This is my suggestion to pick up a new move at a beginner level:

1) Focus on the basic footstep first. Make sure you are stepping with the right feet in the right direction. If it is not perfect that is fine to begin with but just get it approximately right
2) Next focus on the arms (especially for leaders as you have to signal the move to your partner). Make sure your arms and hands are moving when and where they are supposed to go and ensure that these movements work for your partner
3) Next focus on the lead or follow. If you are the male ensure resistance is created and the push and pull, which will make the move successful, is being implemented. If you are the follower make sure you are creating resistance and “shadowing” the leader’s fingers so you can follow the move properly
4) Now put it together with the timing. It doesn’t have to be with the music yet but ensure that you are moving your feet, body and arms on the correct count.
5) Now that all the major components are in place it is time to perfect the move. Re-evaluate your foot work to ensure it is fully correct. Same thing with your arms, the lead and follow and the count. Finally, put it together with the music and pick up the pace so you are on time.
6) When the move is working well you can add other elements like body movement and styling

Hope that helps!

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I think cardio salsa classes are great. They are a great, fun workout that incorporate great merengue, salsa, cha cha and other latin rhythms. It introduces students to fast footwork, step choreography, musicality and body movement. For those looking to get healthy, lose weight, have fun, and dance it is a great step to take.

The thing that these classes don’t teach is how to dance with a partner and that is the essence of salsa dancing. Leading and following turnpatterns is the key to dancing salsa. So what you get in a cardio class is a good workout and fun steps but it really doesn’t have much to do with the partnerwork, turnpatterns and feel of the dance.

So if you have taken cardio classes like Zumba, it will help you learn footwork better in class but it won’t help you skip levels because you have to learn how to lead or follow and that is the difficult part of dancing.

If you take cardio salsa in conjunction with regular salsa classes you will definitely see the benefit though as you can last longer, learn footsteps faster, have a sharper memory due to the choreography and speed of the class. So the moral of the story is everything helps but nothing can replace a good salsa partnerwork class!

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