Ryutension

“Look at my hand — I'm not gripping her shoulder. Don't grab her shoulder; just give the feeling of turning the whole frame.”

Demonstrating what the hands do when leading a turn

“You want her to feel, 'ah, he's about to turn me.' And for that, you can't just spin her with no weight shift — the man has to step and shift his weight along with her.”

Explaining how to signal a turn by changing the hand direction

“The man always has to think of it as creating the move for the woman.”

Pointing out that pushing her upper body during the preparation leaves her no way to do the move

“The line from the sternum out to the shoulders is never straight — it leans gently back. And the man has to give his support at that same angle.”

Explaining the woman's posture line and how the man supports it

“Block the upper body, send only the lower body. You have to watch her movement and build the move from that.”

Explaining how to get only the woman's hips moving

“I hope people watch and go, "oh — that person dances their own dance."”

Ryubalance director Ryuji talking in an interview about where the classes are headed and what they hope for the members

“If you drop your arm after she's already come all the way around, she reads it as 'oh, another turn.' It has to be down before she comes back — earlier than you'd think.”

Explaining the misread that happens when the timing of finishing a turn is late

“Don't grab! Use the pressure on the shoulder axis!”

Stressing hand use in the 'turn again' movement

“The woman's base posture — shoulders back, always, strong and proud!”

Explaining the woman's basic posture

“Right after you come up, don't go diagonal straight away — go straight up first, then move with the upper-body frame.”

Correcting a directional mistake when catching the energy of coming up out of a sit

“There really isn't that much of my own taste in the music I play. I think the biggest part of the job is getting people dancing and having a blast.”

Explaining how he places a DJ's role in building the floor's energy rather than in personal taste

“I think you've got to play a lot of the music people love, more than the music that's just good.”

Laying out his philosophy as a DJ — the crowd comes before his own taste when he picks tracks

“I don't play a new track the second it drops. Even when something really grabs me, I usually wait two or three weeks.”

His know-how on working new releases in — checking whether dancers abroad have demoed it, and moving carefully

“I watch people's faces and how they're dancing, carefully. You can tell from the dancing and the expressions — oh, they know this song, or oh, they're struggling with it right now.”

How to read the crowd in real time from the DJ booth at a social

“I usually think of peak time as starting somewhere in the 10, 11 o'clock stretch. In that window I go with the most upbeat songs I can, songs that really crank the energy up.”

Explaining hour-by-hour song selection strategy for a social party

“Up in the DJ booth I'm constantly watching — what's the energy of tonight's crowd, do I keep riding the upbeat stuff, or do I bring the mood down and go romantic?”

Explaining how a DJ reads the floor in real time and folds it into song selection

“When you lift a little, don't lead with just the hand — breathe and lengthen your own body. The elbow only comes up because your body is lengthening.”

Explaining that the lift going into a head circle comes from the leader's breath and extension, not from the hand

“Those of you tucking your chin in — that's a hard no. It's a really tough position for you, and it makes the lead heavy too.”

Pointing out a common mistake — tucking the chin in on the way into a head circle

“If you just keep traveling with that side feeling, you can't switch when the leader tries to lead you somewhere else. You have to keep stamping into the floor — then when you travel you won't misread it as another direction.”

Explaining that the follower has to stay grounded while traveling so they don't miss the leader's change of direction

“When you get a lead and you have no idea where it's going, you always send your energy from the top down.”

Explaining the energy direction a follower should take when receiving a lead whose direction isn't clear

“When you send it to the right, don't go straight across at a right angle. The head just drops. Send it lightly back, that kind of feeling, and then catch it toward the front.”

Explaining the safe angle and the feel for changing direction in a head circle

“Sink down together with the grip. You're turning in this position, and if you use that sinking-down energy, then when you drop — bam — the force you were pulling down with is what bounces you right back up.”

Sinking the grip and body downward during a turn creates a rebound that pops you up on the drop

“If you've got both arms wrapped inward, you just keep getting sucked in. You always have to keep your posture outside your arms — that's what lets you drop from up top when it hits.”

Explaining how arm placement affects the head circle drop position

“The head roll breath has to go into the chest, but the second you think of it as head movement, you start wanting to throw your head around.”

Warning about the common mistake that comes from thinking a head circle is moved by the head itself