Posts Tagged ‘London Style’

You may be thinking going to Salsa class once a week for an hour is enough right. I mean I also go to the club once a week, so I’m getting better. Right?

Well….no.

There is only so much an instructor can do in a given period of time. It is your job to reinforce what you learned on your own time. If you fall into the bad habit hole it can be hard to climb back up. So let’s nip that in the bud to begin with by PRACTICING. Awesome! Well sort of.

When I started learning to play the bass I hated practicing scales (and still do). Now in my old age I can’t stress enough how beneficial that was for my playing. Another part of practicing is learning new things outside of class but we’ll discuss that in another post. Just like scales to music, the basic is the cornerstone of dancing salsa - not all those fancy moves. If you can perfect this move you can fool any pro.

And Now our Top Ten Practicing Tips

10) Mirror-Mirror

They shouldn’t just be used for your “Hey baby” face – although that can be important. Practice your basic in front of a full length mirror. If you feel awkward you probably look it. Go through the steps slowly. If you can perfect something slowly you will have high success rate when doing it faster. (more…)

We all want to get better and the good thing is we can! But if you’re like me, you may have lost sight as to how to do this. Well we sat down and came up with a quick guide to help coax you from being a wallflower and give you a nudge in the right direction. Enjoy!

• #7 Practice Polygamy:

  “But that’s illegal” yes i know, i’m kidding. Just dance with a bunch of people. Being a wallflower will only weaken your own abilities. Go and ask a lady to dance if they refuse then move onto the next lady. There is no shame in a pity dance, especially if you dance the socks off her.

• #6 Practice a new style:

  Yes get a new teacher. That doesn’t mean you have to drop your old teacher just go out and learn from someone else. Some may say a Jack of all trades is Master of none, but if you want to be universally appealing get out and learn all you can. No sense in sticking yourself in a box with no ventilation. So if you do LA Style, try N.Y. style. If you do N.Y. Style try Cuban Style. Or do cumbia or puerto rican style, texas style, london style, etc.

• #5 Learn about salsa:

  Check out the history books. Get Rosetta Stone and learn some Spanish. Eat Cuban food…okay well that probably won’t really help but it is delicious! Put salsa music on your iPod and acclimate yourself. You’ll find yourself singing along (if incomprehensibly) with the popular ones.

• #4 Do you lead? Do you follow? Can you do both?!?!

  Yes and yes….and yes. Learn what your counterpart is doing. Your training will skyrocket if you push away your “pride” and reverse roles. The more you know about how your partner dances then the better able you will be to lead them. I know our Puritanistic gender roles may get trampled on but to heck with them. They wore buckles on their hats, for pete’s sake. What do they know?! When you get into it, you will revel in the fact that a dance with the same basic can be so different on one side versus the other. Many people misinterpret equality as being the same. But here in salsa you will find that equality is not sameness but harmony. You find equality by making two halves a whole. A yin yang has two interlapping parts: one black, one white, one representing male and one female. The beauty is how they fit together not how they are the same in every possible way. BORING!!!

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