Salsa Dancing Beginner Basics Tutorial Video

Hey, what's up guys? Dimitri Rosari here and Nicole Thompson. In today's video, we're gonna be going over some basic steps for salsa. So whether it's your first time learning how to dance salsa or you're barely doing your basic steps or you're about to take your first class, this is a perfect video to start off with. You won't need a partner. We're just gonna go over the basics. For now, let us begin. Let me jump over on this side. So the first thing we're gonna do, we're gonna do a basic in place. We're not gonna go forward and back just yet. Starting with the left foot. Everybody on the same foot for now. We're gonna go left, right, left, right, left, right. Again, left, right, left, right, left, right. One more, left, right, left, right, left, right. So as you're doing this, make sure you're actually shifting your weight each time. I'm shifting it to my left, shifting it to my right, shifting it to my left. There's a little pause here before we continue. Shift to the right, shift to the left, shift to the right. We're just getting used to that motion of transferring our weight on this step that we're doing. Now, I'm gonna say some counts right now. I'm gonna say one, two, three, five, six, seven. You're gonna be hearing that a lot as we're teaching because that's the counts for salsa that we're gonna be working with right now. So the steps go on each count. I'm going left, right, left, right, left. For the counts, we go one, two, three, five, six, seven. Hands above the waist, one, two, three, five, six, seven. Last time, one, two, three, five, six, seven. So you might be wondering, why is he not saying four and eight? Again, that's what we're doing, that little bit of a hold. We're not stepping on four and we're not stepping on eight. There's in a dancer's count, we always count one through eight, but for now we're just taking those six steps on one, two, three, and five, six, seven, yeah? So once you have that, if you need to pause and practice that before we continue, feel free to do so, but we're gonna move on. We're gonna go forward and back now, starting with the left. I'm gonna go forward, left. I'm gonna step with my right. I'm gonna step with my left. Now I'm gonna step with my right. I step with my left and back together, yeah? So I'm still doing that left, right, left, right, left, right but now we're moving forward and then back. Let's do it again slowly. We go left, right, left, right, left, right. Again, left, right, left, right, left. Keep going, I'm gonna flip so she can go forward and back and I'm just gonna give you a side view. Again, left, right, left, right, left. One more, left, right, left, right, left, right. Right now the purpose of this video is just to get you comfortable with your basic step. Do not worry about the details that a lot of people teach in different ways. Right now you might be seeing me, sometimes I come together. Again, if you wanna just come together just to get the basic step down, it's fine. Yeah, sometimes you're gonna see me pass the leg later, boom, boom, and I pass the leg. Don't worry about those little details for now. Don't worry about so much about body movement or flavor, anything crazy right now, especially if it's your first time. We don't wanna do this to you. Just focus on the steps. The further you get along in these videos, after this basic steps video, it's gonna get a lot more complicated. We'll show you everything step by step. Yeah, so nice and easy again. Let's do, let's go back, retrace a little bit in place twice and then we're gonna go forward and back twice. Here we go, slowly. We go left, right, left, right, left, right. One, two, three. Now we go forward basic. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, freeze. Awesome, so we got our basic in place just to get used to the weight shift. Then we have our normal traditional basic going forward and back. Now we're gonna go side to side. Yeah, so from here, I'm just gonna go out with the left, same left, right, left, right, left, right. We're gonna go left, right, left, right, left, right. Left, right, left, right, left, right. Keep going, left, right, left, right, left, right. Last time, left, right, left, right, left, right. Yes, yes, how are we doing so far? We're gonna do, every time we do a little recap, we're always gonna do something twice. We'll do a basic, something twice, so on and so forth just so we can practice. So let's do it again, last time, the left, right, left. We're here, we go left, right, left, slowly. Right, left, right, we go left, right, left, right, left, right, yeah. Make sure you're looking up. Again, if you're looking down right now, I'm not gonna say anything. You're barely learning your basic steps. If you have to look at your steps first to get used to where you're going, then slowly, once you start getting comfortable, then you can look right up. Remember, if you're feeling robotic right now like this, again, it's okay for now. Just get the steps down. With practice, we're gonna fix that stuff later. Let's take it from the top. Slowly, we're gonna go, let's just go straight into the basic. Forget the basic in place, and then we'll go to the side to side. Slowly, so we go forward and back. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, freeze right here. We go straight into the left, right, left. We go left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, freeze. We go back into our basic. One, two, three, and five, six, seven. Yes, yes, hope we're doing so far so good. Moving on to our next basic step. Slowly, I'm gonna go, let's go, we're gonna do what they call an open break. We're gonna start with our back first, or our left foot going back. I'm gonna go left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, seven. Again, it's three steps, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Last time, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, freeze. Same thing, we're gonna go forward instead of going back now. Let me bring you this way. I think we're not in the middle. So slowly we go left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right. Two more, left, right, left, right, left, right, and left, right, left, right, left, right. Let's recap everything from the very basics. Slowly, tapping, again, remember, if you have to rewind or pause it, do anything to practice before you move on, it's okay to do so. Yes, yes? Here we go, starting with the left foot, we go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, side to side, and left, right, left, right, left, right. Last time, and back to regular basic, and one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, here we go going back. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, now we go forward on both. One, two, forward, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, freeze. From here, we're gonna go into our cumbia steps. There's gonna be a lot of steps that we use, the forward break, the back break, and these different types of cumbia steps that we're gonna show you going back and forward. Don't worry about when they're gonna be implemented for now, just focus on the steps. When we get into combinations later, you're gonna see these steps come into play, yeah? The first thing we're gonna do, we're gonna do again, same thing, left, right, left, right, left, right. Left foot's gonna go back. I'm gonna go left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right, and one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, seven. So right now, we're just doing back cumbias again. There's a lot of different terminology. People call these different steps, but for now, easy cumbia steps. Same thing, we're gonna go forward on the left. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, seven. Again, one, two, three, five, six, seven. Two more, one, two, three, five, six. Last time, one, two, three, five, six, freeze. Awesome, let's take it from the top before we continue. Very beginning, tapping left. Anything, Ms. Nicole, you good? Yes, so there are a few little details that I do wanna go over before we continue. I know we don't wanna add too much and overwhelm you, but this is one that you really wanna pay attention to so that you develop good habits from the beginning and you don't practice bad habits. So when you do any basic, but in particular, I'm gonna show you a side basic, you want to make sure that you move your body with your foot and then come back to center. And then if you go to the left side or my left side, then you actually move your body and then you move it back to the center. So we're moving with our foot. We're actually having our body do the motion. We're not making our foot just go and keeping our body in the center. So it's kinda like you don't wanna dance with your legs. It's very common in a class where people show like you don't wanna do this. Or sometimes you see when people are dancing, like they're taking like really big steps. Yeah, versus taking, just take small steps for now and focus more like it's leading, you're leading it from the core. You're going forward. Keep the legs under the body the whole time. And we're actually, it's a traveling movement. So if you're going forward and back, you need to travel it forward and back. Again, don't worry about taking big steps. And if it's side to side, actually travel it side to side. And if it's this way, we twist in order to do that. We don't want to just move our foot again. So that's one, just making sure you're actually moving. And then the last one, trying not to overwhelm you, but it is really important, is to make sure you don't move and keep this foot in place. So for instance, some people think because this is in place, you don't need to move it. So they just kinda go like this and keep. Each one is a step. That's why we did that first thing in place, the left, right, left. You have to make sure you step. So when you're doing your forward and back, I'm gonna do it on an angle so you can see. We don't wanna go forward and then keep this one in place and back, right? You actually need to lift the foot. So when we go back, lift the foot. It still is in place, but you actually need to make sure that's a step. So that's a little bit tricky to show on camera, but we don't wanna keep it like this and you're just going like this. Let's make it three, because three is an awesome number. We're gonna overwhelm, and I'm just kidding. The other one is just simple. Whether you're dancing salsa bachata, we always tell our students, do not pick your foot off the floor so high. Yeah, it's gonna make your knee pop. There's also a chance you can step on your lady's beautiful pedicure that they got going on. So when you're doing your basic step, even when you're here like this, you don't wanna pick up the foot so high. Don't do this. You're gonna pop the knees. So make sure you just take small steps. Just barely raise it off the floor for now. One, two, three, five, six, seven. You don't wanna do this. Yeah, so you're picking it up, but you're not like, there's not a big gap. Just think you're lifting and putting it right back in place. Yeah, so three things to remember. Dance with your body, not with your legs. That's number one. Keep the legs under the body. The second thing was- Actually steps, not just kind of tapping out or something like that. Yeah, so you're stepping each thing, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. And the last thing was, do not pick your foot off the floor so high. Avoid this knee pop. Yeah, again. The knees will pop when you raise it up just a little bit, but imagine this. You don't wanna go super, super high. So little three tips that are important to know when you're doing your basics. Even if you don't get those perfectly just because we said them right now, you can't instantly apply them. Just keep them in the back of your mind. So as you're practicing your basics, every time you do a warmup or every time you're doing it, you try to make those settle in a little bit more, but don't overwhelm yourself with all those right away and get like, oh my God, I can't do it. It's okay if you do it wrong at first, just know that those are something you need to practice and try to correct as you practice. So let's do a little refresher since we just said a lot of tips right now. Let's go from the basic steps, side to side, the back breaks, forward break, and the cumbia steps, slowly. I hope you're ready. Here we go, basic. We go left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. One, two, three, we go side to side. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, back to regular basic. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, going back with both feet. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left. Now we're going forward, both left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left. Back to basic, basic, and five, six, seven. One more basic and then we'll start with the back cumbias. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, now forward straight into it. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, very nice. So now we're gonna go into the most important part, the turns. First, we're gonna do a left turn, yeah? So starting with the left, I'm gonna step one. I'm gonna step in place as I almost kind of start turning my body. On three, I'm gonna face you guys, yeah? Let's do it again slowly, three steps at a time. Let's go a little bit more forward. So we go left foot, right foot, left foot. Yeah, that's our first left, right, left. Let's do it again. And we go to our left. So left turn, make sure you're going to your left. So it can be weird because you're stepping forward, but as you rotate, as you come back, you're rotating to your left. Before it happens, when you go forward left, do not let this foot come follow, yeah? Keep that foot in place. I'm going forward in place, boom. So my foot is in the back right now. Now we're gonna finish the turn. I'm gonna step forward right here. I'm gonna step with my right, boom. Yeah, as I continue going to the left, this one's in place, boom. And then I come together, yeah? So the two and the six, you understand what I mean by that when I say it with counts now, are in place. You don't move those steps left, forward, right, back, anything. Sometimes this turn is a little easier once we speed it up. So sometimes the breakdown can be like, what is happening? And then the more you do it fast, the more it makes sense. So don't worry too much. So let's try it again. Watch what I meant by the two and the six. One goes forward, two stays in place as I start rotating my body. Three is here, yeah? Now I go five, right? Five is here, six is in place again, six. And then we come back seven and we go back to our basic. One, two, three, five, six. One more basic and let's try it all together. Two, three, here we go, left turn. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, here we go again. And one, two, three, five, six, seven. Basic one, two, three. One more time because it's fun. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven and one. That's gonna be your left turn. Now after the left turn comes the? Right turn. So it's a little bit different than the left turn. It's easier. Yeah. So I'm gonna step forward with my left. One. I'm gonna step face the back on two. Again, the two is in place. Three, I'm gonna go all the way around to face the front for three. My feet come together. And then I'm gonna finish the basic five, six, seven. Yeah, so what's the difference between a left turn and a right turn? The left turn we're taking the whole count so you get all the way around. On the right turn, we're there by that third step. We go one, two, we're here. And then we finish the basic five, six, seven. So that's a good way to remember so you don't go like one, two, was I supposed to be here by three on the left turn? Yeah, so left turn. One, two, three, five, six, seven. Right turn. One, two, three, five, six, seven. So let's do the right turn slowly again just in case if you need that breakdown one more time before we do it with the basic. Again, we're here. We step one, in place two, all the way around three. We step back, five, six, seven. One more time straight into it just slowly so you can practice. One, two, three. Sorry, I went a little faster than you. Five, six, she's ready for the speed. Oh yeah. Yeah, so let's do it full out now. It's just a straight basic step straight into it slowly. One basic first. One, two, three. Here we go, right turn. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. Basic here we go. Turning to the right we go. And one, two, three. If you dance before, don't worry about spotting or that crazy stuff. Just focus on the steps. One, two, three. Right turn we go. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One more time because I'm having fun. Here we go. One, two, three. And a reiki, tukutukutu. Yes, yes. These are the main basic steps that we will be focusing on, especially like in our course and the first beginning portion, yeah? So beginners, make sure you always study these steps. Anytime you're about to practice, anytime before you're gonna start a video, practice these basic steps because they're never gonna disappear, yeah? You wanna memorize this like it's like the back of your hand because when you start learning combinations, you don't wanna be thinking about the feet and the hands at the same time is gonna feel like this. So the more this feels a little bit more natural, it's gonna be easier to focus on what's going on with the hand movements or any type of combinations. Yeah, and same thing with the ladies. Even though we don't have to think about leading it, we do have to concentrate on the follower's kind of commands, what he's asking us to do. And if we're so busy worrying about our feet, we won't be able to take that attention and pay attention to him and what he's asking us to do. So the more that you can take the feet out of the equation and make them kind of, they'll do what's natural. So if you make it muscle memory, they'll just go and then you can follow and your feet will just do it. It's pretty amazing, but if you don't have that time that you practice and that muscle memory, then it's gonna be hard, your attention's gonna be split. So we give you three tips in the beginning or like towards the middle. We're gonna give you two more tips that are very important. We're just gonna tiptoe into that. Just toss it in there. Yeah, because again, we can make a whole video on these two things. Timing, timing is very crucial in any like form of dance, like Latin dance, like salsa, bachata, whatever. You wanna make sure you're dancing on time. If you're doing street dance, you're chilling in your backyard, family, whatever, and you wanna just like dance whatever, off time, whatever, on three, six, seven, it's okay. Yeah, but in our course, in our lessons, you're gonna be seeing us dance on time a lot. We're really big on timing. You wanna make sure that you're always dancing on the one. Yeah, so right now, our one is going forward on the left. One, two, three, five, six, seven, yeah. The second thing is the other tip before I actually come back to this. There's many versions or ways you can dance salsa. The main two is you're gonna hear people saying that they dance on one or they dance on two, yeah. So for our classes, we teach on one. So you're gonna be seeing the beginning step of ours, like for the guys, it's gonna be on their left going forward. Ladies, they're gonna be going back. Yeah. So my one is back on my right. His one is forward on his left. What do we mean by that? Right now, when we do basic steps, everybody's going forward on their left just so everybody's going in the same direction for the purpose of the class, yeah. Or else everyone, like if you had this in a big class, everyone would be kind of going like this and it gets really confusing, so for everyone to be consistent. Yeah, so ladies, just always make a note. When you start on your one, you're gonna be with a partner. We can't both go the same direction. So ladies, your one will always start going back when you're with a partner as the guys are going forward so we don't step on each other. One, two, three, five, six, seven. So just take a little mental note of that. Ladies, when you're with a partner, your one is just gonna start back. Guys are still gonna be going forward, yeah. So the two last tips that we just mentioned, remember, you're always gonna be counting one through eight. It's very important. Timing's super important when you're dancing. And we're always gonna be starting, guys, the second tip, on our one, ladies, you're going back with the right foot, yeah. This is just so we are coordinated. So there's good communication between the two of us and we know this person's going forward then and we're not kind of like smashed into each other. And with that second tip, remember, there's on one and on two. There's other forms of salsa as well, but focusing mainly on those, but we're gonna be teaching on one and our other videos are other also. Here we go. We're gonna do everything one more time. We're gonna do it with counts and then we're gonna do it with music. Here we go. So we're gonna do everything twice. We'll actually do the basic in place as well, yeah. And even though we just said, ladies, go back on one, we're still, since this is a warmup, we're gonna be on the gentlemen's one. So going forward with our left. Here we go. Good luck. We'll meet you on the other side. Slowly. We go basic in place first. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. Again, one, two, three, five, six, forward. And one, two, three, five, six, seven. Hands above the waist. Now side to side. We go one, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, back to basic. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, going back. And one, two, back with the right. Five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, forward both. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, basic. One, two, three, one more basic. Then we have our cumbas going back. Here we go. One, two, three, five, six, seven. Again, one, two, three, now going forward. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, back to basic. One, two, three, five, six, one more basic. Then a left turn. Here we go, left turn. One, two, three, five, six, basic. One, two, three, again, here we go. One, two, three, five, six, basic. One, two, three, to the right we go now. One, two, three, five, six, seven. One, two, three, turning to the right. One, two, three, back to basic. One, two, three, five, six, nice. If you need to slow that down as we're doing it with time, usually if you're watching this on YouTube or our course, there's a little button that you can actually slow this down or speed it up if you wanna challenge yourself, or you can just do it this normal speed. Pause it, rewind it if you have to before moving on. We're gonna try it with some music. So we hope you guys enjoyed that video of the salsa basics. Again, these are just the fundamentals of salsa that you're gonna be using when you first start learning how to dance. So again, make sure to always practice this before going to a class, whether it's your first time, just so you don't have to think of both things, of partner work and your feet. Get this down before you step into a class or before you practice any videos like with combinations. Yes, so put on this video, practice as many times as you need. Once you feel good about it, put on your favorite song and practice without the video to make sure you get the hang of these. And the things that you feel like you're a little weak on, maybe practice those a little bit more until you feel solid. So when you go to your partner work, you'll feel like your feet are just on fire, moving on their own, and you'll just focus on the partner work. Yeah, so if you're watching this on YouTube, make sure to hit the like button. Please subscribe to us. And also make sure to share this with your friends. Make sure to comment below if you guys liked the video, just so if you know anybody that's gonna benefit from this video, make sure to tag them or share this post with them just so everybody can learn how to dance salsa. Yes, and if you really liked this video and we get a lot of comments, we'll post our next video on here for you guys. Also, guys, just a little thing. We're gonna be releasing a salsa course very soon. Make sure to check it out. I'm gonna have the info below. Depending where you're watching this, I'm gonna have it in the description and a link if you guys wanna sign up. Just put in your email and your name, and we'll send you all the info. When we do this launch, again, it's gonna be, every time we launch something, we do it at a discount price. So make sure to sign up and take advantage of that because we're only gonna give that to the people that actually... Sign up early. Signed up early, yeah, and enrolled early for that. And then as soon as the course is released, you'll get access first before everybody else, and you also get that discount. So if you guys are interested in learning salsa with us, it's gonna be an amazing course. It's all-in-one, so you don't have to buy two separate courses, beginner and intermediate. One thing will take you from absolute beginner to intermediate, intermediate combinations, beginner combinations, technique, fundamentals, private style classes, and a breakdown of every single possible move that you're probably gonna be learning and want to learn in salsa. So again, make sure to subscribe. Make sure to check that description below for that link where you put your name and your email if you guys are interested in the salsa course when it's released.