Hey guys! Learning salsa dance at home is just part of the process of becoming a great salsa dancer. I have been teaching salsa and dancing salsa for many years. Being able to learn at home and fine tune your skills away from the studio is key to your salsa success.
How do I Learn Salsa at home? The best way to learn salsa at home is to practice all the things that you don’t seem to get to when you are in the studio or with a partner. Its always easier to experiment with different elements of Salsa when you do not have an audience watching you.
Learning salsa at home, is the only way to be able to really dissect some of the salsa elements and master them. Its always easier to experiment with different figures and not feel funny about being awkward.
The fact is, if you are not being awkward once in awhile then you are probably not trying hard enough. I am going to go over some of the key elements of salsa that you should focus on when learning at home.
Get your home organized
The first thing that you should do is set yourself up for success.
I have a place at home all set up and reserved for my dancing. Its just a small space in my house, but it is set up with a video camera, music, and a flat screen for watching videos.
If you have to set up each time you decide to work on your dance, you probably will not do it. If you are a dancer and plan on being a better dancer, then you owe it to yourself and your dance to be prepared for at home training.
Learning salsa at home is such a big part of improving elements of salsa that you need to work on.
Make Your Home Salsa Learning Game Plan
You may be a little unclear at the moment as to what work on at home, but I will go over this in a little bit.
But, Once you know what elements you are going to work on at home it is best to to put it all down on paper and create a check list.
I have definitely been unorganized in the past and all that does is make the process of learning at home that much harder.
Taking time to research things over and over instead of keeping records and organization of your dance research is not a winning scenario.
Take notes of all the elements that catch your eye or interest. Mark down that dancer that you like, the dance instructor you like and how they teach a certain pattern.
Write down all the different elements that you plan on working on and devise a plan of action towards your goals. This sort of thinking and organization will streamline your salsa learning at home.
Elements To Focus On When Learning Salsa At Home
The following are a few elements that you can focus on when when you are learning salsa at home. This list is just a suggestion and things that I have found myself working on quite a bit at home.
The fact is, the more you work on at home, the better off you will be.
I have another article that goes into a lot more detail about the elements below. The article is called “How do I practice salsa alone?” Check it out. I think it will be really helpful.
- Leading or Folowing
- Posture
- Footwork and Foot Placement
- Leg Action and Hip Action
- Grounding Your Center
- Turning or Spinning
Find Your Favorite Salsa Dancer or Instructor
The first thing you want to have is access to YouTube. YouTube is a great place for researching many salsa patterns and techniques.
This is usually where you will find the dancer you really like and the style they present. When you first start out, you will not have your own style. It is always best to find a dancer that you can learn off of and mimic their style.
Eventually, you will gradually evolve it into your own style. The important thing is to have a style or someone you look up to as a dancer. Everyone that dances goes through this process.
When you find that person, takes notes of the video that you like and the pattern that they may teach well. Add it to your game plan so that when it is time to work on that particular salsa element, you will be ready and prepared to train or learn that element.
Make sue that you have a TV or monitor within view while you work through some of theses elements that you are working on at home.
Critique Yourself
The only way you are going to be able to critique yourself is to see yourself doing patterns or elements of salsa.
The best way to get this done is by having a video camera set up and ready to record when you are practicing.
Practice the element till you have a fairly strong grasp of the element. Once you feel you somewhat have it. record yourself doing it so that you can see any errors that you may be making.
Its a good idea to catch these errors early. The earlier you catch them the easier they will be to modify.
After you have modified that particular element and feel you have mastered it fairly well, record yourself doing it once again.
Watch the video of yourself doing it and then repeat the process over and over again until you are satisfied with the results.
This is definitely the most efficient way of learning salsa at home.
Time To Clean That Mirror
Its almost impossible to work on your dance without a mirror.
Yes, you can always video tape yourself doing everything but that does not offer the second by second modifications that are necessary to fine tune a salsa element.
Having said that, its time to find the biggest mirror you can find and set it up in a very convenient location.
Having a mirror to dance in front of is absolutely imperative. But, if you really don’t have access to a mirror, that is ok, you will have to make due without.
The important thing is that you are learning salsa at home.
I would definitely make a goal of getting a mirror though. this will make the process a whole lot easier.
Final Thoughts
Learning salsa at home is most definitely one of the most important things you will do in your salsa journey. There really is no replacement.
Being able to practice certain salsa elements in the privacy of your own home really makes a difference on the efforts that you put towards them.
Its at home that I have put hours on that one figure I can’t get, the turn I can’t seem to get, the posture that seems to fall apart during that one move, and so on and so on.
Its at home that you will dissect the problems or challenges that you have.
Its at home that you will break through those challenges and have many successes.
Related Questions
How To Learn Salsa Dance Moves Step By Step?
For me, one of the best ways to learn salsa patterns is learning them step by step.
The first thing to do this is to find that instructor that you really like and watch their instructional videos. The nice thing about videos is there is absolutely no pressure to learn it in a certain time frame. This is a biggie.
Not to say that one on one instruction at a dance studio isn’t worth its wait in gold. Because it absolutely is. There really is no replacement. I would always use a combination of both.
I would learn the pattern first on the video and then have my instructor teach it to me one on one. After that I would go home and fine tune what I have learned from the video.
This would really give me some solid results.
How To Learn Basic Salsa Dance Steps For Beginners?
Again, the best way to learn basic salsa dance steps is by watching videos.
I would always learn steps from videos first and then I would go into the studio with my instructor and have the steps taught to me again.
This would give me a really solid understanding of the steps. There is no replacement for having a one on one lesson with a dance instructor.
Its great to learn the steps form videos but to be able to learn the lead and follow aspects is a totally different story. The only way to get this kind of learning is through an actual one on one lesson with an instructor.
But having access to videos as well as private lessons is the best way to learn. Its the best of both worlds.
Its nice to be able to learn the basic steps from a video so that you don’t have to spend as much time on them while in your lesson with an instructor.