How to Add Expression to Reggae Dance

Series Summary

In the 1990's, Reggaeton became popular in the Latin cultures among teenagers and young adults, blending the influences of Jamaican and island sounds with traditional Latin and Cuban flair. Taking the dance beats from hip-hop and rap together with Jamaican dance hall music, the style has crossed borders and boundaries to become one of the fastest growing emerging genres in the music world. Though primarily popular with teens, Reggaeton is spreading like wildfire across radio stations everywhere, as young and old alike tap their fingers and toes along with the infectious beats. Naturally, a particular style of dance has emerged to accompany it, and the steps are easy to learn: you've come to the right place.

In this free instructional video, enjoy a virtual Reggaeton dance lesson with our expert dancer and entertainer, Seth Gordon. You’ll learn the basic dance moves for beginners, like the step touch and step hum, foot shuffles and hip movements, and thunder clapping. Seth also offers tips on hip movement and rib isolation, and shows you how to do classic moves like “Chaplin” and the “Cabbage Patch” as well. Pause the video, try it out and watch again to improve! It's like having a your very own personal Reggaeton dance instructor with you in the privacy of your own home.

Video Transcript

"Now in this next clip I'm going to give you a pretty much an explanation in relation to some of the things that you are going to be doing today. In relation to the movement patterns and things like and just attitude. What type of attitude as men we bring to dance hall movement. So watch that in this next clip. So now when you enter you want to have some real nice, you want to be rough man. You can not be all laid back. So most of these things in dance hall you are going to be nice and it is loose but you want to be rugged. You want to be rugged, have a little bit of masculinity. You see this guys that is masculinity that is what you want to express. For male dance hall moves, that is what it is about. It is about masculinity, your broad. Your shoulders are really broad, your expressive is very expressive. All these movements all the movement quality it is all about you are showing off your best move, your are showing off your best quality. So it gives you a chance to pretty much expressive who you are. It is great in contrast to what the women do in relation to dance hall. So that is what emotion and expression in dance hall is all about. "