How to Apply Latin Dance Techniques to Samba

Samba traces its origins to African slaves who were taken to Brazil to work the sugar fields. In the beginning and in some areas it was endowed with strong religious and sensual meaning. It was much later that Latins began to influence the dance, endowing it with strong emotional significance. Samba is known as the happiest and most energetic of the Latin dances. It is known for its joy, flamboyance and energy.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Relax your body with some stretching. At this point you probably know that samba is known for its bounce and its sensual and flamboyant hip movement. But when you want to add a little personal style and make it a little more Latin, then there are a couple of things you can do.

2. Having warmed your muscles and stretched, keep these key points in mind:1. As in all Latin dances the upper part of your body should be held straight and poised, and your rib cage should lift up.2. Shoulders should be relaxed and held normally and should never be strained or lifted. Remember this is a dance of exuberance but with emotional control.

3. Keep your torso flexible and your body above your waist steady and poised. When you do a pelvic or a hip movement, the movement should not affect your upper torso or shoulders.

4. Taking on the right attitude is important. The man needs to be relaxed and playful, yet vigilant. The woman is the beauty and she is exotic and proud. She is feminine and sensual.

5. Remember that moving in samba, as all Latin dances, has a lot of free hip and pelvic moves and it needs to be loose and energetic.

6. Hand positioning is similar to other Latin dances, so you can incorporate movements form other dances in the arm and hand movements.

7. Try to speak and entice your arm and hand movements. When you do the samba every part of your body needs to keep the rhythm, so your arms and the hands should match your feet and other movements. Do what feels and looks right to you.