Class on Sunday 4th January 2009
Thank you very much to everyone who came to the new class at Keir Hardie on Sunday 4th January 2009. Your support is very much appreciated, and we hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did, and we hope to see you at the class next week and on the dance floor in the meantime.
Quite a number of moves were introduced to those new to rueda, but don't worry, we will be going over these moves many times as they are the foundation moves that are the building blocks of many more advanced moves, and they will soon become second nature to you.
Many of the moves can be incorporated into your normal salsa free dancing, and this is a good way to practice and remember them.
Cuban style salsa is based on the partners, the leader and the follower, swapping places with each other, constantly moving around each other, with many of the turns being performed as travelling turns as you step around each other. We are also keen for people to get used to taking part in the rueda even if you don't have a partner to start with so that everyone can join in.
The moves covered this week were (with the best translation, hopefully not too hilariously wrong, that this non-native-Cuban-Spanish speaker can manage):
adentro y afuera (to the inside and to the outside)
arriba (up)
abajo (down)
un tarro (an affair)
dile que no (tell her no)
guapea (show off)
dame (una) (give me (one))
dame dos (give me two)
dame al medio (give me one, to the centre)
enchufe (plug/connect)
enchufe doble (double plug/connect)
enchufe pa'arriba
enchufe doble pa'arriba
enchufe al medio (plug/connect, to the centre)
cero (from al medio) (zero)
adiós (goodbye)
pimienta (pepper)
(la) cuchara (spoon)
vacílala (check her out)
vacílala dame una (check her out, give me one)
vacílala con cero (check her out with zero)
exhíbela (show her off)
fly
setenta (seventy)
sombrero (hat)
sombrero con mambo (hat with Cuban mambo step)
sombrero con mambo complicado (hat with complicated Cuban mambo step)
treinta y tres (thirty three)
The strict relevance of the name to the move varies. It may be a direct instruction, or an implication, or slang, or innuendo, or a joke, or just a label that happens to be attached to a move. So, you just have to learn to associate the name to the move, and with practice this soon becomes a good way to remember moves and to learn new moves.
See you soon for some rueda fun!