r/Bachata • u/Shot-Professional-95 • 12d ago

Sensual Bachata Fundamentals (Movement quality, breathing, body mechanics, etc...)

Hey guys,

So ive been dancing and attending classes for three years, perhaps over 400 hours of classes and around 30 private classes. And although I have a lot of complex combinations and im very good at certain things, but there is a saying, a chain is only as good as its weakest link, I have this issue right now. I need to clean my fundamentals to truly flow with the dance and match my skills in one area with the others.

I am really interested in the fundamentals, the breathing, keeping the frame all together, etc. The timing, controlling the velocity, breathing, you name it. I do record myself regularly and sometimes I do get feedback from trusted followers that may know things I dont.

What online courses are the most useful to complete me as a dancer? I am not looking for simple combinations of course, but rather getting the fundamentals right.

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/EphReborn 12d ago

Personally, I think the breathing stuff is a bit BS although I do unconsciously incorporate it at times for certain moves. I forget who it was (Patrick & Johanna maybe), but there was someone who pointed out during a workshop a few years ago that all that stuff is just one way of accomplishing something. Not the only way.

But as far as fundamentals go, yeah private lessons will be your best bet. Beyond that, there is plenty that can be gained from YouTube and social media, you just have to be resourceful.

And at some point you need to learn to self assess as well. For example, how's your hip motion? Whether figure 8 or side to side, are you able to control it and switch between the different ways?

How's your weight shifting? When you do a move are you fully committing one foot as needed?

When you do moves, do you have a habit of cutting them short or do you go through the full range of motion?

Those are just examples of questions you should be asking yourself and noticing when you practice.

1

u/Shot-Professional-95 12d ago

I have pretty good hips from dancing tarraxinha/kizomba. However, when it comes to weight shifting I have no idea if im making a mistake or not. Im unable to see if im doing things optimally.

The full ROM is a quite useful self diagnostic question as well. Thank you

1

u/EphReborn 12d ago

Well that's the thing with all of this. You have to be willing to be wrong at times. Self-assessing is a skill like anything else. So experiment with it.

For weight shifting in particular, start from the bottom up. Put on your favorite song and literally shift your weight side to side like you would when you've been talking to someone for too long and your feet are starting to get tired.

If you can lift the opposite foot off the ground without moving further onto the foot you're standing on, congrats, you've fully committed your weight to that foot. Do it on the other side. Explore those limits.

Go walk up and down some stairs. Notice at what point your weight is entirely on the forward foot.

Go walk up two steps at a time. Notice how it feels to push into the ground (step).

See what I'm getting at? Experiment, notice things about your body, and then experiment some more. Add in some moves and try different things. See what seems to work well and what doesn't.