Humans, shapes and animals, all dancing to the rhythm of the tune.
Animating dancing characters that have different shapes and styles is no easy task. Since Daniel is not a salsa dancer, he worked with Xiomara Rodriguez and Hector Moreno, salsa lovers and YMCA latin dance instructors, to create the choreography. The dance was recorded from multiple angles in order to capture every nuance of the dancers’ rhythm, gestures, and movement.
“What I pictured since the beginning of Everybody Loves Salsa was a choreography that was representative of Cali’s identity and the characteristic moves of our salsa.”
Xiomara Rodriguez
Some moments in the choreography that Hector and Xiomara did as a guide for the animation.
“You can see that not all choreography is salsa-based. With this shot I wanted to give the project some humour, making the macaw look hip while he’s breakdancing. It took me quite a while to figure out how to make a macaw breakdance, but fortunately everything turned out well. This is one of my favourite moments in the project.”
Daniel Cordero
More moments of the dance in rough animation. You can see a very similar movement over here to the one Xiomara and Hector did in their choreography.
The proportions and design of the characters are stylized and exaggerated, posing a challenge when translating the choreography into animation. This was especially true for La Palenquera and El Guacamayo, whose difference in height forced Daniel to think of a way for the characters to still follow the choreography while working around their proportions. Traditionally in salsa, the male dancer leads and guides his partner’s turns, but given the macaw’s significantly smaller height, Daniel decided to have the macaw flying for the entirety of the dance sequence, ensuring the choreography was translated perfectly while also adding a humorous touch.
