Staying On Time While Dancing

As we continue into our Salsa dance learning journey and have mastered our basic steps; another aspect of the dance is timing. Timing is what separates a total novice dancer from an intermediate dancer and has a lot to do with how you feel the music. Many dancers like to think that feeling the music is limited to closing your eyes and just moving your feet to the music.

Well, that is not quite so true. Reality is that Salsa follows the universal timing principal, which divides its beats into eight major counts. It is important to obey this universal rule so you can look like a seasoned dancer instead of a novice dancer. Dancers who fail to follow this universal musical rule are often labeled as rogue or rough dancers, because they simply turn randomly and make it impossible for their partner to follow them or enjoy the dance.

No matter which style of Salsa you are dancing (on 1, on 2, on Clave or Rueda) recognizing the one, two or three is crucial. There are few options to use to recognize the proper Salsa beat. Option one is to use an instrument within the music as a reference and dance to its beat. While using this technique concentrate on instruments such as the Conga or the Clave. Option two is to use the musical cycle of the eight major counts as a reference. Here is a great video which illustrates what we are talking about (http://youtu.be/xVJ0416rzrE ).

We hope this was useful and let us know of any topic you would like to talk about.