Hey, guys!
It’s Lucie Fink and in this edition of Try Living With Lucie,
I’m bringing out my inner dancer.
I asked my Instagram to let me know which
styles of dance they wanted to see me try
in 5 Days of Dance
and then I picked out my five favorites for this episode.
So for the next five videos
in the Try Living With Lucie series,
you’re going to see me
learning one of these dance styles.
Today’s pick is Salsa.
Earlier this morning I went to the world famous
Copacabana Nightclub in Times Square to meet
with Ahtoy Juliana,
the founder of the Latin dance company BAILA Society.
I’m a Salsa teacher and performer.
And I have been dancing Salsa for fifteen years.
Salsa is a dance form that originated in the Caribbean.
]It came through the African slave trade
and it’s got a mix of African rhythms and some modern
ones.
But what I find to be the most interesting thing about
Salsa is that whichever Latin American country you’re in,
the style of Salsa they dance is going to be different.
And even here in the U.S.,
different regions have their own distinctive styles.
For instance, L.A. style Salsa is
different from New York style Salsa.
In New York style Salsa, you’ll hear a lot of sirens.
Just kidding.
First things first, you can’t dance Salsa in sneakers.
I can’t?
I brought heels so…
I would say that we wear them because they’re sexy
but I have lots of other reasons too.
They distribute your weight more on your toes,
so you’ll feel a little lighter when you dance.
So we’re dancing on our toes,
we’re kind of leaning forward, we’re relaxing our spine.
I have to say: I never wear heels.
I’m actually a little nervous about breaking my ankle.
This is something I thought would take
thirty seconds and it wound up taking me
way longer.
Wait, how does this work?
It’s a struggle just to put the shoes on.
Twenty minutes later…
The shoes are on.
Salsa is primarily a partner dance
where there’s a leader and a follower.
So Ahtoy brought along her business partner
Joseph to be my Salsa dancing partner.
But before I could dance with him,
I needed to learn the dance on my own so that I knew
how to move and so that I didn’t step on his toes
with my dancing heels.
So we started with a basic step.
I think Lucie is a very musical person
so she’s going to have an easy time picking
up the rhythm.
And I think that if she allows that rhythm
to come into her body,
she’s going to do a great job at Salsa.
So we’re going to relax our spine
and then we relax our knees, sort of unlock them.
Your hips are going to float back behind you.
Your chest is going to float forward.
So you’re going to step with your right foot
and then your left.
For now don’t worry about the movement.
Let’s get this rhythm.
It’s the same movement as when you’re walking.
Your right foot goes forward and your opposite arm
goes forward, right?
It’s actually really hard to walk like this.
And it’s also really hard to dance Salsa like that.
Yeah.
The same kind of style that creates that, okay?
Let’s do a Salsa rhythm.
It goes quick, quick, slow.
Good. Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
That is gonna be stuck in my head forever.
And after I got the forward and back basic steps,
she taught me the side basic step.
So see how instead of putting the foot here, I put it here.
Yup.
Right, left, right, good, left.
I learned a right turn.
Slow, quick, quick, turn.
Quick, quick, slow, together, back step.
Oh together back.
Yeah.
And then she taught me a move that she coined,
The Work It Step.
Work it!
One, three, five, seven…
This is my kind of dance.
This is slow. Yeah.
One, two, three, done.
Work it, work it.
That’s it.
You have the basic step,
side basic, a right turn, and The Work It Step.
I’ve got four sequences.
I think you’re set.
You think?
Yeah.
Ready for a partner?
Let’s practice this with music
and then we know what we’re doing with our partner.
Nice and small.
Ready for a turn?
Yeah.
Go!
Awesome!
I’m really surprised.
I think you studied before hand.
I swear to god I didn’t study!
You’re a good teacher.
I think you learned Salsa on YouTube.
I’m feeling really into the groove.
Then it was finally time for me
to partner up with Joseph.
Now we’re going to learn how to talk to
each other with our bodies.
Salsa etiquette: how do ask someone to dance?
If you don’t speak the same language, this is sufficient.
You’re not trying to have too many rules
that you’re trying to memorize.
It should feel natural.
And you did it exactly right.
It came right to me.
That’s your first follow.
Moving in time with Joseph
felt a lot different than doing the moves on my own.
All of a sudden I felt like I was a part of a new dance,
this duet, where I needed to
be totally receptive and paying attention
to Joseph’s moves and intentions if I wanted
to be prepared for what move was coming next.
I messed up a ton of times.
I stepped in the wrong place.
I twirled in the wrong direction.
Turn to face your partner but leave
your right leg behind you.
Quick, slow, that’s it.
If you’re new to Salsa dancing,
you also feel the body movement from him.
I feel it in his shoulder.
I feel it in his hand.
But making eye contact with Joseph was really helpful.
We practiced a crossbody lead…
...Crossbody lead, five, six, seven, good.
....a right turn.
...slow. Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Fantastic!
So what did you feel?
I spun without hurting him
as they say in “The Princess Diaries.”
So once I had the dance down,
it was time to change into the proper attire.
Oh!
Ahtoy brought me this beautiful costume
that she made.
A first this outfit was incredibly intimidating to me.
Woo!
—Nice! —Wow!
So I’m in my bathing suit.
So running around the lobby of The Copacabana
wearing this at 2 p.m. was a little odd.
I’m ready to go.
But, changing your outfit can be so
beyond transformative.
I feel right.
I look right.
Let’s salsa!
Alright.
Things to remember:
eye contact, smile, trust your partner.
Got it?
Got it.
Alright.
So we turned on the music and I gave it all I’ve got.
It’s really fun being the following partner
in Salsa because you get to live in the moment.
Whereas, the leader is always thinking of
the next step and they’re living in the future.
You as the follower just have to listen to their cues
and follow the body language.
And you get to live entirely in the present.
And every time you receive a new cue,
it’s like muscle memory.
Your body knows what to do and you
effortlessly go into the next move.
Yay!
Wepa!
Woo!
Thank you!
Thank you! That was awesome.
You are great.
It was also amazing to watch Ahtoy and Joseph
dance with one another because they’re really
two pros.
But as they told me,
they actually haven’t dance together in over a year.
But from the outside looking in,
you’d think they practice this routine last night.
Once you learn it,
your body never forgets it.
Wherever you live,
I would highly recommend you get out there
and take a Salsa class of your own,
whether you’re looking for something new to try
or if you just want a fun workout.
And I may or may not be at The Copacabana
next week in my blue feathery suit,
shaking my hips like there’s no tomorrow.
So I’ll see you there!
Hey, YouTube!
Thanks so much for watching.
I hope you liked my first Salsa lesson and if you want to see my next dance video in
5 Days of Dance, come back right here next week.
In the meantime, click here to watch another video.
Here to subscribe to us on YouTube.
And right here for my personal YouTube Channel.
Bye!