Melvin y Gatica

“The reason I don't do the bending is that I'm still searching for the connection with my partner's arm and hand.”

Her answer to a question about why she doesn't bend during the influence head roll

“If I did bend, I'd fall out of his connection way more easily.”

Explaining why bending breaks the connection

“Instead of going down, I tend to do more of a contraction right here.”

Explaining that she expresses the movement through an upper-body contraction rather than bending

“So I'm more focused on keeping the connection with his hand. That's my focus.”

Her closing explanation of why she doesn't bend

“I'm more focused on finding his connection with my head. If I go like this, I fall right out of the connection.”

Explaining how important it is to hold the connection through the head roll

“The difference between a good leader and a great leader is that a great leader follows my energy and knows exactly when to take the lead back.”

On the timing of the moment the follow takes over the lead and the leader picks it back up

“The leader isn't moving most of the time. You're asking your partner to move, but you stay put yourself.”

On the leader's posture, from the headroll lead breakdown

“We take techniques from other dances that we can actually use in bachata. That's exactly what Bachata Influence is.”

Summing up the definition of Influence after explaining how techniques from kizomba, hip hop, salsa, tango and ballet get brought into bachata

“If I'm stiff like a tree and not dancing, then I have to analyze when the right moment is. That's not feeling — that's just calculating, "okay, she's here now."”

On the difference between dancing by feel in your body and dancing by analyzing in your head

“We're just borrowing new techniques from other dances — the really hard part is adapting them so they fit bachata.”

Explaining the background of creating Bachata Influence — says adapting techniques to bachata's style is harder than importing them from other dances

“The most important thing is making a position that's comfortable for both my partner and me.”

On how the leader chooses their position for the headroll lead

“If I'm in the same energy as her, catching the exact moment to take the lead back becomes really natural.”

On syncing with the follow's energy to find the timing of the lead

“Sometimes I'm the one who has to move to find that comfortable position.”

On the leader moving themselves to get a good position

“It's all a matter of intention. Where your intention is inside that movement — that's what matters.”

On the prep that determines how big the headroll is, and where the intention points

“As a leader, you have to understand what it is you want.”

On the leader deciding the direction of the prep (forward or back) for themselves

“I'm not pushing with force. I'm just giving more space inside the prep.”

On the difference between forcing a push and giving space in the headroll lead

“That's dancing with your brain, not with what your body feels.”

A metaphor for finding the lead timing analytically, without feel

“You can't just take the tools you borrowed and drop them in as they are. You have to really adapt them to bachata.”

Explaining that techniques from other genres shouldn't be transplanted blindly, but reinterpreted to fit bachata's own context

“You have to be bold about expressing your emotions and your feelings to the person you're dancing with. That's how we get that magic bubble.”

Describing the special moment that emotional exchange with a partner creates in the Influence style, using the metaphor of a 'magic bubble'

“Try to feel her breathing with you, let go of the tension, let the body soften.”

Live commentary on syncing with your partner's breath and staying relaxed, demonstrated through an influence movement

“We wanted to follow the music exactly as we felt it, and we felt like the tools we already had in bachata just weren't enough.”

Explaining the part of the motivation behind Influence that came from hitting the limits of musical expression

“The frame is in the shoulders, but from here on, all the tension is done. You can breathe.”

Explaining the upper-body frame and where the tension releases during an influence movement

“What I'm trying to do is absorb my own movement with a small amount of weight.”

Appears to be a moment from a bootcamp, demonstrating and explaining a movement technique.

“What already existed in bachata couldn't hold everything we wanted to express.”

The opening where she reveals the fundamental motivation for creating Influence