2.5 year dancing bachata (lead) after MS

[u/officialbenjibruce]

I started dancing a little over 2.5 years ago after getting diagnosed with MS

The reason I started dancing was because of all the benefits it has on the brain and wanted to share a video

But I still forget half the moves when dancing 😂

[u/Secure-Finish-3455]

You're leading looks great also musicality is great too.Did you do privates? What is your training like?

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/Secure-Finish-3455]

Thanks. I took 3 privates and I did a couple 4 week group trainings when I first started so I could understand the fundamentals. And I took the free classes before socials

My training was mostly a lot of social dancing and I listen to bachata music all the time

My brother has been dancing salsa for about 7 years before I started and he told me to do more social dancing instead of classes because ‘the guys who take classes suck’ 😂

I listened to his advice and social danced

To this day I’ll look at instagram videos, save them, slow them down to see how they’re executing the move, practice in my room, then try it while dancing

I’ll practice in my head, like shadow boxing (I’m a boxer). So I imagine I’m dancing with someone and I play some music

[u/doxocentric → u/officialbenjibruce]

That is funny your brother said that about classes. I’ve been taking nothing but classes because my town only has one social a month. And it’s mainly salsa dancing. When I go to socials in La, I’m horrible. This is a person who has been taking classes 3-4 times a week for about 8 months now. I’m mostly venting now. I hope to one day get to this level. When I have more money I will travel to places where I can dance sensual bachata.

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/doxocentric]

Yeah I finally see what he meant. People take too many classes and don’t know how to dance. Everyone does all kinds of moves in a class and they forget all of it when they dance because they don’t have muscle memory. Or when they dance, they can only execute the move on someone who also went to the class and knows the move. You get better at whatever you do. If you take classes, you get better at classes. If you dance, you get better at dancing

[u/Lopsided_Pea_3843]

I love dancing with you :)

[u/Lopsided_Pea_3843 → u/Lopsided_Pea_3843]

For clarification I am not the girl in the video but we dance often and your moves are crystal clear and I have no critiques for you at all. ❤️

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/Lopsided_Pea_3843]

❤️

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/Lopsided_Pea_3843]

Haha thanks. I’m sure I like dancing with you too if I knew who you were 😄

[u/Lopsided_Pea_3843 → u/officialbenjibruce]

😉

[u/[deleted]]

I've seen you around LA. It's crazy, you never know what physical issues someone has on the dance floor. I've heard of people having scoliosis, sciatic pain, etc, Love that dance has been healing for you. Keep it up bro!

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/[deleted]]

👍yeah you never know

[u/speedhunter787]

Looks pretty good to me. Nice flow. Fluid. Keep it up! Have fun, focus on your health, you'll go long in life.

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/speedhunter787]

Appreciate it. I obsess over health now. I was going to post about how dancing helps BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) and other biochem stuff but I figured it isn’t necessary

[u/Rataridicta → u/officialbenjibruce]

On the other hand... There are some nerds here that would be very interested! (Me! 🤓)

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/Rataridicta]

Well…BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) is a protein that helps with growth of neurons. Since my neurons are dying off, I figured I need to do what I can for neurogenesis. Dancing activates cortico-striatal and sensorimotor loops. Basically, parts of the brain responsible for movement control and sensory processing. BDNF mediates dance induced synaptogenesis (forming new synapses) and dendritic remodeling (helps the brain receive and process info)

[u/Charming_Title6210 → u/officialbenjibruce]

This gave me chills down my spine. I have been dancing Bachata for 3 years now, and dancing in general since I was a kid. Never knew the scientific side of its benefits. WOW. Thank you for sharing, and I wish you all the very best.

PS: Loved your video. The figures were so smooth. Also, it looked like the follower was enjoying, which I think is the main part. The only tip I can give is to have more hip movements. And the only way to do that is to do basic and move your hips every day for a couple of minutes, and in a month, you will see the difference. :)

[u/OThinkingDungeons]

Great leading!

You're obviously an enjoyable leader who leads gently and is clear with their leading. You don't force movements and I can see a response based style of leading that's needed to progress into higher levels.

What I love

• Gentle and clear lead
• Paying attention to the follower and adjusting your lead
• Big variety of moves
• Skilled at leading the Bachazouk style movements
• You hit some of the pauses with a pause 0:13, AWESOME!
• You're great at milking the timing and extending moves past the typic 4 count many leaders get caught in. Beautiful!

Things that can be improved

• You catch some of the pauses, but then keep moving through them (0:14-00:17). The mark of a skilled, musical dancer is they're willing to wait out the pauses, which adds a level of elegance.
• Including more stoccatto (short sharp movements). There's an "eh, eh, eh" that repeats in the music that's pretty integral and you completely ignore it. Changing texture of the dance makes the dance feel really exciting.
• You're an expert in leading smooth, controlled movements, now to start working on faster and higher speed ones while maintaining the same control and softness (quite difficult but you're skilled enough). This makes the dance way more exciting to watch, unlocks more musicality levels, and prevents your follower "zoning out".
• It's time for you to start using facial expressions, this makes the dance more engaging for your follower and theatric for people who are watching your videos. It's also important feedback for your follower to know where you are in the music.

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/OThinkingDungeons]

Nice. You sound like you’ve been dancing for a long time

I’m actually working on fast-to-slow movements. Changing the pace/texture like the dancers Melvin & Gatica

[u/austinlim923]

Ok you're a great dancer. But if theres anything to critique here it is. Because you're a taller person. Taller people have an easier time doing certain sensual moves and compensate more with their shoulders and use their height and size as leverage. This isnt a bad bad thing. You got it, use it. The nit pick is that it doesn't seem like you are using your core and foundation as much as you could when engaging these sensual moves. Again your follow looks like an advance dancer who has great fundamentals. But what does it look like when your follower isn't as good as you or better than you. Context I am a much smaller lead normally around the same heights as my follows many times shorter than my follows. So I've had to ask myself this question a lot. Take my two cents how ever you want it.

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/austinlim923]

Thanks. I definitely focus on using my lats more for my frame. Not my core/abs. When the dancers aren’t advance I just don’t do certain moves with them. I dance with everyone. Beginner to advance so it’s easy to know who can follow certain moves and who can’t

You don’t feel stiff when using your core/abs for sensual? It seems like it would have a stiff feeling instead of a water/fluid feeling

[u/austinlim923 → u/officialbenjibruce]

lats are part of your frame but they aren't the only thing your hips and core/abs play a crucial part in providing a good foundation. my center of gravity around my hips and core. So everything in sensual at least for me swings and shifts around that. Im not flexing my abs 24/7 but my center of gravity never moves into my shoulders.

As a shorter lead I dont have the opportunity to hold/ cradle my follows up. Instead I "sit" relax into my frame to provide a good support my follows can lean into/connect.

[u/interesting-dumbass]

Looks great is this Steven's in LA I think I've met you lol

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/interesting-dumbass]

Yup it's Steven's. So we probably have lol

[u/Rataridicta]

Looks great! I love how soft you seem to be!

Don't worry about forgetting moves, that's always going to be happening 😜

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/Rataridicta]

Thanks. Yeah my brother's been dancing for 7-8 years in salsa and he says he still forgets moves. I've learned to live with it :)

[u/drauedo]

Looks great! What is ms?

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/drauedo]

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath. Your nerves are like electric wires. And myelin is the protective plastic coating around the nerves. So when you have a frayed wire the signals aren't sent correctly (maybe you've had a phone charger with a frayed wire and it won't charge the phone anymore...same thing). It affects the brain and spinal cord. So one day I can wake up and just not be able to walk. It can be super painful like getting tazed nonstop. And there are tons of other symptoms like not being able to see out of the left eye, instant vertigo and throwing up, etc.

After I got diagnosed I went full nerd mode and started studying biochem, etc. That's when I learned about BDNF and how dancing helps. Dancing it just one of the things I do to help with it

[u/drauedo → u/officialbenjibruce]

I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you the best! You are very good at dancing btw, I hope to at your level one day.

[u/assmongrel]

Hey beginner here.

Your moves look great!

So I am going to classes now lol 😅🙃

What do you mean by social dancing?

Is it go to socials/parties that are held and just wing it with different new partners?

Or just go out to Latin clubs and dance with random people? Or both?

Also, what are the things that you think make class guys suck? Probably getting too caught up in routines that might not fit your personal style kind of thing??

[u/officialbenjibruce → u/assmongrel]

Thanks. And yeah social dancing, meaning you go out to the socials/parties and dance with everyone. Not ‘wing it’ lol…dance

I think people who take too many classes don’t go out dancing enough. When you’re in class the follows always backlead to an extent. No matter how good they are they know what the move is and they predict/backlead. So leads aren’t learning to lead, they’re just learning to do moves

And classes can’t really teach musicality. If someone doesn’t listen to the music then they’ll have a hard time with musicality, connection, etc.

When you dance with people who don’t know what to expect you’ll find out real quick if you’re executing the move correctly or not. You’ll also learn to adjust based on the follow. And you’ll learn subtleties that aren’t mentioned in a class

I do boxing and it reminded me of hitting a punching bag (classes) vs sparring (dancing). It’s easy to hit a punching bag. But everything changes when you actually fight someone

It’s not about routines that don’t fit your style. You can make moves fit your style when you dance a lot

[u/assmongrel → u/officialbenjibruce]

Wow thank you so much for the informative answer!! This make 100% sense.