How to Enhance the Cross Body Lead in a Latin Dance Routine

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By yourbodycraves
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Dance with Style!

In Latin Dancing the Cross Body Lead is a subtle move that is used mainly to transition from one move to another. It's popularly applied in Salsa, Hustle, Rhumba, Cha Cha, Bachata, Merengue and the Mambo. The move is executed by having the leader take a ninety degree back step from the basic linear position. The back step opens up a path for the follower to travel across and pivot. This results in both dancers having exchanged places on the dance floor path. Once mastered, this move could transform normal linear movements into stylish dance patterns. Enhancing the Cross Body Lead could add that extra "WOW" factor to your dance routine. Here is how to Enhance the Cross Body Lead.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Dance Training
Know Cross Body Lead

Step 1

Turns
Turns are a quick and dramatic way of enhancing any dance routine. The energy and spin of the turn gives a positive enhancement and illusion of difficulty. A leader could try to implement this by giving a single inside turn while the follower is crossing the main path. To make it more dramatic you could increase the difficulty by making it a double inside turn. As an alternative, leaders could give themselves a single turn in place after the follower has crossed the path. To provide an exclamation point to a pattern, the leader could attempt to end the CBL with a back spot turn. Adding this extra rotation will seriously spice up the Latin Dance routine.
Step 2

Hand Holding
The way you hold your dance partner dictates how you want to approach the dance. To add a little energy and open new doors for different moves try to use different hand holding methods. Try using either open hand holding such as palms to palms to establish a sensual connection to your partner. Using a cross hand hold could help you lead the cross body lead into interesting partner positions. Single hand holds could also be used in the movement to help transition while adding extra flare.
Step 3

Dance Shines
Dance shines which are open footwork routines could also be used in the cross body lead. Using dance shines could seriously bring up the energy level of the dance while providing the illusion of difficulty. Try using subtle parts of full dance shine moves in you cross body lead. For instance, try using subtle kicks, taps and hooks in between the CBL movement. This could help enhance the Cross Body Lead without throwing off the follower’ s sense of direction.
Step 4

Styling
Style is an important factor in Latin Dancing. Subtle movements could make a huge difference to the Cross body Lead. Styling is equally important in both leaders and followers. Leaders may attempt to add head tilts, hand movements or pops while directing the lead. Followers could also finalize the cross body lead by using subtle pops and arm extensions which give a dramatic conclusion to this interesting move.