Learn to Dance Salsa : Basic Steps for Beginners

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Dance - Learn to Salsa Dance Your Way to Confidence and Fitness

The Oxford Dictionary defines confidence as boldness, fearlessness, impudence & presumption. Well, you need all that and more when you learn to salsa dance.

Salsa dance and music came to the world from New York via Cuba. The Afro-Caribbean & Latin cultural mix has given us a very distinctive music and dance form. The frenetic pace of salsa dancing doesn't leave any room for hesitation. Confidence in your every move is really essential if you are to get the most out of your dancing.

You don't have to be worried or anxious about how you look when you salsa dance. No one will be looking at you. They won't have the time as they will be totally absorbed in their own moves.

Any dancing will burn calories, but salsa dancing will burn up about 600 calories per hour when you are on the dance floor. You get a terrific cardiac workout, build stamina, slim down and generally will look better than you every have.

Experts agree that exercise helps in beating depression. Intense aerobic exercise can boost your mood. Studies have shown that regular exercise works as well as antidepressants to relieve major depression. It may even help prevent depression in the first place.

Salsa dance three times a week for about 45 minutes a time (or thereabouts - more is better), for the best results. If you exercise hard enough to feel out of breath - that's even better.

The thing is, you don't have to go to classes when you first start learning. There is a good range of books, videos and DVDs so that you can start to learn salsa dancing at home. After you have got a basic idea of what to do, then you can launch out, find yourself a teacher and get out on that dance floor.

Learning to salsa dance is great fun. It increases your self confidence, burns calories and develops muscles you never knew you had.

You don't necessarily have to go out to a class while learning salsa dance steps either. You can safely learn these techniques in the comfort of your own home where no one can see you, until you are ready of course. The nice thing about learning at home is that you can learn salsa dancing at your own pace.

Learning salsa dance steps at home will improve confidence in your abilities. You'll find that you look forward to dancing and social situations in general. ANYONE can dance, and dance well.

When you think about it, dance is actually the most natural form of exercise around, makes you feel and look great, and what's more, is a lot of fun.

The author, Anne Howes, Enjoys salsa dancing and chasing her dogs to keep fit.. She likes to see other people enjoy themselves as much as she does.

http://www.squidoo.com/dance-learn-to-salsa-dance

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

What Makes Learning Salsa Dance Steps So Hot

There's an infamous story about salsa dancing and just how much of a compulsion it can be. A man goes to a salsa club and finds a woman standing to the side by herself. He asks her to dance and she's amazing, the most amazing salsa dancer he's ever guided on the floor. Confused, he asks her why she's alone if she's so good. She explains sadly that she used to come to this club every night and dance with her husband - but then he died. The man offers his sympathies, and then asks if she still doesn't have any friends or family to come to the club with her. She says, "Yes, but right now, they're at the funeral."

Salsa becomes an addiction to those who can't resist the street rhythms of this unique music/dance form, built on top of a basic Cuban guaracha, which features a call-and-response pattern. Layered on top of this infectious form are Spanish and African rhythms, with a heavy influence of Puerto Rican music. Clearly, salsa is a multicultural mutt that first began to make itself known in the mid-1960's and blossomed later commercially in New York City.

The most important music section to any salsa dancing is the percussion, featuring claves, cowbells, conga and timbales, with trombones, trumpets and an electric baby bass providing the stop-and-start melody lines. Lyrically, you can expect either eroticá - the kind of hot and spicy sexual innuendo that would accompany this kind of sensual rhythm - or romántica, featuring more tender tales of heartbreak and lost love. In both cases, singers are expected to improvise in an effort to make the music alive and spontaneous.

The footwork can be equally exciting and unpredictable. The Latino influence dictates that the man generally leads and sets the pace with machismo bravado, while the woman follows his move, arms up, with a natural style that keeps the beat and creates a fluid dynamic with her partner. Though a certain basic style is generally adhered to, within that style bursts forth passion and emotion to match the music.

Salsa dancing, in short, distills what is the most thrilling about the relationship between a man and a woman and focuses it into a dynamic dance that's alive and still evolving. It's also a fun way to meet new people, an easy dance to learn, and an electrifying way for a man and a woman to have as hot and steamy a time as a couple can have - with their clothes still on.

Do you want to learn salsa dance steps? Get a free online trial membership to Baila Society Online Dance Studio to learn salsa dance steps and become a better salsa dancer.