Salsa Moves, Steps and Routines

Salsa moves, steps and routines for the beginner are very easy to pick up at this level.

A lot of attention should be paid to the counting (or timing) as, once you’ve mastered this, the steps are easy.

If you can take one step forward and then replace your lead foot beside your supporting foot again, do the same backwards and then side to side, you can Salsa dance. And keep those steps very small. To help you, why not try it out at home first?

Stand on your bath mat. No, that’s not a typo, we really do mean stand in the middle of your bath mat. See how tiny the space around your feet is? Keep your steps within the mat.

Try this...

We've provided below a short instruction clip on one of the most basic steps; forward. It is incredibly easy and hopefully, once you've had a go, you'll realize just how easy-to-follow Salsa is (if it is taught well!).

Time to have a go...

Basic Salsa Step Forward

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Did you pick it up OK? Easy, isn't it?

Believe it or not, once you’ve learnt even these few basic steps and can do them slightly faster in time to music, you’ll be dancing Salsa.

Even simple moves can make you feel comfortable dancing on your own and if you’d like to dance with someone else just take both their hands in yours and combine the sets of steps however you like.

As the whirling and twirling action of the seasoned dancers out on the dance floor of most clubs can be quite daunting, it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for other beginners so you’ll feel comfortable while you’re still learning the basics.

So if you’ve done the beginners class that most clubs offer before the dancing kicks off, you will have a good idea of which people are at your level.

Dancing Salsa With A Partner

There is a tendency for people to rush through the initial phase of learning Salsa because they want to start doing partner moves but the end result is a dance that has very little relationship with the music; the dancer seems to be going through the motions rather than dancing to the rhythm. So make very sure that you are dancing with feeling and confidence before progressing to dancing with a partner.

Holding onto both hands is often called an open hold but you can also do many of the steps in a closed or close hold (man’s left hand holding the woman’s right hand, while woman’s left hand rests on mans right shoulder and his right hand is on her left shoulder blade).

Men, you can also let go of the woman’s hands for a while, allowing you both to do a turn or to do some of the footwork on your own.

Salsa can also be done by two people facing but not touching, and as a formation dance, where two or more people are doing the same footwork. Sometimes one person will challenge another person or a group of people to try to copy their footwork – he or she will do a series of steps, then the other person or people in the group will try to copy the sequence.

Partner dancing tends to be the most popular type of dancing in most Salsa clubs, however, you will see that in addition to people dancing together, many of the couples will break away from each other during the dance and do their own footwork (often called ‘shines’) and then come back together again.

Go on to the Salsa Teachers and Pupils page

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