What is Styling?
Styling is the expression of yourself through dance.
It is how you bring your personality, emotions, and musical interpretation into the movements you already know.
Styling isn’t about doing “extra” steps. It’s about how you move (e.g. the timing, the intention, and the body movement that sits around your basics). It is what I call “the cherry on the cake”
It can be:
- A soft arm line
- A pause to match the music (musicality… another big Topic)
- A head movement (head roll, subtle with with arm line)
- And much more!
In short, styling is how your dance starts to feel truly yours, how you make it yours.
Why do we style?
Styling naturally appears as you progress through your dance journey. As you get confident in your dance technique, your moves, you will start thinking about how to embellish your dancing, you will start to explore and express more through your arms, hands, foot work and musicality.
Styling helps you:
- Add your flair and knowledge into your own Salsa dancing
- Make your moves more interesting without overcomplicated them
- Feel more connected to the music (hitting breaks for example)
- Build confidence and your own personality on the dance floor
BUT it is not about standing out or showing off, it is about feeling comfortable and confident in your own body, expression while you dance.
How do we style?
This is truly personal and evolves over time. You cannot rush styling and you can’t compare styling because it is how you feel the music, your knowledge and ultimately yourself.
Some dancers,including myself, draw styling from other backgrounds. Having a strong background in ballet and Jazz dance, I incorporate a lot of elegance and grace to my social dancing.
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Hip hop
Other dancers prefer to let the music guide them and let their body respond to the latin rhythms (listening to the base or campana or piano etc)
Now you might ask yourself
- What feels comfortable for me to do?
- What is the music telling me?
- What do i like doing? body movement? shines? armography?
That subtle “je ne sais quoi” comes from listening to the music and yourself of course. You might feel like not styling your arms but you may start moving your hips, upper body.
Final thoughts
Styling is not the final destination of dancing. It is the Cherry on The Cake. This takes time, patience and experience to develop over time.
At OnSalsa, we believe that strong basics come first:
- Clear basics
- Solid turn technique
- Confident leading and following
- Timing
Once these foundations are rooted then styling will become your next layer, the next step in your dance journey. Styling will become effortless and you will enjoy making it your own and have fun with it and with your dance partner.
Rosa and Giles introduce styling elements right from Level 1, so that you can start developing awareness and confidence early — little by little, without pressure.
Remember:
Styling is a nice touch, not a necessity
It grows differently for everyone
It should be enjoyed, not stressed over
Your OnSalsa teachers are always here to guide, support, and encourage your personal dance development.
Interested in 1:1 styling sessions?
For personalised guidance tailored to your body and movement style, contact Rosa & Giles at rosa@onsalsa.com
Keep dancing, keep discovering, and enjoy the journey. 💃🕺
Rosa and Giles | OnSalsa | Building Community Through Dance