Salsa
Butterfly with a Check
Open the wings, then reel her back. A two-hand inside turn that blooms wide open before the check snaps it shut.
This move builds: Frame …on the always-on four — Connection, Frame, Comfort, Posture.
- Entry
- open, two-hand (left over right), facing
- Exit
- open, L-to-R, facing
- Tempo
- medium
- Musical use
- accent/break
- Connector
- Yes — connects open, two-hand (left over right), facing → open, L-to-R, facing vocabulary
- Level
- Intermediate
- Cluster
- Position-Changes
- Style
- Both
What This Move Is
A cousin of the wrap-with-a-check using a two-hand hold — left hand crossed on top — so that as the follow turns in, the arms open out wide into the "butterfly" shape. Then comes the check: you stop her partway and send her back to facing. The wide-open frame makes it a bigger, more visual hit than the single-hand wrap check.
Key Points
- Lead: Take the two-hand hold with your left on top, lead the inside turn, and let the arms spread wide on the open. Then meet her momentum and check — absorb, then return. The width is the look; don't pin the arms in.
- Follow: Turn into the butterfly and let the frame open — then stay listening, because the check reverses you. Keep light tone so the rebound is clean, not a jerk.
- Timing: Turn into the butterfly on 1-2-3, the check on 3 or 5, recover to facing on 5-6-7.
- Common mistake: Collapsing the wide shape too early, or muscling the check. Let the wings stay open, then redirect gently.
Style Notes
The butterfly is the two-hand sibling of the Wrap with a Check (SL072) — same check logic, more open shape. Allowed to complete instead of checking, it becomes a full butterfly turn; we teach the check version here as the musical, reversible tool.
Chains into
After this, you can flow into…