mals12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

yes I agree with you completely on that.

georgewu5 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

m: The fact that you and I are talking back and forth under the videos of the world's best International Latin dancer Slavik is already an indication of that both of us want to learn from the best! There are a lot of teachers and even dancers,to me,that they are over-rated. I do not want to name names,because I will definitely be challenged until I was knocked down! But you and I know who is a better dancer and who is just a talker but could not dance! Slavik is a good dancer and a good teacher!

mals12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

sorry I meant that the other way arround, what I notice before I not as half as much as what I notice now in terms of technique. Now when I wathc a video like that I see leg and foot action, movement from the centre and true connected movemet allround which is very " latin".

mals12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

hi George, yes that was me in my video. But I wasn't doing latin there!..just R n B style dancing and even then I was just messing about.yes whilst I agree with you, I think unless know what you should look out for one wouldn't necessarily see all the intricacies of the dancing. don't get me wrong, it's not that I@m not visual, but what I notice now is not as half and much as what I used to notice.

georgewu5 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

And also do not move your shoulders too much. Take a look of Slavik, he keeps his head and shoulders pretty constant. Forget about the teacher you took lessons from,just watch how Slavik did it with an open mind, You might learn something you never knew you could learn from the videos?!Because Slavik dances better than your teacher even he was Slavik and Karina's teacher before!---dancewu(dot)net

georgewu5 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

mals12: the other day I saw someone with the back jerking the ass left and right,I saw it from your post,and I thought it could be you,did not want to show the face...Well, may I suggest you really imitate Slavik's Cuban Motion,step by step,and try the figure 8 with the feet spread out like Charlie Chaplin? Give it 20 times of rotation and get the feeling of CUBAN MOTION!& evaluate them from your own video in your own apt. You are like most Anglo-Saxons, very rigid in the hip!---dancewu(dot)net

georgewu5 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

M: If Corky did not spell out the counts 2341 in his "Simply Beautiful Latin" years before anyone doing that, I would still be in the "DARK AGES" for my Latin dancing! Because Donnie Burns is selfish enough to keep his trade as long as he did for 14 years and more! In a way, Corky and Shirley Ballas are great teachers, to teach people like me who could not afford hundreds of dollars a lesson to learn something they are dying to learn about!---dancewu(dot)net

georgewu5 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Some people are born to be visual; as some to be not. Not every body can learn from the videos--- I personally know a few dancers who confessed to me that he and she could not learn a thing from the book or the videos, they told me that they must be taught by a teacher! Well,it is better to admit that than to boast that they were the born dancers,who never had to learn how to dance ever!( some Salsa snd Cuban dancers and some Argentine Tango dancers here in YouTube.)---dancewu(dot)net

mals12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Also, don't get me wrong, clearly Slavik and Karina are amazing dancers!!,but as you know,correct technique is not easy to learn and there is a lot of detail to understand to achieve this. really what I@m saying is that, given how complex Ballroom/latin technique is, at least for me, had i not have had one2one private lessons from good teacher like I've done, I would never had understood the things I know now and would never have " seen " what I see now when I look at a dancer.

mals12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

well georgewe: if you've had leasson from teachers like the people you mentioned, then you must know what I'm talking about. I mean I haven't had lessons from the people you mentioned but I currently go to Carol Mcraild and Pamela Macgill. great teachers with over 25 years of teaching experience each, and I think there's only so much you can learn from a video. But yes as you say, lessons are expensive and getting good tution is an expensive business.