(Salsa) The grand maestra's salsa basic mechanism: the tiny starting point of a universe called Alien

“Your hands are like a pendulum. Up, down, elbows pointing out to the side. Don't let your elbows push you backward.”

Explaining the placement and mechanics of the hands and elbows in the basic step

“Your body moves up and down and creates the swing — the pendulum motion. Remember the connection between your chest, your chin, and your core.”

Stressing the upper-body movement and core connection in the basic

“Depending on how big you want the projection to be, you tilt the core more, or less, or even less than that.”

CONTEXTExplaining the principle behind dialing the intensity of a movement's projection up or down

“If you want it sharper, then going back, the foot has to come straight down flat.”

CONTEXTExplaining the footwork that creates a sharp projection in the basic step

“If you drop the heel, you lose the momentum and the power in your upper body. And if you land flat on your foot, you're pulling way too much power out of it. Is that what you want?”

CONTEXTA question thrown out while explaining how to use the feet to create a sharp projection

“If you want to create a softer movement, you use both heels.”

CONTEXTExplaining the footwork behind soft movement

“If you want to stretch it out longer, you have to go into a slide. And that slide — the rush — comes from the inside edge of the foot.”

CONTEXTExplaining the slide technique that stretches a movement out, and the part of the foot it starts from