How NOT to Choreograph a Salsa Routine

Use a Non Salsa Intro

Everyone at a salsa congress is expecting to see salsa dancing. But the clever dance company can use this fact to its advantage by starting off their routine with a dance form other than salsa. It doesn’t matter what form you choose, as long as it’s not salsa. The main goal here is to surprise the audience by moving away from their expectations.

For instance, you could take the stage, but instead of dancing salsa, you could start dancing hip hop. No one would expect that. So, when they saw it, the audience would be intrigued. By capturing their interest early, you increase your chances of making a memorable routine.

After all, this is a salsa congress – so why on earth would the people want you to just dance salsa? If you want to be memorable, go against the grain and start off with something that no one will be expecting. Once you have their attention, then spring the trap and transition to the salsa.

Be warned – audiences are easily confused. So, when you are making the transition from, say, Hip Hop to Salsa, make sure to make the transition as abrasive as possible. That way, everyone will understand that this is now the salsa part, and that the stuff that happened prior to it was totally unrelated.

Not only is this a very clever way to catch the audience’s attention, it has the added benefit of clearly demonstrating salsa’s superiority to the aforementioned dance form. Promoting one’s art at the expense of another’s is a time honored method of advancement. Therefore it is highly recommended.


Fill at least half of the routine with shines

People dance with partners every day. It’s pretty much all that goes on at the clubs. So, don’t bore the audience by showing them what they are used to. Instead, try to fill your routine with at least 50% shines.

This should seem obvious to most people, but a lot of people do not understand the importance of appropriating an adequate amount of space in a routine for shines. However, with a little reflection, the necessity of this becomes self evident.

After all, what would you rather do? Watch two people dancing together, or see a them jumping up and down and snapping their feet? There is a reason that Riverdance is the worldwide phenomenon that it is. And, if salsa wants to go to the next level, we would be wise to try to understand it.


Be Unique at All Costs

There are a lot of no-no’s in salsa dancing, but the one thing that is never done is copying someone else’s routine. There is an unwritten rule that once someone has taken an idea, that is their property, and others should stay away. That’s why you don’t see people copying ideas like the Matrix. Or Clowns. Or Mimes.

You get the idea.

Luckily, there is a simple formula for finding good theme ideas. Simply ask yourself this question: What HASN’T been done yet? The answer to that question is your theme! I know… it sounds too simple to work. And yet, this is the question that has been driving the “cutting edge” of salsa choreography for years now.

What hasn’t been done?

It’s such an easy question to ask… and yet, who really knows the answer? We’ve seen salsa, salsa, salsa, salsa, clown salsa, old lady salsa, old man salsa, nurse salsa, soldier salsa… you get the idea. Almost every idea that can be done, has been done. And sooner or later, someone will do the rest. I’m surprised I haven’t seen the Osama vs. Saddam on 2 shine battle yet.

The point is, it’s not that important that the theme is good. What is important is that the theme is unique. And that it’s yours. After all, why in the world would you want to go out and just dance salsa, when you could be the person who brings the world all-male-drag-rueda?


Use Transitions and Special Effects

One of salsa’s dirty little secrets is that most of the good music was made decades ago. As a result, people have heard every good salsa song there is. A hundred times. As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Therefore, by using well known, hard hitting songs in your routine, you risk boring your audience to death.

Luckily, modern technology can free the choreographer from the bonds of classical arrangements. With just a little bit of training, the enterprising choreographer can use sound editing tools to trim, blend and splice their songs to create the perfect song for a given routine.

Not only does this help to tailor the music to the routine, it also breathes new life into long dead songs. After all, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz may have had something in mind when they decided to record a song a certain way, but times have changed, and in order for the music to remain relevant, it is critical that the music change with the times.

A survey of current industry best practices suggests that the trend is to take the fastest mambo parts of several different songs, and blend them together, using various special effects to mask the transitions. Good choices for the transition effects include transformer sounds, machine noises, and sound bites from popular films.


Rip Changes

If you really want to score big points with the audience, make sure to perform a costume change on stage while you are performing. Known within the industry as a rip-change, this consists of one or more performers wearing a bulky costume that looks impossible to dance in, and then having someone rip it off them.

This is a jolt to the audience and makes them sit up in their seats and say, “Wow!”

The keys to a successful rip changes are bulk and speed. The more bulky the initial costume, the greater the shock when the rip change occurs. Therefore, strive to make the starting costume as big as possible.

The speed of the change is also important. The change must occur in one fell rip. So make sure that there are no obstacles in the way. What you cannot afford is for the costume to get caught during the transition.

Rip changes are costly to implement and difficult to execute. Therefore, they are the domain of the serious contenders only. But, for those select groups wanting to really wow ‘em, this is practially a given.


Size Matters

One of the biggest mistakes currently being made is the inability of a dance company to find a suitable number of dancers to take the stage. Size matters, especially at a salsa congress. Therefore, every effort should be made in order to find suitable numbers of dancers for a given performance.

The rule is that for every 3 square feet of dance space, you should have at least one dancer. On a 30x60 stage, you would have 1800 square feet of dance floor. Therefore, the optimal number of dancers would be 600.

A review of the most recent congress performances indicates that, although no one quite hit this number, there were several groups that were approaching stage optimum. Hopefully, as we move forward, this trend will increase, so that we can begin to see the true potential of the stage fully exploited.


Length Matters

Face it. These people didn’t travel thousands of miles to see some short two minute routine. There is a reason that Titanic is the biggest grossing movie of all time. It’s because Titanic was an epic. And if you want to achieve the same kind of success, you should strive to make your routine an epic as well.

I know that it may sound like a daunting task. Many a broadway choreographer would shudder at the idea of choreographing a 10 minute dance segment. But a quick look around will tell you that in reality, no skill is really necessary. There are literally dozens of dance troupes doing it all the time. Anyone can do it. All you really need is a really long song, and a heartfelt desire to step out on that stage.

After all, isn’t that what the audience is really looking for? If you have those two vital components, the audience will forgive you anything. Forget timing. Forget technique. Forget continuity. All of those things are nice. But what really counts is Sabor. Pasion. And a really long song.


The Formula for Success

So, what is the optimal structure for success? After exhaustive research, the following formula was arrived at:

1. Using the optimal number of dancers (LxW / 3)
2. Start out with a non salsa music intro (Hip Hop, Skit, Etc)
3. Drag the intro out for 2 - 3 ½ minutes.
4. Use a Sound Effect Transition
5. Execute the Shine portion of the routine for 5-6 minutes
6. Use another Sound Effect Transition
7. Execute a Quick Costume Rip - Change
8. Execute salsa routine for 1-1½ minutes
9. Make sure to switch between several songs during the routine as outlined above.

Stick to these guidelines, and watch your group pull away from the crowd!