Common Mistakes in Molinete

Below are a few mistakes that often occur in molinete (going around the partner at the center by repeating the cycle of front step > side step > back step > side step, which can be started at any step).

– Pushing the center
– Pulling the center
– Pushing or pulling the man’s hand or arm to do her pivot for a back step
– Opening her upper body away from her partner’s without a marca for doing so
– Too much pivot after a front step
– Not enough pivot before a back step

Brief explanations for each of the above are below, using the case of a woman’s doing molinete around a man, which is the usual.

– Pushing the center

When she walks around the partner, if she pushes him toward the center, he will be at the risk of being thrown off his axis unless he is also pushing toward her. If he maintains his own axis without pushing her out, she should walk around him while keeping her own axis, regardless of chest contact or not.

– Pulling the center

If she, while turning around her partner, lands farther from him than the embrace, if she tries to keep the embrace, she will pull him toward her, causing him the risk of being thrown off axis. If this happens, she and he should loosen the embrace and increase the distance between their upper body until both can keep balance.

– Pushing or pulling the man’s hand or arm to do her pivot for a back step

The woman should do the pivot for a back step in molinete without using the man’s hand or arm as a prop to push or pull against. Use the waist and the lower body to do the pivot.

– Opening her upper body away from her partner’s without a marca for doing so

If the man marks for molinete but does not open up his right arm on her back (thus keeps her upper body parallel to his), that is his marca for her going around him without much rotation of her hips (and thus without much pivot). In its extreme case, the woman’s pivot will be replaced by cross, so that she turns around him with side step > front cross > side step > back cross. This point is important because whether the woman does pivot or not offers different next-step options.

– Too much pivot after a front step

After a front step, a small pivot and a side step follow in molinete. If a woman pivots too much before the side step, she will either go in a wrong direction or kill the momentum of the molinete while correcting the over-pivot.

– Not enough pivot before a back step

The pivot before a back step in molinete is quite difficult. As a result, often the woman does not pivot enough and goes away from her partner when she makes a back step afterwards. Practicing this pivot until it becomes enough is the only solution.