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What Makes a DJ Shiver…?
By DJ Icognito - Holland

Let me introduce myself. I’m DJ Incognito, a Salsa-DJ from Holland. In November 2007 Edie the Salsa FREAK taught a bootcamp in Amersfoort, Holland. I already met Edie a few times, so I knew I had to be there.

The second day of the bootcamp was all about Musicality, my favorite…!

After the bootcamp I had a long talk with Edie about Musicality (I’m writing it with a big “M”, you’ll find out why). After this talk I decided to write this article.

First of all, for those who are reading this and thinking “what the hell is Musicality?”. You have to make a choice. Either you’re going to read this article, or you have to quit dancing…

A lot of dancers use the music as a background in my opinion. They don’t listen to the music, they don’t dance to the music and they don’t feel the music. It should be the other way around. I think that dancers are the background to music.

Every time when I’m playing music I get irritated. Why? I guess the majority of the dancers don’t listen to the music. Whether I play at a congress or just at a small salsa club, it’s the same everywhere. People dance with each other, just practicing the turn patterns they’ve been taught. You see a lot of men thinking “Am I still on the right timing?” or “What turn pattern is next?”. I guess it’s known that men are not famous for their multitasking talents, but it’s not necessary at all with Musicality.

When I’m dancing, there are only two things going through my mind (okay, a little bit of multitasking). First of all the music, I try to feel the music through every vain in my body. Second is the lady I’m dancing with. I don’t want to impress her with some cool turn patterns, I only want to make her look beautiful.

How do I do this? Simple. I don’t do difficult turn patterns, I only dance to the music and try to hit every break I can hear in a song. How I make the lady look beautiful? I’m already doing that by dancing to the music. I always give the lady a lot of space to do her “thing” on the music. Now you might think “So you’re doing shines during the whole song?”. No! When I hit a break I do it together with the lady I’m dancing with, or I combine it with a turn pattern.

So now you know how I dance. But you still don’t know what it is that makes me shiver when I’m playing music…

When I’m behind the turntables I’m always busy with the dancers. I always try to get everyone on the dance floor. The people who are already dancing are not my priority. The people who aren’t dancing are my priority. I want to know why they are not dancing, and I try to get them on the dance floor with my music.

But that’s just what a DJ needs to do, that’s still not what makes me shiver.

What really makes me shiver is Musicality. For me you have Musicality when you hit almost every break, and when you “play” with your dance partner. This makes me shiver because the music looks even more beautiful at that moment. Dancers with Musicality are the missing instrument of the music.

A few dancers who I respect a lot for THEIR Musicality are people like Edie The Salsa FREAK (US), Fabrizio (IT/NL), Falco (FR) and Manuel Mascarell (ES). These are just a few dancers with a lot of Musicality, but if I would name everyone who has Musicality in my opinion the article would take to many pages…

When I see these people dance I shiver as a DJ. At such a moment I’m proud that they are dancing to “my” music. Whether it is Mambo, Salsa Romantica, Bolero or Cha Cha, they add something special to the music. They can make a poem of every song you can possibly think of. They feel, understand and respect the music. Something everybody should do, because without the music there would be no Salsa like there is today.

I can name a huge list of songs I love because of their diversity in timing and breaks, but I’ll keep it short. Great examples are “Te Conozco Bien” by Marc Anthony. It’s romantic and slow, but perfect to practice Musicality. “Silencio” by Larry Harlow & Tito Allen is a Cha Cha with a change of timing and rhythm. The last one I’ll name is a beautiful Mambo by Ray Pérez, called “Pa’l 23”. I love this one because of the breaks.

What can you do to develop your Musicality? I can only give you two hints. Try to listen to Salsa music as much as you can. Put a salsa cd in your car, make sure you have enough salsa music on your computer or put it on your I-pod or MP3-player. By listening to it so much, you’ll learn to find the breaks in the music. The second hint is to practice it on the dance floor. Next time you are at a salsa party, try to search for the dancers with Musicality.

Look for the dancers that use every note of the music and who have their eyes constantly on the person they’re dancing with. Ask them to dance as soon as they’re walking off the floor after a song.

If you ever have the chance to dance with one of the dancers I mentioned on one of the songs I wrote down, please do! You don’t know what will happen to you. Then you’ll understand why I’m writing Musicality with a big “M”. You can’t explain Musicality just by writing, it’s something you have to experience…

DJ Incognito