Slow Quick Quick

When teaching beginners, rhythm is one of the hardest things to teach; the default being that students are required to count one-two-threeeeeee five-six-seeeeeeven. This is mainly done to force students to give time for the four and eight and not simply rush to their one and five. While the patience is a fundamental to the dance, it is also what distinguishes on2 from on1 because we never stop our movement throughout the basic and it gives a more fluid, almost floating style to the basic. This constant flow provides for a certain respiration that has practical, stylistic and musical applications and ultimately begins to look like slow-quick-quick.

Practical: Osiris once told me that one of the common characteristics of leading is that all of our large steps will be on the first and fifth beat. While this is necessary to generate momentum that will allow both parties to travel together, it also speaks to the need to give more adequate preparation to figures, while executing them faster. As a general rule in salsa, always maximize your prep, give it the adequate time, and instead speed up your execution with the increased momentum.

Stylistic: Applying slow-quick-quick does not necessarily require a significant change in footwork. It simply is a consequence of trying to milk the transitional movement before each break step, thus giving them greater emphasis. It is a change in perception and interpretation of the dance and can be subtle.

Musical: The are certain well regarded teachers who teach the on2 basic as relating far closer to tumbao by starting their basic on the 8n instead of the first beat. While this is most likely a cause of them perceiving slow-quick-quick, as an academician of this dance and a teacher, I'm wary of teaching in this way and would much rather save such discussions for advance stages. I think there is a significant benefit to teaching with live percussion and specifically forcing advance beginner students to drill their basics to tumbao, but to strictly dissect the connection insuch detail will more likely confuse students than help.

In discussing these issues with Daniel and Ahtoy, we all agreed that the application of this concept only works if the partnerwork that is designed allows for its application, and as partnerwork becomes more dense, it is increasingly more difficult to apply slow-quick-quick.