Deriving harmony from Salsa music and disparate dance movement: Mambo - Modern - Afro Cuban - Latin Jazz - Hip Hop - Tango - Ballroom - Ballet - Swing - Jazz
Our latest choreography is inspired by Cuban jazz composer Chico O'Farrill's 1955 jazz masterpiece "Descarga Numero Dos."
This piece demonstrates the deep influence U.S. Jazz and Latin musicians have on each other. Although the song holds true to the clave (the instrumental "key" to Cuban music), it is a big-band jazz arrangement. O'Farrill is backed by legendary bassist Cachao. Listen closely for Cachao's base solo half way through the show.
The song dissects beautifully into even musical phrases in relationship to the clave. We attempt to match this harmony with an even choreography. By building the piece around the clave, we stay connected to the roots of the music and dance, yet are able to explore the freeing essence of the jazz arrangement.
The title of this dance is: "Time Peace". We call it a contemporary mambo. The clock-like movement is inspired by the frenetic pace of the music and draws on themes of time, tension, and relationships. Clock sounds have been added to augment the earnest atmosphere and story. The alarm in the opening phrase is meant to wake up the world to the power of Latin music.
Man and woman begin separately. Each gender operates well in it's own time zone. As tension builds in the music and in the meeting's anticipation, the soloists dance closer but still not united. As the musical tension releases, the couples begin the partnering section of the routine. This is where man and woman work out the proverbial relationship in dance.
The final pose, a peace sign framed in a clock, represents the peace attained through this dance over time. If the dance is endured, peace abounds.
The beginning of the dance is focused on the men and the instrument solos (footwork themes). Here, the nature of male camaraderie and competition is introduced. This section is performed using mirrored effects. The two men are following the same steps in opposition (ex. If the left man flares to the left, the right man flares to the right). This technique is used throughout the dance and requires one side to perform backward.
At the first horn melody, the women appear from backstage performing movement intended to compliment each other, compete with each other and to distract the men. Here, tension in the relationships between male/female, female/female and male/male is introduced.
The women then take center stage to perform footwork that attempts to translate the music into movement. At the second horn melody, the men reappear frantically searching for their connection to the women. As the music builds into the finally, the men and women will have completely interwoven movement, switching mirrored sides repeatedly, and sharing partners. This is our attempt at harmony.
The heart of the choreography develops mid-song in relation to the five instrument solos: the bass, conga, damped trumpet, timbales, and piano. At this point, the dancers work together executing the same movement. The first four are solo dances. The fifth, piano, is performed together as a sort of resolution. The last twenty measures complete the dance in a series of up tempo highly syncopated combinations.
The song is up-tempo, and the movement difficult, so we are working hard to bring it all together in time for our upcoming events.
Visit the inspirations page and our photo gallery to get more information on costumes, the movement, and the music.
For training purposes, we have developed a simple choreography around the song Cogele El Gusto by Wayne Gorbea. We tried to incorporate every aspect of salsa performance including: footwork, partnering, solos, formation changes, musicality, male and female sections, spinning, and phrasing.
The impetus for this project was to develop movement that helped students and future performers better understand the music. This is accomplished using Wayne Gorbea's perfect use of musical phrasing with the horn. The song begins with six horn solos, four dancer's measures (eight counts instead of four), and each followed by four measures of vocal chorus. Therefore, six different dancers or group of dancers perform six different footwork combinations choreographed exactly to the horn solos.
In order to give the trainee more practice, while the soloist is performing, the other dancers must copy only certain phrases of the soloist combination. For example, if the solo footwork includes a kick and then many steps upstage, the other dancers might only perform the kick, wait several beats and then execute the last step of the eight count followed by the basic step. This forces the dancer to perfect his and her timing, count, coordination, and awareness of the precise beats in the musical phrase.
The vocal solos follow the horns which are matched by partnering in the choreography. This gives the student the opportunity to develop the most difficult aspect of performing: partner dancing. The patterns are challenging, but easy enough to be executed quickly. The work comes in mastering partner timing, body positioning, balance, tension, leading and following. We always spend the most time on this section believing that a good partner section makes or breaks the show.
Wayne Gorbea's horn players are extremely adept at their instrument and it's a challenge matching their skill with movement. However, everyone that has worked with this choreography has improved upon their own instrument and we hope many more will follow.