Why blog about salsa?
After all, half the world seems to be doing it already (ok, maybe not half the world, just all the people that dance regularly).
Well, the main purpose of this blog is for me to keep track of my progress.
Don't get me wrong, if other people benefit from it or just enjoy reading about my experiences than that's great!
I'm more than happy to provide some entertainment. A distraction from work and/or other things that you should really be focusing on ;-)
So what's it like being new to salsa?
Well, I don't remember anymore . . .
Although I'm still a beginner I am a beginner that has the basics down pretty well. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm an extraordinary quick learner.
I'm not.
It's just that I am a beginner with lots of beginner experience.
I've started beginner classes 3 times before so this is the 4th time :-)
My first time was just about 8 years ago.
I signed up for classes with a friend as we both wanted to learn to dance salsa.
We had both seen demos and loved what we saw. The passion and excitement just left an impression we couldn't shake.
Classes turned out to be great fun too and things went well for a while. Unfortunately, about halfway through the course, work got in the way and we just couldn't make it anymore.
That was the end of my first attempt.
The next year my friend went to the US so I went out I found a new partner.
As she'd never danced before we went back to the beginner class and, the same thing happened, work got in the way and we ended up not being able to finish the course.
When I was just about to sign up for the new course I found out that I'd be relocating from Amsterdam to Luxembourg about 3 weeks into the course so I decided to wait until after I had moved.
However, once in Luxembourg it turned out that I had enough trouble just ordering food and drinks in a restaurant so I decided that it would be better to learn the language first. Learning the language quickly changed into 'discovering local restaurants and bars'.
To make a long story short, 6 years later I still don't speak the language (although I understand a lot of it) and I moved across the border, to Germany.
That said, last year we (my girlfriend at the time and I) found instructors that taught in both French and English so we decided to go and . . . take a beginner class.
Funnily (sadly?) enough, the same story repeated itself once again and work interfered.
If I could make it she often wasn't able to make it and that worked the other way around as well.
This year I've decided to take a new approach.
I started by expanding my comfort zone. I registered for a class by myself. No partner this time.
Sure, this makes practicing outside of class harder but at least the only schedule that can interfere with classes is my own.
Aside from that I've decided to take private lessons and register for several workshops, bootcamps and congresses.
This way it's already booked and I won't make other plans for those days.
I'm only 2 weeks into it this but it already seems to be working much better than my previous attempts.
Let's see how long it takes for me to be able to show my partner a good time on the dance floor with more than just a basic step ;-)
Hasta luego!
Well, the main purpose of this blog is for me to keep track of my progress.
Don't get me wrong, if other people benefit from it or just enjoy reading about my experiences than that's great!
I'm more than happy to provide some entertainment. A distraction from work and/or other things that you should really be focusing on ;-)
So what's it like being new to salsa?
Well, I don't remember anymore . . .
Although I'm still a beginner I am a beginner that has the basics down pretty well. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm an extraordinary quick learner.
I'm not.
It's just that I am a beginner with lots of beginner experience.
I've started beginner classes 3 times before so this is the 4th time :-)
My first time was just about 8 years ago.
I signed up for classes with a friend as we both wanted to learn to dance salsa.
We had both seen demos and loved what we saw. The passion and excitement just left an impression we couldn't shake.
Classes turned out to be great fun too and things went well for a while. Unfortunately, about halfway through the course, work got in the way and we just couldn't make it anymore.
That was the end of my first attempt.
The next year my friend went to the US so I went out I found a new partner.
As she'd never danced before we went back to the beginner class and, the same thing happened, work got in the way and we ended up not being able to finish the course.
When I was just about to sign up for the new course I found out that I'd be relocating from Amsterdam to Luxembourg about 3 weeks into the course so I decided to wait until after I had moved.
However, once in Luxembourg it turned out that I had enough trouble just ordering food and drinks in a restaurant so I decided that it would be better to learn the language first. Learning the language quickly changed into 'discovering local restaurants and bars'.
To make a long story short, 6 years later I still don't speak the language (although I understand a lot of it) and I moved across the border, to Germany.
That said, last year we (my girlfriend at the time and I) found instructors that taught in both French and English so we decided to go and . . . take a beginner class.
Funnily (sadly?) enough, the same story repeated itself once again and work interfered.
If I could make it she often wasn't able to make it and that worked the other way around as well.
This year I've decided to take a new approach.
I started by expanding my comfort zone. I registered for a class by myself. No partner this time.
Sure, this makes practicing outside of class harder but at least the only schedule that can interfere with classes is my own.
Aside from that I've decided to take private lessons and register for several workshops, bootcamps and congresses.
This way it's already booked and I won't make other plans for those days.
I'm only 2 weeks into it this but it already seems to be working much better than my previous attempts.
Let's see how long it takes for me to be able to show my partner a good time on the dance floor with more than just a basic step ;-)
Hasta luego!
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