Yes, learning to dance can be somewhat difficult but just like an new activity a little time and persistence goes a long way. And remember, it is FUN work – not the boring kind! The hardest part to learning to dance is surviving level 1. Once you’ve done this it gets a lot easier and with some practice every semester becomes easier and more fun.

I always tell my students the same story of my first few months learning salsa. I was a terrible dancer. I hadn’t taken any lessons and just decided to go out dancing at Babaluus with some girlfriends. When I finally got up the nerve to accept a dance I was mortified as to how bad I actually was and there were no improvements for a few months. My girlfriends got better and better and I struggled, not even knowing the difference between salsa, merengue and bachata.

Of course looking back I can see I handled it all wrong. If I had just taken some lessons I could have avoided subjecting myself and my partners to fairly awful dancing. However I learned salsa on the dance floor and after a few months of struggling the light finally came on and all the hard work (and embarrassment) paid off. I finally started to follow properly, move my body and begin to look and feel like a dancer. That first year I danced almost every night of the week and by the end of the year I was already entering my first competition.

If you are a student you are already leaps and bounds ahead of where I was. Just keep at it, practice at home, visualize the moves and go out to practices and outings and soon you will see why it is such an addictive pastime!

Enjoy your salsa journey!!

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When you go out to a salsa club, dedicate a couple of songs to finding your favourite couple in the room and watch them dance. It will assist you with ideas about new turn patterns, body movement, musicality and partner dynamics. You may think it doesn’t affect you but watch often enough and you will see your own moves start to sharpen, your body movement and styling start to come out and your range of musicality will increase.

I prefer watching at congresses because you are looking at some phenomenal dancers and it is really inspiring. You may have to get over your “inadequate” feelings watching such good dancers. I remember the first congress I went to I couldn’t dance for the first night. I saw Milton Cobo dancing with Grizelle Ponce, who are still two of my favourite dancers, and that was traumatic! I couldn’t bring myself to dance after that experience. But I had to re-shift my thinking so that their dancing would inspire me to improve instead of shake my confidence. And I went out and danced all night the next day, trying a few styling moves I had seen.

You can also watch videos on the web. YouTube and MamboTV are two great websites for this but there are also thousands of clips online that will inspire and motivate you.

Happy watching!

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Below is an excerpt that is useful on any dance floor that may help you get more dances!

“THE GEOGRAPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE DANCE FLOOR

Let’s face it, all people are not the same. Different people are different. And different people dance differently. Furthermore, these different dancers often dance in different areas of the dance floor. It’s just human nature. Generally, there are areas with beginners, other areas with intermediate dancers, and still other areas with the hot shots. There are even little sub-areas within these main areas. It’s not a rule, but it just sort of happens that way, naturally. It’s like a cafeteria: you eat what you want, when you want, and you sit where you want, with who you want. On the dance floor, everyone can make their own choice of how good they want to get, who they want to dance with, and where they want to dance on the dance floor, and often it breaks down according to ability level and friends.

Now, sometimes I’ve noticed beginner and intermediate dancers spending hours standing or sitting in the area where all the top dancers are dancing, and they’re complaining that no one will dance with them, and that the good dancers are stuck-up. This is not a constructive or helpful approach. Here’s a better strategy: As I mentioned above, most people usually want to dance at their own level. While it’s great, as we’re working up, to spend a little time watching excellent dancers in order to admire them, or be inspired, or to learn new moves and style, it’s not realistic to be expecting more than a very occasional dance over in that section of the dance floor, until you dance very well.

If we really want to get lots of dancing practice, our best strategy is to spend most of our time in the areas where dancers at our own level are dancing. Complaining doesn’t help; taking action does help. Eddie Torres used to tell us: “When you go to a club or social, don’t dance right away. First, walk around and see who can dance ON 2, and who dances at your level, or maybe a little bit above your level, and where they’re hanging out. Then spend most of your time dancing mostly with them. That way, you get the most dancing practice, meet new partners, and have the most fun.” It’s the geography and psychology of the dance floor, and the sooner you learn it the sooner you’ll have great evenings dancing.”

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Men, here are some girls night secrets that we discussed! The first discussion was mentioned by Kimberly in her guest post and focuses on how some men and women get better and better and better and all of a sudden start to get worse as dancers, not because they stop dancing but mainly because they start to care more about their styling and advanced moves then making their partner look good. It is great to take styling and advanced classes but slowly incorporate it into your dance smoothly and make sure it enhances the dance and works with your partner instead of taking away from the partnership.

We traded ideas about the qualities of good dancers and the main ones included being smooth, being fun, challenging us without overdoing it and having a varied dance. Smooth means easy to follow moves, smooth transitions, rhythm and musicality and eveness in resistance. Fun means eye contact, taking the dance lightly, joking about mistakes, really immersing yourself in the dance. Challenging us means moves and patterns that keep us interested and busy without overdoing the turnpatters or shines. Having a varied dance means using all the different aspects of the dance such as turn patterns, shines, styling…slow down, speed up, close dancing, open dancing…playful, serious…keep the dance changing and varying to keep it interesting and unique.

Hopefuly these tips will help…until the next girls night!

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