5.) Seek professional help
A quality instructor can be the difference between you doing the wrong thing for 2 years and learning the right thing in less than 2 hours. It’s unfortunate, but the Salsa scene is overwhelmed with dancers that want to be “self-taught”, so they shun the traditional approach, which is finding an instructor that can teach them to reach their goal. They insist on trying to figure it all out on their own. Would you try to cook a thanksgiving dinner on your own? Or would you rather have someone stand there and tell you how to time baking a turkey so that it’s ready at the same time as the macaroni & cheese? Would you like to rebuild a car engine without a mechanic alongside? Or even worse, without the manual that tells you how much to tighten the bolts, what size washers to use, and how to time the crankcase? Or course not.
Dance is a language, and there is a methodology to learning it. A quality instructor will be able to quickly identify your weaknesses, strengths, and help you to create a blueprint towards your goal. If you want to win a competition, seek a coach that has created competition winners. Notice that I did not say “Find dancers that have won competitions and have them coach you.” Just because someone has done what you want to do, does not mean that they are qualified to teach you how to do the same.
Imagine that you need to find a great barber in town. You ask people who have a great haircut. If you want to be an olympic swimmer, do you ask for Michael Phelps as a coach, or do you think you would do better with Michael Phelps’ coach?
A more extreme example: if you find yourself in a situation that you need to relearn the ability to walk, would you hire someone on the basis that they can walk, run, skip, and even dance? Or would you look for someone that has the qualifications of a rehabilitative specialist? Now apply the same requirements to improving in your dance, and you will find it much easier to select a quality instructor.
So there you have it, 5 ways to improve as a social dancer. Feel free to leave your questions, comments, and thoughts. See you on the dance floor!
sGB
Very good article,The number one problem is you get to a level and plateau this is where you need the experienced dancers to practice with to get better however they are too overwhelmed with dancers who want to dance with them,and some donot want to dance with you because you are not at there level.the challenge should how many new dancers can you lead and get them to do exactly what you want them to do and make it look effortless
A really good insight! And from a great social dancer too! Had a pleasure to dance with you once in Krakow – it was effortless (despite significant hight difference) and smooth. Great stuff!
Best,
Eva
Great article! Thanks for posting. I’ve been doing all of these over the last couple of years but I live in a city with limited salsa resources. What can one do when they’ve exhausted all the professional help they that’s available in the city? (actually there’s no one close outside my city either)
Thanks…and yes, there is a link back to this article.
Thanks for giving these great tips! As a new salsa dancer, I’m loving my classes and my Monday nights out and really need tips to look as smooth as some ladies I see! I always ask the guys to honestly critique me (I’m like their salsa baby now! Lol!) But I’ll try the video next!
Great Article, Shaka! Especially believe #4 and #5 helps alot. Once someone see themselves dancing, they will identify their problems QUICK instead of accepting baseless “compliments” from other dancers, LOL!
Hey there Guno, I don’t mind at all. Please include a link back to this website, in case people want to view the full article, and have an opportunity to leave comments as well.
Thanks for the sharing, Shaka. I am a student of Jack Dunn in Beijing and I did a summary of your 5 tips to become a better social dancer in Chinese and share them with dancers here in China. Hope you won’t mind.
Absolutely LOVEEEEEEEEE these tips! Being in the salsa scene socially for 6+ years….I myself had to take steps like these to become better for myself first and others. I did have to become part of a dance studio to get the professional teaching I need while still dancing socially:)!
Glad to help Nestor! Looking forward to seeing how your development comes along, shoot me a link to a video and I’ll see if I can give you some pointers.
sGB
Thanks Shaka for putting this together!!! I have asked my friends to take videos of me social dancing and they tought it was kind of weird even when I explained my strategy. I will show them your recommendations.
Thanks very much!
always stand on the ball of your feet and take small steps, Only stride when necessary. I am teaching the same small steps in tennis.