I'm just beginning. What makes your video great is the amount of time you spend repeating the same move with music so I can build it into muscle memory knowing I'm doing it correctly. I've been through lots of videos that teach on Salsa on 2 and many show you the steps and only dance to the music for 10 seconds, which doesn't work for beginners. Your video is spot on for people just starting. THANK YOU!
I’m so used to salsa on 1. Atleast you have simplified salsa on 2 bcoz when someone tried to teach me salsa on 2, I got so confused. You are a great instructor
That means a ton Wilfred, thanks man! Really glad it could help. It's definitely an up-hill battle to change your muscle memory but totally possible, just get the reps in. -Robin
As someone who has always danced on 1 this feels soooooo counterintuitive!! :)) Thank you for simplifying it. It would be great to have a video with the same movements alternated on 1 and 2 so that the brain and body can process and assimilate the difference better..
Perfect. Love it. I was searching for a demonstration to use to explain to my students, especially with the music on the background. Really great demo. Thanks.
I’m a little confused, I thought that if you step forward with your right foot on beat 1 and forward with your left foot on beat 2, then you are dancing the Mambo style. In the Eddie Torres style, the lead takes a small step back on the left foot on beat 1, followed by a larger step back on the right foot on beat 2. The break step typically occurs on the "and" of beat 2, and the basic step continues with a step forward on the left foot on beat 3, and so on. So the footwork you demonstrated with a forward step on the right foot on beat 1 and the left foot on beat 2 would be the Mambo style, not the Eddie Torres style. Am I missing something?
When dancing on2 solo in a class the convention is for everyone, including the leads, to break forward on2 to the follow's timing. This is still the timing Eddie Torres popularized 1-2-3, 5-6-7. The only difference is the lead is going forward on2. This has nothing to do with a style, it's just timing. When dancing with a partner, the lead will start stepping back as you said. Here's an article and video with more info: thedancedojo.com/salsa-timing-on1-on2-on3/ and Here's an article about style vs. timing: thedancedojo.com/salsa-styles/ Hope that helps! -robin
Also, if you think about dancing solo in a class On1 it's the exact opposite. It's the follow's who have to break forward on1 to the lead's timing. It's just so everyone is dancing together. A convention has to be chosen - that's all it is!
Also, once can slow a video on UA-cam. What one cannot do is flip the video, as in the case of follow footwork. I have such a hard time creating muscle memory when I am expected to change feet either to learn it or when it comes time to dance. One thing this video did help me with was to see the difference between son timing and on2 timing- when you put the bass in, I could see it right away. So thanks!
Ciao Robin, I am not yet an expert who can apply for timing on 2 but this video is very interesting so I just imitated your steps just for curiosity and they are easy to exercise only because I don't dance with real music! Maybe in the future ;) Based on your suggestion, I checked and followed all the videos of the full course playlist for FTB (timing on 1) practicing them all yesterday & today. They were really useful and instructive and I really appreciate your hard work to create all those videos. By the way FTB 4.12 which seemed to be the last one of this full course playlist was removed for some particular reason? I wanted to know how you were concluding this course for timing on 1. And I have another question. I often use the following UA-cam link for salsa music but there is one song whose beat is really difficult for me to understand almost at the end of the music when the singer starts to song some parts intentionally a bit off tempo repeating them 3 - 4 times (after 23:06). Every time the music arrives that stage, my dancing rhythm starts to lose tempo being influenced too much by the singer's voice. I don't know the song's title nor the name of the singer but the song itself starts at 19:57. Could you find some clue for me to resolve this problem ? Thanks ua-cam.com/video/t1c38HHPj9o/v-deo.html
Robin, Usually when different instruments (piano/cow bells or Bongo etc ) & vocals come into play simultaneously, Its challenging to hear the 4th & 8th beat of Conga . Any tips or suggestions on that?
Nope, no tips unfortunately. In a lot of songs it's just simply difficult to hear certain instruments and that's just how it is. So as you advance and learn how to dance both on1 and on2, you can then decide what timing or instrument you prefer to connect with based on what you hear. Make sense? So in this case, we're dancing contratiempo to the conga 234, 678. If you can't hear the 4 and the 8 of the conga, you could just dance 123, 567 but with break steps on 2 and 6 (the timing eddie torres popularized). That way you can use the other instruments like the cowbell etc. Does that help?
When dancing on 1 and doing shines it's convention to break forward on1 (leads and follows). when doing shines on2, depending where you live, it's convention for everyone to break forward on2. there's no right or wrong but that's why I was going forward on2. -robin
It's amazing to see people naturally feel the rhythm of salsa music. I can't. I have to focus on a particular instrument first to catch the rhythm. I prefer the cow bell. Percussionists tend to improvise a lot and I get lost. The easiest music to hear the 2-4 beat is cha cha or "disco" radio music. Accent the footwork on the 2 and 6. Salsa on 2 is actually mambo, right?
From my experience most people refer to dancing on2 as mambo and others are referring specifically to dancing to contratiempo, the original mambo timing, 2-3-4, 6-7-8. I made some IG posts about it @thedancedojo recently. -Robin
@@thedancedojo Thank you so much. When I dance nightclub 2 step, it is mambo slowed down. Lol. Now when I listen to salsa music, I will just have to determine if the accents are on 1 or 2 and dance accordingly. Contratiempo might scramble my brain. Thanks again.
Hello, I like your tutorial but I feel it’s incomplete. You can also dance to the clave as well. That’s another way of dancing on 2 and when the clave is so pronounced, that’s how I like to dance-to the clave. It’s almost harder to dance the way you teach when the clave is so loud and almost encouraging the dancer to dance on the clave. Hope that makes sense
Hey Sergio, thanks for watching. you're right that this is not complete. The point of this video is to help beginners dance on beat to on 2 timing (specifically modern mambo counts), not to give a history or breakdown of all the ways to dance on2 - we teach all of them in our online course and it's much more comprehensive. -Robin
Hey Bob, I'm dancing to counts 1-2-3, 5-6-7 so it isn't power On2 becuase power on2 is danced to 2-3-4, 6-7-8. I'm dancing the style of on2 that eddie torres popularized that some call modern mambo. In terms of breaking forward or back on 2 and 6 the convention varies depending on the country and where someone learned. Both work just fine! Hope that helps. -Robin
Hi Robin, thank you for the videos. They helped me a lot to catch the beat that I used to miss earlier. Also, I have a doubt, the last part of the video without the beats, I felt the 2 and 6 were switched. The 2 seems to be showing when it's a 6. I'm not sure if it's incorrect or I'm getting it wrong. Thanks once again. :)
That's so awesome to hear! thanks to you for watching. And yes timing switches are very common in songs. musicians count in 4s so they rearrange the bars of music and cause the 2 and 6 to switch. I made a video on timing switches if you look back thru the channel videos you'll find it! -robin
Hi @Preacher947, musician by training here and I noticed the same thing. The clave was on 6 in that example. Thanks Robin for the help on the steps! After doing the beginner thing of learning "on 1", I'm finally feeling that 2 and 6
@@latina_club Sign up for a free trial of our courses and you can lesrn as much as you want! we teach it all in there: thedancedojo.com/product/free-trial/
Aquí el problema es identificar todo esto que dices y haces tu qué está muy bien explicado pero ya con música normal Al bailar no todos los instrumentos se escuchan tan claro Podrías bailar Más con musica normal Porfavor👍
Entiendo lo que dices. Busca el playlist en la descripción del video y siguelo todo. Si practicas todos los ejercicios, en los videos, incluso con música, vas a sentir mucho más confianza! Espero que te ayuda. -Robin
Thank you for this video. Big fan of your videos and I appreciate all your hard work. Is this the Palladium style to dance on 2? I thought the Eddie Torres style was taking a step back on the 2 count, but here you're taking a step forward on 2. I'm a bit confused now. I watched the video in the description and noticed this when the other gentlemen was dancing with a partner.
Hey Diego good question. In this video I'm dancing On2 to counts 1,2,3-5,6,7 the method eddie torres popularized. When dancing with a partner, yes, in eddie torres way of dancing on 2, the lead is normally stepping back on 2 BUT when you take classes and do shines, with leads and follows all dancing together at the same time, you have to decide which count you're going to break forward on. In most of the on 2 classes I've taken, instructors break forward on 2 when teaching shines. Yes, this is "backwards" for leads who normally break forward on 6, but you can simply switch the counts if you like. There is nothing inherently wrong with breaking forward on the 2 or the 6, as long as you are dancing on time and maintain the rhythm. In other ways of dancing on 2, and in some countries, like puerto rico, the lead often breaks forward on the 2. All methods work. The important part is recognizing what you're doing as a lead, and as a follow, being able to follow. Hope that helps. -Robin
Dancing to 123-567 is called "a tiempo" - You can dance on1 or on2 to this timing. In contrast, 234-678 is called "contratiempo" and you can only dance on2 to it. The common thread for dancing on2 are the break steps on 2 and 6, the slaps of the conga -Robin
No, you can" t dance on2 to the tiempo. That is a miscoception. The contratiempo goes with the congas and the beats are on 2 4 6 8. In contrast the tiempo goes with the piano and the cow bell with the voice of the singer, which falls on the 1 3 5 7. Breaking on1 is not dancing on2. On2 dancers do not step on 1 neither on 5.
Nobody dances like that. Not even Eddie Torres. The "modern mambo" is pure fantasy. Every dancer does 234-678. It's very easy to demonstrate. Just check any video around.
You're welcome to think whatever you like. This information has been verified time and time again. I'm always open to changing my mind with sufficient evidence, but I don't anticipate that occuring. You're right that many people dance to 234-567 but many people (including many of those same people) know how to dance on2 "a tiempo" to 123-567. -robin
@@thedancedojo this information has been "verified"? I challenge you to post a single video of somebody dancing in a social situation on 2 like you do in this video (123-567). Eddie Torres, the father of the style, NEVER dances like that. There is not a single video of him doing it in a show or improvised situation. Only his incoherent "educational" videos show it. People dance 234-678 only. As I said: I challenge you to prove your point. I haven't seen a single one in years.
I'm just beginning. What makes your video great is the amount of time you spend repeating the same move with music so I can build it into muscle memory knowing I'm doing it correctly. I've been through lots of videos that teach on Salsa on 2 and many show you the steps and only dance to the music for 10 seconds, which doesn't work for beginners. Your video is spot on for people just starting. THANK YOU!
@@frankdamelio6721 Awesome Frank. So glad it's helping and really appreciate you sharing that! -Robin
I’m so used to salsa on 1. Atleast you have simplified salsa on 2 bcoz when someone tried to teach me salsa on 2, I got so confused. You are a great instructor
That means a ton Wilfred, thanks man! Really glad it could help. It's definitely an up-hill battle to change your muscle memory but totally possible, just get the reps in. -Robin
As someone who has always danced on 1 this feels soooooo counterintuitive!! :)) Thank you for simplifying it. It would be great to have a video with the same movements alternated on 1 and 2 so that the brain and body can process and assimilate the difference better..
Thanks Priya! appreciate the suggestion. Muscle memory is tought to fight, but eventually you'll have memory for various timings :)
by far one of the most helpful videos for pracrtising On2 - thanks a LOT
So happy it's helpful Anne-Sophie! Thanks for watching -robin
Perfect. Love it. I was searching for a demonstration to use to explain to my students, especially with the music on the background. Really great demo. Thanks.
Really glad it can help Danny! thanks a lot -Robin
thanks man!
my pleasure!
Super helpful brotha ! Thank you !
Glad it was valuable my man! -robin
Please put some videos of cha cha cha...you are great!
Noted. I need to work on my cha cha cha!
Thank you!!
You're welcome - hope it's been helpful! -robin
I’m a little confused, I thought that if you step forward with your right foot on beat 1 and forward with your left foot on beat 2, then you are dancing the Mambo style.
In the Eddie Torres style, the lead takes a small step back on the left foot on beat 1, followed by a larger step back on the right foot on beat 2. The break step typically occurs on the "and" of beat 2, and the basic step continues with a step forward on the left foot on beat 3, and so on.
So the footwork you demonstrated with a forward step on the right foot on beat 1 and the left foot on beat 2 would be the Mambo style, not the Eddie Torres style.
Am I missing something?
When dancing on2 solo in a class the convention is for everyone, including the leads, to break forward on2 to the follow's timing. This is still the timing Eddie Torres popularized 1-2-3, 5-6-7. The only difference is the lead is going forward on2. This has nothing to do with a style, it's just timing. When dancing with a partner, the lead will start stepping back as you said. Here's an article and video with more info: thedancedojo.com/salsa-timing-on1-on2-on3/ and Here's an article about style vs. timing: thedancedojo.com/salsa-styles/ Hope that helps! -robin
Also, if you think about dancing solo in a class On1 it's the exact opposite. It's the follow's who have to break forward on1 to the lead's timing. It's just so everyone is dancing together. A convention has to be chosen - that's all it is!
Well, I wish that you do another video on this but slower music.
Everything else Is fine, but relax and slow it down. Thanx
Use the salsabeatmachine.org and you can slow it down for your own practice :)
Also, once can slow a video on UA-cam.
What one cannot do is flip the video, as in the case of follow footwork.
I have such a hard time creating muscle memory when I am expected to change feet either to learn it or when it comes time to dance.
One thing this video did help me with was to see the difference between son timing and on2 timing- when you put the bass in, I could see it right away. So thanks!
Cómo se llama la app que usas para tocar la música ?
en inglés la app se llama salsa rhythm. o en el internet puedes usar la pagina salsabeatmachine.org. -Robin
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDDD
glad you enjoyed!
Ciao Robin, I am not yet an expert who can apply for timing on 2 but this video is very interesting so I just imitated your steps just for curiosity and they are easy to exercise only because I don't dance with real music! Maybe in the future ;)
Based on your suggestion, I checked and followed all the videos of the full course playlist for FTB (timing on 1) practicing them all yesterday & today. They were really useful and instructive and I really appreciate your hard work to create all those videos. By the way FTB 4.12 which seemed to be the last one of this full course playlist was removed for some particular reason? I wanted to know how you were concluding this course for timing on 1.
And I have another question. I often use the following UA-cam link for salsa music but there is one song whose beat is really difficult for me to understand almost at the end of the music when the singer starts to song some parts intentionally a bit off tempo repeating them 3 - 4 times (after 23:06). Every time the music arrives that stage, my dancing rhythm starts to lose tempo being influenced too much by the singer's voice. I don't know the song's title nor the name of the singer but the song itself starts at 19:57. Could you find some clue for me to resolve this problem ? Thanks
ua-cam.com/video/t1c38HHPj9o/v-deo.html
Robin, Usually when different instruments (piano/cow bells or Bongo etc ) & vocals come into play simultaneously, Its challenging to hear the 4th & 8th beat of Conga . Any tips or suggestions on that?
Nope, no tips unfortunately. In a lot of songs it's just simply difficult to hear certain instruments and that's just how it is. So as you advance and learn how to dance both on1 and on2, you can then decide what timing or instrument you prefer to connect with based on what you hear. Make sense? So in this case, we're dancing contratiempo to the conga 234, 678. If you can't hear the 4 and the 8 of the conga, you could just dance 123, 567 but with break steps on 2 and 6 (the timing eddie torres popularized). That way you can use the other instruments like the cowbell etc. Does that help?
@@thedancedojo Thanks Robin , as always your insights very helpful.
Why are you using right foot on number one? Shouldn't it be left foot for guys?
When dancing on 1 and doing shines it's convention to break forward on1 (leads and follows). when doing shines on2, depending where you live, it's convention for everyone to break forward on2. there's no right or wrong but that's why I was going forward on2. -robin
@@thedancedojo Thank you
Which app has the counting voice?
salsabeatmachine.org
It's amazing to see people naturally feel the rhythm of salsa music. I can't. I have to focus on a particular instrument first to catch the rhythm. I prefer the cow bell. Percussionists tend to improvise a lot and I get lost. The easiest music to hear the 2-4 beat is cha cha or "disco" radio music. Accent the footwork on the 2 and 6. Salsa on 2 is actually mambo, right?
From my experience most people refer to dancing on2 as mambo and others are referring specifically to dancing to contratiempo, the original mambo timing, 2-3-4, 6-7-8. I made some IG posts about it @thedancedojo recently. -Robin
@@thedancedojo Thank you so much. When I dance nightclub 2 step, it is mambo slowed down. Lol. Now when I listen to salsa music, I will just have to determine if the accents are on 1 or 2 and dance accordingly. Contratiempo might scramble my brain. Thanks again.
@@francissantos7448 you're welcome, have fun!
Excelente
Gracias por ver! -Robin
Hacia el final terminas marcando con la clave (tiempo 8 y no el 1).
Quizás fue un error. No estoy seguro de cuál momento hablas.
Hello, I like your tutorial but I feel it’s incomplete. You can also dance to the clave as well. That’s another way of dancing on 2 and when the clave is so pronounced, that’s how I like to dance-to the clave. It’s almost harder to dance the way you teach when the clave is so loud and almost encouraging the dancer to dance on the clave. Hope that makes sense
Hey Sergio, thanks for watching. you're right that this is not complete. The point of this video is to help beginners dance on beat to on 2 timing (specifically modern mambo counts), not to give a history or breakdown of all the ways to dance on2 - we teach all of them in our online course and it's much more comprehensive. -Robin
This is power on 2,I thought the 2 is back and 6 forward?
Hey Bob, I'm dancing to counts 1-2-3, 5-6-7 so it isn't power On2 becuase power on2 is danced to 2-3-4, 6-7-8. I'm dancing the style of on2 that eddie torres popularized that some call modern mambo. In terms of breaking forward or back on 2 and 6 the convention varies depending on the country and where someone learned. Both work just fine! Hope that helps. -Robin
Hi Robin, thank you for the videos. They helped me a lot to catch the beat that I used to miss earlier. Also, I have a doubt, the last part of the video without the beats, I felt the 2 and 6 were switched. The 2 seems to be showing when it's a 6. I'm not sure if it's incorrect or I'm getting it wrong.
Thanks once again. :)
That's so awesome to hear! thanks to you for watching. And yes timing switches are very common in songs. musicians count in 4s so they rearrange the bars of music and cause the 2 and 6 to switch. I made a video on timing switches if you look back thru the channel videos you'll find it! -robin
Hi @Preacher947, musician by training here and I noticed the same thing. The clave was on 6 in that example. Thanks Robin for the help on the steps! After doing the beginner thing of learning "on 1", I'm finally feeling that 2 and 6
@@WelshimerHR it's nice to hear other people noticing the same things right? thanks for watching! super appreciated. -robin
Ah and I thought it was ME falling back to on 1 in the last part....
How to turn off with this music?
I'm not sure what you mean. If you want to turn off the sound you can do that on the video player, just tap the speaker icon. -robin
@@thedancedojo I mean that you show basic steps on 2 in this video, but how to do turnings when you dance on 2?
Sorry my English is not perfect
@@latina_club Sign up for a free trial of our courses and you can lesrn as much as you want! we teach it all in there: thedancedojo.com/product/free-trial/
The click tracker didn’t match the dance timing toward the middle of the video
what click tracker?
GOod video, very helpful. I can see you are missing a whole lot of ginga.
haha what?
Aquí el problema es identificar todo esto que dices y haces tu qué está muy bien explicado pero ya con música normal Al bailar no todos los instrumentos se escuchan tan claro Podrías bailar Más con musica normal Porfavor👍
Entiendo lo que dices. Busca el playlist en la descripción del video y siguelo todo. Si practicas todos los ejercicios, en los videos, incluso con música, vas a sentir mucho más confianza! Espero que te ayuda. -Robin
Thank you for this video. Big fan of your videos and I appreciate all your hard work. Is this the Palladium style to dance on 2? I thought the Eddie Torres style was taking a step back on the 2 count, but here you're taking a step forward on 2. I'm a bit confused now. I watched the video in the description and noticed this when the other gentlemen was dancing with a partner.
Hey Diego good question. In this video I'm dancing On2 to counts 1,2,3-5,6,7 the method eddie torres popularized. When dancing with a partner, yes, in eddie torres way of dancing on 2, the lead is normally stepping back on 2 BUT when you take classes and do shines, with leads and follows all dancing together at the same time, you have to decide which count you're going to break forward on. In most of the on 2 classes I've taken, instructors break forward on 2 when teaching shines. Yes, this is "backwards" for leads who normally break forward on 6, but you can simply switch the counts if you like.
There is nothing inherently wrong with breaking forward on the 2 or the 6, as long as you are dancing on time and maintain the rhythm. In other ways of dancing on 2, and in some countries, like puerto rico, the lead often breaks forward on the 2. All methods work. The important part is recognizing what you're doing as a lead, and as a follow, being able to follow. Hope that helps. -Robin
@@thedancedojo why does the lead go backwards on 2? if the lead goes forward on two the dance still works and you're still dancing on 2.
Solo entendí en con la clave!! =(
Sigue practicando! :) -robin
Still on 1. On 2 you dance on 234 678. If you step on 1 amd 5 you are still dancing on1.
Dancing to 123-567 is called "a tiempo" - You can dance on1 or on2 to this timing. In contrast, 234-678 is called "contratiempo" and you can only dance on2 to it. The common thread for dancing on2 are the break steps on 2 and 6, the slaps of the conga -Robin
No, you can" t dance on2 to the tiempo. That is a miscoception. The contratiempo goes with the congas and the beats are on 2 4 6 8. In contrast the tiempo goes with the piano and the cow bell with the voice of the singer, which falls on the 1 3 5 7. Breaking on1 is not dancing on2. On2 dancers do not step on 1 neither on 5.
@@Bleyluige I agree, this still looks like Salsa on 1. I took salsa on 2 classes at two different places and they def do not look like this
Nobody dances like that. Not even Eddie Torres. The "modern mambo" is pure fantasy.
Every dancer does 234-678. It's very easy to demonstrate. Just check any video around.
You're welcome to think whatever you like. This information has been verified time and time again. I'm always open to changing my mind with sufficient evidence, but I don't anticipate that occuring. You're right that many people dance to 234-567 but many people (including many of those same people) know how to dance on2 "a tiempo" to 123-567. -robin
@@thedancedojo this information has been "verified"? I challenge you to post a single video of somebody dancing in a social situation on 2 like you do in this video (123-567).
Eddie Torres, the father of the style, NEVER dances like that. There is not a single video of him doing it in a show or improvised situation. Only his incoherent "educational" videos show it.
People dance 234-678 only. As I said: I challenge you to prove your point.
I haven't seen a single one in years.
@@thedancedojo Even Torres' videos from the 80s and 90s are incoherent. He says one thing and does another thing.
@@neuropakho The first video I searched with Eddie Torres Jr. 123-567 : ua-cam.com/video/DIgFUComRK8/v-deo.html&ab_channel=StarMamboVideo
@@thedancedojo Are you denying the evidence so blatantly? Can't you see that he's dancing 234-678?
Seriously? It's obvious!