A Phenomenology of the Salsa Spin
By Laureano Ralon Facchina*

I have always been fascinated by good salsa spinners: people that without any previous training in dance manage for a few seconds to defy gravity by turning multiple times in an exhilarating feeling that could be described as flying without taking off the ground.

Realistically, a social dancer only needs one, two or three spins to embellish his dance; however, once salseros achieve the three-turns mark, they can’t seem to get enough. There is something about the “art of spinning” that makes it fascinating despite its use or utility on the social dance floor.

After one year and a half of solid daily practice in Vancouver, and a personal mark of eight spins, I recently went to California looking to among other things take my spinning technique to the next level. In L.A. I discovered people who were crazier about their turn than I ever was/will be: people like Francisco Vazquez, Christian Oviedo, Jose Chavarria, and Jose Vargas – and of course, my dear friend Mao (aka. The Bruce Lee of Salsa).

I first met Mao about a year ago, after seeing one of his spinning clips on youtube. I was amazed by this silent guy who could turn up to eight times on one single foot without a shred of doubt or hesitation. Mao’s inspiration made me thirsty, pushing me to look for inspiration elsewhere: I was fortunate enough to take private lessons from, and talk about spinning with, some of the best male spinners on the West Coast: Francisco Vazquez, Christian Oviedo, Johnny Bravo, and Vancouver’s own, Ashkan Jabarianha. Once in L.A., I finally met Mao face to face, with whom I practiced my turns every week, for several minutes at the closing of every salsa night.

Having watched and learned from all these people gave me a better understanding of my own body and what I call “the phenomenology of the salsa spin.” By studying their own unique styles, I managed in turn to produce my own approach to the spinning art, which can be summarized as follows:

• Though a lot of people tend to work on different aspects of their dance – leading, timing, styling, turning, spinning, etc. – in isolation, what I’ve discovered is that good spinning technique, like anything else, requires a good basic underlining foundation that will bound all these elements together in a common whole. In other words, to achieve clean multiple spins, one must first achieve a good basic step.

• The common denominator is, of course, good intra-personal connection: connection with the floor and among your body parts. Attaining a good basic, in fact is an ongoing process. One can never be connected enough; there’s always room for more involvement: with yourself, with the floor and with your partner.

• For me, an improvement in my basic step meant a proportional improvement in my spinning technique. Suddenly, being more grounded and more connected in my basic made my turns feel lighter and effortless. It almost felt as though I (my head) was working less whereas my body was doing everything by itself, on autopilot.

• From Ashkan I learned a very important lesson: your body naturally knows what to do; it does not need to be told on a daily basis. If you’re not doing something right, chances are it is not your body’s problem, but your mind getting in the way of your dancing by judging yourself excessively with every move you make. In the words of the great German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, “understanding stops action.”

• Not thinking excessively lets your own body return to its natural, relaxed, unprejudiced state; and getting closer to such a state through exercises made for me the difference between a forced spin and a spin that has that natural unnaturalness to it. The rest is just technique, which anybody can learn.

The technical sequence that worked for me is the following:

1) Get used to turning on the left leg.

2) Prep early – usually on 3, but preferably on 1 - by crossing (clicking) your legs.

3) Always make sure to have 90% of your weigh on your left leg; your right leg should be there only to provide support.

4) Don’t throw yourself into the spin; once you prep, there should be a nano-second of pause, to allow your body to build up momentum by twisting and tensing up slightly.

5) When you twist, make sure to do so using your entire body; do not divorce your upper body from your lower body as you wind up.

6) The release of tension should be gradual. You should not go right away into the spin, but allow your body to absorb (internalize) the tension, and unwind (externalize) before fully releasing.

7) Accordingly, the first 3⁄4 of the initial spin constitute an unwind; it’s only passed that first turn that you’re actually spinning.

8) Do not bring your arms right into your chest, but use them to find your balance and regulate the speed of your spins; if spinning is comparable to flying, then your arms can be said to be your wings.

9) The unwind of your spin should come from your center (core), but swinging the arms (as long as they are duly connected to your body) helps release the energy and guarantees a more powerful take off; make sure not to stick your arms out too much though - the wider your frame, the less control you’ll have over your spins.

10) You may use your right leg to push off in order to gain additional momentum, but only if you’re going for 5 spins or more; your momentum should really initiate from the winding and unwinding of the core.

11) Once you complete 3⁄4 of a spin and gain the necessary momentum for takeoff, bring your right leg up and stick it behind the knee of your left leg.

12) After that, it’s all about spotting and pulling your energy inwards, towards your center, as if you were hugging yourself more and more with every turn.

13) No matter how many times one can spin, what people register is the prep (a good prep comes unexpectedly) and a clean ending. Your landing should be a weight transfer, from your left leg onto your right leg.