Learn to Salsa

Here's a short description of the most basic salsa steps, which are so easy, you can actually follow them right now in your seat. There are two measures of music, both with four beats or counts each. On the first count, you tap your left foot, specifically the front of your foot or the balls of the foot and the toes, in place. Some salsa styles will merely ask you to hold the first count, but dancers have found that tapping the foot makes it interesting, and even activates the first foot so that you're ready to go. On the second count, you actually make a step forward with that left foot. But you can't go far because, on the third count, you rock back onto the right foot, transferring your weight backwards. Then, on the fourth count, you close your left foot to join your right foot again.

That entire sequence is called the forward basic movement. The next measure of four counts is the backward basic movement, and goes backward instead of forward, stepping right instead of left. So, what happens is you tap your right foot in place on the first count, then make a step backward with that same right foot. On the third count, you rock forward to transfer your weight to the left foot and close your feet together with the right foot on the fourth count. And those are the basic salsa dance steps. Aren't they easy?

These steps outward from the closed position are called breaks. The breaks are always consistent on the same beat of the music, no matter what digressions and improvisations of the steps are made by the dancers. Breaks are usually where the couples turn or when they try something fancy.

There are many styles of doing basic salsa dance steps, but as long as you know the basic steps, adapting to the different styles won't be difficult. These styles usually vary according to where the breaks are set, also according to the rhythms played, and particularly in which location you find yourself dancing. For example, the basic salsa dance steps are called On 2, because the break is on the second step, or rather, you step on the count of two. These are performed all over the US and in most Latin American countries. But there is a special style On 1 practiced in Los Angeles where the break is done on the count of one, and the hold is done on the count of four.

There is also a special Cuban style of salsa that is performed with the break going On 3, with the first two counts being a sexy swaying of the body as the weight transfers from one foot to the other. Other popular styles of doing the salsa dance steps are the New York style, Venezolana or Dominicana style, the Power 2 or Razz M' Tazz style, La Ruedo, Salsa Disco, and the Eddie Romero step, which is his own concoction of a salsified Rumba.

Salsa dance steps are usually performed with a partner, because salsa is essentially a couple dance. Partners hold each other in the so-called closed or European position. This means the man's right hand is placed on the woman's back, his arm around her, while the left hand holds the woman's right hand. The woman's left hand rests on the man's right shoulder. Another important point of contact when doing salsa dance steps is the man and the woman must look into each other's eyes.