How to be a Bachata Dancer
Start to take Bachata lessons, lol? That’s the easy part right? But that really is the easiest way to start. As an added bonus, Bachata is easy to learn. It’s eight beats – three steps and a tap. But if you’re reading this, obviously, you’re an absolute beginner, which means you haven’t even started yet. Maybe you haven’t even stepped on a dance floor. But you’ve seen Bachata – maybe while at a resort when you were traveling and you thought I want to be a part of this world! Why not? Come and join! Here is some advice as you dip your toes into the world of dance and I’ll give you a bonus tip along the way.
Pick the Right School. There are many variations of Bachata including Dominican Bachata, Modern Bachata, Sensual Bachata and many others. But I want to make it as simple as possible for you so I suggest you start with modern Bachata. Modern Bachata is the most popular around the world. It’s the one that is done in nightclubs and a great base for any dancer. No matter where you go in the world, if you know Modern Bachata steps, you’ll fit right in. At Toronto Dance Salsa, we have nine-week courses and four-week courses. Make sure that when you’re picking a school it is a school where you can come in on a week to week basis, and you’re learning from a curriculum. It’s really hard to learn if you’re coming into random nights where sometimes you have too many men or too many women and numbers aren’t balanced and the material isn’t consistent. Think of it this way, imagine I give you an algebra textbook. And then I tell you to do chapter 3, then do chapter 1, then do chapter 7. I’m pretty sure you would be confused and lost. Dance is the same. At Toronto Dance Salsa we go chapter by chapter to help you build confidence. So everything is easy and helps you to build confidence.
Expectations. The best expectation to set is, I’m here to have fun and connect with my partner. Whether you’re coming in as a couple or as a single dancer, you will meet some new cool people. I think the biggest mistake I made when I joined the schools was that I put a lot of pressure on myself. I thought I had to nail down the moves. When I started to dance I had two left feet and every time I would mess up, I would feel embarrassed. But really, no one at Toronto Dance Salsa ever made me feel bad about myself. Everyone cheered me on and I always cheered others on but I was always so much harder on myself. So I always tell my students to come in with a smile. There’s no special dress code. You’re there to have fun. You’re there to connect. You’re there to experience the best hour of your week and in the process, no matter what, you’ll learn to dance. Remember that you’re not in a race against your classmates. Some people will learn faster. Some people will learn slower. And you want to know a secret? When I started, I was the worst student and the slowest learner in every class and yet now I run Canada’s largest salsa dance school! So I always say if I can do it, anyone can. It all came from love -love for the dance, love for the music, love for the people.
Bonus tip – Start Now! Gang, I always believe that we overthink and we paralyze ourselves by over analyzing and over planning. In my life, one thing that I’m grateful for is when I get obsessed with something, I just go all in. And that’s what I want to share with you – Just Start Dancing! Start dancing by joining a school this week, even better today and even better right now!. Whether it is at Toronto Dance Salsa or any other school, momentum is everything because you can’t really tell if something is right, until you start it, until you do it. So I want to encourage you. Dance has helped me. It has helped me find a family, has helped me find confidence in myself that I never knew I had. Dance changed my life. It saved my life. But it’s hard to explain until you try. So start dancing and try.
I can’t wait to welcome you to our big family, have you come in week to week, have fun, connect with new friends and let loose to amazing Latin songs. Click here to check our current schedule.
If you have any questions you would like me to answer here are some ways you can contact me: message me on Instagram (torontodanceSalsa), on Twitter (#torontodanceSalsa), on Facebook (Toronto Dance Salsa) or email me at [email protected].
