Eddy is a very technical teacher with 26 years of experience who will ask you technical questions to see if you are paying attention. He does not give classes where you can simply stay quiet and dance. You will have to answer questions. The classes are challenging, at least they were for me.

I learned these valuable lessons about dancing:

  • For any dance you learn, you must know two things:

    1. The step counts. You must count your steps, preferably out-loud so you are confident about every step you take. In salsa, every move has 6 steps that get counted as 1, 2, 3, pause, 5, 6, 7, pause.

    2. The move names. You must know the move names so you can easily combine them and brush up the details after you forget them. Some move names are traditional, basic, basic turn, etc.

      If you know the step count and you know the move names, then all you have to do is iron out the hesitation between each step and between each move.

      Once you know the move names and you are confident doing them, you MUST be able to quickly string them together into combinations. Any hesitation will be translated to a miss-step on the dance-floor. For example, if I were to ask you what combination you are planing to dance, you should be able to say “traditional, basic, basic turn, double cross body lead, counterclockwise turn, outside turn, cross-body lead, inside turn, cross-body lead, and copa” without any hesitation. If you say um, hmm, well, or ah, then that hesitation will cause you to miss your beat or to forget the next step. Stringing your moves into combinations is hard, but that is what it takes to be a good dancer and a good lead.

  • Your feet should never stop moving, otherwise you are not dancing.
  • You footwork count must be in synch with the music, otherwise you are counting for the sake of counting.
  • Your footwork count must determine the count you say out-loud, otherwise you are just counting for the sake of counting.
  • If you are the lead, you need to use your hands to push and pull your partner in such a way that even if she were blind she would know in what direction to move. If your dance partner can close her eyes and the dance still looks good, then you are leading well.
  • You must know when to shift your weight onto a leg. For example, for Salsa on 2, you use your left foot for steps 1, 3, and 6, while you use your right for steps 2, 5, and 7.
  • The beat for Salsa on 1 is quick, quick, slow, pause, quick, quick, slow, pause, whereas the beat for Salsa on 2 is quick, slow, quick, pause, quick, slow, quick, pause.