Beyond Salsa Strategy
Beyond Salsa Strategy, there are other things that a new leader can do to improve his skills and lead enjoyable dances. Here are some suggestions to consider.
Find the right instructors. Sample them all. Find the one that fits with your learning style. Hopefully he/she recognizes the concepts of Salsa Strategy and can help you put things together. Be wary that some instructors are reluctant to share this information because he/she wants to preserve the mystery of it all to keep you coming back for more combinations. A good instructor should be more interested in his/her students progressing quickly. My philosophy is this: So what if a student grows beyond my class...they should eventually. I'd rather give my students the best opportunity to progress with me rather than feeling like they have to find someone else or even worse, finding they gave up salsa because they couldn't put it all together.
Practice: Goes without saying. Try to find patient practice partners to go over things you have learned. Having said this, do not try to correct or teach each other in between lessons. It's OK to remind each other about some points, but leave the teaching to your instructor. Keep a list of things to ask your instructor to clarify. This will help you avoid a lot of arguments and hurt feelings.
Write down combinations that you learn. As you write down the moves in the combinations, they will fall naturally into families of moves. You will also find that you will need to note the hand holds for each move. This will help reinforce your adoption of Salsa Strategy. In fact it was my wrting down all the combinations that solidified my understanding of Salsa Strategy. To write down moves, I had to describe them and assign names. Voila! Families of Moves!
Get a few combos built into your muscle memory. It's OK to have good ol' standbys that you can do without thinking. We all have them. The trick is not to overuse them. You have to have enough variety so it's not the same thing over and over again. Easiest way to get variety - do the same move from a different hold.
Each time you're out, commit to adding/practicing one new core move to you want to add to your standby list. Just try to throw it once or twice in every dance. To get ready for the night, think about the hold you need to do the new core move. Note prep moves you can do to get you into the hold. Think about how it ends. Can you tack one of your standby moves to the end? Are you in the right hold to do it?
While your thinking about all those moves (over time, you won't have to think that much. It'll just come), don't forget you're dancing with someone. You must pay attention to her. Even if your heads going a mile a minute, smile, look at her, say something, hum along to the music - anything that says, "I'm enjoying this dance with you." You can do ten basics in a row, and it won't be a big deal if you partner feels that you're engaged in the dance.
