Musicality and the Musicalists of the World

Musicality is the Father of Men’s Styling.

Musicalists are now getting SO used to women saying “… oh my god” after virtually every song, that naturally they tend to start believing they are Salsa gods, and this CAN get to their HEADs.

Guys, hold the reigns… take my word of advice. Just because women STAND IN LINE all night to get a dance with you and call you “god” afterward doesn’t mean you’re really GOD….OK?
___________________________________________________________________

What do all of these men have in common?
Alex Lima-France, Mimo–Germany, Tamambo-UK, Felix Crainicu-Romania, Peter Fige-Hungary Ismael Otero & Juan Calderon-New Jersey – Tudor-Romania – Fabrizio, Italy – Milton Cobo, USA

… and yes, women say “Oh my god” after dancing with them.

They’re all Musicalists

Musicality in Salsa– by Edie, The Salsa FREAK

Click here for Edie’s Private Musicality Hits Music List

The Explosion of Musicality in Romania
Romanians Taking Salsa to THE HIGHEST LEVEL ‘

Partner dancing Musically – Hitting the Breaks Within the Music!

“You guys don’t realize how good you are …”
– Edie, The Salsa FREAK

“It’s the type of MUSIC they’re playing!! They have no clue how incredible their DJs are”
– Musicalist Peter Fige, Germany

~ Musicality ~

Musicality (myōō’zÄ*-kāl’Ä*-tÄ“) n.

• The quality or condition of being musical.
• Musical sensitivity or talent.
• Tuneful, dulcet, sweet, lyric.
• How the STORY of the music is INTERPRETED by the body or bodies in motion.

Musicalist (myōō’zÄ*-kā l’Ä*st) n.

• What Edie, The Salsa FREAK refers to as a dancer to interprets the story of the music by his/her body in motion while partner dancing.
• Awesome male lead who hits the breaks, and ends the song with an amazing dip or dramatic pose at the finale of the song, EXACTLY on time with how the artist of the music originally intended it.
• Awesome female follower who respects hitting the breaks and obeys his every command, even if he asks her to hijack a move in a certain section to compliment the drama of his choreography of the song.
• Bad-ass, amazing feeling Salsero who practices Musicality and takes her to places she’s never been…
  (on the dance floor)
  Most women refer to him as “oh my god” after dancing with him.

HOW IT STARTED.
In December of 2006, I was invited by Dragos and Raluca, owners of the largest dance school in Romania (www.SalsaGalaxy.com) They asked for a full weekend Bootcamp for all the Romanian Salseros.

Dragos is an AMAZING lead ‘ one of the best in Romania, if not the world (he just doesn’t realize it). In fact, his lead is so good, I’ve included him as one of the instructors in my new World’s Best Leads’ DVD series. Dragos is a humble man, but has the lead of fine wine. His partner Raluca, is one of the most beautiful and hardest working people I know. With his personality and her organizational skills, they have managed to create the largest dance school in Romania. Their vision is to teach the best they know how to ALL Romanians ‘ not just those at their school. He never calls the people attending his school ‘his students’. He always simply says, ‘I am their Teacher’. How true and profound that is’

“SLEEP for a Salsero in Romania is …. “COMPLICATED…”

One of my favorite quotes Dragos told me was regarding my getting any sleep over there.
‘Actually’ Edie, you see’ sleep here in Romania is’. complicated.’

He was right! They have such a great Salsa scene, such great dancers, and play such GREAT music that I never wanted to leave the clubs!!
I was there till 4am every night!!uh… “morning”

“There is no such thing as ‘Tomorrow…’ for a Salsero… it’s always just ‘Later on Today…’ – Dragos

Romania is a growing nation budding away from the grip of Communism. They were actually liberated in 1989, but the ‘ways of old’ are still seen everywhere. The amount of traffic, buildings, and industry has literally doubled in the past year. Better make a trip over their before Romania gets so industrialized, you will no longer recognize it.
During email exchanges, I asked Dragos what he specifically wanted me to teach an already advanced nation. ‘Edie, just teach us ‘ whatever you think we need’. Oh, and include Musicality.’

OK. (pause…)

So. (longer pause…)

I had to think fast – my normalBootcamps are Beginners on Saturday and Styling on Sundays.

That’s my system. They wanted something else even more complex ‘ something that would challenge them, but NOT RUIN THEM.
We were in a delicate situation here.

Let me explain:

• I could have taught ‘On-2’, but that would cause a rift (separation) in this precious and growing scene.
• I could have taught a ton of new moves, but they can learn those from DVDs and Dragos ‘ they would have thought that the more intricate and complex the moves are, the better WHICH IS NOT THE CASE.
• I didn’t want to emphasize “Moves“.
• My expertise is TECHNIQUE which makes the woman ‘feel good’, while making the man ‘look good’.
• I wanted to emphasize Style, Comfort, and Class.

Musicality was THE ANSWER, and it was absolutely perfect for this.

After listening to their music and DJ for several nights, I took advantage of what they are sitting on: a GOLD MINE. I decided to experiment with this group of people. I taught “whatever I wanted’” all weekend’including spins, style, story-building, and focusing a few hours of one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE subject:~ Musicality ~

It is very easy to interpret Salsa musically and lyrically dancing solo (Floor Shines) but EXTREMELY difficult while still holding your partner during social dancing. Eighty percent of the time, knowing the music is the easiest way, but there’s that magical 20% of the time that takes more extensive training.
This type of ‘extensive’ training involves meticulous ear training in Timing, finding musical patterns within the song, counting measures, typically knowing the artist, their characteristics, and ultimately tuning in subconsciously with your partner and reaching that trance-like state of Salsa Euphoria that only comes once in a Blue Moon. With proper Musicality Training, you ‘CAN’ actually hit this trance at will, rather than by accident.

Musicality is a dance form in Salsa still at its budding stages. It is only just beginning to emerge worldwide. It is extremely difficult to master. There are only a handful of Salseros throughout the world whom I know are true Musicalists, and practice it often, but none who have truly mastered it and even fewer who can actually teachit CORRECTLY. It is an extremely difficult artform. It is an on-going process of learning and growing ‘ the sky is the limit with Musicality ‘ that’s what makes it so important in the world of Salsa. There are now no limits to growing your dancing ‘ Musicality is BETTER than a bunch of new moves. It’s the ULTIMATE. There are no limits to this!!

I’ve seen it and experienced it ‘ but with only the top Leads / Musicalists in the world.

That is why I am now teaching Musicality classes to students and instructors using my Black Belt Dance Training system. I want to be able to dance musically with more Salseros – not just the few.

One of the most exciting aspects of dancing musically to Salsa music is that the hits and stops can be so unpredictable. The artist of the song has free reign to create whatever he/she chooses. We need to respect and follow THAT.

The most important aspect of pulling off perfect Musicality with Salsa is that both you and your partner must be completely attuned and have respect for each other. The woman MUST respect the man’s lead every second, and the man must respect the woman’s body ‘already in motion’.

Dancing Musically is hitting the breaks, pausing at the stops, and sweeping during the crescendos are an amazing challenge because not only do you have to control your self, but you must be able to control your partner without interrupting her body already-in-motion.

I train my students to remember the following:

• As a Leader, it is your job to make your follower ‘Feel Good’.
  
• As a Follower, it is your job to make your leader ‘Look Good’.

– Edie, The Salsa FREAK

Musicality in Salsa during partner work ‘ socially – is virtually impossible and very uncomfortable if you are not taught its tricks and techniques.

Based on my own experience, this is aggravating and sometimes painful. A body in motion tends to stay in motion – let her be. Musicality involves changing your ‘self’ guys. The trick to performing perfect Musicality dancing is not interrupting your partner’s motion ‘ she must feel the anticipated hit or break coming with your subtle and refined lead.

Only then can she willingly submit to your hold or change on her own. THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF THIS. If she is acutely aware of your lead, and a great follower, she will sense your changes and IMMEDIATELY respect and respond to your every command.

TEACHING MUSICALITY
Teaching musicality is an art in itself. Executing it beautifully without pain or aggravation is virtually impossible if you are not taught the proper methods and techniques.

Musicality in Salsa is still in its infancy. Tone-deaf (or “Rhythmically Challenged”) Salseros who are consistently and always ‘off-beat‘ learn Musicality faster – why? Because they have memorized all the songs, and know every hit and break in the music. In 1994, my first dance partner was tone deaf. He drove me nuts, but we won many competitions because we ‘knew the music perfectly’ ‘ every social dance looked like a show. He was actually light years ahead of his time.

Tone deaf (or “Rhythmically Challenged”) Salseros love Salsa just as much as the next guy, but were born tone-deaf and cannot hear the basic beats. It’s not their fault ‘ they were literally born that way. Their ‘rhythmic motor skill-to-brain’ connection is simply not there. They will never be able to correlate their legs to the beat of the music – EVER. And you cannot help them so don’t even try. Just smile and love them for who they are. But you know what? They may have a passion for Salsa more than the rest of us – at times even more so, than those of us who are fixated and addicted to staying ‘On Beat’ 100% of the time ‘ which is impossibility if the musician switched the beats of the song within the music. Do you know why musicians do that? BECAUSE THEY CAN. They created the song!! They can do whatever they want with it! It’s their music!

It gets our minds to re-focus on why we started dancing to begin with ‘ to have fun and forget about life for a while. Salsa is like a hospital ‘ a retreat of recovery from the tragedies of life and recuperation from our hardships and trials. It is a form of relaxation and exercise. It is bliss taken to a higher level. It’s just too bad the Mambo Police busted in on our drug-like cloud and lined up along the dance floor watching and criticizing our timing. God help us if we accidentally step forward on the Two rather than the Six, or the Five, rather than the One for a measure or two…
‘Oh my god,,, he’s so off beat’ !@$#!’

SO WHAT. ‘He’ is not YOUR problem! Work on your ‘self’ girlfriend! Work on your styling, work on your following, work on your finger-egg, but most of all, work on your fake smile!!! Who knows, you may both just end up busting out laughing and actually HAVING FUN getting off-time for a change!

BACK TO ROMANIA’
The Romanians wanted ‘SOMETHING MORE’ than just a full weekend Bootcamp. They wanted to know the secrets and techniques of MUSICALITY within their dancing more than anything else. For some reason they ‘knew’ this was the ultimate ‘ something only the BEST of the BEST dancers in the world understand and can actually pull off during a social dance.
‘Edie, we know all the moves, we need something else’ we need to add more to our dancing. We need Musicality and Style.’ – Romanian Salsero
The beauty of practicing Musicality is that if taught correctly you cannot have Musicality without Style. They both fit each other like a hand-in-glove. One is the shadow of the other.

Musicality is the Father of Style.

SIX MONTHS LATER …
After the weekend Salsa FREAK Bootcamp in Romania, I was invited back in six months to basically continue where I left off. During that six month period, I was determined to perfect the way I teach Musicality classes, so I started experimenting with it, teaching Musicality and Men’s Styling classes at various congresses and festivals throughout the world.
At the same time, little did I realize that during the same six-month period, the Romanian Salseros took everything I said to heart, studied more and more, analyzed some of the top dancers in the world, invited even more instructors to teach them, and increased their dance level by AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. By the time I got back to Romania six months later, dancing with them was like dancing with completely different Salseros. I couldn’t believe it. Their patterns, combinations, style and body movements were amazing! Their Musicality was just starting to emerge. Now they were ready for more complex Musicality courses – this time, at a deeper level.

By now I knew that Romanian Salseros typically soak up everything I teach them like sponges, so what I decided to do was invite one the Top Musicalists in the world, Mr. Peter Fige. Peter is originally from Hungary. He currently teaches Salsa in Germany in the evenings and some weekends. Interestingly enough, he is a mathematician during the day and works for a major engineering firm in Munich.

There are other instructors who are musical, but none like Peter Fige, who can be musical WITH his partner while still in his arms, and never pull or yank her into musical submission (I’ve experienced THAT nightmare with other guys and hated every minute of it).

I’ve seen Peter’s growth in Musicality become more and more refined and sophisticated over the years. We met in Berlin in 2002. He was dancing Cuban style at the time, but then progressed to LA and NY Style later on. More recently, I found myself standing in line to get a dance with him. Not only are his moves easy to follow, but his exact synchronicity and playfulness with the Music is what has always kept my attention. Peter is so good at dancing musically, that I’ve included him in my new ‘World’s Best Leads’ DVD series teaching none other than: ‘Musicality’.

Peter has the capability of playing with the hits and breaks of the music without EVER interrupting the follower. He has an uncanny ability of preparing me for a pause even if I don’t know it’s coming. When we dance together, we are literally ‘One with the Music’. You can feel his passion for the music with every note – to the dying end of the song, Peter takes you inside the music with him. It is an experience difficult to describe in words. When I am dancing with Peter, or any other musicalist, the rest of the world disappears. It’s just simply all about the music, and how the artist is telling the story. Peter becomes the artist’s brush, palette, and frame, painting the beautiful picture (his dance partner) with his movements and direction. His leading technique and style is astounding. Dancing with Peter is an absolutely unbelievable experience. I know most women feel the same.
Ladies, before you die, you need to experience Peter’s gentle, yet powerful lead. He leads by signaling within his subtle motions, rarely puts his thumbs on your hands, and never forces a thing. I’ll never forget what Peter told our class in a virtual whisper,
‘Leading Musically is like speaking.
If you speak softly, you can always GET LOUDER.’ – Peter Fige

Black Belt Salsa (BBS)
MUSICALITY INSTRUCTOR TRAINING.

BBS – Red/Black Belt Instructor Musicality Course

MUSICALISTS:

Alex Lima – Brazil
My first experiment (on accident) was working with Alex Lima from Brazil, now residing and teaching in Paris, France.

Alex has always been known for his solo musicality shows. I was quite surprised when I danced with him at the Arnhem event in Holland that he was not only musical as a solo dancer, but also during social dancing as well! His lead is so good, so musical, so refined, that I’ve also included him in my ‘World’s Best Leads’ DVD series. It’s always a thrill discovering your partner is ACTUALLY LISTENING to the SONG, and DANCING TO IT. Alex Lima’s artistic Musicality Moves paints the song with both of our bodies.

As a follower, I get tired of pattern after pattern (pattern prics), move after move (move mongers), combo after combo (combo creeps)’ etc, etc. etc. while awesome music is playing and they’re missing every hit and break in the song. They’re actually still dancing at the end of the song WHEN THERE’S NO LONGER MUSIC PLAYING, because they have to finish their combination. That’s when the heart and soul of the music is lost.

Alex Lima is completely different and a fantastic Musicalist. We met for a weekend workshop on the island of Cyprus in October of 2006. Our first dance together was the actual show that night. He chose a song we both knew and we executed the dance to the exact hits and breaks within the music ‘ it looked as if we rehearsed it for months ‘ when we were actually simply improvising the entire time! It was a complete rush dancing with him like this. You can really feel the years of maturity in his lead come out when dancing musically with him. I’ve been told the leader feels the same of the follower as well. When both of you know the music, painting the picture of the song with your bodies is better than sex.
And I’m NOT kidding.
Alex and I danced like this all weekend. Every social dance was a PERFORMANCE for crying out loud! I was in high-heaven the entire weekend thanks to him and the Cyprian promoters. If you ever get a chance to visit the island of Cypress, it is simply amazing. The island is astounding during the day, with its incredible beaches and vacation resorts. The Salsa nightlife is even better ‘ with Salsa dancing on Sunday nights at clubs by the water. It’s so relaxing dancing under the stars and hearing the waves of the ocean crashing on the shore nearby’

TEACHING MEN’S STYLING TO LEARN MUSICALITY
Later, I started to get more serious about teaching musicality classes everywhere I went. I even started teaching Men’s Styling classes from a women’s perspective ‘ well, from ‘my’ perspective. .[IMG]file://localhost/Users/edithwilliams/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image006.png[/IMG]
I needed the training to understand the depth of knowledge required to pull off teaching Musicality as both the lead AND follower. I learned a long time ago, that if I ever want to learn something well, I need to teach it to master it.
So I did just that. I started taking men’s styling classes, then teaching Men’s Styling classes here and there’ learning from some of the top Male Stylists in the World. I even did a Men’s Styling Weekend Bootcamp where I invited the top 5 male stylists in Los Angeles to teach with me throughout the weekend! I was surprised I could actually pull it off, but then again, all I do is dance ‘with men’, and I’ve had over a dozen or so different dance partners since 1994, so it wasn’t really all that hard! I just have to forget that I have breasts for a moment, and I’m just fine! I teach Men’s Styling from a woman’s perspective. It’s completely different from how the guys teach it.

I teach men “what women want, when they want it, and how often…”

My vision was still focused on training the precious and hungry Salseros of Romania…

HOW I DID IT
When teaching Musicality classes, what worked best for me was finding a dance instructor for my class to demonstrate what I’m teaching. My target ‘guy’ was usually some hot-shot male instructor already teaching at the event. I was shocked at the number of MALE INSTRUCTORS that actually TURNED ME DOWN when I asked them to assist me at the last minute. They looked at me like a deer-in-headlights and said, ‘No way! I can do it, but I can’t teach it Edie’“

I can teach on my own no problem, but let me tell you what happened every time I wanted a partner for the class.

I tried Two different ways:
First, I asked a male instructor a half ‘ hour before the class to assist me. What would happen is that he would want to know the song, and we would have to start practicing it to ‘prepare’ ‘ which was NOT what I wanted. But, being the submissive follower that I’m supposed to be, I gave that a try, and we miserably failed every time because he would get confused over what he was ‘feeling’ on stage in front of dozens of students verses what we rehearsed. I also found that it was TWICE AS NERVE-RACKING teaching after that. He was stressed, I was stressed, and it was just’ bad.

The second method was to NOT TELL THE GUY till ten seconds before the song played what we were about to do. THIS WORKED EVERY TIME. I chose all types of instructors whom I knew were very musical:

Alex Lima from France… One of the finest Musicalists in the world. Click here for a Youtube clip of his amazing Solo – Pure Musicality performance that brought him a full-house standing ovation in the UK.

Mimo from Germany – I attribute this man’s incredible lead to one of his first instructors, Marion Morena from Germany. That woman knows how to teach “quality” leading techniques like none other. Mimo’s lead is one of the finest and most pure leads I’ve ever known – there is no other lead like his. He’s an absolute dream to dance with and always makes me laugh!

Tamambo from England – Always fun-loving and a pleasure to be around. He dances like his personality – constantly hitting the peaks and valleys of every song, a roller-coaster ride of an amazing dance. He never misses a hit, and knows how to animate his body exactly with the Music. He literally “becomes” the Music.

Felix Crainicu from Romania. This is one of the fastest learners I’ve ever met. While in Romania, he picked up Musicality as if he had done it his entire life. He was so thirsty to learn more, it was a dream working with him. I’d love to see how far he’s come. He is an example Musicalist for Eastern European Salseros.

Peter Fige from Hungary – I discovered Peter getting better and better at every congress I went to. I realized that he was one of the few in the world who could hit the breaks, pause to the pauses, and crescendo with his movements EXACTLY to every hit of the music. It is amazing dancing with him. I started looking for him at every event… that is when I questioned “why?” Why don’t ALL men dance like Peter? Because they are NOT women, and they have NO IDEA what “I” am feeling!! That is when I asked Peter to do the World’s First Musicality DVD with me, and help “change the world” with it.

One of my experiments was Ismael Otero, founder of the Caribbean Soul dance company in New Jersey. I’ve always loved dancing with him because he is so musical and so comical at the same time! He loves to dance both the Two and the One – and never complains either way. He is always surprising me with his set of “Million Moves”. Every dance is COMPLETELY different with this man. With me, he’s never repeated a single move twice.

Both Ismael and Juan Calderon (also from New Jersey, founder of Cultural Explosion dance company) have always mesmerized me with the way they are able to hit the stops and breaks within the music while social dancing.

When you get dancing with these guys, aka Musicalists, all you can say is “Oh my god… that was incredible…” I’m sure Juan has been called “oh my god” after an amazing Salsa song on more than one occasion. His is by far one of the first, and still one of the best Musicalists in the world.

Tudor from Romania – Here is another amazing Musicalist that picked it up like he was born with it. The man’s connection with the music is unbelievable. He “designs” every song he dances with this partner. He is the artist, and she is the painting. His styling and moves are the brushes that paint the picture. I can’t say enough about his Musical lead.

I am not the only female to say, that Italian-born, Dutch Salsero “Fabrizio” is by far one of the finest dancers / leads in the world. He is a Master at LA / NY and Cuban style dancing, and can throw down an authentic Cuban Rumba with the BEST of them. I’ll never forget I was in a workshop once with Morry from Salsa Ventura of the Netherlands and his partner said “While I am dancing, and then afterward, I feel like I want to marry Fabrizio and have all his babies…” Now if THAT doesn’t describe his lead, I don’t know what will. .[IMG]file://localhost/Users/edithwilliams/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image016.png[/IMG]

______________________________________________________________
In fact, Musicalists are now getting SO used to women saying “… oh my god” after virtually every song, that naturally they tend to start believing they are Salsa gods, and this CAN get to their HEADs.

Guys, hold the reigns… take my word of advice. Just because women STAND IN LINE all night to get a dance with you and call you “god” afterward doesn’t mean you’re really GOD….OK?

While teaching in Switzerland, I asked Ismael Otero into my class, and he had NO IDEA what I was about to do. In front of a crowd of about fifty curious students, I asked him to dance a demo with me to a song we both knew and have him interpret the music while partner dancing with me ‘ not solo shines. He was shocked, but simply ‘went with the flow’ like he always amazingly does’ with precision!!

It’s amazing what a true professional can pull off in front of a crowd of curious onlookers. Ismael did it. Every hit, every pulse, every break in the song was displayed both in the lead and follow, beautifully, and to perfection.
The crowd of students cheered in a mad rush when they saw the result.

We made the song into a piece of art. Ismael placed both my body and his into moves fitting beautifully within the music. The exact same thing happened with Tamambo from England and Felix Crainicu from Romania. Each time, I put them on the spot, and made them just simply ‘dance what they felt’ to certain hits and stops in the music. What was awesome was that each was excellent in their craft outside of Salsa; Tamambo in Jazz, and Felix in Tango. They added their own flavor and styling and what felt most comfortable to them within the Salsa song I chose. It was fabulous. It was a work of art-in-motion. I love seeing the results BECAUSE I NEVER KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT ‘ and the ‘natural’ masculine style that emanated out of each man once they hit the breaks within the song ‘ oh my god’ to die for. Just watching them was a show. I had to excuse myself and take a cold shower afterward.

STOP THINKING

What is fascinating is that a true, hard-core Salsero can pull off Musicality moves if he just doesn’t think about it too much. Once he starts thinking, his logical mind gets in the way of his natural flow. You cannot perfect ‘perfection’ and try to improve the trance-like state of Salsa Euphoria in a leader who dances musically. It must happen naturally. It is almost a spiritual experience. His flow becomes your flow and both of you just fly.

It is both a pleasure and honor to teach alongside men who dance musically CORRECTLY. Most of all, I love the respect they have for the woman ‘ all women.

Misogynists (men who hate women) don’t do too well with Musicality. You can pick them out a mile away by how they are treating the women on the dance floor. There are a lot of them out there, so beware. They brutalize the woman by forcing her to stop abruptly in the middle of a turn without any warning. He will slam the breaks in the middle of her natural motion. They treat her like an animal on a leash, and it just isn’t right, nor does it feel good. She feels caged and just wants to revolt against him. Not a pretty site.

LISTEN UP FELLA’S….
When a female feels her body respected, loved, and taken care of by a Musicalist, she finds herself giving back in submission to his lead even more. It’s a beautiful union of the male and female role in life.

This is why Musicality is BETTER than SEX

The women of Transylvania are some of the most beautiful in the world.

THE FUTURE OF SALSA
Where do I see Salsa headed? From seeing how quickly the Salseros of Romania picked up Musicality, I see more and more Jack and Jill competitions taking place throughout the world, where you don’t know who your partner will be; his/her name is randomly chosen for you out of a hat, and you are judged based on Musicality and style’. I see Improvisational shows sprouting up all over the world.

NOW (Thank God) I see Congresses, Festivals, and Conventions promoters hire instructors who will focus more on Musicality Techniques rather than just turn patterns and figures. I see the moves and techniques found typically in shows, taken musically to the social dance floor. I see musicians creating more ‘Musical’ music with stops, hits and breaks for the dancers to play with. I see Musicality take the entire economy of Salsa up one more notch ‘ to the mass media and beyond.

More importantly, I see all of us as dancers getting back to the heart and soul of the music itself. I see us getting off each other’s back about staying ‘On Beat’’ I see the arguments of dancing on the ‘One’ or the ‘Two’ quietly fade away. I see different dance styles combining and merging into one beautiful, all-inclusive, non-exclusive, musical and individual dance style.

‘ and I’ve witness first-hand how a tiny country like Romania is leading the way,
‘without even realizing it.

The next weekend, we all drove to the city of Cluj, north of Bucharest. But we had to get through Transylvania ‘ Dracula territory ‘ to get there. Yes, we visited many of Romania’s castles and palaces, but Dracula’s castle was truly something to see.

I taught Musicality in the city of Cluj the ENTIRE 16- HOUR WEEKEND. It was awesome, when they all finally ‘got it’ late Sunday afternoon, wow…. I got chills watching them. Goose bumps.

Watch out world – ROMANIA is IN THE HOUSE.
Thanks to the incredible leadership of Dragos and Raluca they have chosen the highest level of Salsa for their students to learn. ‘These are not my students’ I am simply their Teacher.’ Dragos says of his philosophy of teaching. He knows and understands the Secret of success. He knows the value of quality teaching and never holding anything back ‘ his philosophy is simple: Teach and give away as much as you know, so you can receive more. This is why people wait in line to take his classes. He actually has to turn people down when registering ‘ just too many. A nice problem to have for most of the dance world ‘ a REAL issue for Dragos!

He’s taken responsibility for bringing Romania to the forefront of the Salsa world, one step at a time. The level of respect his students have for him’ I mean, the people that take his classes ‘ is extraordinary. I’ll be teaching the secrets of their studio success at my Instructor Training Bootcamps all over the world. Both Dragos and Raluca’s vision and hearts are enormous. After only advertising their classes online for two days, they received over 100 phone calls for new sign-ups. The growth of Salsa in Romania is awesome because of the quality of instruction they receive, the International Technique-Focused instructors whom they’ve invited, the music the DJs play, and the heart and soul of a hungry nation eager to learn all they can at a very fast pace. Eddie Torres once said, ‘Being great need not be proven, if you’re cream, you will naturally float to the top.’

Because of the incredible leadership of Dragos and Raluca, the Romanian Salseros have grown so fast, that they have not had the chance to get the story and beauty of the music educated out of them. They have been ‘protected’ from outside issues and problems so evident all over the rest of the world of Salsa. Thanks to their leadership, carefully chosen technique-oriented instructors have educated them the correct way.

Now Romanian Salseros are‘One with the Music’ and eager to learn even more.

‘They just don’t know how good they are’’

___________________________________________________________________________________
Edie, The Salsa FREAK!! is one of the most recognized and respected Salsa Writers/Instructor/Performers in the world. In the past twenty years, she has traveled to 63 countries teaching the world to dance, and has been the first American to teach in 18 of those countries. She now lives in the high mountains of beautiful Colorado with her wonderful husband, Nick. You may contact her at Edie The Salsa FREAK!! Website

____________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Readers…
Thanks Edie, for the musicality article. Have been expressing how feeling the music is more enjoyable than obsessing keeping on the beat, to my friends.

There are dancers were i live who are obsessed with keeping on the beat.
They never smile when they are dancing.

Every word of the article iv,e been thinking the same for a good while, and yes i do recieve some ‘o my god’ comments. Inspirational music means alot to me when i dance.

Thanks again
Love Chris.x

Aloha Edie,

Just wanted to say great email about musicality! I’ve been pushing this for a LONG time. It’s nice to see it gaining some momentum.

I was thinking about the fairest way to have a competition, and it seems like round robin jack and jill is the best solution. All the leads dance with all the follows, then the leaders rate the followers and the followers rate the leaders. The winners in each division (lead and follow) are the ones with the highest ratings from their peers.

Any way, keep preaching the gospel of musicality… if Salsa is going to survive as an art form, as opposed to a lifeless series of predetermined moves, musicality is the key.

Mahalos,

Rob

Hi Edie,

Once again I am moved by your newsletter. You are, of course, right on with the concept of musicality. An Indian mystic by the name of Osho, now deceased, spoke about dance as a form of meditation. He instructed his followers to let the dancer disappear and become the dance itself. I took that to heart when I started dancing Salsa more consistently after a difficult divorce; it was the only pain medication that could soothe my broken heart. As I continued to dance, Salsa become much more to me, a way to lose weight, a way to be empowered (I started to go to clubs by myself because there were always friendly faces from the Salsa community),and at the very same time,a way to let myself go, to let the man I was dancing with, and life itself, lead me.

Diana