Health Benefits of Dancing

There are many health benefits to any form of dance although depending on the type of dance they can be stronger or weaker. Cuban salsa in particular is a very fast and complicated dance form so a lot of the health benefits are more prevalent in Cuban salsa dances compared to say slower and simpler dance forms. Some of the benefits to dancing are shown in the following list

• Losing Weight. It is estimated that dancing burns between 5 to 10 calories per minute depending on various factors as discussed in the previous post “The Salsa Diet”.
• Lubricated Joints. Dancing regularly keeps joints lubricated which can help to prevent arthritis.
• Strong Bones. Dancing improves bone strength and aids in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
• Fitness. It has been shown that at an advanced level of dancing the breathing and muscle exertion rates of dancers are equivalent to those of athletes such as runners, swimmers or cyclists. A study at the University of Hertfordshire which compared ballet dancers with swimmers found the dancers to score higher than the swimmers in seven out of ten areas of fitness.
• Core Strength. Dancing helps us to improve our balance, posture and reflexes by strengthening our stabilising muscles which makes us less likely to get injuries in daily life.
• Keeping In Shape. Dancing exercises your body and allows for increased circulation. It improves your stamina, the heart, the lungs and increases endurance and motor fitness.
• Coordination. The central and peripheral nervous systems are kept in shape by the connections formed between our body and our mind through dancing, helping us improve our coordination.
• Well-being. Dancing can improve general and psychological well-being, by giving us greater self-confidence and self-esteem as well as better social skills
• Mental Health. Dancing requires a lot of different factors to be learned or committed to memory. Particularly in Cuban salsa there is a huge amount of steps, patterns and moves that need to be learned as well as the signals and the names of these moves so that they can be followed in a Rueda. For non-Spanish speakers the effect is even more prevalent as they have to learn completely new words in a foreign language to advance. This improves your memory and keeps your mind quick and alert.
• Cholesterol. Dancing aids in blood sugar control which is great for diabetics. It also improves lipid control which raises good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers bad cholesterol (LDL).
• Emotional Well-being. Dancing makes us feel social and happy by elevating the endorphin levels which helps us deal with stress and depression and any related illnesses. 

Leaders Misconceptions (Part 2)

One of the many misconceptions that most leaders have when social dancing is the idea that they have to constantly change their moves to impress their followers or even just to keep the dance interesting. I have had this idea myself from the very start and still get a lot of leaders asking me how many moves they need to know before they can give the follower an interesting enough dance.
The answer is most followers will be quite happy to dance at all, meet new people and often enjoy other aspects of the dance more so than a succession of different moves. While leaders tend to get a lot of enjoyment out of the number of different moves they do, followers often get more enjoyment out of aspects such as styling, ability to respond to signals, music and timing etc. Of course everyone is different and it is not fair to put all leaders and followers under the same umbrella but it is definitely not worth stressing out over some arbitrary number of moves that someone may throw around that should be learned as a minimum before leaders dance socially. If leaders are nice people who follow the general etiquette, are considerate dancers, and do not lead forcefully but rather try to be on time and lead as clearly as possible, then most followers will prefer the resulting dance to the opposite type of leader irrespective of whether the moves are constantly varied and advanced or whether they repeat quickly and are more basic by nature.

Finally, a common misconception is that leading happens predominantly by the leader giving the follower a “strong” signal with their hands. As discussed in part 1 of this mini series the hand signal itself can be very subtle but as long as it is accurate the follower will have no problem picking it up. However, it is not only the hand signal that is important for leading, but also the body position and the timing of the leader which will give the follower the direction they need to figure out what is coming next. Most moves in Cuban salsa are led on the 7th beat as that way the follower has just enough time to prepare for the next move which starts on the 1st beat of the next 8-count. Getting the timing wrong even just by one beat is highly confusing even for experienced followers so this aspect is just as important for leaders as the signal itself. Similarly, the body position is key to leading and can in certain instances be the most important cue to signal the next move. It is in fact possible to lead some elementary moves such as Vacilala or Exhibela using only the body position as a guide where the leader and follower do not hold hands at all but can nonetheless communicate moves to each other simply by the way their bodies are aligned.

New Year's Eve in Cuba

Spending New Year’s Eve in Cuba is a great way to get to know the people and traditions of this beautiful country. Since Cubans not only celebrate the start of a new year but also the triumph of the Revolution on 1st of January it is one of the biggest festivals the country has to offer. It is impossible to get away from the singing, dancing and the music always prevalent even on ordinary days but especially so when there is a party. Many Cubans will celebrate at home which can become a huge gathering where traditionally a roast pig is served. There are often free concerts in the main squares of many towns and bigger dance parties in nightclubs and on beaches where all Cuban dances can be seen although these type of parties can be very touristic by nature. Nonetheless, it is a great way to practise the Cuban dances you know and dance away to the sounds of authentic Cuban rhythms in an atmosphere that seems impossible to copy to other parts of the planet.

Cubans generally enjoy collective eating at New Year’s Eve and large official dinner parties were held especially in the post-revolutionary years on this date. In recent years this tradition is followed mainly by the biggest dinner gala at Cathedral Square in Old Havana and more and more restaurants and nightclubs will organise special dinner parties and shows as well to celebrate this occasion. Outside of well-known international features such as lighting fireworks, Cuba has many traditions on its own which makes this day even more fun to celebrate in Cuba. One of the traditions seen is the practice of eating 12 grapes at midnight representing the 12 months of the year which are then washed down with a sparkling alcoholic drink, traditionally sidra.
The official ceremony starts when a 12-gun salute is sounded from the Cabaña Fortress at which point other traditions are seen such as the custom of throwing a bucket of dirty water with which the whole house has been cleaned into the street, representing all the negative aspects of the past year that are being expelled. Other customs include an envelope of dollars that Cubans put into their own mailbox to attract prosperity for the coming year or walking around the block while waving goodbye to neighbours and holding a suitcase if they want to travel to a place abroad in the new year.