Salsa or Bachata?

[Little Miss Salsera]

im a beginner dancer and im not sure if i should take salsa or bachata first? Any tips for me pls? thank you!

 

[opendoor]

Hi Little Miss and welcome to DF.
The movement vocabulary in bachata is much simpler than salsa. The music is also not as complex. I would therefore advise you to start with salsa. If you find yourself overloaded, than you can downgrade anyway.
(I'm talking about bachata sensual. Bachata dominicana is also technically demanding.)

 

[Pryn]

I agree. During my beginner stages, I found Salsa likely took me the longest to develop a good foundation. I highly recommend not waiting on starting to build that foundation.

Bachata was a bit easier for me to get the hang of and even though I started learning it later, it quickly surpassed my early salsa fluency.

This worked put well for me because I was able to dance to spend more time on the floor - dancing both styles during the night.

Once I understood salsa though, life was good and it became my gateway to Cumbia, and a few other latin dances.

 

[Little Miss Salsera]

Hi Little Miss and welcome to DF.
The movement vocabulary in bachata is much simpler than salsa. The music is also not as complex. I would therefore advise you to start with salsa. If you find yourself overloaded, than you can downgrade anyway.
(I'm talking about bachata sensual. Bachata dominicana is also technically demanding.)

I had this impression that bachata would be easier since its slower? but thank you for your insights

 

[Little Miss Salsera]

I agree. During my beginner stages, I found Salsa likely took me the longest to develop a good foundation. I highly recommend not waiting on starting to build that foundation.

Bachata was a bit easier for me to get the hang of and even though I started learning it later, it quickly surpassed my early salsa fluency.

This worked put well for me because I was able to dance to spend more time on the floor - dancing both styles during the night.

Once I understood salsa though, life was good and it became my gateway to Cumbia, and a few other latin dances.

Thanks for sharing your experience! so cool how mastering salsa opened doors to other Latin dances for you..super inspiring!

 

[opendoor]

I had this impression that bachata would be easier since its slower? but thank you for your insights

Hello, apart from the speed and complexity of the figures, there are other criteria that are perhaps just as important:

-Is the community open and friendly?
-Does the teacher really make an effort?
-What sub-style is it?

 

[Little Miss Salsera]

Hello, apart from the speed and complexity of the figures, there are other criteria that are perhaps just as important:

-Is the community open and friendly?
-Does the teacher really make an effort?
-What sub-style is it?

oh these are some good points! thank you! i'll take these into consideration when looking for studios.

 

[DanceMentor]

By the way, just curious, which music do you like better? That might have some influence on which one to pick. I only understand a little Spanish but recently I’m trying to understand the songs I dance to a little bit more which has sort of made it fun again for me.