Salsa dance is a street Latin social dance and as such it is mainly taught and learned as a partner dance all around the world.
While watching people dance Salsa, you might have noticed that from time to time they let go of each other and start dancing individually, before reconnecting to resume the partner dance. This individual dance is what we call Salsa Shines.
Salsa shines are basically Salsa solo dancing, or Salsa footwork.
You can have a look at 00:58 in the video below.
These shines sequences are done when the partner split up and start dancing on their own. This gives much more freedom for the dancers to express their musicality, and hit different music accent to showcase a dynamic dance. In a Latin dance, there is a Lead and Follow role. The Lead usually decides which move to execute during the dance. Solo shines moment gives a Follower the space to express their style, individuality and interpretation of the music.
So yes! Salsa can be danced without a partner during social dancing, as long as you reconnect with each other eventually :)
Beside Social dancing, it is also very common to see Salsa Solo Performances and even Salsa solo battles, like the Salsanama competition.
Many Salsa and Bachata dance schools offer solo dance or solo shines classes within their dance classes too, and it is a very enjoyable process! This is quite well developed in Europe and US dance schools, and especially driven by Mambo (Salsa on2 New York Style).
Here in Singapore, most solo dance classes are known as Lady Styling. In the recent years, Bachata Lady Styling dance class have gained much more exposure and popularity.
Over the last 2 years, Caliente Dance Studio has developed an international standard solo dance class syllabus dedicated to Salsa Solo on1 and Modern Bachata solo dance. It is also the only Latin Dance Studio in Singapore to teach Salsa and Bachata as a Solo dance from the very basic level, for beginner level dance class, to the more advance dance class level with a structured syllabus.
It was very interesting to see how this class has helped to develop so many beginner Salsa and Bachata dancers to higher level dancers. Since it can be danced on its own, it has also survived the different restrictions imposed during our prevention of Covid cases.
Many of our Salsa dancers have also shared that they love how the dance classes have helped them to workout physically and maintain their fitness. More importantly, due to reduced social interaction during Covid times, they have benefit from the dance classes to provide a safe and healthy environment to make friends and have fun. These contributes to their mental health and keeps from being bored at home. Definitely an activity in Singapore to consider joining with friends or individually too :)
In the video below you can see Caliente Dance Studio Intermediate Level Students enjoying a Salsa shines routine.
Many of our Salsa Solo Students also join our Partner Dance Classes and are en route to becoming amazing dancers!
You can also give it a try! Caliente Dance Studio offers 3 sessions every week for complete beginner dance class.
Trial class are only $4.90 per session without any hidden costs.
More info HERE
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