Practicing Salsa is the basic technique in improving your
salsa, taking salsa lessons from dance classes or salsa dance
videos are the most convenient means of taking your salsa
moves in the next level. But You can accelerate your success
by making sure you are actively managing your practice. On a
regular basis, you’ll want to incorporate different types of
practice as your dancing matures.
Practicing breaks down into the following categories:
-
Personal
-
Partnering
-
Club/Social
Personal Practice
You need to practice on
our own, with a mirror and/or video camera, to get the
footwork and overall body action refined. By yourself you can
focus on your look and feel without the distraction of your
partners’ strengths and weaknesses. Work on your footwork,
Cuban motion, balance, turns, spins and shine combinations
alone, refining basic and more complex body control.
Partnering Practice
Practice your patterns and leading/following skills with a
practice partner, outside the club. You slow
the patterns down, speed them up, repeating sections over and
over to fine-tune the mechanics and make sure everything is
clear to your partner. It is also helpful to practice the
patterns at both a snail’s pace and at blistering tempos.
Working a pattern very slowly is often eye-opening and harder
than doing moderate or faster tempos. Counting out loud while
practicing patterns is an excellent practice habit and using
a video camera to review your progress is extremely helpful.
Club Practice
Getting in the real world
changes things. If the wheels fall off when you try it in the
club, you haven’t practiced it enough in a private setting. I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve practiced a
pattern/combination with my wife and then the first time in
the club it was like the car ran out of gas. I forgot how the
pattern started, or I blew the ending, or I missed a step and
we crashed and burned. Sometimes it works fabulously;
sometimes it’s material for a blooper reel. Different music,
lighting, a different floor and just the fact that others
might be watching change the dynamics of dancing enough to
throw my game plan out the window. Ideally, you try new
material with a partner who is already one of your fans,
since they will cut you some slack if the first couple
attempts lead to a blowout. Once you have success with known
partners, then see if you can lead others through the same
move.
Following this systematic salsa dance practice routine will
most likely take your salsa in the next level though it will
really require you to give that extra effort with a some help
from your peers, partner or from salsa dance
videos and never forget to have some fun while doing it!
