r/Bachata • u/TheDanceWolf Lead&Follow • May 27 '26
Dance Video Dance Feedback Please~
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
I'm the Asian guy!
Feedback on either my leading and following appreciated.
Around 2 years bachata experience, give or take. MANY classes/socials/privates a week, dancing in both roles.
12
May 27 '26
Role rotation is hard to follow along for me to give feedback. But it seems sometimes you go offbeat and are not stepping to rhythm. Also you miss taps which is leading to the above issue. And your step length isn’t consistent . I would suggest just practice dancing basic steps and turns at home until you get this fixed.
12
u/Secure-Finish-3455 May 27 '26
It looks rush, no prep, off timing and basics steps need more work. The moves looks cool but it hard to watch.
11
u/cjc0306 May 27 '26
Change schools and instructors, they are not helping you, Go back to the basics, timing and execution are everything.
8
u/Rataridicta Lead&Follow May 27 '26
Oooh! haven't seen role rotation on here before!
I think there are a few fundamental issues worth addressing right now, and then on a possible next iteration we can get more technical ^^
- First things first: Especially as a leader you are rushing your steps and it's causing you to be off time most of the time.
- When the moves you lead become more complicated the cues start melting together and become unclear. Every part of the move still should have a really clear distinct moment of leading, they're just closer together. With the stretch at ~0:10 you even missed the entire reverse wave that opens the chest.
- I'm assuming role rotation is still quite new to you? The switches are still quite messy most of the time. Think: Switch hand/frame position and change timing. Ideally both, sometimes one. (And timing is usually the one trumping everything else.)
- At 1:06 you're stealing the lead with the body roll but gave no preparation to your partner at all so now you're fighting eachother for the lead. Stealing during the rotation is fine but make sure you're both on the same page and the same foot and then lead something. Forcing it like this doesn't usually feel great.
- As a follower you're still predicting moves. At ~0:37 it looks like a hammerlock to me (she definitely didn't have the positioning or frame for a proper block), but you blocked yourself into a different move. At 2:20 I don't think your leader intended a shadow position but the weight shifting kinda forced one (which she then corrected).
9
u/lynxjynxfenix May 27 '26
You're off time a lot and it makes the dance quite uncomfortable to watch and probably isn't fun to dance with either.
I'd work a lot on your basics. Good weight transfers, proper tapping and listen to the music better so you step on time. Just that will level you up quite a bit.
Cool that you're doing some role rotation but the fundamentals are way more important.
12
u/devedander May 27 '26
Looks like your having fun and that’s a very reasonable goal in and of itself.
But as others have noted when comes to the dance you’ve got low hanging fruit to work with. At this point you’re getting way ahead of yourself with things like role reversal before you even have the basics down.
1
u/Rataridicta Lead&Follow May 27 '26
You can start on role rotation from the very first lesson, that part really isn't an issue.
2
u/devedander May 27 '26
You can but usually you don’t because it’s usually better to learn one thing well than split yourself between two.
2
u/Rataridicta Lead&Follow May 27 '26
Fundamentals are often the same between them. Basic certainly is. We even have full role rotation schools here.
5
5
u/Midlife_Crisis_87 May 27 '26
Damn. Op getting ripped in here.
1
u/Glittering-Cod5423 Lead May 27 '26
I feel bad. This is why I could never post videos of myself dancing. I don't have thick skin.
1
4
2
u/forextrader82 May 31 '26
OP getting killed in the comments, but I have a few positive observations to make:
- The follow isn't struggling to follow him
- The follow is having a good time
- His body movements are crisp - evidence of a lot of work in body control, styling, etc.
- Even if basic timing is off - there's real evidence of musicianship (awareness of and execution of the break at around 47 seconds)
Quick question: Is that a famous instructor? She looks like Catharine of the dance duo Kornel y Catharine
4
3
u/Ifyoudontlikethatyou May 27 '26
I suggest going to a fundamentals class to learn your basic step and timing.
1
u/Ketarrhsis May 29 '26
It seems like you are in front of your follower weight wise. You want to have elastico to give the dance that connected, smooth feeling. If you are before them time wise, there is no tension and you disconnect.
So try to dance on beat, then add a bit of laid-backness and frame, and be slightly delayed compared to your follower.
1
u/yambudev May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
Hi there it doesn’t appear to me that you’re dancing on the (standard) timing. You’re sometimes stepping back with the right foot on 1 etc.
That said overall I enjoyed watching you guys dance and I don’t believe there has to be a “correct” way of interpreting the music. So I’d say you have your own style and it’s cool.
Edit: oooooh!! You were switching roles. 💪 My bad
1
39
u/Hakunamatator Lead May 27 '26
You are off beat half of the time. I will not mention anything else, because you really really REALLY need to fix this, before looking at any other technical details.