(Salsa) 6 leading tips that make follows love you — all revealed by Inwoo Saturday Mambo Class

“Going into the pinza — fine, no problem. But you absolutely have to come back out.”

Stressing the ground rule while explaining the pinza (hand-hold) lead

“The follower doesn't curl her own hand — the leader gives the pinza, and on the way out you have to lock it in place and send her back out. No exceptions.”

CONTEXTExplaining the leader's job on the way out of a pinza

“When you've been doing a pattern on the spot and then you want to travel, you have to give her a bit of a heads-up — you're about to move. That's what lets you give that feeling of going into your hollow and coming back out.”

CONTEXTExplaining how to prep the lead when switching from a stationary pattern to a traveling one

“In a cross-body lead you go in and come back out, right? From the follower's side it's like, ah, he's coming in — okay, I need to go back out. That's what she feels.”

CONTEXTExplaining the sensation of a cross-body lead from the follower's point of view

“I'm going to turn her in the exact direction I'm looking at her.”

CONTEXTExplaining how to use your gaze and direction when leading a follower's turn

“Your lead starts on seven. I start on seven, and the follower starts moving on one.”

CONTEXTExplaining the difference in count timing between leader and follower

“I set it up early on one, two, three — I get my hand there ahead of time so it wraps naturally around the back of her hand.”

CONTEXTExplaining how to prep the hand hold in advance so the lead flows naturally

“It's not about doing it all with your hands. Once you learn that flow of naturally traveling along with the follower's steps, that's when you can actually give her a dance.”

CONTEXTStressing a leading philosophy built on following the flow of the steps rather than hand leads