Becoming a Salsero

Learning to dance Salsa !

About me

I remember the first time I saw a salsa performance. The dance was mesmerizing and I decided that becoming a Salsero would be my new goal.

Just getting started took a lot longer than planned but I still haven't regretted a single moment of learning to dance salsa. Why don't you join me and become a salsero / salsera as well?.

About this site

This is where I share my experiences and thoughts on dancing salsa.

If you have any questions or remarks please leave a comment or send an email to becomingasalsero@gmail.com.

Additional ways to contact me can be found on my contact page.

Monday night Salsa Life classes

The new location, Variete in Trier, is working out well and I think they did great with the schedule.

Now the intermediate class starts at 7, followed by the beginner's class at 8.
This is completely opposite to anything I've seen so far but there is definitely an advantage to it.

At 9 the party starts and all the beginners stay to do some social dancing. Some will only stay for 1 or 2 dances but at least they dance and I'm sure they'll improve a lot faster than I did.

I've also found that, unless I'm really tired, I'm starting to have an easier time dancing.
Like the beginners I stay (and yes, I'm taking this beginner's class as well :-) and dance afterwards. It started out just practicing what we learned in class but lately it's getting better and I'm starting to throw in things from previous classes. Sometimes it actually feels like dancing an entire song without repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again.

It's funny that this now seems like such a great accomplishment. Especially as I by now have learned enough combinations to dance several songs without having to repeat the same thing. Unfortunately I still have some mental block when I'm on the dance floor and nothing comes out.
That said, it seems like the walls are starting to come down.

I'm also really looking forward to July when I'll go to the Salsa Congress in Croatia. It'll be interesting to see how dancing goes with 'new' people.
It looks like two of my friends, Alenka and Marija, who were at the Slovenian Salsa Congress are going to be there as well. I'm looking forward to seeing them again and dancing with them. Salsa is a great way to make new friends.
The funniest thing to me is that not too long ago ago I was terrified by the prospect of dancing and now, although still a bit reluctantly, I am actually looking forward to it.

Salsa-Brava intermediate weekend workshop

A couple of weeks ago I did an intermediate weekend workshop (2*3 hours) with Salsa-Brava, also in Trier.

I loved it!
It was just a small group (6 people) so we received a lot of personal attention. Mistakes, even small ones, got noticed sooner which makes it a lot easer to fix them before they become ingrained.

The moves we learned seemed to be easier to integrate into social dancing than the figures we learned at Salsa Life so I'm now considering taking classes at both to help me get more comfortable with social dancing.
I'm sure that everything that I learn at Salsa Life is perfectly danceable in social dancing as well. It's just that I am not completely confident with it. Although I am improving relatively rapidly (at least compared to the last zillion years ;)) and am getting over my dance floor fear. I'm not quite there yet and anything that helps me get there sooner seems worth it.
Not only that but it'll be nice to meet some more people as well :-)

Paolo's new classes start Wednesday so unless work interferes I'll be there.
It should be good fun.

Adios amigos!

It's been ages

I know, I haven't updated in ages.

Somehow it just didn't happen. I started writing a post on the Luxembourg Salsa congress... about 6 times !
Not sure why but it still doesn't come out right so for now I'll probably just leave it. I considered having a go again this weekend after watching the videos that I made there but then, I'm doing the Magic 7 workshop again today (yeah, I need an extra round to get it down) so I might just take a hot bath and go to bed early instead :)

Yesterday's beginner's class was done by Robbert (sp?). It the first time he taught a class and I was simply amazed! He went a bit slower than I'm used to for a first class. All we did was the mambo and rumba step but, I loved it. He explained everything right and was really clear about how to lead it.
This is something that always annoys me. You'll learn new moves but nobody explains you how you're supposed to lead them. Sure, most of the time I can figure it out but in all fairness, if I didn't have a background (however ancient) in ballroom dancing it would have been a lot harder.
I thought it was great that he spent more time on this than I have ever seen in a class before.

Unfortunately though, it was not the first time I took the first class of a beginner's course so obviously I'm biased. I have no idea what the others thought and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Hasta luego!

Ps. Yes, I'm taking the beginner's class again. I don't think it's possible to spend too much time on the basics. However, I'm also taken the higher level classes.
Let's see if it helps
 

different paths

college campus lawn

wires in front of sky

aerial perspective

clouds

clouds over the highway

The Poultney Inn

apartment for rent