Sekou McMiller is equally at home in a downtown underground Latin club as he is in an uptown college dance department. The artistic director of New York City–based SMc Dance Company, McMiller is known for his unique blend of Afro-Latin dance with West African and Western concert styles like jazz and ballet.
Also a choreographer, professor, and dance historian, McMiller says that this type of blending is already present in African diasporic dance forms. For example, samba, mambo, salsa, and hip hop iterate in different regions. “It’s the embodied experience of the people. It’s the food, it’s the smells, it’s the music in the morning while your mother or father is cleaning, the rhythms that are playing when you’re at a gathering in the backyard and the music comes on.”
McMiller’s lesson plan for Dance Teacher starts with beginner-friendly foundations; it could very well be learned in the informal kitchen or backyard settings where he says Afro-Latin dance styles are still practiced across cultures. He begins by detailing the contra-body motion that serves as the throughline and foundation of his Afro-Latin contemporary technique. “I’m starting with something that is very accessible to all of us. It’s the same mechanics we use to walk and to run and to crawl and even to climb.”
He then layers musicality into this mechanical coordination, signaling different accents and pauses; e.g., which beats to hold or draw out for the syncopation of a mambo versus a samba (Video 1). In the second video, for the intermediate/advanced dancer, he layers in codified terms—“ronde de jambe,” “pas de bourrée”—that would be recognizable in a ballet technique or theater jazz class.
McMiller teaches his Afro-Latin Contemporary technique in a sequence that mirrors his own path, from social settings to proscenium stages. “My pedagogy today leads with the organic, then becomes more specific, and dives in with a deconstructed, codified approach.” Putting structure around the movement allows him to pass African diasporic dance forms to his students, through classes like Embodied Africanist Aesthetics, which he leads for dance majors at Marymount Manhattan College.
However, more importantly for McMiller, this approach enables him to lead with accessibility—and with joy. “You’ll see from movement to movement the smiles or the connection between me and my assistant. It’s not choreographed or curated. It just inspires a certain feeling inside of the body.”
Step by Step
1. Learning Rhythms
Begin by embodying the contra-body rhythms. Stand in parallel with feet about hip-distance apart. Begin shifting your weight from side to side by alternating the bend of each knee. Let your arms swing naturally, as they would when walking, towards the bent leg and allow the hips to twist towards the bent knee. As you become accustomed to the rhythm, allow the arms to move larger, accentuating the twist and weight shift with each bend.
Practice various rhythms of this contra-body movement:
Meringue: Continuous 1-2 count, with a weight shift/knee bend on each count with no pauses.
Bachata: A four-count, with three weight transfers on counts 1-2-3, and on the 4th beat repeating the step with the same leg that just received the weight.
Mambo: A three-step, with three weight transfers on counts 1-2-3. Hold and draw out the motion of the third count so that there’s no weight transfer on the silent fourth count. Repeat another set, ending with the drawn-out count on the other side.
Cha-cha: A five-count sequence with one weight shift/knee bend for each of the first three beats, and two drawn out more slowly on counts 4 and 5.
2. Mambo Rhythm Combination
Right and left directives mirror the video. The eighth count of each phrase is silent, with the seventh count drawn out more slowly to fill the end of the phrase.
First 1 through 7 counts:
On count 1, step the weight onto the left foot with the arms swinging towards the left. On count 2, tendu the right leg forward and switch the arms. On count 3, ronde de jamb to a loose tendu back, swinging the arms to the opposing side. Hold on count 4. On counts 5, 6, 7, pas de bourrée. The arms in the pas de bourrée will naturally move to the opposing sides. As the phrase continues, keep moving the arms in a contra-body rhythm with each step in a way that feels natural with the weight shifts.
Second 1 through 7 counts:
On count 1, bring the left foot that is behind after the pas de bourrée to a tendu side without transferring full weight onto it. On count 2, bring it back behind. On count 3, step the weight again onto the left foot.
On count 5, step the left foot out with a full weight transfer, ending with the right leg and arms extended towards the right. On count 6, bring the right foot behind, stepping the weight onto the ball of the foot. On count 7, transfer weight onto the left foot with the right leg staying behind.
Third 1 through 7 counts:
On counts 1 through 3, leading with the right leg, do a step-together turn, finishing with weight on the right leg.
On counts 5 and 6, step the left foot forward, allowing the left hip close inwards. On count 7, step the left foot to the side while opening the arms in preparation for a turn.
Fourth 1 through 7 counts:
In the breath before count 1, pirouette en dedans on the right leg with the left foot that was extended coming behind in a loose coupé. On count 1, the turn finishes with the left foot extending out towards the back left diagonal without transferring weight onto it.
On count 2, chug the weight onto the right foot and bring the left foot back to a loose coupé.
On count 3, step the left foot again towards the back left diagonal, this time transferring the weight.
On count 5, bring the right foot behind, stepping weight onto the ball of the foot. On 6, transfer weight to the left foot. On 7, step the right foot forward, and you are ready to repeat the combination.
Repeat traveling across the floor and to the left if desired.
Watch the full-length tutorial below.
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