I love dance. I love most genres of dance but my attention right now is Cuban-style salsa.
I started to dance salsa about seven years ago when I started to find myself again and was hooked after my first class. I attended a free weekly class taught by a Cuban and his girlfriend and quickly became a member of the unofficial "Cuban Coalition." He has danced all his life and she was raised in ballroom but found salsa as an adult.
As with love I have a love/hate relationship with salsa at times. There were times due to petty drama (yes, even the dance floor has petty drama) that I stopped dancing but I always seem to find my way back to the dance floor. I have performed with Grammy nominated artists and taught classes with my performance group but this week I taught my very first class solo.
My adopted Cuban family spends 2-3 weeks every year visiting family in Cuba and while they are gone, they have someone cover their classes. This week, that someone was yours truly. I had to decide what I would teach during class (many different levels of dancers) and how I would get my "lesson" across to people with so many levels of dance skill. I prepared my music and worked through my nerves to get through class.
I was lucky to have enough people attend that could lead to actually teach what I wanted and we built an entire class that ended with them dancing socially through an entire song (something entirely new to them). We went over technique, finding (and staying) on beat and leading/following technique. Then applied all of those to a series of moves that they can use to dance. It was a great feeling to have people go from looking at me crazy to saying "let's add on more to that!" I had a good time with them and I can only hope they enjoyed it as well.
I did lose one because she "didn't have a partner." Interesting because there were three leads short so neither did the other two ladies but they were patient and we were worked in the rotation. What's the phrase about pleasing all the people all the time? Guess she's part of that 1% but I think she wanted individual attention. Not happening in a free group class. You want one on one, you must pay for THAT experience! I did get some positive feedback after class with people thanking me and saying how much they learned and how much more confidence they have in their dancing.
All in all I feel very good about my first time.
Now I need to up my equipment game. Anyone have a set of these laying around they want to donate to the cause?
Until Next Time,
Peace & Blessings...
I started to dance salsa about seven years ago when I started to find myself again and was hooked after my first class. I attended a free weekly class taught by a Cuban and his girlfriend and quickly became a member of the unofficial "Cuban Coalition." He has danced all his life and she was raised in ballroom but found salsa as an adult.
As with love I have a love/hate relationship with salsa at times. There were times due to petty drama (yes, even the dance floor has petty drama) that I stopped dancing but I always seem to find my way back to the dance floor. I have performed with Grammy nominated artists and taught classes with my performance group but this week I taught my very first class solo.
My adopted Cuban family spends 2-3 weeks every year visiting family in Cuba and while they are gone, they have someone cover their classes. This week, that someone was yours truly. I had to decide what I would teach during class (many different levels of dancers) and how I would get my "lesson" across to people with so many levels of dance skill. I prepared my music and worked through my nerves to get through class.
I was lucky to have enough people attend that could lead to actually teach what I wanted and we built an entire class that ended with them dancing socially through an entire song (something entirely new to them). We went over technique, finding (and staying) on beat and leading/following technique. Then applied all of those to a series of moves that they can use to dance. It was a great feeling to have people go from looking at me crazy to saying "let's add on more to that!" I had a good time with them and I can only hope they enjoyed it as well.
I did lose one because she "didn't have a partner." Interesting because there were three leads short so neither did the other two ladies but they were patient and we were worked in the rotation. What's the phrase about pleasing all the people all the time? Guess she's part of that 1% but I think she wanted individual attention. Not happening in a free group class. You want one on one, you must pay for THAT experience! I did get some positive feedback after class with people thanking me and saying how much they learned and how much more confidence they have in their dancing.
All in all I feel very good about my first time.
Now I need to up my equipment game. Anyone have a set of these laying around they want to donate to the cause?
Until Next Time,
Peace & Blessings...
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