Bachata, my love for this lovers’ dance is well advertised here and all over the bachateros website.
I think it is beautiful, sexy, torturous (from being too good) and absolutely far from boring.
I have my secret admirer and I admire a dancer secretly… The B fabled Red Dragon a charachter from my tales on the Bachateros Website should be there.
I’m glad to think that I will be able to dance Bachata to my heart’s content on the Festival next week.
I’ll be performing with Tony Lara’s LDA BACHATA TEAM on Friday night.
From the 24th to 26th of April It is going to be one of those hectic weekends of dancing non‐stop from Friday to early Monday… performances and parties every night, all night and workshops all day.
The band 4Ever from Orlando, USA will be playing on Sunday night to close the event.
One Night in Brazil, the organisers of the Forrogode party, is doing something different tomorrow. For the 7th of March 2009, at the Ivory Lounge they have invited DJ Zoubasa to give two hours of Zouk and Salsa before the usual social for Forro and Pagode.
So from 9 to 11 pm DJ Amit-Zoubassa will be playing Salsa and Zouk.
From 11 Forro and Pagode will hit in.
It may be a great opportunity for the usual Latin Dancers from all over the world to see how parties in Latin America are usually like. Instead of going to the party for dancing, the Latinos go to the dancing for the party and that makes it all different.
The usual rules do not apply there: kissing in the dance floor is permitted, and quite common, dancing is kind of going with the flow, having a good time, drinking, talking, checking out the girls and guys, that is a must.
Let the rhythm take you over. Be prepared to stay up, the usual Forrogode crowd arrive late and complain every single time when they want to close the bar. You have to forgive us in Brazil dancing goes until 5 or 6 am.
I love the idea of mixing these Oh! So! Different! People.
I keep hoping to get more and more zouk/salsa dancers to do Forró and more and more Forró addicts do join our Zouk/Salsa crowd. It will be good to witness the mix of these two worlds!
Ah, Performing! (sigh) I absolutely love performing.
Since I started it I cannot say exactly why. I’ve been trying to figure it out for a long time.
I love being on stage, feeling special, having all the eyes on me, who cares if I’m at the back and there are another 29 bodies performing?
It is as if it is all about me, that everyone is thinking: oh look how pointed is her left foot!
Anyway, I feel powerful, elated!
The lights, the sounds, the music, the costumes, it all ads up to my heart beating like a rabbit’s; my hairs going up at the back of my neck.
I can’t get enough of the sensation!
I was thinking about the Sydney Salsa Congress, and I realized that performing is like doing the horizontal mambo. Specially Latin dancing. To reach a performance you start with the foreplays, you get to know your partner, how he moves, you show him (or her) your moves.
It doesn’t matter if there is no sexual tension between the two of you, even if it is all about the dancing and only about it; it is still like a date:
You choose the right clothes for the occasion, for dancing they are the ones that don’t slip, that won’t fall at the wrong times, with good sleeves for that choreo, preference for fabrics nice to touch and that don’t make you feel too sweaty. As in a date, you will also choose the right underwear. Girls will pay attention it doesn’t show and doesn’t disturb them to dance.
You will be well groomed, and pay attention about your bodily smells for sure. I love what this guy said to me the other day: dancers have no idea about personal space. So if you have someone invading yours, you will take care of your armpits and breath at their very best. I guarantee girls will shave, wax, use make up, perfume more than if they were going out with Brad Pitt.
You will get all excited about the date, I mean, the training. Dancing is good. Always. Again it’s like bed acrobatics. Even when it’s bad, it’s still better than not having it, therefore, it’s good.
Here I have to add a small alert: if you are training and not having fun, no mater if you are an amateur or professional, something is wrong. It’s time to re‐evaluate it all. Dancing is about loving it, every step of the way.
When you are starting your trainings, you will have to learn the sequence, like a good intercourse you will savour each step, each touch, each detail.
You will feel powerful for being able to do each movement, you will learn to move as one with your partner. If you love dancing, you will rejoice with every turn, you will fly in every trick, you will smile and yes, you will also complain.
Any type of congress of bodies is subjected to a lot of pain, good muscle pain. It happens often on the following day, getting worse on the following of the following day.
A few mishaps, even a fall here and there is expected. The accidental arm that connects where it shouldn’t; accidents happen, both in the bedroom and in the training room.
The number of times you do it doesn’t affect the soreness. Having done it your whole life, doesn’t prepare you enough.
Depending on which part of the choreo you are concentrating on, you will use different muscles and feel them burning later.
It’s like using “That Book” ‐ you know which one, don’t you? The ancient one, full of interesting pictures? Well the use of the book will guarantee sore muscles on the following day.
Choreographies are bound to do the same.
As you get closer to the performance you are doing it. It’s not foreplay anymore. You know what to do and you go for it. You use your full power, you strain every fibre of your body. You become athletic and go all the way.
You let the feelings, emotions, love and devotions take you over. You leave your body do what it knows to do and let your soul fly, enjoying the moment.
If you get worried about doing something wrong, making mistakes, anxious about your partner’s performance or anything like that, you are concentrating in the wrong part of the business. Like making love, it is not about how it looks, it’s about how it feels.
Then and only then you are in the performance. That, my friends, is the climax. Plain and full Ecstasy, with a capitol letter.
Pre-party at my sister’s place / LDA Samba Carnaval Dancers with Amy Mills / Band at Carnaval party
Brazilian Carnaval parties are happening tonight [26 & 27 Feb 2009] in Manly and Thursday in the City.
Of course there is samba and music and the people that can dance are dancing.
Carnaval in Brazil is about loud, loud, loud music, drums, jumping, having fun, drinking, and making out.
No real dance skills are required, just a total lack of self-contiousness.
If you want to have the night of your life, you must try it out, only being there you will be able to understand how is it that a whole country, 196 million people, stop because of it for over a week.
Gianne Abbott at the Sydney Salsa Congress 2009 / Tais, Tania & Friends at So you Think you Can Dance Australia 2009
And so I did, I thought I could dance, until I went to the live filming of the Australian edition of the TV Show “So You Think You Can Dance” and those guys are the real thing: dancers to the core, amazing people. I was there as Gianne Abbott’s groupie and finished thinking she had to win!
Gianne is the Brazilian dancer in the show.
I met her in the Brazilian Dance Congress 2008, and she did a performance of a beautiful Afro-Samba choreography. I remember I went to speak to her because she was simply amazing and the routine that she made for them was excellent.
I was really impressed with her dancing, her beauty and charisma and talking to her I realised that, on top of all, she is a sweetheart.
I had never been to a live show recording before and I was really impressed to he seated right in front of the stage. It was such an experience!
First thing that I have noticed is that everyone, from the famous host, to the famous judges, to the famous dancers and the famous singer are the same as us: just people.
They look the same as the camera crew, the people around the stage area, the technical crew, the not famous dancers. Same amount of limbs; eyes, ears and mouth in the same place, basically: just people.
I see people go all funny around the famous.
I was once in the restricted area at the São Paulo International airport having just arrived from a flight, I was catching a shuttle bus to my city. At the same place, the Hot Chilly Peppers band was arriving and in the fence we had all these crazy fans squishing themselves, trying to jump, crying, screaming, I was looking at them thinking: “Oh! Whatever!”
I got some cameras to take pictures of the musicians for them, just went to the artists and said: ‘Hello, could I please take a picture of you for that girl over there?’ The girl over there was almost passing out with emotion and the guy just let me take the picture for her and a few others.
I said thank you and went on my merry way.
JUST PEOPLE!
This weekend I discovered a dear friend of mine is friends with Hugh Jackman. I wouldn’t mind having dinner with them and getting a picture for my blog but I bet Hugh is a person too.
Ok, he might be one of the sexiest man on Earth, but still, I promise, if I ever have a chance to see him in person, even if I look a bit dumb, I will remind myself: just a person.
With all that what I mean is that you can, one day, find yourself there, on television, or being famous, the people that were there at the TV show, last night, weren’t in any way different from any of us.
But I’m getting out of the track here. I’m here to talk about the show. The first part of being there is to get “cheering training” you have this funny guy telling us when to clap, when to go wild, how to follow his lead.
He did a dance competition that was really funny. He got a few people from the public to try some dancing for us, not for the cameras. He ended up with a genius of a boy dancer and a girl that was very funny and brave and didn’t care she actually couldn’t dance.
The boy said he was 15 but looked around 9, he was probably dancing since he was five, with already a dancer’s body and being actually pretty good, doing multiple pirouettes, tricks, jumps and all.
The girl most certainly has been doing some ballet classes but not for long and her contemporary attempt was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. She was amazing. I’m glad to say both got the prizes.
The part that was live was the eliminations, with the “dancing for their lives”, 30 seconds sessions each of the bottom 3 couples. It was a privilege to see them dancing, especially Loredo Malcolm.
I have to confess that the kind of body that I think is the most beautiful type is the dancer’s one. The thin with perfectly defined but not overly grown muscles, if you want to know what I mean have a look at Loredo’s performance from last night: that is it: my ideal of perfection.
I’m glad I didn’t have to make a decision on who to eliminate. All of them were too good. Stephen and Ash‐Leigh ended up being eliminated. We couldn’t take pictures once the show started and even after it was finished so I couldn’t take a picture with Gianne when we were talking to her, however I have one from her dancing in the Brazilian Parade at the Sydney Salsa Congress.
I am strongly cheering for her to win because she has it all.
Hers was the preferred performance from the previous night, it was also her that the camera focused more on the group show shown last night.
Even the judges didn’t have one bad remark about her routine.
I didn’t see her dancing live this time but even from the shows on the screen I could see she has it all: she is an amazing dancer having the technique and the extra something needed.
Knowing Brazilian Samba gives her a lot of advantages, she moves that body like no‐one, she is also charismatic, looks good both on stage and in front of the camera, her smile brightens up the day, her dancing has the feeling coming from the bottom of her heart, even when she is nervous and on top of all she is a good person.
Of course I would cheer for her even if I didn’t think she was the best to win, I’m loyal to the end, but upon being there I realised she is for sure one of the best. I find it hard comparing the male to the female dancers, so I’m not sure that if I didn’t know anyone personally, I would still think she is the best, but that choice was made for me.
So here I go: VOTE FOR GIANNE!!!
When I was leaving Carriage Works I saw this guy coming out of a backdoor, he had a funny outfit looking like a naval officer, with a cap and all. He looked, different, special, somehow magical.
That place has an atmosphere of its own; it is a corridor with all these old doors, old walls, old windows… in one of the glass doors I saw a dog and through a window there was a man hanging from the ceiling doing some acrobatics. When I paid attention to the guy in the alley it was Stephen Tannos, the guy that was let go just a little while before.
I felt like taking a picture of him before I realised it was him, but I decided not to intrude in his moment. It is nonetheless a picture that I will always have in my mind. One of those that makes you think you are in a movie.
Today I have a sore throat from shouting encouragements and I feel exhausted, I think I overshared myself and my energy last night.
Kadu & Vali / Junaid and Katherine / Alisson dancing Zouk at SSC09
It is so amazing how life sparkles from a thought.
Everything and everyone eventually came from a thought.
It is remarkable to witness the ascension of a new dance style.
When I joined LDA, four years ago, we had one course, one class per week, of four-weeks courses for Lambada. It wasn’t even called Zouk at that time. We had all the levels in one, the crazy and more advanced aficionados mixed with the total beginners. Mr. Amit–DJ Zoubasa-was there from the beginning.
He tells me that he used to carry a lambada/zouk CD with him everywhere he went and beg, literally beg, on his knees, for the salsa DJs in the city to play one song. Just one song! When they did he would dance with the first (and probably only) person he could find that knew any amount of zouk in the room, Wendy Ng.
I keep trying to imagine what it was not to have where to go and who to dance Zouk with, and only by thinking it got harder to breathe.
Zouk is so addictive I saw a lot of salsa fanatics in the Brazilian room at the congress, most of the pictures I posted were taken in the “Zouk room” as it was safer for my fractured arm to be there than in the packed Salsa party room.
Every year we have more and more choreographies of Zouk in the Latin congresses, there were quite a few in the SSC this year. As a zouk-addict I was happy to see. A lot of friends commented how good it was to find so many good Zouk dancers in one place.
In Sydney what boosted the rise of the style were a few things:
101°C Party – a monthly get together that plays mostly Zouk and Bachata, I was there from the first one, only missing two in more than an year. One when I was in Brazil and one when I got sick. I performed in one too.
Jaime and Liz fell in love with Zouk, and nothing like a professional passion to boost a style.
The two Brisbane Brazilian Bance Congresses of 2008 getting Zouk lovers from all over the country together.
It is a special thrill to be part of the beginning.
I have no idea where Zouk is going, but I know it is growing worldwide and I’m seeing it is going “WOW”!
Sydney Salsa Congress Workshops 2009 Jordan & Tatiana
If you are a great dancer, it will help you bringing students to your workshops, but that won’t be the main attraction.
Being a great teacher, that is what will really bring the crowds.
Here are some important tips and skills to consider:
Introduce yourself and any partners on stage with you.
Say and show what you are doing at the beginning of the class; this way everyone knows they are in the right class and what to expect from it.
It is essential to have the ability to break steps down into smaller parts, to know where to step in which count.
Present the leader and the follower steps if you are teaching a couple dance by yourself, or have a partner for the other’s part.
You must know about music and be very good in following rhythm and beats.
Count, follow the count, it doesn’t matter how you count the music as long as you do it in a way the students can follow it with you.
Have a great move ready, well rehearsed and prepared it very well, in advance, with your partner if you have one.
Choose the “size” of the movement according to the amount of time given for the workshop or class, not too long so it has to be cut, not too short so it’s done by the half of the class.
Share, if you have a partner, share the teaching with him or her, share according to the partner’s teaching experience but don’t let him or her be a mute the whole class, it’s disturbing.
Energy. No matter how good is your step, if you are not energetic, students will find it boooooring! You have to speak loudly, give out energy, show you are keen to be there. If you show there is nothing else you rather be doing at that moment, well that will get the people like nothing else. Share your passion for dancing. Johnny Vasquez is a great example, he makes you scream, turn, give yourself wholly to the move and the moment.
Good humour: jokes and good humour are big in making people have a good time anywhere. Dance workshops are part of the “entertainment” business, it means people are expecting to be entertained. A great example of this was Tony Lara’s Bachata Fun Moves Workshop at the Sydney Salsa Congress 2009. It was a funny thing where the guys trapped the girls hands, made them turn unexpectedly, played pretend-slaps, lots of things that made everyone crack up. But then he decided he needed a “fresh girl”, someone that wasn’t at the workshops to see if the leads worked. And there comes Johnny Vasquez walking calmly. So yes, he was the “fresh girl” following Tony’s traps and tricks and it certainly worked! Great Workshop!
Organization and rotation: very, Very, VERY important: I have been to great workshops where I got more frustrated the better they got. How is that? If you cannot see the front and teacher, or if you don’t have a partner to dance with, all is lost for you. So, an instructor has to organise the class very well. I would say Jaime is a master in that. No mater how full a class is, he was able to get it done. Tony Lara and Dani were very acknowledged at the SSC 09 for their classes. This is how you do it:
First is the division in rows.
Second the constant rotation of those rows. Front to back, back to front, so everyone has a view of the instructors.
Also, when there are too many students make the people in the front kneel or sit so the ones in the back can see.
For couple dances, partner rotation is essential. Ask right at the start if there are partners not rotating, make sure they don’t disturb your system. Separate non-rotating partners. This way you will discourage people to be fixing partners as the workshops go by. People that don’t come with fixed partners will get very upset if they dance with less and less partners, specially the good ones, as the class goes on.
Organise the class in a circle or rows and explain how the rotation will work. Do not let them do it for themselves. It never works well, it creates embarrassing moments, it’s annoying. If you know how it works all stress is taken from it and only fun is left.
Tell if the ladies or the guys are moving, say who is going where.
Very, very, important again: Remember to rotate partners often, particularly when the numbers are not even.
Safety – dips, tricks and full house – instil responsibility: You can be a bit alarmist here, better safe than sorrow. Although we usually say it’s always the guys fault when doing more difficult tricks both are equally responsible. Anyway the instructor has to alert to all things that could be dangerous, even if there are no difficult moves but it’s a small place or there are too many dancers.
It’s a leader’s responsibility to be safe, but it’s a followers responsibility, equally, to stop a movement if they feel they are going to get hurt.
Level, level, level – make sure to tell participants which level is the workshop catered for, for higher levels it is worth requesting that only the people with the right level stay. Also it is always possible you will have to adapt according to the level you perceive from the people present.
Leave time for enjoyment at the end – save a few minutes just to let them dance!
Sell your products at the very end. When the class is great, people want to know more about you and what you have to offer. Always. So quickly go over what you have to sell: music, DVDs, congresses, classes, workshops, performances, websites… Be brief but make the offer and tell them where to get it. It is not a bad thing, people crave more information. The ones who don’t want to listen will leave, don’t take it personally. You are offering, the ones who want to buy will listen. Nothing to loose. Five to eight minutes at most.
To resist temptation is one of the hardest things in life.
Dancing is for me Huuuge temptation. Broken arm or not; Fractured bone or not.
There was so much I could take but by Saturday I had to give in a little bit. In a safe way but still… resisting dancing was not one of them.
As soon as I got to the first party of the Congress, still on Thursday night, I saw this guy, I looked at him and felt total empathy. I just said:
‘My friend! Let me take a picture for my blog!’
I don’t think I had seen him before… the immediate rapport was due to his clutches and a visible damaged leg.
Talking to him he told me he was still going for surgery… my thoughts go to you friend, hoping all goes well.
The instant friends Ms. Broken Arm & Mr. Broken Leg at SSC09
‘Rugby accident.’ He said.
‘Fell off a horse.’ I answered.
And we kept meeting around the parties (literally walking on the border of the dance floors) the rest of the congress…
If you could only go to the Congress to watch, I bet you wouldn’t resist as well.
I have a thing for finding empty places to dance at. Have done my fair share of performances for invisible public and imaginary admirers.
I was perusing the Brazilian Room party on Saturday night at the congress when I found out that the room was actually a huge space limited by a curtain. Behind it I found a half-dark place with a huuuuuuge wooden, perfect floor, and not a sole person around. As it was just separated from the main floor by cloth the music leaked through it in the same intensity and even a bit of the party lights. The song was one of Mafie Zouker’s and it was going through me directly into my soul.
I took off my shoes and barefooted I began dancing without even realising I was doing it… moving around the floor, spinning, letting the rhythm guide me, letting the beats beat my heart, letting the tears roll… of the sheer emotion I was experiencing. One of those magical, inspired occurrences of a lifetime, that sensation will stay with me forever. I can still close my eyes and feel the dance floor under me and the sensation hugging my body.
I stopped only when I saw someone watching me. I chatted with him for a bit, near the door, until a security guard was a bit rude and scurried us away from there. Anyway, I was already happy. But got even happier when my friend J.C. saved my congress by dancing one music with me. We went to the front of the room where I wouldn’t risk bumping my hurt arm into anyone and did a “one hand” dance. Fortunately my good arm is the right one and that’s the one most of the zouk leads come from.
It was a strange dance, I lead myself a bit, turned to the wrong sides, had to stop now and then, when someone came anywhere near my elbow. But despite all that, it was an amazing thing. I needed that one dance so badly I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it to its full extent. Those two songs were my personal highlights in the congress.
Jaime Jesus and Tania with Capoeira Brasil at SSC09
Oh! And the picture with the pretty boys for Capoeira Brasil!
The stage is a piece of tear in the fabric of the world. It’s a different place than the others. People on stage gain magical powers that they wouldn’t have when walking in the mall. Dance is the instrument of this power. It is so amazing how the people’s perception change and get altered by this special power.
A great example is my mum. She is a small person and she is a physicist and a teacher. I remember one day to be talking to someone that had been her student and he said to me that he only realised she wasn’t tall months after she stopped teaching him, she was so imposing when teaching, so powerful, he thought she was much taller than reality. One day he passed her by at the Uni and realised she wasn’t big at all!
That is what happens to these big dancers we have around. Jaime Jesus, Nestor Manuelian, Johnny Vasquez, Tony Lara, Oliver Piñeda, are not very tall men but man! how huge do they look on stage!
I keep looking at them dance, with mouth open and cannot tear my eyes off of them, yet they are normal people in a normal surrounding, as am I.
Amazing Little Liz is another bright star on the dance stage and floor.
Other, not short, talents also come to my mind, some dancers that steal all the attention when on stage, Angelo Salgado and his smile, he burns brightly, this year he got the permanent Australian visa for Special Talent and such a right thing it was. He is a very special talent indeed. I looked to the people around me watching his show and we were all grinning like idiots.
And Fernando, the Suave man. I can’t precise what’s about him, a charm or something. He turns and step and smile and move, and you sigh…
Fernando Providel & Tania / Nestor Manuelian, Tania & Lidia MacMahon / Super Mario & Tania
These dancers are all so especial, they have personalities that leak out of them, that enfold the viewers making them believe the impossible.
Lastly I’ll talk about someone a bit larger, Super Mario, the one everyone in the salsa scene is in love with.
You don’t have another choice but to like him.
Last year I saw him dancing with four or five little girls from New Zealand’s team, it was in the party after the shows and he was leading them all so well, it was delightful to watch.
This year, with my broken arm I had a chance to talks with him these days before the congress, he was harbouring a hurt hand also so we exchanged a few tears, from the pain and I told him he should keep his hand in the protective gear he told me I should keep my arm imobile, funny dialogue.
Capoeira Performance at the Sydney Salsa Congress - Brazilian Room 2009
I still remember the first time I’ve seen the party at the Sydney Salsa Congress and every time I get goose bumps.
That was what made me decide: yes, I will learn this salsa thing.
One live band playing for thousands of salseros going crazy at an enormous wooden floor. Filling up the State Sport’s Centre is a feat. And all those people spinning and partying to the sounds of a live salsa band was enough to amaze any watcher.
This year the Sydney Salsa Congress had a special something for the dancers.
On Saturday and Sunday the rooms were divided.
There was the regular Salsa room that continued to play Salsa, Bachata, Chacha and Merengue.
Then there was a new Brazilian Room. A dream comes true for Marcia Percival, and a lot of other dancers like me.
It was the acknowledgement that the other styles are getting more and more from the latin dancers’ time.
In this room we had Zouk, Forro and Samba for everyone to dance, also Marcia led an Axe, Kadu and Larissa performed a Gafieira Show, the Capoeira boys stole the stage for their amazing acrobatics and everyone went crazy on the Samba Parade with all this girls going crazy behind the drums.
Jeanne is such a beauty dancing I couldn’t stop looking at her moves. She is a Brazilian Dancer in Australia, a contestant at “So You Think You Can Dance” the Reality TV Show this year. The DJs were great, Amit DJ Zoubasa, Kadu, Mafie Zouker made everyone dance until they dropped.
This dancing until you drop at this congress is not an exaggeration. If you seen a previous picture I posted of the guys resting on the floor you will get my meaning. These people start dancing on Thursday night, go until late, then wake up, attend workshops all day, then party all night, repeated for two more days. My sister was driving me and every time she got out or into the car she was saying:
’Ai, ai, ai, ai.’
Translation to English:
‘Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.’ That is how bad everyone gets.
Tais dancing the congress away in the first 2 photos / Tatiana & Gaspar – Zouk at the Brazilian Room SSC 2009
By Friday afternoon you have your doubts you will be able to keep going, but the party is oh sooo goood! So you dance until you can’t walk anymore. Then yes, another song you like plays exactly when you think you’ve had enough, you have to dance it. You go to the car or hotel room thinking you are stepping on shards of glass. Your feet cannot take it anymore.
When you wake up you keep thinking if someone got the plate of the truck that hit you. Then you close your eyes and see the workshop schedule you have memorised. You know you cannot miss that class! Only god knows how you get up and get changed.
By Saturday you think you will not survive but you keep going, it’s all just too good not to. By Sunday half of you are enjoying all moments the most as the congress is almost finished and the other half cannot see the end of it.
Monday is an official sick day. You cannot get out of bed still you have a smile stuck onto your face.
The parties this year also had a nice appeal to it.
The organizers had this idea of “selling dances” where all the money went to World Vision, the charity. So a few people got some dances with the international and national artists, without having to make up the nerve to ask them for a dance.
Instead they paid for a dance, and contributed for a charity.
That is what I call winwin.
Dancers are all the same, ever.
Talking about international artists I was watching Tatiana dance a zouk, her first zouk ever, with Gaspar. She was beautiful and soft. Of course she missed a few leads and looked a bit panicked but still she followed and did really well. It is funny how even being a dancer like her, so good, she would still feel insecure and ask after the dance: ‘did I look too bad?’
‘No Tatiana, you didn’t look any bad, not at all.’ And I got beautiful pictures to prove it.
Dancers are like that, able to improvise, move no matter to what music, follow or lead partners, dance with one hand, and create in all matters.
See this picture of a dancer who created a different way to hold a bottle of water:
Different way to hold your bottle of drink at SSC09
taniacreations.com 