Michael y Mayra

“Bachata is a space where you can express everything in your heart. Not just sexy or happy — really, every single emotion.”

From an interview about the demo dedicated to their father, on bachata as a vessel for emotion

“Taking a moment that painful and turning it into something beautiful — that's the artist's role.”

Talking about the demo built around their father's death, and what it means to be an artist

“When you share your pain and turn that pain into something beautiful, it actually reaches them. It stops being just our pain and becomes a message for all of us.”

Explaining what gets shared with an audience when suffering is turned into art

“Dancing is healing for life.”

Talking about expressing his emotions through bachata after losing his father

“The follower is a creator too. But the guys have to give her the space to create.”

From a connection class — on respecting the follower's own expression within the lead–follow relationship

“Leading is a lot like driving. You're going really fast, and then when you hit the brakes you slow down — watch how you control the speed.”

Demonstrating, comparing control of speed and dynamics to driving

“The moment dancing gets hard is the moment you've lost the connection.”

Opening of a connection class — a diagnosis of when dancing turns difficult

“What moves our bodies is the breath.”

On movement driven by breath rather than a lead that pushes with force

“You use your knees and your breath to change the dynamics of the movement.”

Explaining how to use the body to create changes in speed and texture

“She's giving you something beautiful right now, something I couldn't have given. So wait.”

Explaining that when the follower improvises a down, the leader should wait instead of pushing through their own pattern

“If you trust your instincts and just try to adapt to the guy, you don't have to think anymore. The moment you start thinking is usually when it goes wrong.”

Advising followers on the difference between instinctive response and overthinking

“When the man pushes, the woman takes that energy in. That's how you have to receive his force.”

Explaining the connection principle of how a follower absorbs the leader's force

“If I've got a whole lot going on in my head, I can't connect with my partner. You just end up dancing like a robot.”

Explaining how too much thinking breaks the connection

“For the women, the important thing is to relax your body. And relax your neck.”

Explaining the importance of relaxation as the setup for a head roll

“It's these little pauses that make a movement mean something.”

Explaining with a demonstration how stillness gives a movement meaning

“Guys often have so much they could lead, but they're way too shy about it.”

Pointing out the leaders' lack of conviction

“You need that kind of conviction to get what you want.”

Said right after advising that a leader has to communicate direction clearly

“Otherwise you're just dragging all the garbage from the outside world onto the dance floor.”

Explaining why you should clear your mind before social dancing

“It's important to do something like a short meditation before a social.”

Advising the habit of settling the mind before social dancing, for the sake of connection

“Calm down, settle, and keep letting yourself go with your own inner flow.”

Offered as what to do when you've lost the connection