What We Teach in our Salsa Lessons

Salsa dancing is extremely popular throughout Latin America and the United States, and is gaining popularity in Europe and all over the world. Salsa's roots are based on Afro-Cuban Rumba and Son dancing, and it is heavily improvised and continuously evolving dance. Salsa is normally a lead & follow (freestyle) partner dance, and is similar to Mambo in that both have a pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music. Salsa has a complex rhythm, but you’ll learn to understand it with enough practice. Understanding the rhythm can help you to find the 1 beat or find the 2 beat so that you know when to start dancing. There are many different styles, or interpretations of Salsa that can be danced accentuating different beats in the music. The most popular North American styles are Salsa On 1 and Salsa On 2 that are differ by the timing of the break step. Los Angeles Salsa Style, or Salsa 'On 1': If you dance accentuating the first beat the musical bar, or break on the first beat "On 1" it is often called Salsa on-1. It is strongly influenced by the Mambo, Swing, Argentine Tango and Latin Ballroom dancing styles.
Salsa On 2, or New York Style Salsa: The important feature of New York "On 2" salsa is that you begin most of your moves, turns and shines on the 1st and 5th beats, the strongest rhythmic spots in the salsa music, and break, or change your body movement direction, on 2nd.
New York Style Salsa dancers are typically more advanced dancers, serious about the musicality and timing of their dancing. There are different Salsa styles, but essentially it's still done to Salsa music and still comes under the general heading of "Salsa", which is all about having fun and a good time.
At Star Dance School, we teach a generic style of Salsa, an extremely sexy, flowing fun social dance danced to Latin Salsa music, and popular throughout the world. Salsa is an energetic, fast-paced dance that can be intricate, and requires a strong male lead dancer. Salsa is typically a partner dance, it can be danced in any social dance setting, and competitively as well.

How We Teach Salsa

At Star Dance School we provide you with structured and fun Salsa classes that also provide a great workout.
We always start the class with a warm up. This includes stretching, a brief review of what we taught in the previous class, and some basic figures and footwork you'll need for the rest of the class. The review and the footwork will be the basis for the rest of the class. This means that if this is your first lesson, you'll be able to follow the rest of the class quite easily. You will have to be patient - you won't become the greatest salsa dancer in one lesson, but you will learn more each lesson you attend and eventually develop an excellent choreography and even your own style. Salsa is all about enegry, fun, and having a good time, so each salsa lesson aims to keep your hips and feet moving and your face smiling. Our talented, energetic, and friendly instructors will have you salsa dancing in no time at all.

Interested in scheduling Salsa lessons at Star Dance School?

To schedule a private, semi-private, or group dance class, please call us 617-202-9200, email us at info@stardanceschool.com, or write us a message using the Contact Dance Studio form on the right side of this page.

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