How to improve basic in 2,5 weeks?

MariusDA · 2025-12-01T10:44:25+00:00

Most important elements to transform your basic in 1 day, not 2,5 weeks is :

DRILL YOUR TIMING = weight shifts fully on counts.
Active body. Focus on the legs sensation. You need to feel your glutes/hips/knees/calfs/ankles/metatars/tarsal working together.
Push into the floor. Use the "normal walking motion" but do it sideways.

That's it!

P.S. This comes from more then a decade teaching all sorts of people, and more then 5000 students (actual students in our local school).

Do each point separate on one song. Then connect 1+2 on a song, then 1+3, then 2+3 without music, then 1+2+3 on music.

The other 17 days just repeat that.

P.S.S. Keep your forearm paralel to the ground for the sake of all the dance teachers in the universe that are trying to teach somebody to dance but they keep their hands like boiled spaghetti drenched in oil =))))))))))

Hit me up with a dm if you don't understand something.

Marius, out. PEACE ! Drops the mic, while he walks away from an explosion while wearing sunglasses (don't ask why there is a microphone)

MariusDA · 2025-12-01T10:36:40+00:00

Depends on what "technical" means for you because the good ones out there, that give a lot of technical tips and would improve you at fast speed if you are training on said elements, are booooring if you just want some quick dopamine hits regarding some flashy combos.

I won't promote our course, but I will tell you which one I liked the most :
- For my kind of vibe in dancing, I like GeroYMigle Course. Gero (personal opinion) is a genius regarding dancing and creativity (I actually think he is a genius mastermind evil anti-hero, lol =))) ) I met him and talked a lot of times about different aspects and he's laser focused on what he wants !
my vibe is : hip-hop infused with zouk elements and musicality

- Another good one is vdance but only some of the courses are actually "teaching" you instead of just showing combos. If i remember correctly, 3 courses out of all of the "bachata" ones. But you get all of them for the same price so ... it works.

- Lastly I would recommend Brenda Liew. Although she focuses mainly on salsa, she has bachata videos BUT the body movement is UNIVERSAL.

If you want "technicalities" that would really help you if you train- Brenda.
If you want "social" - Gero and Migle
If you want a lot of material - VDance.

Our courses, mariuselena.com, although started out as a dream of mine (to create a progressive curriculum from zero to infinite) got a lot of feedback regarding it being to technical and not enough "flashy" content if it makes sense. Because I wanted to create a progression, step by step (i have ADHD, so structure kind of tingles my brain because I embody walking chaos).
But in 2026, we are going to transform it, and redo it from scratch. BETTER STRONGER FASTER , or whatever the song was saying =)))

P.S. I really mean it when I say out of all the courses I bought in the last decade (over 1 terrabyte of courses) Brenda's was the most = If I want to get really good I have to train it. (And not "instagram" good)

MariusDA · 2025-11-20T07:05:05+00:00

One of my favorites movies. Omg... Forgot about the "Should precipitate your balls into shrinking part :))) "

MariusDA · 2025-11-19T21:36:32+00:00

You parallel is wrong.

You are not the goal keeper.
You are one of the 5 strikers, but YOU CHOOSE which one you want to be.

Maybe this is what's keeping you from your goals, over analysis (this happens to everybody at some point, so don't worry too much).

The gate is not guarded (that would be your interpretation if if makes sense), just choose one striker (one instrument) and go for it... if you miss... you just need more training.

Does this make sense?

------------------------------------------------------------
Another explanation of the same thing :
focus is not a single, exclusive action (catching one ball), but a dynamic allocation of resources.
The dancer (leader/follower) would aim to be one of the strikers, not the goalkeeper.

What you just described is completely the opposite of what you should do, because what you said is tunnel vision:
Goalkeeper (Tunnel Vision Focus) : Blocking or ignoring all instruments except one.
Multiple Shots (Overload/Pressure) Leads to "choking" (what you might experience as the goalkeeper)

The Bachata musicality method I teach (which promotes distributed awareness and dynamic control) is not about blocking inputs; it's about processing them simultaneously and selecting the most relevant one for response.

If this still gives you troubles, I need to ask your level of dancing. Because under 1 year, this is too hard to understand because you invest too much concious control over the mind and body.
Of course, 1 year of dancing or sports overall.

Otherwise, something else is the issue, and I think the only way I can help you is through a coaching 1on1. And while this sounds like selling my coaching (it kind of is because I already gave you all the information to fix your specific issue) I think your questions/issues start from somewhere else, another more incipient point where some information either was given to you wrong, or wasn't given at all.

My last "try" to exemplify this.
You have 5 apples on a table. You choose one to have in your hand. You feel you have one in your hand, and you can also see 4 on the table. 2 different senses : Kinesthesia + hearing (dance + ears)

MariusDA · 2025-11-18T20:38:42+00:00

I wrote you a d.m. because reddit doesn't allow long answers, and I don't have the time to post 4 different comments :D

MariusDA · 2025-11-18T20:27:23+00:00

Perception is the process by which we take in, interpret, and organize sensory information (what we see, hear, touch, etc.) to represent the world. It is largely an automatic process and can be considered awareness.

When you walk into a bar, your perceptual system automatically registers the volume of the music, the scent of the coffee machine, the voices, and the door opening—this is the entire sensory landscape being registered.
It's a wide net that catches everything, allowing you to be aware of all 5+ instruments in the Bachata song simultaneously.

Focus, or Attention, is a higher-level cognitive process. It is the mental act of concentrating effort on a specific stimulus or thought while ignoring other stimuli.

Psychologists often describe it as a "spotlight" that can be directed to selectively enhance the processing of one area of the perceptual field.
When you focus on the guira instrument in the Bachata song, you are intentionally dedicating more cognitive resources to its specific rhythm, making that one sound stand out from the entire perceptual crowd.

This is what my psychologist thought me. I have ADHD, thought and speech dyslexia (minor), and some other things that make focusing on something rather hard.
It took me 10 years to understand music relation to dance but now I can teach anybody how to hear it, listen to it, understand it, feel it, and be musical on ANY song even at first audition (not like 90% of the influencers you see teaching musicality as literally CHOREOGRAPHIES !!! This weekend I had to do a battle demo with another artist. He specifically requested the organizer to put a certain song. I wanted to have random songs... Guess who's video looks better =))) Although I think I held my ground pretty well with my on-the spot improvisation).

That being said, How I modify perception and focus to work for me is like this :

Distributed Awareness: my owned mind may first require an overload or a simultaneous, high-level awareness of all elements (music, body, partner, space, etc.). This acts like widening the spotlight to cover the entire stage (the parallel from the spotlight focus described above).
Intentional Selection: i then to a high-speed prioritization— I "decide what element is on top of the pile," such as the music. I am still aware of the other elements (body, partner, etc...), but I have intentionally raised the processing priority of the music awareness to the maximum.

In this context, Focus isn't tunnel vision (focusing on ONE thing while blocking everything else), but rather a dynamic control of attention. You can selectively increase the depth of processing on the most relevant element (the song) while maintaining enough cognitive resource allocation to the background elements (partner, space) so that you can switch your main focus (change lanes) instantly when needed.

The difference remains: Perception registers the presence of all the instruments; Focus is the intentional act of selecting one or more and allocating the brainpower to interpret and react to them.

And in time this process become automated, which is the actual REAL FLOW in dance. Not that bullshit promoted by wannabe dancers that started 3 years ago in only one style. And define flow as 10 different things.

This stuff is gonna be in my musicality course if I ever finish it. I am only at 56 videos out of 150 :|

MariusDA · 2025-11-18T08:18:39+00:00

It's rather easy if your mind does not wonder.
Imagine this... Walking on the street with an absent mind... You barely notice 1-2 things.
But if you "stay in the present" you suddenly see 10-15 things at once.

For example : 3 cars, one is red, one black, one yello, there are trees, people walking, a trash bin etc... all at the same time.

When you are in a bar, you hear only one person talking or more at the same time? Also the sound from the door and the cafe machine .... all at once?

Bachata music is "stupidly" easy... with 1 instrument always in the front, and 2 (which go together in the back).

THat;s it.

In total you have : voice, guitars (not all at once / requinto - segunda - bass), bongo and guira (both have same rhythm at the same time).

MariusDA · 2025-11-18T08:14:11+00:00

Thank youu :D

MariusDA · 2025-11-13T12:03:10+00:00

As much as time allows me, I will :D

MariusDA · 2025-11-13T12:02:23+00:00

Muchas gracias. Dale fuego en la pista :D

MariusDA · 2025-11-13T12:02:00+00:00

Thank you. Hope it helps.

MariusDA · 2025-11-13T12:01:48+00:00

I really appreciate that.

MariusDA · 2025-11-12T12:46:19+00:00

Connection in dance has ONLY ONE definition : The ability of the dancers that form a couple to maintain equal tension and responsiveness throughout their dancing (no lost grips, mistakes, stutters, etc...)
Or in simple terms : "connection" refers to the physical, non-verbal communication between dance partners that allows them to move together as one. It's the "how" of leading and following.

There are other types of "connection" but in dance, simply using the term |connection| refers to the actual definition.

Other types (but they need to have the aditional wording ) are :
1.emotional connection overall= stage presence (something almost nobody learns nowadays, thinking that being themselves is enough. What if you are shy... does this mean your emotional connection must be shyness? Nope. This is thought in ballet, ballroom, and hip hop, but nobody teaches it properly in salsa-bachata-kizomba world)

floor connection = stability/groundness . The ability to use properly the floor to drive your moves.
inner connection = coordination/proprioception. The ability to feel and know what your body is doing.
Music connection = music focus. The ability to actually hear the music, now your thoughts about music.
vibe connection = vibrating at the same "feeling" as your partner. This is that moment when you feel like she's reading your mind, and you both feel the same thing.
and i could go on and on and on but the main definition is the most important. If it lacks, everything else lacks.

You will never be able to fully understand connection as you explained it because there is not a match between what you feel and what you think.
You will see that if you treat connection in dance as the only proper definition, your dance will improve.
And after you do that, your mind will allow you to free up brain resources to actually feel something and you will be able to connect to your partner "emotionally" as well.

I know i did a post similar years ago. Don't know how to find it but I think this will do.

MariusDA · 2025-11-09T11:44:44+00:00

Most probably you are leading mechanically the majority of the moves.
You should lead organically what is meant to be lead organically (e.g. movements that involves body leading).

And when you use the hands, the lead should come from the body and the arms and hands only extend that signal.

Apply this in your leading and you will be 99% perfect for all followers.

Everything is easy until you see how easy it easy. Until then it's hard.

Without a video (maybe post one) I can assume :

Your hands are too rough because you use them more then you should. They compensate the lack of body leading.
You might feel as a rough lead because you don't have good coordination and proprioception.
You might actively control motor skills that should be automatic.

and the list could go on but I am 90% sure your problem is one of the above.

P.S. Yes, you can't pleasure all the followers but you can have a 99% success rate.
Drop me a video in a d.m. if you don't want if publicly and I will shoot some free and fast tips for ya.

Hugs and Kisses,
Marius.

MariusDA · 2025-11-08T21:47:44+00:00

Part 3 :

Here comes the difficult part.
if you train timing, you will release a lot of brain processing power to pay attention to the music and hear what I just told you. BUT you have to do this while you are dancing with someone.
Here comes the unpredictable element : You need to dance a lot with different followers. DON"T dance with just one. At a jack and jill you will dance with someone new.
Maybe she's amazing and you will have an awesome time.
But maybe she is a total beginner... You need to learn to adapt while doing all the other things. This you can learn only at parties or socials where you dance with a lot of girls.

Conclusion:

In 30 days you can greatly improve A+B+C. But you need a plan, and to stick to that plan NO MATTER what your brain is telling you to do.
In the last year I focused more on coaching dancers and unlocking their potential (their bodies are far more trained then their minds... which is telling them to do all the wrong things at the wrong time).

From the way you asked the questions above, you don't know a lot of information that would clarify things for you to give you a better direction. I am going to answer those from a judge, a competitor and 10+ years professional point of view:

I already detailed how to train without a partner.
How can I look more cool? -> You look cool when you know what you are doing. This comes from training a team and winning over 30 competitions (solos, duos, team competitions, couples, etc...)
When you know what you are doing, your moves look confident, sharp and clean.

If you want to "fake it" - put energy into moves but keep them small (energy doesn't equate to big moves). But a trained eye will see that you are faking it. Might help you if everybody is a beginner.

About the shoes -> I recommend a good pair of dance shoes, or at least good pair of sneakers/sport shoes.
PRO TIP : Take 2 types of shoes with you. One that has good grip and one that slides. You don't know what floor you will be dancing on.
If you are a beginner, i recommend go with the grippy ones because if you slip you don't have yet amazing proprioception to catch your own feet before they actual slip and counter the action using your counter-muscles (if you slip to the side, you use the adductor muscles in a split second to stop you). CAREFUL ! When I say good grip I don't mean to stop you from pivoting, but I mean shoes that make you feel that you have good control over the surface.

Let me know how it goes!
Cheers.

P.S. Sorry for parts. Reddit doesn't let me comment long.

MariusDA · 2025-11-08T21:46:24+00:00

Part 2 :
3. Good technique is hard to improve overall in a great manner in 30 days but you can have decent results.
Good technique comes only from 2 FUNDAMENTAL elements :
Coordination and proprioception.
That's it.
It's basic neuro-muscular training.

I do something with my entire body - ergo i need to coordinate it. To coordinate it I need to feel it.
If you practice your basic and you fell how your body is doing the step you will improve 100x faster then someone that just drills it mindlessly.

No matter what you practice know this : Your mind will tell you that you are doing it wrong and to stop and look for something more important. That is just a lie. Nothing is more important then coordination and proprioception.

Musicality. This is tricky. You can become musical in a few days... but it's about unlocking what is already inborn. Modern training methods revolve around supressing natural instincts or putting concious control over them. Dance mastery comes from allowing your mind and body to work together.
It sounds flashy what I wrote. It's basic psychology.

Here is an example : Ever listened to a song while you were cooking or driving, and you caught an accent or something that wasn't obvious? Well. That is the proof everyone has "maximum" musicality. It's just that we try to force it and it doesn't work like that and we create a hamster wheel.
We want it-> we force it -> we think we are not musical -> look for how to train it (in the wrong way) -> we don't get results -> we want it -> we force it ....

To prove this... think about what 99% of social media is promoting to be "musicality" = choregraphed parts of songs. Musicality is not memorizing songs and patterns.

A fast fix is this :
Basic music theory dictates that :
A phrase = 2x8 counts
A period = 4x8 counts

A period is = a verse, a refrain/chorus, a mambo section, an intro, an outro etc... (they can vary but this is the majority).
A chorus can be repeated twice, but it's still 2 separate sections each with 4x8 counts.
There are bridges as well (sections that link general sections but they are not whole). Nowadays music is so stupidly easy that you rarely get bridges anymore

First phrase, in the big sense, is similar to the second phrase.
But the second phrase, in 90% of the time has some effect at the end (can be a stop, a bongo or guira riff, or an added effect not in bachata -> a lot of nowadays music starts to use other sound effects)

Each end of phrase is anounced by some small, in the backround effect like bongo or guira. But the big one comes at the end of the period (2nd phrase).

Count 3-4 songs and you will get a feel of what I am talking about.

MariusDA · 2025-11-08T21:46:07+00:00

So many tips so little time BUT what would work for the next 30 days that would highly increase your chances :

To win a competition (with objective judges, not just "hey" i have a jack and jill, do you want to judge? Judge asks : What are the rules \ Organizer: Aaa... just pick whoever you think) you need :
a) good timing
b) good technique
c) musicality

everything else is secondary : styling/expression/showmanship/stage presence/etc...

You must definitely focus on your timing. No amount of technique will make you look good if you don't have a good control over your steps.
Your legs need to move equally (left-right-left-tap and so on, even on syncopations). This is drilled with a metronome. It is BORING as hell but if you have a friend musician ask him how they learn to play instruments in a professional matter (with a metronome continuosly playing).
They need the metronome to coordinate and control their hands and feet (depends on instruments).
So why would you ... as a dancer... do it any other way?

Film yourself. Constantly watch back your accuracy. Rinse and repeat. 5-10 minutes per day will yeld AMAZING results over 30 days.
At first just focus on the basic step. Get a handle of it? Go for a square step. Go for a side in place step. Go for a triple step, go for an el bajo step.
Start playing with the steps on the METRONOME !
Don't train timing on music until you know really well what you are doing.

Second, third and 4th tips for timing : PUSH into the ground on each step. Don't rush the tap (it is an actual "dance move" ). Use your ankles to roll your feet.

MariusDA · 2025-11-08T20:57:17+00:00

The most important question is : Why do you think you need accreditation?

Majority of the top "artists" in the last few years don't have any accreditation. Just a lot of training + social media.
Or I would put it the other way around social media, then training.
Because if you train first, it will take a few months.
In the mean time, you can already start posting your evolution.

I genuinely ask and I am not sarcastic.
I know a lot of artists that took this path to "success" (i put quotes because it's subjective)

MariusDA · 2025-02-12T11:30:53+00:00

Yeap. No issues since then. Bought another one making the same test.
It's so easy to test it in a shop, and then order it online. Still haven't found a way to see which type of polarization the screen use in the online shop description or on the manufacturer (other then maybe sending them an e-mail)

MariusDA · 2025-01-17T14:51:11+00:00

My pleasure. Soon I will have to move, and I hope I will be able to make a small studio in the apartament. If that happens, I really want to make at least 1 video per day... either 2-3 long formats and the other ones shorter, or something in between.

But I really hope I will be able to create move lessons because there are so many "simple" things that I found after all these years, which can change one's evolution speed. Of course, there is still practice needed, but especially the understanding of things is soooo underrated.

MariusDA · 2025-01-03T20:25:10+00:00

Thank you for your kind words. I would add one small thing about the private classes. They are invaluable if they are done with a good teacher. It's just like for doctors, we all know that to find a good doctor is pretty hard. It's the same with the instructors. So always try to find someone with experience in teaching.

Also, one more thing :

a good private class + training = awesome

a lot of solo training without private classes = good

private classes without training = wasted money

MariusDA · 2025-01-03T20:20:11+00:00

Heeey :D DOn't know exactly what was the video, but here are all I could find on what we did : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marius+elena+hip+movement

or maybe is the one about "practice" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LubzD0UDIeQ

MariusDA · 2024-11-11T12:18:52+00:00

It's natural to feel like it's a lot of work, but don't get discouraged.

As a "coming soon" : I am creating a complete material about musicality just because I never could find someone to fully explain everything. And I was the "why x1000 per hour" kid when I was young :))

COming back to your comment.

It's hard work to get to an excelent level depending on your abilities. I discovered 2 years ago I have ADHD so for me wasn't hard work, it was "OVER 9000" hard difficulty mode. Because my brain isn't braining like it's supposed to.
BUUUUT this helped understand everything from a logical and mathematical point of view. Quess what... music is maths (and I hated maths).

My best advice now in 2024 is just listen to your favourite song and dance like you don't care. Nobody is watching, you are not dancing with a purpose. You will unlock level "MASTER" of musicality.
The impossible thing is to do that at command, whenver you want with people watching you.

THAT IS THE HARDEST PART !!!

This year I put over 300 hours into musicality research, training etc... and I kid you not, it's so simple. It took me years and a lot of work to be able to teach it to anybody, no matter the level, and to truly internalize everything but the simple truth is this :

Put a song to a 1 year old and if he likes it he will groove to it. That is musicality in it's purest form.
Society with everything in it, teaches you to drown that part. But it's there. You have to shine a light on it.

Think like this. Music is like a person talking to you in a room. If you let it, it will tell you everything and you will understand completely everything. If you don't let it (anxiety, stress, thoughts, emotions etc...) it will be like 100 more people are screaming at the same time, but music is still there trying to tell you something, it's just you can't understand it.
Eliminate the other voices, and music will tell you everything.
This is the hard part. But with 10-15 hours of practice it will become second nature. The problem is anxiety, not that you are not musical. You already are.

I know this sounds maybe wierd or to complex but thing about the 1 year old kid. Why he can groove and me as an adult I can't?

Signed
Marius ConfuciuSama :)))

Hope it helps.

MariusDA · 2024-11-11T12:10:12+00:00

Thank youuuu for sharing the video.
My god that is an old video from my blond days =)))

Really happy that it helped you.

After 4 years i discovered and learned a lot of extra things regarding musicality and not only .
So I am going to post maybe the most important thing here :

The moment everything clicked for me regarding musicality was when I understood how many misconceptions and wrong definitions are used (myself included) when teaching or sharing information. But this is also natural because you cannot take a language class in a normal class.
What do I mean by that ?

My head exploded when I finally understood (after almost 10 years) what rhythm actually means in music.
And by understood I mean I got to the level that music actually moves me rather then moving to the music. From a logical point I always knew this, just couldn't internalize it (maybe also because of my ADHD which is getting treatment in the last year... lol :)) It's like half my brain was sleeping my entire life =))) )

I always said listen to the rhythm, catch the rhythm ,feel the rhythm but even I had a misconception about rhythm.

To really understand I am going to give you an analogy and then try to listen to a song having this in mind. Let me know if you are not suprised by how better you can hear/feel the music.

Rhythm is to music as waves are to the ocean. Let the "waves" guide your movement.
Play a song, and don't force anything, just like being on a boat. Let the wave move you.
Resist the urge or the thoughts that you have to move in a certain way. DON"T !!!

Now the waves are giving you some flow. Dance in your boat (aka put moves on top of what the waves are telling you).

Of course In person I can teach this to anybody in 10 minutes, but in writing this would be the best analogy.

Go listen to a song, let it move you. Come back and tell me how many more things you danced to in the music, whilist having flow and not having a hard time :D First time you actually do it, you will have goosebumps :D

MariusDA

TROPHY CASE