As stated last week Super Mario, one of the most well-known salsa instructors in the world, has shared with me some advice so that I can, in turn, inspire and motivate our students.
I started off by asking Super Mario what is the most important piece of advice he can offer a person learning how to dance? Here is his response…
SM – “The most important piece of advice that I could give anyone learning how to dance, well…..HAVE FUN. Learn stuff, but have fun while learning. I have been dancing for almost 10 years now, only salsa with no prior dance background. And for me, dancing with someone today is as much fun as it was the first day I took a salsa class. And knowing that when I am having fun my partner is also enjoying themselves and they walk away with smiles all around.”
The thing that I like and respect about Mario is that what he says is the truth – he really is having a blast every time he gets on the dance floor and he treats every person he dances with as if they are the best, most fun dancer he has danced with so you feel great walking off the dance floor.
I also asked Mario what are the most important actions that students can take to see improvement? Here is his response:
SM – “Hmmm…..I used to try and remember all my material when I was learning, and then one day someone showed me how I looked like when I was dancing. I didn’t like it at all. So I worked on fixing all the areas of my dancing that didn’t look good on tape. Try filming yourself dancing and you can be your biggest critic. So every now and then film yourself social dancing and then correct what you don’t like.
Dance with everyone, from beginners to advanced dancers. If you can lead something, you will be able to lead it on a beginner or advanced dancer. If your lead is weak, the beginner would not be able to follow it, so you might have to lead it differently. What you learn from this is how to lead everyone. The same move but with different tensions.
Listen to music and learn to dance all styles…..it only opens one’s mind.”
I will post more Super Mario tips over the next few weeks. In the meantime check out his website with online classes at: www.salsaclass.tv
Happy dancing!
