Salsa in Toronto: Is Salsa easy to learn?
Is Salsa easy? The short answer is yes, especially if you follow the tips that I have outlined below.
When I first joined my school as a beginner student, I had two left feet. I did not grow up dancing! I was awkward, with no coordination, no confidence, no rhythm, a sweaty-palmed (a medical condition called hyperhidrosis), overweight kid. Yet I did it, I learned to dance, something I thought I could never do and now run Canada’s largest Salsa Dance School.
Picking the right school
Salsa gets incredibly hard if you are doing drop-in classes. Pick a school that has a regular course-like schedule. When a schedule isn’t consistent, the material can change all the time, we found students can get overwhelmed. So when taking a class, make sure it’s a weekly schedule (once a week is perfect) where it’s cumulative. At our school for example, we make sure to teach students just enough each week that they feel a little challenged but not overwhelmed.
Not about being perfect
Focus on having fun! That’s what makes Salsa easy, instead of focusing on getting the moves ‘right’. Just like anything else that you start to learn, the goal is just to make it a little better than last time. It breaks my heart when I see students beating themselves up when they didn’t ‘nail’ the move. The goal is always, 1/5 times I did better, then 2/5, as I say in my classes. So the mindset is to come and have fun, not to be perfect and you will learn much faster!
Go to socials
Salsa is hard if you only practice during class. So make sure you get involved in all the extracurricular activities (the parties and socials) that your dance school might run. It’s a great way to meet new people, and have fun but more importantly, makes Salsa easy. Salsa, like learning to drive, relies a lot on how much ‘road’ time you get. So imagine just trying to learn to drive with a driving instructor…how long would it take you to feel comfortable driving on a road? At our school, we run socials and parties that are student-friendly. Where dancers of all levels (students and dancers from outside our school) come to have fun, connect and practice.
I can’t wait to welcome you to our big family, have you coming in week to week, having fun, connecting with new friends and letting 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].
