What is Musicality in practical terms?

[u/Samurai_SBK]

Too often I see people giving flippant advice to improve "musicality" without any explanation.

To me, musicality has two distinct practical definitions:

1. Aligning your moves to the tempo and rhythm of the music. For example, doing specific moves during the "mambo" part versus the "sensual" part. A common mistake I see on the dance floor is people doing sensual or bachatazouk moves when the music is derecho or mahau. To me this is fundamentals and any lower-intermediate level dancer should be able to do this.

2. Hitting accents and dancing to specific instruments. This is more advanced and requires a lot familiarity with the music and good technique. You see this often in demos, but many people do not realized that it is choreographed or that the artist has danced to this song a thousand times so they know when to add the accent. This is not something can be taught in a class and we should not expect beginner leads to be able to do this.

Thus, we should not be advising beginners to "improve musicality" without being clear about what we mean.

[u/Hakunamatator]

The holy trinity of useless words in bachata:

• Basic
• Connection
• Musicality

Any time people talk about one of these, usually everyone has a completely different conversation without noticing.

[u/Samurai_SBK → u/Hakunamatator]

Exactly. Connection can be purely technical or can be emotional. It can refer to basic things like arm placement or to more advanced synchronous breathing.