Leading Spins

It's imperative that spinning is first understood from a physics perspective. While this kind of point of view ignores execution that needs to be "felt" it's more important to understand spinning as a "machine" and constantly look for the inefficiencies that keep it from running well. Gaining a feel for some facets of spinning will come with time, but for now think about the mechanics.

All spinning requires first-and-foremost control. In salsa, the follow needs to gain a control of the momentum that is applied to her body and harness it to smoothly continue on one foot until the lead decides to stop. Like any machine it requires a power source to make it run and almost exclusively this is the job of the lead.

The following technique is a very common way of spinning, particularly in New York, but there are other methods (all though I don't consider them as effective, particularly past two spins).

Leading Spins
I wanted to use an analogy of an old steam engine wheel, but I'll cut to the chase.



The power comes through your entire arm, just like a piston. The more efficient you make the connection with the girl the better. This connection should be only your middle finger because it is the strongest and the longest on your hand. This also means you need to keep constant tension throughout the rotations. If your arm moves then anything attached to that finger should move with the full force of the energy generated in the arm. Lastly, keep the finger as straight as possible and perfectly vertical throughout.

The next biggest loss of efficiency is the wrist. Shorter leads always have issues spinning primarily because of their wrist. They think they need to rotate their wrist to help her rotate. When in fact what she needs is consistency within her cuffed fingers. Spinning should be done across a plane parallel to the ground, and moving the hand sideways from the wrist breaks this plane. Another way of putting it is that the palm of the hand should be facing flat, downward and parallel to the ground throughout. Tension in the wrist should generally match that of the middle finger, but for shorter leads the adjustment will be partially made in the wrist.

The arm does not have exclusive rights to power generation but it is also the source of control. By control I mean the shape and size of the circles that are made above her head. By far the most important thing is to keep the circles low to her head, a perfect shape (non-oval) and power throughout the circle must be even. Its common for a lead to apply pressure as he pushes away in the rotation and not adequately transmit that same rotational speed on the return. In fact, the power needs to be consistent until the last half of the last turn, when I recommend decelerating. The size of the circles is important, the smaller, the better. Aim for softball sized circles (ultimately you want a perfect halo but when you start your circles will expand more than you expect so stick with the circumference of a softball). Lastly, its always best to keep the forearm-elbow-bicep connection on a flat plane, parallel with the floor, if at all possible. Again, shorter leads will have to adjust at the wrist. The angle of incidence is an important factor from the 7 and should be the most direct as it enters the rotation. 

Hand Connection
For the most common right-on-right the lead's finger would come into her cuffed hand on the thumb side of her hand. These are called outside spins because her arm is being forced across and away from her body. For right-on-left (inside spins) the finger enters her cuffed hand on the pinky side of her hand. These finger positions are true of almost all inside and outside turns/spins. For left-on-left there is some debate on the starting position, with several Santo Rico members prefering starting on the pinky side (saves time), while others prefer the thumb side (almost all the girls prefer the thumb side), and so I'm torn between what's time efficient, and what is more comfortable. Socially, I strictly go thumb side.

Stopping
Stopping can be done by either decelerating, bringing your hand down, extending the arm or tapping her in situations where you are keeping your hand up but you want her to stop, such as when you plan on spinning under the connected arms immediately after her. There are a few other methods but these are beyond the scope of what needs to be understood now.

Prep
With all of that in mind the next most important factor is the preparation for the spins. As a lead, you need to provide the support for the follow and aid in her generation of momentum before the release on 7-1.
5 - hand goes in front of her left shoulder as a signal of what's to come.
6 - diagonally move to the six position which is infront of her lower right rib and begin to return to her top left shoulder but curve upwards as you go to 7
7 - by this point you should be back to where you started on 5 but with far more momentum. You can now use this and continue it into 1

Feet
As far as stepping, as long as the lead doing something it's fine. It will be easier to do small steps in place but there is more style with backsteps and that's what I'm trying to master right now. I want to be able to style while spinning a girl.