Salsa Dance Steps - How to Learn the Right Salsa Dancing Moves to Turn Heads On The Dance Floor

Salsa dance steps aren't as hard to learn as you might think. Read on to find out how to get good at Salsa dancing by practicing all the right moves.
And yes, it does take quite a bit of practice to get it right, and to become familiar enough with those steps that you won't be distracted by more complicated moves. So it's important to give proper attention to the basics.

As you surely already know, Salsa is a Latin dance, just like Tango and Mambo. In fact, the steps are very similar for all those dances, so if you know one or both of these, you're already way ahead of the game. If not... you'll simply have to do a bit of catching up.

The Basics

Here's the basic pattern for Salsa dance steps: essentially, you take six steps over 8 beats of music, sort of in a "quick quick slow, quick quick slow" kind of pattern. You can step either forwards and backwards, or from side to side.

There's a bit of a debate as to which step should be skipped, the first or the fourth...

The alternative pattern would be something like "pause quick quick quick pause quick quick quick." It ends up a lot like the previous one except that you're one beat off when compared to the other version.

You might find followers of both approaches on the same dance floor... Of course, there's a lot of sexy hip movement as well, which makes this a terrific core strengthening exercise, or, put a different way, if you've got a strong "core," you'll naturally be better at this.

Either way... the basics are not hard to learn at all. I actually learned my first basic Salsa steps from a Salsa aerobics video and a basic salsa dancing instructional video. Then I went to a concert, and was able to keep up pretty well.

But of course, to get actually good at dancing Salsa you have to go beyond the very basic Salsa Dance Steps.

Beyond the Basics

So how can you learn the more advanced Salsa dance steps?

As much fun as it is to get into the advanced stuff, don't rush things. Personally, I believe that it's important to be really solid with the basics, so practice them a lot with some cool Salsa music, which is a kind of fusion of various Afro-Caribbean and Latin musical styles, and which is both fast and energetic. How fast? About 180 beats per minute, which makes it ideal for aerobic exercise as well as for a high-energy party.

You may want to check out some music from the major salsa artists include Tito Puente, Marc Anthony (yep, the one all over the tabloids right now), Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Jerry Rivera. Then practice your Salsa dance steps....

Get Started Now

If you're interested in dancing and specifically in dancing Salsa, here's how to get started. First, focus on getting really comfortable with your basic Salsa dance steps so you can graduate to the advanced moves with confidence:

Go get yourself some basic instructional videos along with some music by Tito, Marc, Celia and others, and dance away, until you can practically do the salsa dance steps on auto-pilot.

Ready to get started? Grab my FREE Dancing Success eBook for lots of great tips on what it takes to get good at dancing Salsa and other Latin dances (and even the Waltz).

And click the link for more info on Salsa Dancing.

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Hip Hop Dance Moves - Learn the Coolest Moves for the Dance Floor

Welcome to my article about hip hop dance moves where I will describe what I have found to be important in regards to hip hop dancing from my experiences as a beginning student. I will hopefully encourage you to take up hip hop, because if at the age of 29 I was able to begin lessons and get a few moves together, then absolutely anyone can do it! I have never danced before and have absolutely no dance skills at all.

So what is important?

1. Feeling the beat of the music.

When you are beginning, it is easy to get lost in trying to get the moves correct, and forget that you are actually dancing to music. I was like that at the start, and it makes it less enjoyable and actually more difficult to get the moves happening. You will find that as you progress even just a little bit, that you make the best progress in learning moves when you are feeling the beat and moving to it.

2. Remember to bounce.

Most hip hop dance moves are done to the beat of the music, as described above. Almost always, the timing of the moves involves bobbing your head, and bouncing your body "up, down, up, down, up, down" to the beat of the music. All of the moves beginners will try to master early, everything from the two step, to the running man, all need to have the concept of "the bounce". If you don't have the bounce in your moves, you'll be dancing stiff and upright and will look strange. It is also a bad habit to get into, and if you are not bouncing, the moves are not timed well and it will be almost impossible to dance to the music in any way that looks good.

3. Warm up and Stretch

Warming up and stretching should be a part of every hip hop dance session. As you learn hip hop, take note of the stretches and isolation exercises your teacher takes you through so you might use them when you practice or dance elsewhere. Without a proper stretch you can injure yourself, or not be loose and ready to dance well.

4. Put a routine together

Dance moves should come together in a sequence, otherwise you will be doing the one thing repeatedly, or just randomly starting the next type of move as you go. If you practice your moves in a routine with steps that lead in to the next move, you can then store these transitions through practice and can use them in the future when you are dancing. With a few different transitions, you'll be able to dance smoothly for short periods of time quite easily.

5. Practice

Practice really does help you to remember what you have learned. The thing with hip hop, and other dance styles, is that physical learning is not like learning from a book. You can't just study it to learn it, you actually have to do it. Practicing short routines, even just for 15 minutes outside of class, can really help to consolidate the steps you have learned and ensure you don't forget your hip hop dance moves.

Original article

Learn Belly Dance Moves The Right Way

If you want to get a trim figure and enjoy yourself at the same time you can learn belly dance movements which will give you a low impact workout and develop a skill at the same time.

Learning how to dance the Egyptian way is not all that hard but some proper instruction will help you progress faster and this in turn will keep you going.

Belly dancing is a great workout device and will enhance your suppleness and flexibility as well as increasing your stamina.

The dance of the belly will also tone all parts of your body whilst retaining your womanly curves. Belly dancing is all about femininity and seduction and so it will make you curvaceous and sexy!

I would suggest that learning how to dance belly style is ideally done under the watchful eye of a professional dancing instructor at a formal class but this may not be convenient for every body for one reason or another.

The next level down is to invest in an online belly dancing course which you can follow at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home.

A good dancing instruction course will give you all the techniques required and a full explanation of what you should be doing ad how you should be doing it.

Most online course are delivered as a series of emails with videos attached. These type of courses allow you to work through each stage before going on to the next one so you learn to dance methodically and sensibly.

If an online course doesn't appeal to you then you could purchase one of the many 'Learn Belly Dance' DVDs that are available.

This is how I started out, practising on my own until I felt comfortable enough to go to an actual class. I must say, I need not have worried because the class I attended was fun and friendly and we were all novices together.

Another free way to learn dance movements is to head over to YouTube.com. There are thousands of belly videos on the site and it's all free.

The drawback with this method is that it is unstructured and could end up confusing you or even causing you injury.

I will finish this article with only one piece of advice to any budding belly dancers and that is to go for it. Belly dancing is fun, sexy and a fabulous way to attain a great figure.

Try a belly dancing DVD You can also find some fun and sexy belly dancer costumes to give your performance that extra sparkle!

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