opens with
the young dancer in blue asking how dancing is initiated in Son
the instructor
plays clave in 3-2 orientation
commencement
occurs on the last beat of the two-side cued in Spanish with the word
'y' [pronounced 'ee'] which means 'and'
the process
of movement to the side spans 'y' and the first beat of the
3-side; this is critical to successful phrasing when dancing Son
the students
use their fingers to 'point' their direction into the first beat of
the 3-side
the swing
of the pointing hand is used as a synchroniser for the swing of the
hips, generating the properly timed side-step. Hence the hips are
the seat of rhythm-keeping, not the feet on the floor
the pointing-hand
swing is replaced by a clap of the hands once effective commencement
is achieved: this reinforces the cue percussively (sound) and kinesthetically
(touch)
the students
express rhythm extremely well in their upper bodies, one of the trademarks
of the Cuban mode of movement
the kinesthetic
cue is moved from the location of the palms to the base of the foot.
Notice that the instructor does not lift his feet, he uses an increase
in pressure
the students
prepare for the movement by 'loading up' i.e. preparing for
a motion by moving slightly in the contra direction. In this case
they move their ribcage to the left before moving to the right, as
evidenced by the shoulder raise in a manner typical of dancers with
modern/contemporary training
the returning
sidestep coincides with the last beat of the 3-side (ponché)
first header
"to dance" the demonstration is better synched to time (the
"little example" in the lesson one clip is clearly an edit
of this one)
the maestro
has a fluid full-body joint cascade, and notice that the movement
of his elbows is as a result of this
compare the
quality of movement of the instructor, as an individual and his effect
on partnership, with that of the students
but also notice
the similarities e.g. the physical expression of musicality
and phrasing
the second
header "a show option" is potentially misleading as it implies
that what is being performed is a version of Son
the visibly
obvious artefacts of Son are exaggerated and grafted into modern
choreography in order for it to be visible on-stage, but the actual
sources of Son movement are absent e.g. the arm movements
are forced (not derived from the joint cascade)
the diametrically
different requirements of social partnered dancing and dancing for
stage is clearly illustrated by comparing the "a bailar"
and "una opción de fantasia" sections; the
most obvious being the different relationship the couples have with
the music.
