I am proud to say that I am no absolute beginner in salsa dancing. I've side-stepped and even twirled my way through enough cotillions and weddings that taking an introductory salsa class would not be as scary as it sounded. It still didn't calm my nerves -what if I've been doing it wrong all these years?
There were about twenty of us, and of those twenty were four guys, ready to learn from our instructor, Alejandro and his assistant, Melanie. We started with the basic- left-foot forward, then right-foot back. We did that for a bit, getting the rhythm and getting used to the music, before learning the side basic and turning to the right with the proper foot work.
We then got to partnering where the guys, acting as the leaders, were asked to go to the middle of the room while the ladies (followers) formed a circle around them. With only four men, it was hard to partner everyone but lo and behold, some of the girls volunteered to be the dude aka leaders. So everyone had a partner!
Switching partners every five minutes or so, we put the footwork we learned in motion. While getting the footwork was simple enough (thanks to the tutorial at the beginning), getting the frame and timing with a dance partner was another story. Even though partnered dancers look relaxed in their arms, it doesn't mean it's not working or they're not thinking about it. I had to remind myself not to constantly clutch my partner's hand and to make sure my right elbow wasn't sticking out -it should be in front of the body and relaxed.
The next frame we learned was for turns.Something I learned from this class was that there are signals in a dance. As a casual observer, you wouldn't even notice, but for the salsa community, you know. In an open position (of the arms), to signal a turn the guy (or leader) opens his hand into an open facing palm with his arm at a 90-degree angle and the follower does the same. Sneaky.
As a finale, we learned how to switch sides with our partner which had elements of the basic step. For first-timers, the move is a bit tricky so we were divided into two groups. Being a follower, I joined Melanie where we were shown the shown the steps and worked on getting the rhythm down.
Like a basic, we put the right foot back, then the left forward, but instead of bringing it back we transferred our weight, brought our left foot forward then changed direction. As followers, we had to rely on the leaders to guide us to our new position (which, sometime being the follower is the harder position).
Before I knew it, the class was over. There wasn’t as much dancing, but like the instructor said, the first class is all about learning the fundamentals and technique because you need that as you advance. Overall, a good class and a good way to release the nerves for first-timers.
A few more lessons and maybe, just maybe I can get my hips rolling to the music like the professional salseras. Maybe.
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