Yvonne Goldsmith-Vasquez

Articles & Dance Tips

Styling and Shines Advice for the Ladies Styling is embellishing upon what your partner leads you into and shines is solo work. They draw attention to you and to your partner; they can make you look good or not so good. They can make your feel free or awkward. So how is it that we learn to style/shine and how do we know when it is too much? Let me answer the easy questions first. When you are styling too much, you are not able to follow properly and will miss leads from your partner. Another way of knowing you’re overdoing it is when the guys you’re dancing with are keeping a larger than usual distance away from you when they dance with you. If this sounds like you, there are several ways to correct this: · Don’t style so much (yes, I know I’m stating the obvious but its easier said than done once you’re in the habit) · Learn new styling. Why I say this is because, when you learn something new, you need to practice it in, which involves concentrating and waiting for the right moment when your partner gives you the lead/move that you’re looking for so since you’re waiting in anticipation, you’re less likely to style. How do you learn to shine and style? Well, this is not such an easy matter to correct as most of it is in your head. I remember when my Latin teacher was teaching me some ways of styling rhumba. It felt so foreign to me and suddenly I got very self conscious and my normally very confident dance manner shrivelled up into a shell. Something clicked, I realised how so many of my students must have felt when I was teaching them something new. So, the way I got myself out of this was to practice on my own, when no one was watching and trust in what my teacher was telling me. You need to force yourself to practice this styling on your own until it feels comfortable and it looks good and then, when it reaches this point, add it into your styling on the dance floor. When you are in the club and you’re practicing your styling, think of a few new things you want to try out and try them out all night long. Pay attention to your partner’s lead and to your breathing (so many of us hold our breath when we dance) and make sure you’re not missing his leads or interfering with his lead. After a while, you will feel the styling become natural, and yes, it does take time.

What to Wear on the Dance Floor   People are constantly asking me what it is that they should be wearing when they go to a salsa club, so I thought I would do some research on what it is the opposite sex was looking for on the dance floor.   Surprisingly, this is what I found…. Guys I found the results of my little survey particularly surprising for the guys. I had 3 major comments: Buttons on sleeves – The girls said that they would like all the guys out there to cut the buttons off their sleeves because it gets caught in our hair, or on our tops. This in fact has happened to me a number of times (including in a few shows), so I totally relate to this. We really would prefer to leave the club without any bald patches from where you’ve had to rip out our hair.   Shoes – The girls I spoke to commented that a lot of guys were hurting them with their shoes, so I got them to explain a bit further and a few of them pointed out which guys had stepped on them or kicked them in the shins. Now, when I looked, the guys they pointed out were not clumsy, or slow on their feet, but they did have one thing in common…. wide edged shoes. Because these shoes are larger than the width of the feet, I think that the wearer doesn’t realise that he’s actually stepping on his partners toes or leaving his feet in her way when spinning her or taking her across his body. When you pick your dancing shoes, choose something that hasn’t got an edging that sticks out past the upper of the shoe, and I think this problem will mostly be avoided (as long as you’re not a klutz). ;-P

Ladies   Guys are constantly annoyed when we wear tops where the straps fall down or where we have no straps and constantly need to keep pulling up our tops. Comments were also made, that they liked the way long hair looked when watching a lady dance, but didn’t like being flicked in the face with hair every time they spin their partner. The majority of men said they liked the ladies to look sexy whilst I had a few burley young lads suggesting that tight pants, short skirts and skimpy outfits were what they liked to see their partner in.   My advice to the ladies is, wear something that you’re comfortable in. Hipster pants that ride down, skirts that ride up and tops that don’t stay up or risk you flashing some extra flesh are not the way to go when you’re up for a big night of dancing. If you have long hair, bring something to tie it back/up with, if you’ve ever flicked yourself in the eye when dancing, you’ll know how painful it can be when it happens to your partner. Don’t forget when you are choosing your outfit to pick something that doesn’t make you sweat.   I see so many ladies wearing beautiful shoes that have no heel support. When you do this, you are risking damaging your ankles and your toes as you tend to cling on to your shoes buy clenching your toes. It is wise to wear a pair of salsa/dance shoes when you go out. You don’t need to sacrifice the look of the shoe either. There is a great shoe supplier based in Sydney called the Dance Shoes Company www.danceshoescompany.com. This company is based in Sydney but can send shoes Australia wide and has large range of mens, ladies and childrens dance shoes (including jazz shoes) as well as sexy tops and dresses for the ladies .   One last thing, when you wear a skirt, make sure you keep your legs closed when dancing, it looks much better.