by El Brujo Salsero “The Salsa Wizard”
If you are starting on your journey to become a salsa dancer, congratulations! If you can stick with it and get through what is known as ‘Beginner’s Hell’ you will reap the rewards in health and happiness, and join the world-wide community of men and women who feel so very alive when they dance together to the Afro-Cuban sound. Remember when you look in envy at the dance floor:- every slick, confident, smiling dancer out there was once a clumsy, sweating beginner. Usually the harder they had to work, the better the dancer they became. If salsa were easy to learn it would not be such a great dance with such depth of rhythm in the music. A world-class salsa teacher told me that ‘for the first year I sucked, then I was competent but mechanical, then the music took me over.’
Tips for Men and Women
Learning to lead (the man’s traditional rôle) is harder, at least at first, than following. You will feel stupid sometimes. Every time you feel crushed, cool down, have a drink (non-alcoholic) because you need to be sober and hydrated to learn. Then face the fear of returning to the floor and do it anyway.
For the same reason wear cool clothes , short sleeve shirts, thin cotton trousers.
Have a bath or shower before dancing and use deodorant/ antiperspirant if you sweat a lot.
Wear shoes with leather soles or smooth synthetic which turn easily to save your knees and ankles. Proper dance shoes have just the right amount of grip and are light , allowing your feet to move more quickly.
Practice your basic steps as much as possible, alone , or with kind partners. You have to groove the rhythm into your brain, so that your feet carry on moving while you are leading with the top half of your body.
The man also has to keep time with the musicans, on some tracks it is easy find the ‘1’ , but in some modern Cuban music , known as Timba and some jazzy New York Mambo the tempo and the accents keep shifting, other tracks can be too fast for beginners. It may be a good idea to listen to a few bars before inviting a lady to dance to make sure you can cope. A decent DJ will play a mix of familiar standards and more difficult music.
The vocalist will often start a phrase on beat ‘1’ or at least stress it, likewise the bass, if you can hear it. Listen for the pianist who will often set up a repeated two-bar vamp called the montuno stressing the ‘1’. If there is no piano a guitar can carry the montuno.
Listen to as much salsa music as possible in your car, at home, on a walkman at the supermarket, a trolley makes a great partner. You can buy cheap compilation CDs like Simply Latin at supermarkets, or go to World Music at HMV. When you begin, the polyrhythms on the percussion seem like random banging on pots and pans with odd blasts of brass, there is actually a tightly-knit pattern. Try counting out the beat.
Ladies, if your partner is rhythmically challenged it is probably best to smile and carry on a few minutes to the end of the song rather than trying to correct him on the dance floor. (if it is a practice session, that is different) If things go pear-shaped it is the man who rightly gets most of the blame, if things go well you both deserve credit. It is not the end of the world if he dances on 5 rather than 1. Only if he breaks down completely and you are certain of the beat, then do a basic step to let him get back in the groove.
Should you count when you dance? My first dance teacher told me:- “Here we not count ‘one , two, three,’ we feel el pum paca ching.” Well, he was a Cuban, had been dancing all his life, and could not explain half of what he did automatically. A better teacher told me that your speech centre helps inform the rest of your body, so when you practice, use whatever mnemonic helps gets you through: “quick-quick-slow”, “Back, replace, together,” etc. Professional choreographers use a count. Obviously when you are at a social dance you will have to count silently in your head.
Try Not To: There are several common beginners’ flaws that either irritate your partner or look bad or stop you moving smoothly. You cannot eliminate them all at once, but bear them in mind and they will gradually disappear.
Gripping hands too tightly. You should only have to make a slight hook with your fingers for most moves, allowing the hands to rotate freely during turns. If your partner comes away with nail marks, friction burns or sprained fingers you have been holding on too tight.
Spaghetti Arms (as condemned by Patrick Swayze in ‘Dirty Dancing’). For a leader to tell the follower where and how to move, most of the information comes through the arms, which need to be held firm and springy in a ‘Frame’.
Elbow your partner in the nose. Guys in particular- try to keep your elbows tucked in as you turn in front of your partner (not out like a funky chicken) and try to ‘spot’ your partner, her lovely face should be the last thing you see as you turn, then you whip your head round to pick it up again. It stops you going dizzy, helps gauge distance and helps safety. There are some top women dancers who will admit to having given guys nosebleeds in accidents as well. Long hair with beaded braids make an effective flail, so if you want to spin, pin them up.
Look down at your feet, it puts you off balance, look at your partner.
Bounce. In Brazilian Samba you bounce a bit, but in Salsa there is little rise and fall. It is hard to describe, but it is more sliding the feet than stepping. In normal walking we plant the heel first and roll onto the ball and toe. In Salsa most steps go ‘Ball-flat, ball-flat’, sometimes just on the ball. Heel steps are generally only added for styling, but some experienced Cuban dancers do turn on their heels as well. If a beginner gets stuck flat-footed or on their heels it is more difficult to be agile and there is more shock to the knees and back.
Do: Practice, practice , practice. See you on the dance floor!