As in every sport, the basics are often very important. In dancing, the foundation of everything is a clean and good basic step. This includes, in addition to the correct execution of the actual step sequence, also paying attention to the tempo, body posture, and so on.
However, I often notice that in our country, people tend to focus too much on their feet and ignore the rest of their body at first. For complete beginners, this is certainly okay. But we do not remain at the beginner level. In fact, good dancing movement is always fluid and a continuous flow through the entire body. This includes the harmonious coordination of feet, legs, hips, torso, shoulders, arms, hands, and head!
Beginner courses usually cover only a tiny part of this. Advanced dancers, on the other hand, often try to return to these basics after learning many figures, realizing that something is still missing. For me, it took five years to recognize the importance.
In other countries, where perhaps more dancing is done in general and learners have more interest in long-term learning, it often looks different. In Spain, I noticed that good dancers have a very, very harmonious body movement and that the basic step and body movements form a unit. When you are that good, good styling and good footwork can follow, which then includes the coordination and movement of the arms and body. This often looks very, very good and you can tell at first glance that a great dancer is at work.
But how do you learn such a good basic step away from the big cities, without access to teachers nearby who take this into account? Let's be honest. In Germany, only a small part of dancers is interested in this level of perfection. There are few advanced courses, and even then, only a few participants register.
I filmed a two-hour workshop with Natalia Rodriguez in Malaga, where she first explains the basic step and then incorporates shoulders, arms, and hips. (Video 1) Building on that, in the next part, a small choreography is created (Video 2), which is easy to dance for both men and women. The final presentation can be found in Video 3 and Video 4.
But be careful: The first part progresses very slowly, as you may have to work against already learned habits. That is never easy. Therefore, I filmed many explanations. Still, see if you can follow along at your own pace. My tip: practice it very, very slowly. This level of coordination requires very keen observation and very fine movement, and it will certainly take a few weeks until this movement becomes fluid and intuitive in your dance. Have fun practicing!
Video 1: https://youtu.be/nE_BJ2T8dzE
Video 2: https://youtu.be/Om4ZvYIcais
Video 3 https://youtu.be/n85aG_u3nF0
Video 4 https://youtu.be/nxXTU9DOyns