Ok, in this article, I have decided to try something a little bit different. I am actually going to give you my honest and transparent thought process from two instances of me dancing from this past weekend in the San Francisco Salsa Congress (click the link to read my entire detailed coverage of the event, my private thoughts, my jack jill experience and much much more)! I hope this article does not come off as bragging as I am talking about my own dancing. That’s not my intention. My intention is simply to explain some of the thoughts and intentions behind my dancing so that if you are just starting out as a dancer or you are interested learning more about salsa timing and musicality my hope is that you will learn something new. If you are a veteran dancer and you already know about musicality and timing you probably won’t be learning, anything new at least not on this article. But if you are just starting out and want to learn more, keep reading.
Here is my first video to you where I got to dance with the 2009 World Salsa Champion Liz Lira who is one of my absolute favorite social dancers and of course performers.
First off, I know Liz likes to dance on1, so therefore without even asking I started dancing on1. I usually always ask whether the follower I dance with likes to dance on1 or on2. I really enjoy dancing with both On1 and On2 and for me I always like to know which timing does the follower I dance with prefer.
But on to the video. I always like to try to hit all of the hits and breaks in the music. I don’t always manage to do that, but often I do like right in the beginning on the section 0:04. where I drop to the slap of the drum (see the video above).
With Liz my dancing is usually always very flowing with a great connection, lots of build up tension and release (see the contrast in the next video for a different type, yet equally pleasurable connection). This song was sort of medium speed so we just started having fun with simply staying on the timing of the song for the 30 secs or so.
Then on the 0:38 mark I think Liz already started anticipating and hear that the music was switching to a little drum solo. Pay attention to the video and see how she very wisely lets go off me to do a little solo of her self and where I get to do a little bit of footwork on my own although very soon we come back to dancing together again. On a 1:00 mark I honestly did not know what she was going to do there for a second 
, but I just went with it and that’s another thing that makes dancing with Liz so much fun. You never know what is going to happen .
As the drums kept pounding I simply tried to match some of the intensity by making my moves even sharper and giving her even more spins and some more intricate turn patterns. On 1:32 mark the drum solo ends and I started anticipating a break which came at 1:37 mark where I gave Liz some room to improvise and giving myself the chance to do a drop as well. Then at 1:44 mark I again heard another hit coming which I tried to accent with a sharp spin. Then at 1:51 mark we both heard the horns coming again and Liz accented with a kick where as I accented it with head swing.
Then around 1:57 – 2:00 minute mark we both were hearing some breaks coming and we did our little improvisation to them. After that we just kept dancing and not necessarily interpreting any actual hits or breaks until again at 2:54 after which we went to a little dip.
Shortly after I started realizing that the song was soon going to end. I was not familiar with the song so I did not know how exactly it was going to end so I tried to wing it. I knew a hit was coming soon so I opened her up on a 3:04 mark, then brought her in. Since there was no hit, I just kept going with the music to a little dip, and as the music still kept going I turned with her until finally I heard it on 3:09 where I tried to accent it with my head, then I felt another one and brought liz to a very small dip on 3:10, soon after I realized there was going to be couple of more final hits so we ended up looking at each other on the 3:12 mark as the ending pose.
Now realize that the above thought process was not really going on consciously, it was basically just all felt at the moment, but it was still going on subconsciously. The more familiar you will become with the salsa music and learn to listen to music in general, the better your intuition and awareness for different hits and breaks of the music will develop. Also, one very good tip on hitting the breaks and accents of the music is to pay attention to the song in the beginning as many of the breaks and hits often repeat themselves, so if you heard them once it will become easier to anticipate them again the next time.
I am also, very soon opening the opportunity for some of you to pre-purchase my brand new salsa timing and musicality on-line video program if you are interested. But for more info on that soon.
What really makes hitting the accents and breaks so much fun is that you are really getting so much more out of the music and dancing. There is nothing like the high you get from hitting a particular musical note. It is like your body all of sudden resonates with the instruments in a harmonious bliss. And when you are able to accomplish that with a partner who is also in the same wave length with you and also in tune with the music, it is like experiencing mini… hmm… how could I say this… let’s just say mini moments of pure bliss 
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Now let’s look at the second video where I got to dance with Clarice from Los Angeles.
For me the music felt really relaxed and playful, so I tried to make my dancing sort of reflect that mood. Clarice was truly a pleasure to dance with which made the experience even so much better. But the song did not really have any major hits or accents, simply steady on-going rhythms that I then ended up trying to accent more here in different ways.
Notice that we dance this song on2. The cool thing about this song for me was that it really felt good dancing it on2 (and accenting the second beat of the music) even though the song also had a very strong core beats played with the cowbell. Just listen to the counts 1,3,5,7 and you should hear the cowbell very clearly, which I also ended up accenting for just a short while on 0:28 – 0:32 by breaking out of dancing on2 and doing a little double side basic for a moment and turning Clarice on 1:39 – 1:44. Then on 2:17 the flute (That has been one of the most prominent instruments) went into a little playful rhythm pattern and I simply decided to accent it by going side to side to the sound of the flute. So as you can see sometimes dancing musically can really be that simple, just being tune with the music and dancing to it even if just a little will make your dancing so much more fun. Learning about musicality and timing does not have to be difficult.
At 3:01 the band started giving a little more energy and on 3:09 you will hear the percussionist really starting to drum a lot harder. I tried to accent this chance with matching my shoulder chimies to the drummers accents and started dancing with a little more energy as I felt more energy from the band. You will notice my turn patterns getting a bit more intricate and my turns and movements a little more sharper and exaggerated. And there you have it the analysis of another video clip. Realize that just by interpreting the mood of the music and being in sync with the rhythms can make the dance much more fun for you even if you don’t accent any major hits.
Let me know if this was helpful and leave me a comment or share this article with your friends on Twitter or Youtube. Also, if you want to read my entire coverage of the salsa congress, see Johnny Vasquez making jokes about his brothers bald head, see my favorite salsa congress videos, pics of the event and even see me competing with the 2009 World Salsa Champion Liz Lira (whom I am dancing with above), go to read my detailed the San Francisco Salsa Congress coverage here (Just click the link)!
