Hey guys…
I know we have been discussing this particular topic ALOT in class lately. This is the MOST IMPORTANT topic when it comes to your dancing. I have found this article on the internet which should be quite helpful. Though this article is focused for the On2 dancers, the same principles can be applied to any style of dancing. We will discuss it more in class to help give you a better grasp on this.
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It sound like you are dancing contratiempo salsa also called Palladium style because it was how the people originally danced salsa in the heyday of the Palladium club in New York.
It takes a while to be able to hear the beat. Different people listen to different instruments and it isn’t always easy to hear all the instruments so if they tell you to listen for the conga slap or something, good luck with that.
If you just want to find the one so you can then find the two, the cowbell is usually fairly easy to hear and the loud tones, i.e. when they hit the open end of the cowbell, are on the one and the three, so you can try listening for this.
Another way of finding the second beat, and a more important way in terms of contratiempo dance, is to hear or “feel” the clave. Your teacher may have mentioned the clave, if not, stay after class and ask. It is a synchopated rhythm played on two sticks that is 3 beats + 2 beats or 2 beats + 3 beats. It is the pulse of all salsa music.
Here is an audio example from Timba.com of 3/2 clave. The first part has a cowbell hitting on the 1,2,3,4 so you can see how the clave falls with the beats of the music.
http://www.timba.com/artists/charangahabanera/mp3/ClDeb/cd_audio_03.m3u
Often in salsa the clave direction runs 2/3, i.e. the two-side of the clave comes first. Here is an example of 2/3 clave
http://www.timba.com/artists/charangahabanera/mp3/ClDeb/cd_audio_01.m3u
The US and all other places influenced by American salsa instruction, people use an 8-beat count for the steps, because the clave spans over two measures so for example the first three beats of the 3/2 clave fall during the first measure, i.e. during 1,2,3,4 and the last two beats during the second measure i.e. 5,6,7,8.
Salsa music and dance originated with Cuban Son (pronounced sOHn) which is also danced starting on 2. So they dance Pause 2,3,4 Pause 6,7,8. I just found this video where a teacher does a great job of explaining when to start dancing for son. It should work for you too.
Note: Cubans don’t count beats to dance, they sing the percussion parts. He’s speaking Spanish but you can hear the rhythm they are clapping and understand that he says to start on the “Y” (spanish for “and”). I personally think this video can be a great help for understanding where the two is in relation to the clave. Oh you will also notice that in son you lead with the shoulder so the upper body movement is more pronounced in son that salsa, and they sort of drag the motion out during the pause which makes it a very classy, sensual dance but it with much fewer turn patterns. Some of the dance stuff later on is less interesting, but the beginning is good for understanding clave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9auQ9XCgmc#t=163
PLEASE READ GUYS!!!!
Good information for you all…