Latin Cielo

“When you're traveling and you stop on the break, if you give the feeling of tapping a wall once with your elbow energy, your partner can go out, hit just with the hips, and come right back.”

Explaining how to lead the hip return on the break

“Hips, upper body, whatever it is — you have to be able to isolate. That's the only way you can express your own thing on your own.”

Stressing why body isolation matters when you're expressing a move by yourself

“Instead of letting your elbow keep creeping up and your shoulder riding up with it, imagine someone pulling you down by the shoulder blades.”

Explaining how to build steady tension in the lead frame — arms open — without tightening up the upper body

“Your left hand is the block position. You give the frame of the position, she takes my lead clearly, and then you carry it hip, hip, hip — and it's much better to think of an "&" count in between. Then the circle gets really smooth.”

Explaining frame and the count concept from the C-fork position

“It's not collapsing — you start from the right hip and do just one half-circle, hitting deep with the hips, and come back.”

Explaining the starting point and the path of the hip circle

“Always the center — your weight — first. The feet move first, and the chest follows that direction.”

Stressing the order of weight shift and chest direction in rotisserie-turn-family moves

“No matter how well the guy turns you, if you're wobbling it's because your core has collapsed. You can practice not collapsing all on your own.”

Explaining how followers can train their own core stability for the tilt turn

“You take the energy going sideways and the energy going down, and draw a little half-circle with them.”

Explaining wrist handling and the direction of energy in the prep for the break

“Keep your neck as long as you possibly can, lead with your abs lifting first, and go slow. Just let your arm release — but don't lift your own shoulder, keep it down and let the turn happen from there.”

Explaining the details of coming back up out of the bent-over position

“The line across her lower back lifts first — click — and then you go down bit by bit.”

Explaining the position that bends the follower forward in a hammerlock variation

“That gives you a little pressing energy, and that's where resistance comes from. The guy has to receive it too — that's when tension gets fun.”

Explaining how tension builds between partners when you keep that shoulder-blades-pressed-down feeling

“If you drop your hand while you're shifting weight, the follower collapses. To keep that from happening, you fold along the same line and make contact there.”

Pointing out a common leading mistake and explaining how to keep the frame

“If the leader turns her while staying planted in place, that leftover energy makes it uncomfortable for the follower. You have to shift your weight along with her.”

Explaining that the leader's weight shift on the feet has to match the follower's when leading a tilt turn

“The most important key point in this move is that the man's and the lady's standing foot move together. That's how you keep the center from collapsing, so you can use the energy coming back to generate the turn again.”

Explaining the weight shift after the cross, stressing why the lead's and follow's standing feet have to sync up

“What makes the tilt line is your elbow staying up. If my elbow goes below, it just turns into a plain turn — but if your elbow stays above the lady's frame position, the tilt line can hold the whole way through.”

How the leader's elbow position affects holding the tilt line in bachata/zouk turns.

“The most important position is when you're giving the axis of rotation — you create the lead with your right hand, but it has to do the job of rotation first, not the job of moving. That's what keeps the lady inside your own torso.”

Explaining how to build the rotation axis with the hand, drawing a line between the moving role and the rotating role

“Remember you're using a small movement that starts from above the solar plexus. Not over-bending, not going too relaxed either.”

Explaining where in the upper body the movement should start when building a tilt line

“When guys do this move, if all you do is push, the lady collapses. From the balance position on your left foot, you both have to come over together.”

Pointing out the balance collapse that happens when the lead only pushes, then explaining the right way to shift weight

“A mistake guys make — if you send the lady without moving your own weight, you end up with this awkward tension, right?”

Naming a common lead mistake: sending the lead without shifting weight

“Picture your face as a circle with a 5 in it — and that 5's axis keeps travelling along the same line the whole time.”

Introducing a way to visualize the face and its axis for zouk head movement — in Korean the shape reads as '오', which sounds like the number 5

“A lot of guys drop it as they shift their weight, so they end up leading with no contact — and then the lady line collapses. To keep it from collapsing, fold on the same line and make a contact point.”

Calling out a common leader mistake — shifting weight with no contact — and how to keep the frame instead.

“The lady needs a prep phase to get the turn started, and that prep has to come from the guy first. And when you prep, the first thing is moving your center.”

On the leader having to give the follower a clear prep signal before the turn starts.

“If you give a pre-signal on the front line, the lady picks up on it — "oh, he's about to give me a wave going backward."”

Explaining how to tip the follower off with a front-line signal before leading a backward wave move

“When you're making a tilt line, your elbow has to stay above your hand. The moment the elbow drops below it, it just becomes an ordinary turn.”

Explaining why elbow position is everything in the tilt turn, contrasting it with salsa turns and chata turns