Spinning is one of the hardest things to learn in salsa and requires an immense amount of practice, discipline and technique. It's the hardest thing I've had to learn in salsa at least, but I have a plan! Core training is vital to controlling spins because it focuses on strengthening both the upper and lower body through the core and thus improving your ability to stay balanced. It also can benefit your posture (another one of my weaknesses) and the awareness you gain of your body will improve your overall dancing abilities. I've noticed that professional dancers, particular ballet dancers, spend a significant amount of time on stretches and core strength building exercises and I think I need to start to at least do something more than simply sit-ups.
I once read an Eddie Torres quote where he compared modern salser@s to trained Olympians. Modern salsa is as much about physical training as anything else (just watch a Santo Rico, Tropical Gem, Yamulee or U-Tribe video and you'll know what I mean), and while I do my own regiment of stuff I don't have faith that I'm covering all the bases. So I started looking and for various strength and yoga-like exercise videos that I thought would help:
It comes down to discipline and that extends all the way to how much sleep I get, how much I eat, and how much time I allocate to rest. It's easy to want to stay up late to watch a movie when you know you should be doing spin drills or work on footwork, but it's even harder to then add more core strengthening stuff on top of what you already wanted to do and didn't get to.
No comments:
Post a Comment