Learning salsa for my girlfriend...

[Taylor]

Yea, so the title gives it away... I'm trying to learn for my girlfriend. Actually, early on it would have been for her, but now I just want to learn because it looks pretty sweet. I always thought "wow, thats gay." But after being subjected to it, I've learned a lot of respect for salsa and dancing in general.

So here's the story. My girl got injured, and can't dance for about 3 months, so I figured, hell this is a great chance to learn on my own and give her a little surprise when she can begin dancing again. She's really good, not professional, but knows her stuff.

I really would love to learn. There is a club I'd like to go to, and I went to a tutorial place once last week. Kinda slow, but I learned a couple of the beats and counts and a few moves. Here's my question: is there a simple way I can learn? or just go to these clubs and keep practicing. Should I be watching tutorials on my computer or buy something, or doing certain workouts to make me good? Any advice would be great. I really like to give it my all when I learn something new.
And sorry if I ever said this stuff was gay long ago. I need to find a place to buy some pants and dance shoes too. I'm going all out on this. I'll have to post a video before and after for you guys...

[SalsaTO]

Your best bet to learn salsa while your girlfriend is recovering is to take some lessons with an experienced instructor.

Lead and follow- partnerwork- is an art and a science. Your girlfriend is probably 'backleading' you through the patterns she knows. The trick is learning where and how much lead to apply to bring your partner through a given turn pattern. That cannot always be learned through backleading. And, like everything else, practice makes perfect. You have to spend a lot of time on task to get your lead and follow (partnering skills) working smoothly and confidently

The instructor should be able to teach you how to lead, give pointers and direction for the partnerwork. The instructor should be able to steer you away from 'bad habits.' The other advantage of taking lessons is learning different turn patterns. It is always advantageous for a leader to have a large repetoire of turn patterns.

[sweavo]

Good on you Taylor! and welcome to the forums. Since you have "the bug" I think motivation will not be an issue! I learned using group classes and by freestyling after a few months' classes. See if you can get a bunch of people from class to come out to the social so you've got some friendly faces to practice with.

If you do it more than once a week you'll probably find that you progress much faster, since you don't have time to forget one lesson before you attend the next!

[MarkoBarko]

yea...take a bunch of classes. however, practice is so much more important. you need the classes so that you can learn moves and technique, but you need to practice so you repeat,repeat,repeat until it makes you nauseous (that's how you know you've got it :) ).

what i always liked are studios that have set practice time after classes. maybe you can find some like that where you live...

[naturallove]

I would agree with the others--your best bet is to take some regular weekly classes from an experienced instructor. In general, but not always, club classes tend to be exceptionally basic. Since many people may go to these classes just once or twice, there's not really a chance for the instructor to teach progressive levels of dance, or hone in on dance technique/skills. The other thing to do is to go to the club and practice, practice, practice. That's the very best way to reinforce what you are doing in your classes.

Best of luck!

[Claire_Brummell]

I would definitely recommend having some one-on-one lessons with a really good instructor on a regular basis and then going to a club and practising the crap out of it. As some of the guys on here know, I teach myself and there's nothing more invaluable than getting some one-on-one time with a teacher if you want to progress fast, mainly because they can look at what you specifically are doing, correct your basics and make sure you're making a good solid foundation to move on from. In addition in a one-to-one situation they can see (and feel) how you're leading (or not) and correct that so that you know how to signal the lady (more often than not the main problem with guys who are starting out). But these guys are right - practise, practise, practise - get to the clubs and dance with as many different women as possible - there's no substitute for it.

Best of luck mate!

[Taylor]

Great, thanks a lot! One quick question, what do personal dance instructors usually charge? I live near a university campus, and might be able to find some cheaper 1 on 1 instruction, but I was curious what an intermediate teacher might cost, 30/hr? 50? I think I could learn quite a bit in only 60 minutes, especially if I did it a few times a week, plus going to the nearby club once a week.

-T

[sweavo]

What country are you in?

[Claire_Brummell]

What country are you in?

Yep, let us know where you are and we'll try to help.

[fire_dancer]

Welcome to the salsa world... what a wonderful gift for your girlfriend!

[etp777]

Good on you Taylor. Great choice, both for yoru relationship, being willing to learn it for her, and also just for yourself. It's good for your health and it's tons of fun.

[Twilight_Elena]

Hmm. In case privates are too expensive to do very often, maybe he could add some group lessons to the mix? Not club lessons, but I know that schools do weekly courses sometimes that are continuous instead of drop-ins.

[kat277]

Yeah what I would do is start off at some beginners club lessons to get a hold of the basics, and to dance with lots of different people. and go to the clubs at least twice a week. and practise at home! and once you think you've mastered these, I would go on to some improvers/advanced classes and maybe take a couple of one-to-one lessons with a teacher if you can afford it to really help you progress more quickly. make sure you know which style salsa your girlfriend is dancing as well, whether it be on1, on2, cuban, colombian...... so you learn the right style! There are some good videos on youtube which show you salsa steps and turns, and some really good shine practice too.