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Practice to Perfect your Salsa

You may have heard the phrase “practice makes perfect”? Yes it is true because constant practice can really lead you to perfection and this is applicable to Salsa Dancing. By practicing salsa dance steps, you can master dances like Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Zouk & Cha.

Practicing away from the class is an essential part of the learning process and you should be dancing salsa as frequent as you can. It is of great importance to practice the RIGHT moves correctly.

When you start, you have take it in slow step moves and count out loud usually helps. As you learn each of the steps and the timing you will be able to speed up what you are performing.

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Learning Salsa, Where do I start?

A Look at the Origin of Salsa

It is not only Cuban; nevertheless we must give credit to Cuba for the origin and ancestry of creation. It is here where Contra-Danze (Country Dance) of England/France, later called Danzón, which was brought by the French who fled from Haiti, begins to mix itself with Rhumbas of African origin (Guaguanco, Colombia, Yambú). Add Són of the Cuban people, which was a mixture of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats and flavora and a partner dance flowered to the beat of the clave.

This syncretism also occurred in smaller degrees and with variations in other countries like the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, among others. Bands of these countries took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous films of that country (Perez Prado, most famous …). Shortly after, a similar movement to New York occurred. In these two cities, more promotion and syncretism occurred and more commercial music was generated because there was more investment. New York created the term “Salsa”, but it did not create the dance. The term became popular as nickname to refer to a variety of different music, from several countries of Hispanic influence: Rhumba, Són Montuno, Guaracha, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzón, Són, Guguanco, Cubop, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Bomba, Festejo, Merengue, among others. Many of these have maintained their individuality and many were mixed creating “Salsa”.

If you are listening to today’s Salsa, you are going to find the base of són, and you are going to hear Cumbia, and you are going to hear Guaracha. You will also hear some old Merengue, built-in the rhythm of different songs. You will hear many of the old styles somewhere within the modern beats. Salsa varies from site to site. In New York, for example, new instrumentalization and extra percussion were added to some Colombian songs so that New Yorkers - that dance mambo “on the two” - can feel comfortable dancing to the rhythm and beat of the song, because the original arrangement is not one they easily recognize. This is called “finishing,” to enter the local market. This “finish” does not occur because the Colombian does not play Salsa, but it does not play to the rhythm of the Puerto Rican/Post-Cuban Salsa. I say Post-Cuban, because the music of Cuba has evolved towards another new and equally flavorful sound.

Then, as a tree, Salsa has many roots and many branches, but one trunk that unites us all. The important thing is that Salsa is played throughout the Hispanic world and has received influences of many places within it. It is of all of us and it is a sample of our flexibility and evolution. If you think that a single place can take the credit for the existence of Salsa, you are wrong. And if you think that one style of dance is better, imagine that the best dancer of a style, without his partner, goes to dance with whomever he can find, in a club where a different style predominates. He wouldn’t look as good as the locals. Each dancer is accustomed to dance his/her own style. None is better, only different.

By: Jaime Andrés Pretell

Latin Dance Lessons: Salsa Dancing Instruction Videos

Latin dance is so popular it is because the couples doing the salsa dance steps are not required to travel around the room. In fact, couples who hog too much space on the dance floor are seen as rude and inconsiderate show offs. Performing salsa dance steps is fun and flamboyant on its own, it doesn’t take too much for any dancer to look fabulous while dancing the salsa.

There are many elements to salsa music, and to salsa dance as well, but to actually perform salsa dance is not as difficult as you might imagine. The most basic salsa dance steps are easy to learn, and that’s even an understatement. You don’t have to be an experienced dancer to figure out how to do the most basic steps in salsa dancing.

If you want to learn how to dance? If you want to learn to dance quickly and easily, using step by step proven techniques for even the most two left footed of us, you’ll want to learn to dance salsa with learn to dance videos.

SalsaCrazy Presents: Learn To Salsa Dance DVDs. These Salsa Dance Instruction Videos are your definitive guide to learn to salsa dance. Salsa dance steps are fun, healthy, and extremely sexy! These Salsa Dance Classes on DVD walk you through all the fundamentals of Salsa Dancing in a fun, social and energetic, step-by-step way!