7 Key Points To Prepare for Your First Salsa Class!

Posted on - 29 November 2024

Are you thinking of learning Salsa dance but find it difficult as a beginner? Don’t worry! Learning salsa lessons for couples is not rocket science. Salsa dancing combines feelings, energy, happiness, music, and dancing. Perhaps you are attracted to this dance form for its lively schedule, specific benefits for one's health, or the social connections that the activity brings. You will be thrilled to join your first salsa class. RF Dance Academy is here to help with their salsa and bachata classes, where you can learn the dance forms with fun. This trivia includes tips you need to prepare for your first salsa class. Let’s get started!

What Must You Know About Salsa Dancing?

Knowing salsa dancing might be crucial before one sets foot on the dance floor. The term "Salsa" perfectly captures the essence of its origins: a vibrant blend of styles, traditions, and instruments coming together in a harmonious fusion. Like the flavorful sauce named after it, this musical genre combines diverse cultural ingredients to create something unique.

Rooted in the rhythms of “Guaguancó,” “Danzón,” “Cuban Son,” and “Mambo,” Salsa draws inspiration from Cuba, Haiti, Africa, and beyond. As these dances and accompanying music made their way to New York, they absorbed rich influences from Puerto Rican culture, further enriching the genre's dynamic identity.

How to Prepare For Your First Salsa Class?

1. Get into the Salsa Groove

Like most Latin dances, Salsa is a musical play and a dance form. Introducing salsa tunes will help you associate or find the rhythm and style of salsa dancing. It begins with icons, such as Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Hector Lavoe, and goes into new-generation artists, such as Marc Anthony, Victor Manuel, and La India. All of these add their spices to the specialty of big bands, including vivacious brass sections and complicated rhythms. As you dive in, you’ll notice different styles of salsa dancing, like LA Style and New York Style (Mambo):

LA Style Salsa: The choreography may include dips, flips, and stunts. This is a subset of hip-hop, jazz, and ballroom dancing in which dancers start movements on the initial count, referred to as ‘on one.’
New York Style Salsa (Mambo): This style is exactly like its name, ‘’Classique,’’ suggesting elegance and a refined fluidity, with an expectation of technicality and carefully measured movements. Dancers start on the second beat, or “on 2,” and use multiple spins and Afro-Cuban movements, all smoothly incorporated.

Listen to a few salsa songs and stick to the best comfortable rhythm. In the long run, you will learn which style fits your personality. Most private dance lessons teach such variations to guide you in selecting the most comfortable.

2. Embrace Flying Solo

Salsa dancing is one of the few dances where you don’t need a partner at all! Surprisingly, learning the basics without help from outsiders can be beneficial and help you gain confidence. The most important aspects to pay attention to are the proper placement of your upper body, including your spine, hip movement, and footwork. Another suggestion is shadow dancing, where partners dance at different sides of a wall or any object. When a partner moves, the other will follow a similar pattern but with the aid of hand placements. This is a great way to improve your dancing when taking private lessons because it lets you practice dancing yourself before working with a partner. Through the solo dances, you feel ready or confident enough to dance with a partner when the time comes.

3. Be Open to Partnering with Up

Do not feel the need to start your class alone. Always ready to partner up with someone. The teachers will switch the partners among the students to develop confidence and a sense of community. Another occasion where Freestyle dancing may be applied is a dance competition. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though! That means no more worries, just dancing and having fun with music and in the company of your classmates. If you are learning Salsa dancing for couples, this would also be a fun way of spicing up your relationship while learning basic steps.

4. Dress for Comfort

Learning to dance efficiently is important, but comfort is key. For the best results, wear clean, loose-fitting, comfortable athletic shoes, preferably with flat soles or lightweight sandals. You can wear dancing or low-heeled shoes as you progress up the ladder. Wear comfy, loose, stretchy clothing for easy, flexible body movements. This may include leggings, joggers, or shorts with a casual T-shirt. When you take your first dance lesson to dance at a wedding or some special event, your teacher can suggest some clothes suitable for the planned choreography. The purpose is to be confident, comfortable, and not restricted in your movements.

5. Avoid Comparisons

To dance, you look at the other dancers and feel that you are not as good as them. But do not let comparison rob the fun in your process. Even as an accomplished professional dancer, he or she was once a beginner. It may be good to shift the focus to the improvement and the achievement of trivial headers, such as the mastery of a step or following the rhythm. Copying or learning from others is good; doubt is not. Remember, Salsa is about having fun and expressing yourself, not about being perfect.

6. Mind Your Hygiene

Salsa classes can get sweaty, and dancing close to others means hygiene is a must.

Wear clean clothes and use deodorant.
Keep breath mints handy to ensure fresh breath.
Bring a small towel to wipe off sweat during breaks.

Wash up before proceeding out with classmates after the class is over. Post-class outings are a great way to build connections and, perhaps, make new friends. This is particularly true for salsa and bachata classes, which comprise social dancing in most sessions.

7. Try Online Practice

If entering a class makes you nervous, you don’t have to worry; you can learn Salsa from the comfort of your home. Professional teachers at RF Dance Academy cover salsa classes for learners and provide lessons for new learners. Performing at home enables a learner to acquaint him or herself with the pace at which he or she is learning, rehearse fundamentals, and be a master of the basics before joining other learners.

The Bottom Line

Your first salsa class begins with a journey of stepping into a rhythm and a partner. So, make sure you are ready for it, wear proper clothes and be ready to change your mind, you will have a great time. Whether you are learning salsa lessons for couples, taking salsa and bachata classes, or being a member of a step dance studio, you should always have fun while dancing. Therefore, put on your dancing shoes, get with the rhythm, and make salsa dancing’s happiness your roadmap. So, are you ready to dazzle? Contact us now to get started.