Class Descriptions

SIGNATURE CLASSES

Soul°sa :
Soulºsa is is Energetic Soul's version of partner style salsa dancing. Soulºsa is unique in that it is inspired by both linear and circular variations of Latin dancing. Soulºsa uses three main movements as its foundation. Learn how to be a unique dancer with exciting styling and a smooth flow.

Energetic Salsa :
Energetic Salsa™ is a fun workout that incorporates basic Salsa steps into an aerobic format. This aerobic class was developed by duane Wrenn. In this workout, there are seven principal steps that unlock unlimited class variations.

- Unlike traditional aerobic classes, Energetic Salsa™ is designed to promote class interaction as well as incorporating the fundamental building blocks of partner Salsa dancing.
- This format provides additional motivation for both the instructor and the students.
- The combination of Salsa steps and hand signals provides a template for an unlimited number of class formats.
- Lastly, the music motivates a wide variety of listeners due to the various beats and rhythms that comprise Salsa music. Energetic Salsa provides a positive and energizing foundation for an uplifting workout.

Casino Salsa:
Casino is a particular way of dancing salsa that is very popular in Cuba. It is a circular dance that has several influences including the French Contra Danza, Son, Rumba and Cha Cha Cha. It is a freestyle dance that has constant movement and intricate arm and turn pattern.

Rueda de Casino :
Rueda de Casino is Casino style salsa combined with dancing in a Rueda. Rueda translates to Wheel. It takes at least two couples to form a wheel. There is no limit to the number of couples who can participate. It is important that every leader can either see or hear the main caller. A good Rueda switches partners frequently. This keeps the wheel continuously moving. Dancing Rueda is always exciting and fun!.

Rueda No-Casino:
Rueda No-Casino develops movement within the wheel. This class focuses on keeping the wheel consistent and changing of partners as an up tempo game. The wheel is meant to constantly move. This movement keeps each dancer on their toes and every spectator in aw! Not to mention the fun each participant enjoys while trying to execute the next move. No-Casino literally means no changes of momentum (taps) that cause rotations. The exceptions are levels three and four where vacilas are integrated.

SIX WEEK COURSES

Soul°sa 1 :
Soulºsa is the partner work that is applied from Energetic Salsa. Couples will learn all elements associated to partner work. Soulºsa 1 focuses on combination 1-a, b, c. The proper basic footwork and several variations will be applied to the three main movements of partner dancing. The term Soulºsa is the merging of Soul and Salsa. From the heart and Soul, we portray our moves of Salsa, which is literally spice. So in essence, we strive to spice up our salsa using guidelines that help us understand ourselves.

•  The final goal of Soulºsa is to create the ultimate dancer. A dancer who has adapt-ability. Combining linear and circular styles together makes for a very diverse dancing style.

•  There are three other levels of Soulºsa (2, 3, 4) each of these levels has an increasing degree of difficulty with level 4 being the most difficult.

Casino 1:
Casino dancing is what Cuban salsa dancing is. The art of freestyle that incorporates several other Cuban influences such as Rumba, Son, Danzon, Mambo, and Cha Cha Cha. Casino dancing is noted for its circular movement and quick changes of momentum. This allows for very dynamic and flashy arm movements by the leader. These flashy moves are known as alardes, which translates to “showing off”

•  Casino Style also has four progressive levels. (1, 2, 3, and 4). The levels increase in difficulty, with the fourth level being the most advanced one.

The goal of Casino is to help you develop the basic understanding of partner dancing foundations. This style has a Cuban mindset. This implies a lot of body movement and a passion for the richest Latin music from the heart of Cuba. Cuban dancing is steeped in Culture, anybody can learn patterns, but it is the few, dedicated ones who master the art of dancing.

Soul°sa Combo :
This class is a beginner intermediate class, which implies you should be at least a green level four understanding to best progress in this class. The instructor will focus on building combinations based on the three main Soulºsa movements. The class structure will be slightly challenging each week. There is a progressive building process, which includes single and double hand positions.

Cha Cha Cha :
This fun and flirtatious dance was born in Cuba in the 1940s when Mambo and Rumba were popular dances in the clubs of Havana. Originally referred to as Triple Mambo, the Cha Cha Cha has a unique triple step that adds flair to the dance. This course will feature the Energetic Cha Cha Cha footwork as well as progressively more challenging levels of partner dancing.

Rumba:
Rumba arose in Havana in the 1890s . As a sexually charged Afro-Cuban dance, rumba was often suppressed and restricted because it was viewed as dangerous and lewd. Later, Prohibition in the United States caused a flourishing of the relatively tolerated cabaret rumba, as American tourists flocked to see crude sainetes (short plays) which featured racial stereotypes and generally, though not always, rumba. Perhaps because of the mainstream and middle-class dislike for rumba, danzón and (unofficially) son montuno became seen as "the" national music for Cuba, and the expression of Cubanismo . Rumberos reacted by mixing the two genres in the 1930s, 40s and 50s; by the mid-40s, the genre had regained respect, especially the guaguanco style. Rumba is sometimes confused with salsa, with which it shares origins and essential movements.
There are several rhythms and associated styles of dance within the Rumba family:
-Yambú (slow; the dance often involving mimicking old men and women walking bent)
-Guaguancó (medium-fast, often flirtatious, involving pelvic thrusts by the male dancers, the vacunao)
-Columbia (fast, aggressive and competitive, generally danced by men only, occasionally mimicking combat or dancing with knives)
-Columbia del Monte (very fast).

Hustle:
A fast, lively, popular ballroom dance evolving from Latin American, swing, rock, and disco dance styles, with a strong basic rhythm and simple step pattern augmented by strenuous turns, breaks, etc.

Merengue:
Merengue is a type of lively, joyful music and dance that comes from the Dominican Republic. Merengue means whipped egg whites and sugar in Spanish, similar to the English word meringue. It is unclear as to why this name became the name of the music of the Dominican Republic. This style of music was created by Ñico Lora in the 1920s; however, it was promoted by Rafael Trujillo, the president in the 1930s, and eventually became the country’s national music and dance style.

Bachata:
Dance that originated in the countryside and rural marginal neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. In fact, the original term used to name the genre was "amargue" ("bitterness," or "bitter music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular. The origins of the term bachata are still unknown. However, in some rural areas of the Dominican Republic, bachata means trash, but most citizens agree that it means a party. Others say that bachata is derived from the Italian Ballata, which was a popular form of music in Italy centuries ago.

Tormenta:
Advanced footwork routine designed by students of Energetic Soul Studios, and progressed in theory by duane Wrenn to help you become the ultimate dancer. Tormenta is comprised of a series of steps from beginning to advanced level, in special sequence with the objective of helping the dancer practice his/her balance, coordination, body control, and awareness in time and space.

Hip Hop and Body Rock:
Old school hip hop dances are those styles that evolved in the seventies and were primarily danced to funk and old school hip hop music. Breakdancing is the best known of all hip hop dance styles, and is considered a corner stone of hip hop culture itself. In the 1980s, many funk dance styles that originally evolved separately from hip hop, such as popping and locking, started to be incorporated with the hip hop culture as well, and could be seen combined with breakdancing.
In the 1990s, as hip hop music evolved and grew further away from funk, it got slower, heavier and more aggressive. This modern hip hop music has given birth to new styles of hip hop dancing partly inspired by the old school styles, many of them focusing on upright dancing as opposed to breakdancing which is better known for its floor-oriented movements.
Some more specific styles of new school hip hop are krump, harlem shake, chicken noodle soup, lean with it rock with it, c-walk, jigging, tone wop, freaking and hyphy. Classifying these newer hip hop styles as a unique dance style of its own has grown common with larger street dance competitions such as Juste Debout, which includes new style as a separate category for people to compete in.

East Coast Swing:
East Coast Swing is the modern form that is a fusion of its early counterparts Eastern Swing and Lindy which were street dances. This form of swing dance utilizes both six and 8 count patterns. The name East Coast Swing was coined to initially be a divider between the street form and the new variant used in the competitive ballroom arena. While based on Eastern Swing, it does have clear distinctions. East Coast Swing is a standardized form of dance that was developed to allow for a medium of comparison for competitive dancers. It can be said that there is a right and wrong way to dance it as the technical elements of this form are documented and governed by the National Dance Council of America. The N.D.C.A. oversees all the accepted standards for American Style Ballroom and Latin dances. Eastern Swing was never standardized and later evolved into several forms such as: (European) Boogie Woogie, Jive, East Coast Swing, and Rock & Roll.

Bolero:
In Cuba, the bolero developed into a distinct dance in duple time which eventually spread to other countries, while the dance itself gradually disappeared from Cuba, leaving behind what author Ed Morales has called the "most popular lyric tradition in Latin America". The modern Cuban bolero song tradition originated in Santiago in the 19th century. The travelling, storytelling trova (or canción) tradition was major basis for the Cuban bolero, influenced by a variety of European musical styles. The trova was usually accompanied only by a guitar, and had a rootsy, Spanish sound. Some musicologists also trace an influence from the traditional son music of the Mexican state of Yucatan; this is actually quite plausible, as the traditional music of this region sounds very much like the bolero, having many similarities in melody, tempo, and vocal style. Though some scholars date the bolero to the early 19th century, Ed Morales dates it to José Pepe Sánchez's Tristeza, in 1885, which popularized the term bolero and is now considered the first classic in the field. The Cuban bolero traveled almost immediately to Mexico after its conception, where it became part of the repertoire of Mexican traditional music. In fact, some of the bolero's most prominent composers have come from Mexico, an example being the great Mexican composer Agustín Lara.
In the 1950s, sung boleros became extremely popular and have enjoyed enduring popularity as a popular song form throughout Latin America.

Cha Cha Cha Suelta (Estilo Cubana):
This class is a mix of Cha Cha Cha and Son timing. This timing starts on 8 and breaks on 2. The format incorporates calls from Energetic Salsa and original calls designed for the class. It is also a footwork based class where each participant will learn fundamental footwork basics that will be applied to several limitless combinations based on Cha Cha Cha timing. The class is designed with multiple levels of difficulty. There is a lot of body movement and a great deal of fun to be had! This is the ultimate class to practice for timing improvement .

Ladies Styling (compliment class):
This class is designed to add spice to each ladies repertoire. From sleek body roles and sexy expressions to dynamic leg flares. This class has something for you.

Body Movement and Isolations (compliment class):
These classes are designed to increase range of motion and flexibility primarily between the hip and ribcage area. Not to worry though because different drills for isolations are applied to every joint in the body. So get ready to sweat because this 45 min class is non stop movement until the very end..

Functional fitness training for dancers (FFFD):
This class starts with movement exercises to heat the core temperature of the body for increased range of motion. The class then progresses with body weight training. The class also may incorporate stability balls and bands. No free weights are used in this class. This class is a total of 60 minutes long. With a 10 minutes warm up, 30 minutes of strength and 20 minutes of stretching.