7 Secrets to Sexy Latin Motion

Hopefully, you’ve become familiar with the hip styling moves from last week. Now, it’s time to take your Latin motion to a whole new level! I learned these techniques over years of training and consulting with other professionals. You may not learn them all overnight, but the benefits are well worth it!

1. Move from your centre.

Like all movements in dance, hip actions begin with your core muscles, located in your abdomen. So if you want to improve your Latin motion, exercise those muscles! Not only will you build awareness of what’s going on in your mid-section, you’ll find yourself able to create sharper, stronger movements.

2. Relax unnecessary muscles.

If you don’t need to use it, lose it! Most beginners accidentally use a lot of unnecessary muscles - this makes them appear jerky and stiff in their movements. As you develop your Latin motion, try relaxing into the movement, seeing how little energy you can put into it and still make it look good. This will make it ‘look easy’ to the casual observer.

3. Knees make the movement bigger.

Whatever Latin motion we begin from our abdominals, we can accentuate by softening and straightening our knees. This is because your knees give your pelvis a much greater range of motion than the core muscles alone. The knees are often used in rhythm or nightclub dances - like rumba or salsa respectively - to give our Latin motion a more grounded and rolling look.

4. Bigger steps = Smaller Movement.

If our feet are planted further apart, it becomes more difficult to make larger hip movements, for two reasons. First, a large step is more challenging to maintain balance, especially if you are trying to move the centre of your gravity around. Second, it looks smaller psychologically, because your wide stance masks some of your hip movement. If the feet are together however, the body presents a straight line, in which the sideways movement of the hips will stand out more.

5. Stretch to increase flexibility.

Virtually every student I’ve taught could have improved their range of motion significantly, just by taking a few extra minutes a day to stretch out the glutes, hip flexors, and the iliotibial band that runs the outside of the leg from hip to knee. All of these muscles tend to get very tight in Latin dancers, and not stretching them out doesn’t just reduce your range of motion, but could cause an injury as well.

6. Isolate the moving parts.

Throughout your training, focus your awareness on what is happening in your body. What muscles are activating at each point in the movement? When does it feel awkward or painful, and where? Understanding and keeping the movement in the working muscles gives you greater control, while making you look more relaxed.

7. If the music is faster, the movement is tighter.

We only have so much time in the music to bust out our hip rolls and undulations, so if the tempo is making you sweat, keep the movement subtle. Remember that staying on time is far more important than exaggerated styling, no matter how good it looks.

As you internalize the techniques above, you will start noticing a greater level of range, control, and smoothness to your Latin motion. Next week, we answer the question: How can we best stretch our hip muscles to create bigger, sexier movement?