Is Salsa Dance Easy?
Yes! Many of you will be surprised to read that but it’s true. Here are some tricks and tips that will help you with everything from picking an instructor to not feeling overwhelmed when you start learning.
Picking the Right Instructor
We’ve all had at least a hundred teachers in our life, but probably only two or three stood as being great. A great Salsa instructor is someone who loves what they do, who is passionate and wants to be a cheerleader for you. If you’re looking for a great instructor, start with reading the Google reviews. Do a bit of online investigation. Follow them on Instagram and find out a bit more about them. Salsa is easy if you feel like the instructor has your best interest at heart. A good instructor also never forgets that Salsa is about fun, not perfecting moves.
Right Turns Made Easy
One of the first things you will learn taking Salsa dance is the Right Turn. To make it easier, practice your Right Turn by pretending someone is standing behind you and calls your name. You turn around and answer them. That’s what a Salsa Right Turn should look like. You would never push off with your foot first. Try it in front of a mirror if you don’t believe me. It looks weird. You would turn your head, then your torso and then your feet come along at the end until you are facing the person who called your name.
Another trick to make turns easy is called spotting. A simple way to think about spotting is that you want to turn your head before your body arrives. So pick something – your dance partner if you are practicing with someone or a mirror or lamp or something in the room. Start the turn by looking at the person or object and then turning your head to face the person or object again. Your feet will naturally follow.
Getting the Basic Steps Down
Count out loud! I can’t emphasize this enough. As you are dancing say out loud – one, two, three, five, six, seven. But you have to say it out loud – don’t just think it. When I tell students to count out loud the results are amazing. Instead of struggling with Salsa basics, they count out loud and everything just gets easier. All of a sudden the students are relaxed and smiling.
Bonus Tips
There are many more tips I can give you. Here are a few. Take smaller steps. In a Salsa dance class I often call them baby steps. In other words, don’t lift your feet too high and the stride should be very small. Salsa is fast, so the smaller the steps, the easier it is to keep up.
Keep your knees bent and try to keep your shoulders level, so you don’t bounce as you are dancing. You will be smoother and again it is easier to keep up to the music.
You can also try saying “quick quick, slow” out loud so you are dancing to the rhythm of Salsa.
Overall, don’t wait, start dancing Salsa. It’s gonna be the best decision you’ll ever make.
If you want even more tips on the Basics of Salsa click on the link.
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