Salsa basics

Salsa means spicy mix! In a restaurant Salsa is a tasty Mexican dip. In music it is a mixture of musical styles from Latin America. On the dance floor Salsa is a fusion of exciting rhythmic partner dance styles. In other words it's fun!

Relax and don't be embarrassed: Many people get embarrassed at the thought of dancing. Well everybody else at the club will be dancing as well, and they were all beginners once too.
All the dancers at our club is keen to encourage you and understands how it feels
to try it for the first time. So join in, let go, have some fun and enjoy yourself.

I'm a man, surely Salsa is only for women?: while it's true that many of
our dancers are female, lots of men dance Salsa too. In fact the best
Salsa dancers tend to be men! It doesn't matter if you can't dance a single
step because nobody else can when they start either. You can equally come
on your own, with your mates or with a partner. It's up to you. One thing is for
sure though, you will not be short of partners at our clu. Female dancers will
be keen to dance with you whatever your skill level. So don't just sit in front of
the TV, go to the gym or playing footie. Today's modern man also know how
to dance and it's cool to dance Salsa. Your dance partners (old and new) will
appreciate the effort you put in if you learn Salsa.So don't be left at home while
others are out having fun. Come and join our club with the other guys, get learning now and soon you will be strutting your stuff and showing who is the real Alpha male around here!

How often do yoy run classes?: We don't run courses so you can join at any time. You pay for your classes one at a time. This means you make small investment each time you dance and learn a bit more. It means if you have to miss the odd week then this is fine. You just come when you want to and you have the time.

Do I need a dance partner?: You don't need a partner to dance Salsa. Simply turn up at a Silver Fox Salsa class and we will find you a partner to dance with at a similar skill level to yourself. When you dance in a Silver Fox Salsa class you will dance briefly with one partner and then with another and so on around the class. This helps you get used to different styles of dancer, and it's also a nice way to mix with the rest of the club.

What should I wear?: Wear light clothes and comfortable shoes to dance in. You get warm when you dance and you don't want to hurt your feet with uncomfortable shoes. So leave your cardigans and trainers at home!

What is Salsa?: Salsa is a fusion of different mostly Caribbean dance styles, danced to Salsa music. Salsa is danced to the music of the Clave of two bars, each of 4 beats. Dancers will, typically, dance 3 steps on beats 1, 2 and 3 and then pause very briefly on beat 4, where sometimes we introduce what is called a Cuban motion. We dance again on beats 5, 6 and 7 and then pause again on Beat 8, doing another Cuban motion. We generally dance New York style Salsa on beat 1. You can get more detail on these topics on the terms page. Also see the history page for background on how Salsa evolved.

First Steps: Here is a basic Salsa step (see below) that you can practice at home. The simple steps you will learn at our club as a Beginner are the Mambo, Backwards Basic, Side to side, Cucaracha and Opening Out. Many of the more ambitious and fun steps are based upon these simple steps. So if you can dance these you can begin to Salsa! The Mambo is one of the commonest, easiest to learn and most useful steps when dancing Salsa - so here it is! Try practicing this at home. The steps in red and pink are the leader's steps. The steps in dark blue and pale blue are the follower's steps. Dark colours are steps on the floor and the light colours are where the foot is off the floor (either partially or completely). This can be when the foot is either moving (on beats 1,2,3,5,6 or 7) or doing a pause / tap (on beats 4 and 8). Have fun!

Learning more steps: You can practice at home. To find more Salsa steps at our links page, or on our products - books page or our products - videos page. But best of all come to our club and join a Silver Fox Salsa class!