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LIVING PROOF that “verbal and visual instruction” on instructional DVDs CEMENTS in the subconscious mind overnight during sleep, perfecting your dance moves the next day! Read on for an absolutely astonishing discovery….
I Discovered The Following COMPLETELY by Accident…
I was at the Belgium Congress in Brussels… I was standing around (actually, only for about two seconds after my last dance, but STANDING AROUND none-the-less) looking for someone to dance, and lo and behold who is sitting right there with his camera but the distinguished cameraman from DancePix.net, Robert Edman. I’ve danced with him at many congresses before, but this trip, there was something different about him. It was his LEAD that got perfected…. Suddenly. Like… overnight. It finally “clicked” for him.
I felt awesome dancing with him. He didn’t pull me or yank my arm. It was “HIM” doing all the moving around “MY” body that was exciting. I felt relaxed, comfortable, and at ease. He made the dance look complicated but I felt calm! That’s one of the tricks to a superior lead. Not making the girl travel too much, or pulling or pushing her body around. It’s YOU GUYS that need to do most of the movement “around” us. We’re just supposed to look and feel beautiful – not like we are just trying to FRANTICALLY SURVIVE the SONG with you!
I was so excited about Robert’s great lead that night that I just flat out told him about it. He smiled, thanked me, then picked up his camera and went his way. I was starting to wonder who his instructor was… so I could compliment him, but before I could ask him, he was already gone.
About an hour later Hassan Alamien, who works his own professional camera alongside Robert was video-taping the social dancing. I walked up next to him and asked him to set his camera down for a dance with me. Of course he shyly said “No.” I should have never verbally asked. For every action, there is an equal and OPPOSITE reaction, so I should have followed MY OWN ADVICE and never asked. Then I remembered what I teach in my Bootcamps…
After his MORTIFYING rejection, I over-dramatized my response by opening my mouth and eyes real wide, and glared at him as if he just completely insulted me. I then closed my lips, smiled softly with an exaggerated defiance and gently put out my right arm, palm up toward him in the most feminine way possible - without saying a word. He paused, gave me an embarrassing smile, then unstrapped himself from his camera. He placed it gently on the floor, then stood up, exhaled nervously, and took my extended hand. He lead me walking across the dance floor while the song started.
Now you have to understand something. I have only seen this man behind the lens of the camera. So obviously, I thought he was a beginner. In fact, the way he responded to me earlier, I didn’t think he could dance AT ALL. So I resigned myself to the fact that this was just another one of my nightly due-diligence “mercy sacrifice dances” of making sure to dance with at least one beginner every night. Dancing with beginners once or twice a night encourages them to “keep going” and continue the brutal process of learning how to dance Salsa. It can be a devastating process. It will make men out of boys and put hair on their chests. And if there’s already hair there, it will be GREY by the time they’re truly accomplished Salseros. It’s much harder for men to learn this dance than women. Women just simply get to practice… looking beautiful…
ANYWAY, so where was I… I asked him to dance, he insults me with a “No”, I don’t take his “No” for an answer, and SHAME him into dancing with me. OK, so I’m a little forward but hey, he was CUTE! (still is by the way!)
…. We proceed to dance. I was TOTALLY expecting a beginner lead. I relaxed and prepared for the worst, embracing myself for abuse and confusion, sweaty palms, jittery arms, shaky nervousness, constant apologies (even BEFORE the dance starts), and a myriad of other symptoms of awkwardness and disorientation typically found amongst beginners.
He looked me straight in the eyes. I could feel him exhale and relaxed. He placed his left hand beautifully on my shoulder blade, elbow up, positioning me in picture-perfect preparation. He started exactly on time in a magnificent cross body lead with an inside turn. At first, I was pleasantly surprised. Then after about 8 seconds, I felt like I just died and went to Heaven. He put me into one of the most amazing leads I’ve ever felt!
For a minute there, I felt like I was dancing with Super Mario. Then, about ten seconds later, I felt a Johnny Vazquez lead. Fifteen seconds after that, and exactly in sync with the change in the music, I was experiencing Frankie Martinez! I felt a Cobo Brother …) for a WONDERFUL while (don’t know which one.. but it was DEFINITELY Cobo ‘ ish, and then off to a technically perfect Luis Vazquez lead. Jazzy’s lead from Norway crept in there somehow, Super Mario and Salsa Fix from South Florida blew in for a move or two, and then the incredible lead from Richard Natividad from Australia finished it off!
I WAS ABSOLUTELY STUNNED AND AMAZED.
I was having an absolute BALL dancing with this man! Musically, he hit every break crescendo and pause in the music just like Alex Lima from France does. Hassan Alamien the camera man had a technically flawless lead, and his musicality was to die for.
I didn’t want the song to end.
He took me to depths I’ve never imagined in one single song. To sum it up, the “Hassan The Camera Man” summed up every top instructor he’s ever videotaped in the last three years in one song for me.
When the song was over, he thanked me while I just stared at him like a deer in headlights. Again, my mouth was wide open – this time, NO JOKE and my entire FACE was full of surprise and wonder. “What just happened?” I said out loud. I felt like I just had GREAT SEX!!! “Who’s your instructor?” I asked,
“Where have YOU been hiding?
Behind that camera
… precisely…
“I just watch what you guys teach all the time – at our editing room back home.”
“YOU ARE KIDDING ME.” I said to him. “Nah, Edie, it’s what you guys teach.” I almost fell off my chair. I stumbled back to the railing and just stood there in amazement… thinking. “Wow. A person can actually get THAT GOOD learning from watching instructional DVDs all day long!” People tell me that all the time, but I never believed it until that moment.
You know it’s funny. I make tons of instructional DVDs, but rarely have the time to watch them myself! I get more out of private lessons, but hey! Maybe I should start doing the same!! I have a HUGE collection at my house to learn from and I often go to them when I need ideas. Why not watch them while on my computer? Just look up and glance at them while writing emails?
WHAT A CONCEPT!! You learn something EVERY DAY!! This DANCE never ceases to amaze me.
For the past three years, Robert, Hassan, and his fellow camera men have been videotaping instructors teaching their techniques and moves virtually every weekend at Salsa Congresses all over Europe. When they get done with the videotaping on the weekend, their job is just beginning. Now comes the task of editing, rewinding, cutting, pasting morphing, reviewing, and repeating move after move after move. All these do folks do all day long for weeks is learn and study methodical instructional teaching – without even realizing it!
Through sheer OSMOSIS, they pick up not only the moves, but the often-missed exquisite Details & Techniques behind the moves. They analyze the secrets that normally go in one ear and out the other in a normal group class environment. By reviewing and watching instructional videotapes day in and day out, their brains pick up things that the normal class-goer normally misses. Their brains are picking up things that they may miss at a conscious level, but subconsciously pick up.
A FASCINATING study of human behavior.
What can we conclude from all this? PROOF that instructional DVDs are the way to get yourself to execute an impeccably perfect lead, follow, and styling… more so than simply watching performances or even taking classes. It is the “verbal and visual instruction” from watching DVDs done slowly and methodically before you go to bed at night that gets “set” like cement in the subconscious mind for a more permanent, lasting improvement.
Happy Dancing! - Edie, The Salsa FREAK!!!