Tony always reminds his students that they should practice dancing at home. How many of you actually do so is a completely different matter. If you’re having difficulty finding the time to practice dancing salsa at home, here are some tips that may encourage you and your partner to do so.
1) The word ‘practice’ can often sound like a chore, an obligation one must do in order to get better at something. I try to avoid this word when thinking about performing my routine at home, or trying out some of the steps we learned in class earlier that week. Instead, I think to myself ‘I’m going to dance!’ or ask my partner ‘Wanna salsa?’ This feels and sounds much more pleasant than ‘Do you want to practice our salsa steps tonight?’
2) Another tip is to play latin music often, so that you enjoy listening to it outside of the salsa class and develop feelings towards it. This way if you’re relaxing at home and a familiar or spicy latin tune comes on, you may suddenly get the urge to get up and sway to it. Playing a light latin CD during a Mexican dinner perhaps, can give you and your partner the feeling of being in a foreign Spanish-speaking country, and give you the desire to create your own dance floor after the meal.
3) The mood is one of the most important aspects of dancing. If you’re not in the right state of mind or the atmosphere is wrong, you may not enjoy the dance or want to dance at all. Sometimes salsa can help to change your mood after a stressful day, but if you force yourself or your partner to ‘practice’, the dance may become associated with this negative feeling. To create an authentic atmosphere I suggest either lighting some candles and dimming the lights if you plan on dancing to softer sensual salsa, or lighting some incense and turning up the heat with a sexy dress. This will help you both feel that salsa vibe.
I hope you will try either one or all of these tips and if you simply don’t have the space, time, or creativity, go to a salsa club where they’ve already set the mood and music for you!