Learn to Dance Salsa : Basic Steps for Beginners

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.

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