Any tips on how to find a good Latin dance teacher?

[Samseau]

well, you can never know TOO many dance styles, so since I already dance salsa/bachata, I might as well start taking swing classes, 'cuz you never know where your next piece of fine ass will come from.


Mixx

Yes, knowing more dance styles will make you a better overall dancer. The more dance styles I've learned the easier it is to swoop girls as well.

If you can, find free lessons as a university within your city. It's way more fun to learn a new dance when you can do it with 19 year old girls.

 

[elabayarde]

If you want to learn salsa... and pick up girls at the same time. The easiest way is at happy hours that feature basic lessons. But you will never get past basic skill level there. Here in DC(which is shitty place to game) the girls are normally nervous in the first few dance classes, and so they drink more than there usual... to get over the anxiety. I have been told by so many chicks while we were dancing that... "I had to take two shots just to get myself out on the floor to try this."
It is so easy its ridiculous.. I actual got bored of this scene.

Also,
The site below is a good place to start: They have alot of great youtube videos. Find any chick you want and say that she can be your partner(like its a privilege) ... And she will be so down to come over your house and practice (especially ones with boyfriends.. which i cant understand). I always say, It's like putting chickens in a cage with a tiger... YOU WILL INCIDENTALLY CONVERT HER.

This is the site. It's great for tutorials: http://www.addicted2salsa.com/videos/

Also, a good line for when they asked you where you learned to dance.... I say "youtube". The always breakout laughing..

But, what i found that is a big key(with Latinas specifically) is... Dancing the style, based on where there from.
If she is cuban... casino style salsa.
If she a Boricua, tradition "on-1" style.
Colombian... "The Cali style"
Colombians swear that people from Cali Colombia or the best in the world(So dance there style with a colombian).
New York Latina.. Dance "on-2".
Mexican or west coasters... LA style Salsa.

For Bachata, I've noticed if you can dance both the Dominican style and the traditional style side to side style, girls are always impressed.
Obviously Dominicans are because, its there style... and other latinas are because they just assume that you're on a level above there skill. Check out this Dominican Dudes videos, You can learn alot by just watching... honestly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ767hTMs4I

Its funny because that chick is another popular dancers wife... But If you notice her body language when she tried to lead him(instead of letting the man lead) and he pulled here hard(to put her in her place), she became submissive Immediately. She was wet right then and there. Watch her face and body language. It's just funny to me. Then watch her with her husband dancing she has an almost uninterested disposition. I would be willing to bet this dude banged her, of if not he could.

Also, if you notice he always dancing in a way that makes her advance to him as he moves away and steps back. Almost Like she is chasing him. When you do this, it send some sort of signal putting them in that mind set to chase you. I have had girls, (That I know would not have gave me the time of day) follow me out of clubs, to ask for my number.
Learning to dance has been my single most effective investment.

I will post videos of each style if anyone is interested.

 

[tomtud]

For excellent lessons and real cheap if possible, take them in Cuba on a vacation. You can do an intensive course for peanuts if you are already there on holiday. Lessons in Colombia as well are quite cheap.

Lessons in the States or Canada, well you are looking at $50 per hour ish for some teachers. Of course this is private, but it can get quite expensive...... For me personally, I am fortunate to be from Canada, and have the opportunity to go to Cuba. Last time I went to Cuba, I had a male and female team that taught me for roughly $12 for 2 hours if I recall... Something that cheap but was of value. They do know their stuff.

If you can go to Cuba, do an intensive there for week or 2, and you will be way ahead than paying $50 per hour for 1 instructor.

 

[Kaizen]

When u go out...look for a guy on the dance floor that you're impressed with

Then ask him where and who he learned from

 

[JayJuanGee]

Great info. fellas.

The ability to dance is a valuable tool for anyone.

I can think of numerous occasions off the top of my head where if I had known how to __________ dance, my night would have been a bigger success.

So 3 or 4 times a week is what i should aim for?


Do you guys go out with some type of dance shoes?

I am usually wearing converse. My old roommate (who was a swing dancer) had shoes she used when she would go dance.

Very spot on with your observation Tuth. Her swing dance friends would come over to our place all the time and I found most of them to be on the prudish side. Most the guys were on the nerdy/ wierd side.

I've been dancing Los Angeles style Salsa, Cha, Cha, Merengue and Bachata for 11 years. Although Bachata has only been played in the clubs, around LA for about the past 4 years (at least increasingly so). When you become a fairly proficient dancer, you can dance in any shoes; however, if you become more proficient at your turns, and you dance for longer periods of time, you want both comfort and practicality. Personally, I prefer dance sneakers (and if they are made specifically for dance, then they have a hard rubber bottom, which is distinuishable from other sneakers that have a soft rubber bottom and interfere with your ability to easily execute turns). Alternatively, if you want more of a dress shoe then you should get one with a leather bottom or even a suade bottom, though you have to be careful with suade in getting it wet and/or wearing it out by walking in it too much. I agree that shoes can make a difference as you are learning, and to be able to be smoother in your dance techniques, which will translate to impressing the girl.

 

[JayJuanGee]

I want to learn how to salsa, merengue, and bachata dance.

What should I look for when find a place to learn?

I have never taken a dance class so I have no idea what to look for.

Should I plan on going once a week? I've seen some 6 weeks programs offers in my area where you go once a week. Is this enough time?

How many times a week should I go?

Should I get a private teacher? 1 on 1 lessons?

I would like to get started ASAP.

I want to learn how to dance salsa as everyone I see doing it is always having tons of fun. I have fun doing it and I suck at it.
Also, the connection you can create with a girl while dancing with her is amazing.

I think this is going to make my game much more complete! I can't wait to learn..

Any tips much appreciated!

Latin dancing skills(especially salsa, since it is the most common form) is one of those secret pussy-gold-mines. Once you've reached intermediate level, you can pretty much give up all other forms of game! Hell, you can even pull by being a beginner at salsa provided your game is decent.

For lessons, I'd suggest you search around and find out the salsa clubs(or clubs that have salsa lessons/nights) in your area. Usually, they have classes 3-4 times(where mostly beginners show up) during the week followed by salsa nights on weekends(where more advanced dancers show up). How fast you learn totally depends on your own adaptive abilities but generally once a week won't be enough since one tend to forget the steps, so ideally 3-4 times a week for 1-2 months should probably get you close to the intermediate level. If you're really serious, you can even learn or atleast get a basic understanding from youtube where there are tons of salsa lessons available. I don't have personal experience with private lessons but I'm guessing it might teach you a little faster than group classes, but classes are way more fun otherwise also since you get to dance with all the other females and while you're dancing its natural to talk(and run game, for the players) to them.

I agree with Haywire that when you start out learning dance, you need to practice as much as possible to become proficient. I started out with Salsa, and I kind of just learned the others that i know (cha cha cha, merengue and bachata) by incorporating salsa into them. It took me a couple of years to become fairly proficient; however, in Los Angeles, the level of dancers (competition) is generally pretty high, even though there may be some places and/or pockets of Latin style dancers who are not so good. On the other hand, to dance at a fairly proficient level in leading beginner dancers, one may be able to accomplish that in about 6 months, so long as highly skilled competitor dancers are not showing you up.

Personally, I recommend that a beginner dancer does not need to take private lessons, unless you have money to blow. If you have various venues that you can learn in group, then that is good and possibly by studying Youtube, as was already mentioned. Personally, i took a lot of group classes, then I would reduce what i learned to notes, and then try to visualize what i learned in my head, and then practice it on willing female partners. As I was first learning my own techniques / moves, I had never been so much able to absorb techniques that I saw through videos; however, I believe that after a few years of dancing, i have gotten better at learning by seeing it - only b/c I have already built up a pretty extensive repertoire of my own.

As far as game, I did get laid quite a bit when I first started dancing salsa; however, as I have gotten better at dance, that did not translate into more bangs. Probably, I had been focusing on the wrong things, and/or going to the same venues to dance, rather than to pick up chicks. I have noticed; however, when i mix up the venue, it will translate into more phone numbers; however, sometimes, if we are not concentrating on game, even as a proficient dancer who has the girls' attention, we do not achieve the Fcloses.

 

[JayJuanGee]

Swing is a goofy dance where even the best dancers look silly hopping around like children half the time--almost oblivious to any sort of count or beat. It's very popular with (very) vanilla white people for this reason (not trying to start a race thread, just being real). That being said, there are some serious cuties at the venues--at least in the (U.S.) cities where I've spent time around it. But there's a significant "prude factor" that you can't neglect. Because it's relatively rhythm-less dance that's very attractive to nerds, you get an awkward factor that's pretty absent from salsa. This works both to your advantage and against it. More of the girls will be nervous and relationship-minded, but the dudes will have less game and style (apart from those who dress in cool period costume, though they'll often be nerds too). You're less likely to run into skanky salsa bitches and hoochies. You'll get the occasional "suicide girl" type, but I find that that's quite rare too.

If you're an ethnic dude with mad swagger and good dancing skills (willing to set aside feeling ridiculous some times, with a silly dance to 70-year-old music), you definitely can do damage with some good follow-up game. Be ready to screen out the prudish ones and get treated like an outsider, but it has definitely been ridden less hard than the salsa scenes.

Until you mentioned all of this Tuth, I had not really been able to place my finger exactly on why I was so irritated by swing... Even though I do no quit buy that it is rythm-less, I do see where you are going with this, the rock, rock step crap is all over the place, and I really could not quite get it, and I had not realized that the music is all so old. In the latin styles of salsa, cha cha cha, merengue and bachata, these have contemporaries and classics, and yes that is nice about the latin dances. I cannot really see myself learning swing in the near future - even though I will never say never b/c there can be some application and value to expanding dance reportoire.

As Samseau mentioned, also adding in various dance styles can be helpful, including hip hop and dancing to house music, and lately, I have not been as comfortable in dancing some of those other genres, even though, as mentioned, there may be some value in improving technique, style and comfort with some of those other genres.

 

[Deluge]

I'm starting beginners salsa lessons at my university. Only $50 for a semester and the class has a great ratio and lots of fresh of the plane exchange student girls from Europe

 

[JayJuanGee]

I'm starting beginners salsa lessons at my university. Only $50 for a semester and the class has a great ratio and lots of fresh of the plane exchange student girls from Europe

I always found that it was best for the guy to have quite a bit of dance skills and techniques beyond the level of the girls, in order to keep the girl from becoming too sassy, especially this can happen in classes b/c the girls will see the instructors and/or other guys in the classes, and compare those other potentially higher skilled dancers to you. Now, if you are of a higher level than the girl, in your dance abilities, then this is less of an issue b/c sometimes the girl will not even notice your level.

In this regard, 11 years ago, when I started out salsa dancing, I had a few ongoing dance partners who probably were equal to or better than me in their dance skill levels; however, the partners frequently wanted to continue to dance with me on a regular basis and would act as if they did not know anything about how my level was not really very advanced, yet, which worked out good for me in learning and practicing b/c it can be quite aggravating to have your dance partner nagging and/or complaining about your dance level while you are trying to improve and/or practice.

So in this regard, maybe you will be o.k. in a university setting in dancing with girls that will still want to dance with you while you are learning or otherwise appreciate what you are offering to them. If the setting is small, though, likely then it will not take too long for you to know all of the girls who are taking the dance classes all too well, which in those situations, it can be beneficial for everyone's sake to have some turn-over in the talent pool. And, if you have time, there may be some other venues in which you can take additional dance lessons on the side in order to keep up your level. Since, in salsa, the guy needs to lead, it can take considerable time for him to learn sufficient moves to keep the girls entertained. The girls, on the other hand, can become quite proficient at following, and then they can become picky and want to dance with higher and higher level leads. That dynamic can be challenging for beginner male dancers to hang on to dance partner prospects.