Yoni

“I lead without using force. If she leans on me, I can't lead. That's not what bachata sensual is about. Sensual is about letting her move on her own, stand on her own.”

Explains a leading philosophy — the lead isn't pushing your partner with force, it's letting your partner find her own balance

“Whatever the head or the arms do is just the result of what the lower body made.”

Teaching a head roll combo and stressing that the lower body, not the flashy upper body, is the real thing

“Before you put a style on it or chase a trend, the most basic thing is lead-follow and understanding the principles.”

Explaining Sensual Lab's curriculum philosophy and stressing the importance of fundamentals.

“She has to take that pressing energy and let it press her down — she can't just go inside on her own.”

On the head roll turn: the follower answers the leader's press, and never moves first by herself.

“Most of us don't have that natural Latin feel. But teachers never tell you how to train it. So we break it down and turn it into something you can actually practice and train.”

Explains a teaching philosophy of breaking natural Latin movement down into trainable pieces

“From the moment she starts to turn, you should be pushing her, nice and snug. If you push while the tension's already there, it never startles her.”

The leader has to hold steady tension through the turn so nothing lands abruptly on the follower.

“Once you've mastered the basic solidly, the day will come when you're dancing with all those fancy head moves.”

Left at the end of a tough head roll combo, on why the fundamentals matter

“Dance can't be separated from music. So we put a really heavy focus on classes about music.”

Explaining how much weight musicality training carries in the curriculum.