully align the maracas and embodiment attacks (slightly less challenging). We went for the latter.

Pushing the embodiment attack earlier resulted in maracas attack being too early. This is because each individual had grown accustomed to the interval-distance between the two attacks - the offset - and subconsciously preserved it as the embodiment attack was 'pushed' earlier i.e. the same offset was maintained as the embodiment attack was pushed earlier, making the maracas attack earlier still, to the point when it was off time. The solution is to decrease the offset.

I anticipate that we will continue with the practice for a few more weeks, until participants gain a sense of: 'push' attack; how to adjust offset; and completely aligned attacks (maracas and embodiment). Along the way, we will be exploring parts of the beat which they have hitherto never explored before.

Loo Yen

Percussion Concept: Reference-setting And Benchmarking

Exercise One: Reference-setting, embodiment+conga compound timeline
Group practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, tumbao moderno on conga. The introduction of the conga was to provide an external timeline to which participants could combine with their embodiment timeline (external synchrony) thereby creating a compound timeline as a reference.

I called for changes in attack of the maracas timeline, moving from the extremes of 'pushed' and 'laid back' through an intermediate point labelled 'return'. 'Return' was used instead of 'in the pocket' because the inconsistency of maracas performance could not have allowed it to be located.

The primary objective was to set up a reference timeline. This was successful.
The secondary objective was to begin the performance of attack in ensemble. This was quantitatively successful in that everyone did move in the correct directions, but qualitatively needed improvement in synchrony and magnitude.

Exercise Two: Reference-setting, embodiment+maracas compound timeline
Group practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, tumbao moderno on conga. This changed the reference timeline to an internal one; where the compound timeline is formed from the embodiment timeline and the maracas timeline (internal synchrony) autonomy, and external synchrony. They were to maintain this in ensemble at a steady pace, while I played the tumbao moderno in the three attack positions. Participants found this exercise:

• illuminating, because they where able to experience the extent to which a relative timeline could be 'pushed' or 'laid back', and complemented 'in the pocket' relative to their reference timeline; and,
• challenging, because their lack of stability made it easy for the conga's attack to pull their reference timeline around.

Question
"In light of the positions of attack, what is the importance of synchrony and autonomy?"

Exercise Two(a)
Repeated as above, but this time the ensemble was arranged in a group facing inward to each other. This configuration (typical of ensemble playing) draws performers in together, promoting synchrony.

Exercise Three: Benchmarking to music
Group practice in circle, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. Participants began in ensemble until they were synchronised. I then joined the ensemble, providing the benchmark through playing the maracas in the three attack positions. This gave participants a flavour of the extent by which attack affected perception of beat duration, providing with the scope of upcoming developments in Solares.

Loo

Percussion Concept: The Positions Of Attack

Warm up
Group practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, without music. This exercise was to assess how participants had developed over the week with respect to the 'second state of independence' - the ability to execute both rhythms without using music as a crutch. They were much better able to do so.

However they displayed two typical traits of novices: they were not yet assessing the quality of execution from the perspective of musicality i.e. it was mechanically correct but sounded lifeless; and, the maraca rhythm relative to the embodiment rhythm was passive and languid.

Briefing: late or 'laid back' attack, early or 'pushed' attack, 'centre' or 'in the pocket' attack
I asked them to maintain a steady embodiment rhythm without maracas (using it as the reference rhythm) and played the maracas as they had done defining it as a 'late' or 'laid back' attack. I then played the maracas in a brighter, more forward musical position defining it as an 'early' or pushed' attack. Finally, I played the maracas in the time-keeping central position defining it as a 'centre' or 'in the pocket' attack.

Exercise One: Synchronising to 'laid back' and 'pushed' attacks
Group practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, without music. A steady embodiment rhythm (as reference) was maintained by all participants in ensemble. I provided the maracas rhythm moving between pushed, laid back, and centre attacks (as benchmark) to which they synchronised their maracas rhythms.

Exercise Two: Individual practice, 'laid back' and 'pushed' attacks
Solo practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, without music. Having gained a taste for the three attack positions, participants were encouraged to replicate and manipulate attack using the maracas rhythm with their embodiment rhythm as reference. Their learning point was to play at the extremes of earliness and lateness whilst still being musical, returning to the centre as contrasting relief.

Exercise Three: Ensemble synchrony and autonomy, 'laid back' and 'pushed' attacks
Group practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, without music. A steady embodiment rhythm (as reference) was maintained by all participants in ensemble. This time, each participant was empowered to explore attack position (using their maracas) while in ensemble. The only two caveats where that synchronicity and musicality be maintained.

Exercise Four: Effect of 'laid back' and 'pushed' attacks on relationship to music
Solo practice, son montuno maracas rhythm, atiempo embodiment rhythm, to music. Participants were encouraged to discover if their relationship to instruments in a track changed when they adopted a different attack. For this exercise, a participant selected and played an attack position, then listened for which instruments (s)he had a clearer relationship with.

They all came back with a "yes".

Discussion

1. The instruments you have a clear relationship with have a different attack
Let's take as an example, if the piano was 'in the pocket' and the congas were 'laid back'.
Playing maracas (or any other instrument):

• 'in the pocket' would mask the piano, and one would experience the relationship the pianist has with the conguero;
• 'laid back' would mask the congas, and one would experience the relationship the conguero has with the pianist; and,
• 'pushed' would cause one to experience a qualitatively different third-party relationship with both the pianist and the conguero.

2. Percussion attack is affected by accustomed dance attack
This is particularly so with novices whom have yet to achieve 'attack independence'. If a participant is accustomed to dancing 'laid back', then the maracas attack will tend to it as well. Even if the participant intends a 'pushed' attack on maracas, early attempts will tend for it to be later than intended i.e. somewhere between 'pushed' and 'in the pocket'.

With novices. the attack of playing will be close to the attack of dancing, but it won't be identical. Both embodiment and instrument attack will have a close, comfortable relationship. Most people find the masking effect of identical attacks to be disconcerting.

3. Attack can be used as a diagnostic method
If a participant where to play and dance at his/her accustomed attack, then his/her relationship to the instruments can be used to derive the position of his/her attack. For example if there where three instruments of different attack:

• lead vocals 'pushed'
• piano 'in the pocket'
• conga 'laid back'

A strong music relationship with the conga and vocalist would indicate an attack closer to 'in the pocket'. Taking it one step further, if there where two participants, each having a strong relationship with the piano, but one with the lead vocals and the other with the conga; it would indicate a potential challenge in dancing together, especially if the leader was the former and the follower was the latter.

Yeo Loo Yen

Synchronous Rhythm And Autonomous Rhythm In Equilibrium

Last Tuesday's solares began not quite as well as I would have liked.

It was supposed to start off with a simple warm-up of son montuno maracas rhythm, "slowandslow" embodiment rhythm variation, and infinity engine; and build from there. What I got instead was one out of three: the "slowandslow" embodiment rhythm variation. The infinity engine was a no-show. More disconcertingly the maracas strokes were played in direct correlation (1:1) with the embodiment rhythm instead of the proper twice the cycle speed.

Evidently the participants had failed to invest in themselves with practice. But at least they were honest about it. There was nothing to be gained from anything other than turning the workshop into an extended practice session. So I shelved the intended content and designed the practice session on-the-fly. For the practice session to be useful, it could not be a dry punitive exercise in drudgery; that would hardly be an incentive for later self-practice. The session needed to be interesting and challenging and rewarding.

A deeper evaluation of their proficiencies was needed, so I asked them to perform the embodiment rhythm and the son montuno maracas rhythm without music. It didn't take long to see that participants:

• were unaccustomed to playing on their own;
• relied on music as a crutch; and
• had never listened critically to the musicality of their playing i.e. it was purely mechanical in sound production.

These characteristics are not uncommon in developing percussionists. Therefore what had to be done next was principally well-established: to increase the quality of execution by improving musicality. The novelty was that I would use a balance of synchrony and autonomy exercises to achieve it. Synchronous practices would help diffuse my playing expertise through the group. Autonomous practices would promote the sense of individual ownership over their playing.

Synchronous Practices

Exercise 1: Side-by-side, facing the same direction
Paired practice. No music. Caribbean sway. "quick, quick, slowandslow". son montuno maracas rhythm. Changing partners at each iteration.

I deliberately didn't specify whether to execute this in phase or not, so participants freely experimented. Participants noted that their ability to synchronise with their partners improved with each iteration. When they partnered with me, their phrasing improved and their maracas began to sound less mechanical and more musical.

Exercise 2: Side-by-side, facing the same direction, "front" cue
Paired practice. No music. Caribbean sway. "quick, quick, slowandslow". Son montuno maracas rhythm. Changing partners at each iteration. One partner designated static, the other moving.

With the "front" cue, the designated participant moves from the side position to in front of and facing their partner.
With the "side" cue, the designated participant returns to the side position.

This exercise introduces perturbation by requiring movement and the suppression of mirror neuron stimulus in the face-to-face position. With respect to the latter: all participants were dextral, and as a result, a mirror image cannot be maintained between partners' hands when they faced each other.

Participants were given the scope to explore the effect of phase under their own initiative. Again, each participant's ability to maintain synchrony with their partner improved iteration upon iteration as they 'toughened up' against the disturbances (i.e. became more autonomous).

Briefing: concordance and opposition positions
Synchronous rhythmic activities are easier in the side-by-side 'concordance' position. There is less reliance on the visual sense and, consequently, proportionally more use of the aural and kinesthetic. Confusion due to mirror neuron activity due to asymmetry is also minimised. The converse holds when partners adopt the face-to-face 'opposing' position.

Autonomous Practices

Exercise 3: Side-by-side, facing the same direction, "turn" cue
Paired practice. No music. Caribbean sway. "quick, quick, slowandslow". Son montuno maracas rhythm. Changing partners at each iteration. One partner designated static, the other moving.

With the "turn" cue, the designated participant executes a half turn on the spot.

Partners begin by establishing synchrony. Upon issuance of the "turn" cue, the moving partner executes a slow half turn away from the static partner. This has the effect of decreasing the sound volume of their maracas (i.e. increasing autonomy) over the first quarter turn; and then increasing the sound volume (i.e. decreasing autonomy) over the second quarter turn.

Some participants experienced a sensation of 'tension synchrony' as if they were pulling against elastic when they turned away, and the elastic tension dissolved when they turned back to their starting position.

Briefing: "what's autonomous?"
Participants where not clear on the property of autonomy. This was because the requirement for autonomy is fleeting with Exercise 3 when the designated partner turns away from the static partner, presenting her/his body as a sonic baffle. The presence of 'tension synchrony' may have masked the sense of autonomy. I had a more involved exercise which would clarify that...

Exercise 4: Side-by-side, facing the same direction, "turn-back-turn-front" cues
Paired practice. No music. Caribbean sway. "quick, quick, slowandslow". Son montuno maracas rhythm. Changing partners at each iteration. One partner designated static, the other moving.

With the "turn" cue, the designated participant executes a half turn on the spot, to face the opposite direction
With the "back" cue, the designated participant moves diagonally-forward into a back-to-back position with the static partner.
With the "turn" cue, the designated participant executes a half turn on the spot, to face the static partner's back.
With the "front" cue, the designated participant moves diagonally-forward to their original start position.

Autonomy is explored:

• symmetrically after the "back" cue when both partners are unable to hear each other; and,
• asymmetrically after the second "turn" cue when the static partner can hear the moving partner but not vice versa.

Conclusion

At the end of the session, participants felt that they:

1. were playing more musically;
2. understood each other's music-making personality better;
3. were more capable of synchronising to others; and
4. had greater autonomy and thus were less perturbable.

This session served as a taster in the delicate power possible when synchronous rhythm and autonomous rhythm are held in balance.

Despite its inauspicious beginnings, the outcomes in synchrony, autonomy and self-realisation were encouraging. I foresee that solares will adopt this tack for the next few weeks, so that the good work done so far does not go to waste.

Loo Yeo

The Compression Hold

A weakness of the basic contredanse hold without pelvic contact between partners is exposed when the follower is led to move directly backward.

The only lead force in that direction comes from the picture arms (lead's left, follower's right) which, extended distally from the bodies, introduces a turning moment around the vertical axis of the spine.

An equilibriating moment cannot be provided by the enclosing arms unless:

• the palms of both dancers are able to extend to the far side of their partner's spines;
• the follower provides 'hand brake' resistance by pushing her left hand against the ventral face of the leader's right shoulder; or,
• the partners to maintain contact along their embracing arms as a integrated member - follower's underside, leader's topside - using friction, and resolving the turning moment via core muscles of the abdomen.

These strategies are less than ideal because they rely on the follower's core muscles' ability to resist rotation. How much resistance is enough? How would the dancer distinguish between a turning moment as a by-product of the hold, or one actually intended as a lead-information, without prior knowledge of the intended choreography?

The Compression Hold
places the follower between two gentle and equal opposing forces so that no turning moment is created when led to move backwards. This is achieved through simple modifications to the contredanse hold.

From the lead's perspective:

1. the palm and wrist of the picture (left) arm is oriented to the follower's spine on the vertical plane;
2. the wrist of the enclosing (right) arm is placed on the point of the follower's torso such that the lead's left palm, the follower's spine, and the lead's right wrist lie on a straight line; and,
3. a gentle force inward to the follower's spine (vertical turning axis) is applied from each wrist, thus placing the follower under compression.

From the follower's perspective:

1. the palm and wrist of the picture (right) arm is toned to complete the compression frame, requiring a matched resistant force against the leader's inward-squeezing force.

The remainder of the session was spent assessing the effectiveness of compression hold in linear cardinal directions; and, in rotations of the partnered-frame where the vertical turning axis was located: mid-point between the partners, through the lead's spine, and through the follower's spine.

Loo Yen

The Infinity Engine

It's the first workshop of 2017 and Solares participants have officially surprised me.

I've never had the luxury of laying down such a comprehensive foundation before (three years in March) and there had been hints, through questions asked and connections made, that we were on the cusp of a critical advance.

Last night we began with a "slowandslow" warm-up; which functioned as a recap for those who had attended the week before, and a chance for me to bring those whom hadn't up to speed. By the third song, after some minor remediation of foot 'turnout' to free up the hips, everyone displayed a smooth rhythmic flowing joint cascade from ball of foot to hips.

I thought I'd 'risk it, biscuit'

The Infinity Engine
I paused the music and asked everyone to extend the joint cascade "upward to the floating ribs and across into the (solar) plexus".

Although bio-mechanically inaccurate since the floating ribs can't be articulated in a manner in-line with the cascade, the learning point still manages to encourage lateral movement of the torso using the lower back. The 'floating rib-plexus' learning point:

• elevates the part of the body calibrated to the beat from the foot to the torso;
• enables the torso's rhythmic articulation to function as the master clock, distributing timing to the extremities;
• activates a kinaesthetic unit (i.e. torso) which is universal (i.e. involved in all movement activity) and congruent with the perceived seat of emotion (i.e. heart), laying the foundation for linking the feeling of movement with the feeling of emotion (i.e. how we move affects how we feel); and,
• promotes earlier foot-placement in preparation for transfer of weight, subconsciously, rendering the dancer less perturbable to partner vibration due to the earlier traction event.

When the music resumed, I could see each and every one pulling the rhythm up from the floor like a long pair of socks, up to their ribs. A little learning intervention was involved where I performed the practice with each participant behind me, his/her palms pressed to either side of my rib cage.

As their lateral torso movement came under improved control, the rounded hip action (due to torque from the joint cascade) began filtering through. The result was a lower-torso or 'floating rib' action which described on the horizontal plane a symmetrical infinity symbol ∞. This was how it was described by one of the participants, and I think it's a snazzy description (for those with a maths/physics background) for the Cuban son engine.

At the end of the exercise, I asked for their feedback. It was seismic. Everyone felt a greater response to, and a heightened engagement with the music. Dancers whom considered themselves extremity-centric or internally silent discovered themselves transformed, alive with a new palpable feeling of rhythm at the centre of their being.

The big leap for me was that, in the past, I would have to teach the infinity engine deliberately; which was not always the best solution - the results would look forced, and it would always take more work to make it look natural. This route, with the right building blocks in place, resulted in the natural generation of the infinity engine. "At last!" I thought to myself.

The discussion bounced back and forth with passionate energy. One observed that the infinity engine was unforced compared to the rumba engine. Another wondered if her hips were moving too much. Then someone asked, "how do we translate Tuesdays (workshop material) into Saturdays (dance nights)?" There were nods of agreement.

Giddy with success, I risked another biscuit... (see following post)

Loo

"slowandslow"

Yesterday's Solares fell in that 'no man's land' between Christmas and New Year. With some regulars being away or unavailable during the festive season, I was presented with a double-length session; an opportunity which I was all to happy to take advantage of.

The circumstances demanded a programme of content which was:

• varied or simple-but-challenging enough to avoid learner saturation;
• non-core so as not to penalise those who couldn't attend; and yet,
• of meaningful importance to benefit those who'd committed to attend.

Tricky. Very tricky.

I briefed them that this workshop was going to be all about elevating the quality of what they already had.

Warm Up: Simple embodiment transitions, with maracas
Solo, to music. Playing maraca rhythm. Lower body moving between the Caribbean sway, marking rhythm on the spot, walking forward.

Warming up with the maracas exercise was the cornerstone to the workshop's design because: it allowed me to assess the quality of participants' dance 'slows' as transited through Caribbean sway to walks; and, it opened up an alternative route in the workshop narrative - back to maracas development - should participants become learning saturated with the primary activity.

Briefing: The "slowandslow" vocalisation
Even though the "quick, quick, slow" vocalisation (of last session) makes sense, there is a fundamental flaw in the vocalisation - the word "slow" is only one syllable long. Dancers using the vocalisation will time their movements to the rhythm of the vocalisation, instead of the logic of the vocalisation i.e. they will dance three quick movements instead of two quick and one slower.

To achieve the desired slow movement, the vocalisation needs to be changed such that the 'slow' is rhythmically longer yet still logical. The ballroom adaptation is useful to know, and highly successful. The vocalisation is: "quick, quick, slowandslow".

Exercise One: "slowandslow" with long nails
Solo, without music. Long nails practice synchronous with the "slowandslow" (beats 3&4) vocalisation.

Exercise Two: "quick, quick, slowandslow" with long nails
Solo, without music. Complete embodiment rhythm, on the spot. Long nails practice synchronous with the "slowandslow" (beats 3&4) vocalisation. I danced with each participant to provide a movement archetype as reference.

Exercise Three: "quick, quick, slowandslow" with long nails
Solo, to music. Complete embodiment rhythm, on the spot. Long nails practice synchronous with the "slowandslow" (beats 3&4) vocalisation.

Participants reported feeling a deeper quality of relationship with the floor, almost adhesive and elastic. Once acquired they found it challenging to revert to their customary more superficial relationship with the floor. I introduced them to the concept of 'quality of movement' and labelled what they were experiencing as "deep movement" and "light movement" respectively.

Exercise Four: Relationship of qualities of movement with music
As the participants became accustomed to the exercise, freeing up cognitive headroom, I asked them:

1. "Does quality of movement affect your relationship with the music?"
2. "Which instruments do you have a stronger relationship with using light movement?"
3. "Which instruments do you have a stronger relationship with using deep movement?"
4. "Are there any instrument-relationships which do not change?"

The answer came back a resounding "yes". How you move affects how you listen. One song demonstrated this clearly: Los Hermanos Lebron's updated "La Temperatura" from their 40th Anniversary album, vol.2. (2009).

At this point, after multiple iterations, participants were comfortable with individual practice. It seemed prudent to provide them with a broader more relevant context, and introduce an additional variable.

Exercise Five: "quick, quick, slowandslow" in the rueda de casino context
Partnered, without music. Rueda de casino basic step, attenuated partner hold.

The basic step involved a small back step on the circumference side and a small forward step on the axial side on the quicks, and a close step (not a guapea side step) in-between on the slows.

I demonstrated how the basic step could be derived from the Caribbean sway by: contracting the width of the side step until a close step; and, converting the axial step from a small back step to a similarly-sized forward step.

The attenuated hold avoided the overtly expansive arm-cycling on the circumference side, and maintained contact between palms on the axial side throughout.

By silencing the consciously-induced noise from the arms, participants were able to feel how movement born of the upward joint cascade flowed into the partnership frame. Participants found this revelatory; how the torque built up from the floor manifested itself in articulations of the contredanse hold, as natural resultant movements - the same movements which are commonly overtly 'simulated' by dancers without those skills.

This is the difference between derivative movement (former), and prescriptive movement (latter).

At this point, the two hours where up. In the excitement of discovering the relevance of "slowandslow"-sponsored movement quality in the rueda basic, I think participants' overlooking of the 'big picture' difference between derived and prescribed movement can be forgiven. It gives me something to dedicate a Solares workshop to in the future.

Loo Yeo

Dancing The Slows

Salsa's basic embodiment rhythm may be interpreted in two ways:

1. three steps and a pause, all for of which are of equal duration, or
2. three steps of which two are 'quick' and one is 'slow' where a 'slow' equals two 'quicks'.

Previously in Solares, participants have been unconsciously using the former. This is a by-product of coming from a count-based convention "1,2,3;5.6.7".

Execution of the 'slow' can be achieved via:

1. increasing the distance the limb needs to travel by 100% while maintaining limb-joint speed, or
2. decreasing the limb-joint speed by 50% while maintaining distance to be travelled.

That Solares participants encountered difficulty in the transition from the Caribbean sway to on-the-spot movement last session indicated that they were reliant on travel distance as their rhythm-governor, and not proficient with control over their joint speed.

Why the slows?
Control of 'joint-speed' or 'rate of flexion/extension' allows for the space in-between beats to be filled with movement according to the conscious will of the dancer. This is could be for partnership comfort and creative aims, for example. The skill facilitates the use of more complex rhythm structures, and effective execution of the 'Human Dance Recorder' practice.

The 'Long Nails' Practice
Participants were asked to pretend that there was a long nail beneath the raised heel, and to imagine driving the nail into the floor by standing on it. The speed of descent could be slowed by imagining that the floor was made out of denser but still yielding material. Targeting the heel in the learning metaphor addresses control the knee, ball of foot and ankle.

Exercise One: Just the 'slows'
Solo, without music, on the spot. Participants were asked to use the 'long nails' practice under each heel in alternation, moving only during the 'slow'. I provided the vocalisation of "quick (beat 1), quick (beat 2), slow (beats 3&4)", and participants were encouraged to vocalise as well.

Exercise Two: Just the 'slows', to music
As Exercise One (above), to music.

Exercise Three: Complete embodiment rhythm, on-the-spot
Solo, to music, Participants were asked to embody the full rhythm, in place, using the vocalisation "quick, quick, slow" with special attention to the long nails on the 'slows'.

Exercise Four: Caribbean sway and on-the-spot embodiment transitions
Solo, to music, on the spot. Lower body moving between the Caribbean sway and keeping rhythm on the spot. This exercise was the 'acid test', to observe whether the participant could produce 'slows' based on increased travel distance and decreased joint-speed respectively.

Observations
All participants made good attempts. Responses to the practice were within the standard range, with no positive nor negative outliers. I will have to make room for this practice in ensuing sessions until proficiency is attained.

What was very welcome was the quality of personal observation-based feedback from the participants:

• One noted how his accustomed posture was inclined too much forward, which compromised his ability to apply smooth pressure on the 'nail', which he consequently remedied with a change to a more upright position.
• One realised that his foot-placement was late, which curtailed the duration of his 'slows'. He'd spent a greater proportion of the exercise time, addressing foot placement (necessarily), instead of 'pressing on nails'.
• One noticed that her pelvis was 'bobbing up' on the vertical plane, as she tried to get more weight on top of the imaginary nail. She observed this bobbing in her reflection in a night-time window, and corrected it by keeping her pelvis at the same vertical distance to the floor throughout the 'long nail' exercise. This 'bobbing up' is a common fault and can be remedied through observation of a reflection or, if one isn't available, a palm-to-palm practice with a stationary partner to provide the kinesthetic feedback.
  For more, see Item 2 under 'Learning Tips' in:
  http://wwww.salsa-merengue.co.uk/VidTutor/merengue/lbaction/det_lba.html

It's a credit to them that they were not only able to observe issues with their movement, but to understand the cause, devise a solution, and implement it independently. Moreover, during our wrap-up discussion, they actively talked about how they saw the skill as being useful to them in their future dance development.

I could not be more pleased.

Loo

The Human Dance Recorder

This workshop attends to the aspects of physical communication in partnered dance. It takes a method developed by psychotherapist Carl Rogers in 1951 and applies it to dance. A relevant synopsis may be found in:

"A Rogerian Approach To Perfect Communications" in "An Introduction to Organisational Behaviour for Managers and Engineers: A Group and Multicultural Approach" by Duncan Kitchin (2010) pp.176-177, UK: Routledge.

The exercise described by Kitchin (a former colleague) is well-suited to translation into social partnered dance, and it stimulates each participant broadly to ask:

• Is that what I wanted my partner to feel?
• Has my partner understood what I feel about ritmo (dance and music alike)?

Exercise One: Building the rich picture
Partnered, to music. Caribbean sway basic, to Caribbean partnered hold.

1. "Pay attention to how your partner moves: the qualities of movement, the timing."
2. "Use what you're seeing and feeling to construct a mental image of your partner as you dance."
3. "You may find it useful to do this with your eyes open and shut."
4. "Build as rich a picture of your partner as you possibly can."

Note: Solares participants were able to perform this task easily because they had become accustomed to higher cognitive load; through dancing while playing maracas. Not having to play maracas gave them the greater cognitive capacity to engage successfully with the exercise.

Exercise Two: Embodying the rich picture
Partnered, to music. Caribbean sway basic, to Caribbean partnered hold.

1. "Holding the rich picture firmly in you head, dance the rich picture."

This exercise is designed to cause each participant to change their quality of movement by simulating that of their partner: by the physical manifestation of the rich picture.

Exercise Three: Validating the rich picture
New partners. Partnered, to music. Caribbean sway basic, to Caribbean partnered hold.

1. "Holding the rich picture of your previous partner firmly in you head, embody the rich picture."

The accuracy of the rich picture embodiment was tested/validated with a different partner.
Note: this could be done because the solares participants have become familiar with each others' ritmo over the years.

Observations

The ability to characterise i.e. construct a rich picture, then embody it, varied between the participants; ranging from a lack (due to misconstruation) to accurate enough to elicit excited exclamations of "it feels like I'm dancing with *name of other participant*!"

Where the point of the exercises were misconstrued, both partners, instead of constructing a rich image of the other, each created an identical rich image hybrid of the other and themselves. In other words, instead of:

• Partner A creating-and-embodying a rich picture of Partner B and vice versa,
• Partner A created-and-embodied a rich picture hybrid of Partner A+B, as did Partner B.

This was a happy error, because it allowed the group the explore: the extremes of the range (characterisation of the self, or the other) and the mid-point (characterisation of the blended self plus other).

As the exercises ran through several iterations, the delight led increasingly to a distortion of the rich image into caricature - an over-emphasis of the other's traits. I cautioned that while caricature was fun and would make certain traits more obvious, this might limit the usefulness of the 'Human Dance Recorder' practice as a means of personal reflexion. Exaggeration would make it difficult for the recipient to:

1. evaluate the qualitative extent of a trait;
2. decide whether it should be modified; and
3. how to prioritise its correction relative to other traits in a heirarchy of correction.

I recommended that the rich picture be more photo-real than caricature.

Closing

The session ended with three questions for reflexion.
"What is this 'Chapter: Characterisation' about?"
"What skills are needed?"
"Why is this useful?"

Loo Yeo

Phase Changes: Symmetry Versus Asymmetry

Last night I had the participants all to myself, for a whole two hours, because my partner-in-teaching-crime had abandoned them to their fates, in favour of a blustery sojourn in England's North-East.

It was a chance to build momentum and give them something to sink their teeth into. Based on the evidence of cognitive saturation witnessed last week, I knew that I would only be able to push them with maracas-embodied rhythm practices for 45 minutes; any more and they would tip over into super-saturation, impairing their learning ability. There had to be a contrasting activity for the remainder 75 minutes.

So I decided to dedicate the first half of the double Solares session to maracas-embodiment activity, and the second half to a 'sneak peek' at an upcoming chapter for next year. The latter would contextualise more skills, allowing me to introduce them earlier than I'd planned.

When the sun shines, it's time to make hay.

Warm Up: Complete maraca rhythm, son montuno version
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. Playing the compete maraca rhythm.

After three songs, it was time to make things more interesting:

Exercise One: Caribbean sway and on-the-spot embodiment transitions, with maracas
Solo, to music. Playing maraca rhythm. Lower body moving between the Caribbean sway and marking rhythm on the spot.

Participants found it challenging to maintain steady maracas rhythm because of interference from the lower body rhythm. Once the long side-step of the Caribbean sway was denied to them (they'd been using the distance to absorb time during the 'slow'), participants were unable to absorb the time by slowing down the movement of their joints. This indicated an area of imminent attention.

Exercise Two: Simple embodiment transitions, with maracas
Solo, to music. Playing maraca rhythm. Lower body moving between the Caribbean sway, marking rhythm on the spot, walking forward.

Playing the maracas rhythm while performing the salsa walk made the phase-change relationship between the instrument and the dance obvious.

• Salsa is a symmetrical dance i.e. a different leg is used at the beginning of each bar/measure of music
• Maracas-playing is an asymmetrical activity i.e. the same hand is used at the beginning of each bar/measure of music.

Put them both together and one bar will begin with the arm and leg of the same side, the next bar will begin the same arm with leg of the other side. For example:

left arm-left leg; left arm-right leg; left arm-left leg; left arm-right leg...

This can be read as:

in-phase; out-of-phase; in-phase; out-of-phase...

Correlating that with the brain's motor activity:

right side fires; both sides fire; right side fires; both sides fire...

Hence the brain experiences a cyclical fluctuation in co-ordinative load during the performance of the maraca-embodiment rhythm.

Based on their greater level of automation with the Caribbean sway, participants had worked out a progression for their practice: Caribbean sway > on the spot > salsa walk. When they became perturbed, they would return to the Caribbean sway instead of stopping. Likewise with their maracas: one set of double tones (4,4+); two sets of double tones (2,2+ and 4,4+); complete maracas rhythm.

It was encouraging to see them all take charge of their own practice and to manage the levels of challenge in a scalar manner.

By now, we were sailing close to the cliffs of cognitive saturation. It was time for a change. Time for 'The Human Dance Recorder'.

Loo Yen

Complete Rhythm: Maracas, son montuno

There are two possible tracks of development in Solares after completing this chapter on the backbeat timeline. One is to proceed to a new chapter on backbeat applications, the other is to move to exploring the complementary downbeat timeline.

Logically, it made sense to continue with the applications of the downbeat timeline, to climb as high up the Blooms Taxonomy pyramid as possible, until knowledge of the downbeat timeline became a rate-limiting requirement. And this was how it had been planned.

However things changed when I asked myself, "if Solares stopped tomorrow, what would be my regrets for not having achieved?" I counter-weighted the answers by putting myself in Solares participants' shoes and asking, "what would be the earliest greatest boost to their morale?"

The answer, loud and clear, was, "being able to play the full maraca rhythm."

The confidence boost in becoming a fully-fledged instrumentalist-dancer is inestimable. And we were only one step away from achieving it, to reaching that First State of Independence - the learning sequence would require a little bit of juggling around, but the broad strokes of development would remain intact.

So this is how it went.

Warm Up: Playing the maraca backbeat rhythm
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. Macho in non-dominant hand, hembra in dominant hand. Macho tones on the backbeats (beats 4 and 2), hembra tones on the backbeat upbeats (beats 4+ and 2+); hence the basic maraca backbeat rhythm is played as macho-hembra couplets on beats 4,4+ and  2,2+.

Exercise One: Maraca backbeats call, downbeats respond
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. As per 'Warm Up' above. In addition, I provided a single shaker tone on the downbeats (beats 1 and 3). Participants were encouraged to listen to the tones as a 'coro-pregón' or 'call-and-response'; participants played the 'call', I played the 'response'.

Briefing: The complete maraca rhythm, son montuno version
Backbeats: macho-hembra couplets on beats 4,4+ and  2,2+, played close to the body.
Downbeats: macho single tones on beats 1 and 3, placed slightly further away from the body.
The rhythm begins with the macho-hembra backbeat couplet on beats 4,4+

Complete rhythm is: 4,4+; 1; 2,2+; 3; (repeat)
Complete rhythm vocalisation is: "chik-a-chik / chik-a-chik" where:

• the first "chik" denotes the backbeats (beats 4 and 2)
• the "a" denotes the backbeat upbeats (beats 4+ and 2+)
• the second "chik" denotes the downbeats (beats 1 and 3)
   

Exercise Two: Complete maraca rhythm, son montuno version
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. Playing the compete maraca rhythm as per briefing (above).

The past two month's work paid dividends. Every solares participant succeeded in this challenging task: each dancer was able to dance an atiempo rhythm on the embodiment timeline, simultaneously playing the son montuno maraca rhythm.

There's always more to do. But for that moment, it was a pleasure to revel in the success.

Loo

Backbeat Timeline: Maracas

Warm-up: Refinements to back-beat definitions
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. Single shaker, played to the campana-güiro backbeat rhythm (beats 4,4+ and 2,2+). The definition was augmented where:

• the güiro backbeat variation was defined as being played by one hand, oscillating in free space; and,
• the campana backbeat variation was defined as being played by one hand into the palm of the other.

This is because the scraper of the güiro moves in freely over the surface of the gourd, while the beater of the campana creates its sound through impact. The two approaches on the shaker are the best approximations in translation.

During early practice of the campana backbeat rhythm, some participants expressed inability to get into the groove (i.e. state of entrainment). This was because they had inadvertently 'frozen' their upper body by keeping their receiving palm rigid in space; and both elbows close to the sides of the torso.

Freedom was regained using a rhythmic clapping action where both hands were accelerated to each other, and the elbows kept a distance away from the rib cage. As the participants achieved entrainment, I pointed out how the clapping activity could be used to calibrate the rhythmic engine carried in the upper torso. I further suggested that the shaker could be impacted against the side of the thigh, like tambourine players do.

The arising of the problem and its solution was a fortunate happenstance. It made everyone aware of how physical restriction stymies rhythmic freedom, and it allowed me to pose the question,

"What is the minimum individual space needed for rhythm?"

That certainly caused a period of individual thought and experimentation. To which I then added,

"Do you allow your partner that minimum distance when you dance? For example, in Rueda (de Casino)?"

As I've come to expect (and encourage), every participant expressed her/his own preference for the variations, and feeling for the groove.

Backbeat Timeline: Maracas

Briefing: Maracas as a 'sexed-pair' instrument
Each pair comprises: a 'macho' [male] which is higher-pitched and more aggressive in tone, and an 'hembra' [female] which is lower-pitched and mellower in tone.

Briefing: How to hold maracas
The balance-point of a maraca should be slightly above the neck of the instrument. The neck is positioned between the first and second fingers of the hand, meaning that the head would tip over if uncontrolled. The first and second knuckles are the most stable in the hand, this allows for the most efficient transfer of force from the body, and the most control. Holding maracas by their necks is the shortest distance between the hands and the enclosed beads, without dampening the bead enclosure. It also allows the option for their handles to be played.

Exercise One: Playing the maraca backbeat rhythm
Solo, to music. Caribbean sway basic, atiempo embodiment rhythm. Macho in non-dominant hand, hembra in dominant hand. Macho tones on the backbeats (beats 4 and 2), hembra tones on the backbeat upbeats (beats 4+ and 2+); hence the basic maraca backbeat rhythm is played as macho-hembra couplets on beats 4,4+ and  2,2+.

Observations

Participants found the rhythm easier to play because tones are distributed across two shakers, and enjoyed the experience more. This is because:

1. return of the beads to the shaker-bowl (and their collection) was no longer a rate-limiting factor i.e. they could initiate the upbeat tones (4+ and 2+) before the beads of the downbeat tones (4 and 2) had regrouped;
2. the wave-length of actuation, formerly limited to the shaker to the elbow, could be extended up the upper limb into the shoulder and torso; and
3. the greater involvement of muscle units provided more kinesthetic feedback to rhythm - participants could feel the rhythm better.

A mark of how well their rhythmic foundation was laid came with a particular question, "do we play 'swish' or 'tight' tones?" It provided clear sign of good cognitive capacity, motor articulation, self-reflexion, musicality, experimentation, synthesis, and creativity - all of which are upper-tier properties in Bloom's taxonomy.

My response was, as usual, "it depends." The two main factors were: whichever the maraquero/a felt best suited the music; and whether the style of playing would help or hinder playing at higher tempi.

This session completed the basic vocabulary of back-beat rhythms for solares participants. A landmark moment. But we're just one step away from greater things.

Loo Yeo