Advanced Following

This class aims to become more aware on how we use (or not use) our vision and our gaze to both orientate and pick up on options as followers visually. We’ll be looking at how a) scanning for visual cues from our partner, b) projecting our follower voice in movement by using our own gaze, and c) intentional eye contact (incl. none) allow, foster and inspire different layers of connection in our partnership.

In this class we’ll explore different touch qualities as we refine our tactile communication skills in our dance. How can I as a follower mirror and match, inspire, influence or change the musicality and dynamic of our dance through touch without disrupting our connection nor taking over the lead?

This is a fine-tuning practice for your body. It’s about creating awareness for every joint and enable different movements to accentuate what we hear. It’s an amazing way to organize and warm up your body, mind and soul and get comfortable for dancing.
This class includes isolations in various rhythmical patterns and more complex combinations. Part of this class is a couple of short improvisations to activate your imagination and experience different
qualities of movement.

How can we use our body in a more musical way to spice up our steps and turns?
We will work on our technique to find more stability and practice different ways to have more fun and musicality in our turns without intruding the connection to our partner.
This class includes some turn technique exercises and some creativity tools to express our turns to match the energy/rhythm of the music.

Turning, rotating, bending, leaning – all in dialogue with the music and our partner’s suggestion? Yay, fun! To know how to come back and when exactly to be ready for the next thing, is what makes all the difference.

This particular follower skill is about precision in our positioning and about an integrated understanding of musical phrases and sequences. In this class we will work on building more integrity in our solo movement and reflect on the use of our own body. We’ll also get nerdy on translating what we hear into our own movement with precision, as we aim to offer as much clarity as possible in our stepping and weight shifting. This allows our leading partners to make excellent choices for both us and them more easily.

Whether in physical contact or not, in close embrace, with eyes closed or open – there is a flow of motion that we can tap into at all times and share its wave as dancing partners.
In this class we’ll deepen our sense of following energetically. We’ll challenge our own habits and defaults playfully, while we aim to widen our energetic range of following.
We’ll be practicing the ability to a) match our partner’s energy rather than their movement, b) surrender to a flow (kinesthetically in our body/ of the music/ of our partnership) without giving away responsibility as a follower, and c) use our emotions to allow energy to flow.

Erykah Badu, Beyoncé, Shakira, Little Simz, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Presley and Bob Marley all use it: Clave, known as the heart and foundation of Salsa music.
Where does this fascinating rhythm come from and where and how can we find it (outside of Salsa)?
Let’s deep dive into the Clave rhythm through listening, clapping, stepping and moving, to open the door for a broader range of musical interpretation in your dance.
This class includes practical steps and movements to incorporate this exciting rhythm in our dance and a little information about the background and structure of the Clave.